Continuously inhabited since the Paleolithic age, the territory of modern-day Serbia, then part of the Roman Empire, experienced Slavic migrations in the 6th century. The first Serb proto-state was established in the 7th century and by the 9th century had developed into a more stable principality, recognized as a tributary state to the Byzantine Empire. The Serbian Kingdom was established in 1217, reaching its territorial apex in 1346 as the Serbian Empire. By the mid-16th century, the Ottoman Empire annexed the entirety of modern-day Serbia; their rule was at times interrupted by the Habsburg Empire, which maintained a foothold in the northern part of the country from the early 18th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the Principality of Serbia, which developed into a constitutional monarchy and gained international recognition of its independence in 1878 before being proclaimed a kingdom in 1882. Emerging victorious from World War I, Serbia incorporated the former Habsburg crownland of Vojvodina into its territory in 1918, before uniting that same year with Slovenes and Croats to form the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, ending its existence as a separate political entity. Serbia was re-established after World War II as one of six federal units of socialist Yugoslavia. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, it formed a union with Montenegro, which was dissolved in 2006, subsequently restoring Serbia's independence. In 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, receiving mixed responses from the international community, while Serbia continues to regard it as part of its sovereign territory.
While small, the Church of the Holy Mother of God is notable for its unusual architectural style, in particular for its high narthex flanked by two sharp-pointed towers. These features, which hint at Hungarian or Transylvanian influences, are highly atypical for medieval Bulgarian church architecture. The church is richly decorated on the inside, with as many as eleven frescoes of historical figures. One of these portraits, captioned as a despot, is variously identified as an eponymous son of Bulgarian tsarMichael Shishman or as an undocumented son of co-tsar Michael Asen IV; earlier speculation that the image depicted Serbian noble Mihailo Anđelović or Michael Shishman himself have since fallen out of favor with art historians. In addition to these early portraits, the interior walls of the church were painted with canonical murals, which can stylistically be assigned to the 14th–15th century. The church was reconstructed in 1958 and has been under Serbian state protection since 1982. (Full article...)
Žigić was born in Bačka Topola, in what was then SFR Yugoslavia. He began playing football as a youngster with AIK Bačka Topola, and scored 68 goals from 76 first-team matches over a three-year period in the third tier of Yugoslav football. Military service took him to Bar in 2001, where he was able to continue his goalscoring career with the local second-level club Mornar. A brief spell back in the third tier with Kolubara preceded his turning professional with First League side Red Star Belgrade in January 2003. He spent time on loan at third-tier Spartak Subotica before making his Red Star debut later that year. Despite suggestions that his height, of 2.02m (6ft 7+1⁄2in), made him better suited to sports other than football, Žigić ended the season as First League top scorer, domestic player of the year, league champion and scorer of the winning goal in the cup final. He won a second league–cup double in 2005–06, a second player of the year award, and finished his three-year Red Star career with 70 goals from 109 appearances in all competitions. (Full article...)
.png)
