How the Bosnian queen got to the Vatican palace

Dear Sirs!

By the way, I am an art historian and sociologist. I mainly research the history of the art of the Middle Ages, and for almost a quarter of a century I have been researching everything related to the Bosnian queen Katarina Kotromanić (1425-1478), who survived the last twelve years in Rome, and her remains were buried in front of the main altar of the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli.

On the occasion of the 600th anniversary of the Queen’s birth, I intend to organize a major art exhibition in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Italy in 2024/2025, which will present Queen Catherine and Bosnian statehood in a completely new light in Europe and the world, but also draw attention to the fact that the Queen, under her mantle (due to her Christian and Islamic roots and family ties), can bring together all Bosnian Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Muslims. I have already arranged for the art exhibition to be held in the Sarajevo History Museum and in a gallery in the Republic of Slovenia, and I also intend to contact institutions in Rome. I will also try to organize it on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea (Ston, Dubrovnik or Šibenik).

Colleagues, art historians from Slovenia, Bosnia and Croatia, evaluated my works about the queen very positively, as a special view on the subject.

I am sending you some of them on this occasion.

I spoke about Queen Katarina at the Festival of the Middle Ages held in Cazin on June 8 this year – More about it at these links: https://muzejbosanskogkraljevstva.ba/zvanicno-poceo-festival-srednjovjekovlja-u-cazinu/

http://sejko-hm.blogspot.com/

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 2011 to 2016, I presented Queen Catherine at five public lectures. I gave three lectures in Sarajevo, and one each in Jajce and Velika Kladuša: here is a link to my lecture at the Bosnian National and University Library in Sarajevo, held in October 2015: https://youtu.be/6JMn0VXkFvY

In the journal of the Sarajevo Faculty of Philosophy, I presented Queen Katarina in an article, which you can find at this link:

https://www.academia.edu/13349897/Portret_i_nadgrobna_plo%C4%8Da_bosanske_kraljice_Katarine_Kotromani%C4%87_1425-1478_u_Rimu

Last year, in the 74th issue of the Ljubljana magazine “Umetnostna kronika” (Art History Institute of Francet Stelet ZRC SAZU), I published an article in which I presented the answer to the question why the inscription on the queen’s tombstone is found in the first grammar of the Slavic language, which was published in Wittenberg in 1584 by the Protestant writer Adam Bohorič (c.1524-1601/2). I am sending you a pdf of the article in a clip.

In the Auditorium of the Ljubljana National Gallery on November 8, 2022 (at the invitation of the Society of Slovenian Art Historians), I presented my latest discoveries related to Queen Katarina. More about it at this link: http://www.suzd.si/zbornik/214-drustvo/1611-o-likovnih-upodobitvah-bosenske-kraljice-katarine-kotromanic

Maybe this topic will interest you?

I wish you much success in your work!

Best regards!

Husein Sejko Mekanovic