Vladan Đorđević, život i delo vežbača, naučnika, političara, književnika, utemeljivača srpske gimnastike i sokolstva

Abstract

Vladan Đorđević belonged to a generation of Belgrade Lyceum students, who later became influential representatives of science, society and politics. Tireless engagement in the social life of Belgrade and the Kingdom of Serbia, diligent performance of government and diplomatic duties, and an imposing contribution to medicine, historiography and literature put Vladan Đorđević among the most respected figures of Serbian history. Beside achieving much in the establishment of socio-cultural, scientific and political life of Serbia, he also contributed greatly to the development of physical culture in the Kingdom of Serbia at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. As a student of the Belgrade Lyceum, while practising gymnastics and martial arts, Đorđević became a great aficionado of physical exercising and gained insight into its importance for health and strengthening of spirit. Đorđević could not forget this beginning of organised gymnastics exercising and so, twenty-four years after finishing his studies, as a distinguished physician and the head of the Medical Department of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior, he became the progenitor of the idea to set up 'a great gymnastic society in Belgrade with branches all over Serbia'. The development of gymnastics in Serbia allowed the spread of the Sokol Movement and the advent of modern sport in this country. The goal of this paper is to apply the historical method in the study of authentic documents from 1895, 1908, 1910, 1925-27, 1938, etc., which are mostly unknown and unavailable to the wider and expert public and which illuminate the various contributions of Dr Vladan Đorđević, particularly in the domain of physical culture.