Budva's National Library decided to present the life and work of Krsto Ivanovic, a Mediterranean arch from Budva to Venice, in the mosaic form of a poster series, where he realized the success that for a foreigner on the edge of the Venetian Empire was almost unimaginable to become a canon of the famous Basilica of St. Marco in Venice, and before that he was already a canon of the cathedral of St. Ivan in Budva.
Speaking about the exhibition, the author Božena Jelušić pointed out:
"It is unthinkable to present Krsto Ivanovic without knowledge of the baroque. Our literature is unfortunately the literature of discontinuity; we do not have all literary directions, baroque is practically not in our country, but these rudiments, details of Baroque are really hidden here especially in Krsto Ivanović; for this reason, we also highlighted the Baroque era and especially the melodrama as the first stage in the development of the opera. We also tried to summarize the dramaturgy of Ivanović's librettos, which were five, to somehow explain its importance as a poet... Even Krsto, although Don Krsto never wrote any ecclesiastical rendering, but is a love lyrical. Sonnets were needed, consecrations and librettos, and he gradually built a Venetian staircase on a stairway, bonding powerful people to himself, communicating with Leopold Habsburg, with Louis XIV, he was actually the man who could do anything at that moment. His work 'Minerva at the table' is the most important for the world cultural heritage because it contains theatrical memories from Venice where Krsto has left an exhaustive trail of 220 theater plays with all the elements: scenes, direction, stage machines, tickets. Therefore, something without which the world cultural heritage and the development of the opera are unthinkable," said the author of the exhibition Božena Jelušić.
"Krsto Ivanovic is a Baroque author of importance for world cultural heritage because he felt that the intangible cultural heritage must be kept. Krsto Ivanovic seems to be most proud of being a historiographer that was not acknowledged to him because he died before he completed the work of the “War of Faithful League against the Turks”, and this was an opportunity to somehow consider the historical circumstances of this area," as noted by professor Jelusic.
"The performance 'Kirka' by Krsto Ivanović’s melodrama was put on stage in 2017 in San Francisco (the Ars Minerva theater), while we have only a famous play by Vida Ognjenović 'Don Krsto'. Also, the bust of Krsto Ivanovic, which was made by the sculptor Zlatko Glamočak, is still waiting for a place to be set up, and Ivanovic should return to the Old town with his bust beside the cathedral of St. Ivan," concluded Jelušić.
Text by Vuk Lajovic, on September 27th, 2018, read more at Vijesti
