Thursday, June 08, 2006

ZAGREB, Croatia-Thirteen years after its museum was blown up during the 1991 Serbo-Croat war, the Croatian Orthodox Church put its icons, manuscripts and other works of art on show Thursday at a new location in Zagreb.

"Like the Phoenix, this exhibit has now been reborn from the ruins of the war," said Bishop Jovan, the head of the Orthodox Church in Zagreb.

He added that the "rich and painful history" of the works exposed there should "serve the peace and the rapprochement" between primarily Roman Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs.

Croats and Serbs fought a bloody war in 1991, when the minority Serbs rebelled against Croatia's secession from the former, Serb-dominated Yugoslavia. The war ended in 1995, when Zagreb recaptured the areas the rebels seized in 1991.

As the war raged on, unknown attackers planted a bomb in the Serbian Orthodox Museum in Zagreb, causing extensive damage to the building. Rescued works of art had until now been kept in the church's vaults.

Croatian Culture Minister Bozo Biskupic attended the opening of the new museum in downtown Zagreb, saying that the Croatian government "cherishes the cultural achievements and heritage of all of its minorities."

Even though tensions between Serbs and Croats persist, relations have vastly improved in the past few years. The Croatian government also is trying to boost its protection of minority rights, one of the conditions for its desired membership in the European Union.