Bridges on the Danube River

The exhibition “Bridges on the Danube” by Dejan Petrović is open on August 19 at 7 p.m. in the District, and anyone interested will be able to see it until August 28, every day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The greatest, largest, longest, widest, deepest, bluest, foggiest… Over the millennia, the Danube has always been described in superlatives, never as poor, unexceptional, mediocre… It has been loved, feared, worshipped, cursed, but never underestimated. The Danube, once a long-standing frontier of the Roman, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian Empires, has divided enemies, and in good times connected friends. It can be blue, grey, brown, green, following the moods of those closely connected to it. You may see it just once, or it may be the longest relationship you ever had. One thing is certain: it always leaves you in awe.

The Danube connects and divides; it has brought people together and kept them apart. Like a big vascular system, it absorbs the waste we produce, and it brings life to over 230 million people, with bridges being the essential part of everyday lives for so many. For almost 2,000 years since the Romans built the first bridge at the Iron Gate, bridges have crossed the Danube like a zip, opening and closing the gaps between its shores.

Today, there are over 300 crossings on the Danube. The exhibition shows some of them, crossed by a significant number of people every day. Running through the largest number of countries in the world, the Danube is passing through or borders Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine. Indirectly, the Danube River Basin includes waters from nine more countries. It gives life to national capitals Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, and Bratislava, and flows directly through 95 cities.

The exhibition is dedicated to all people who were, are, and will be CO:NNECTED with this magnificent river.

Sponsored by ERSTE Foundation, Vienna, Austria, the Austrian Cultural Forum in Belgrade, and the ‘Novi Sad European Capital of Culture’ Foundation.

Dejan Petrović is, among his other callings, a photographer, born in Novi Sad, a city that sits on the Danube. Spanning the period of 50+ years, he has also lived in Belgrade, Vienna, and Bratislava, all of which occupy the Danube’s shores.

Photo: Dejan Petrović