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In the 18th century, Sombor was a prominent centre of Serbian
culture and education, the "torch of microcosm" for the separated
Serbian nation finding itself in two alien empires - the former Turkish and
subsequently in the Austro-Hungarian - greatly disfavoured in both. Among other
cities in Vojvodina, which gained the status of free royal cities in the second
half of the 18th century, Sombor has a distinguished position due to its
cultural and educational traditions, a well-established Serbian burghers' society,
who were already sending their children to renowned European universities. Upon
completion of their studies they returned to their native city and spread the
word of education and culture, founded schools and undertook a variety of
educational and cultural activities of essential importance for the Serbian
nation and their survival between the millstones of Catholicism and Islam. As a
spiritual centre, Sombor radiated its cultural treasure until new centres were
administratively designated. Sombor has secured a place in the history of
Serbian education as the city where the first Serbian teacher-training school
was founded. The fact that it still is one of the three in the country with
continuity and with a complex metamorphosis makes it unique in the history of
Serbian education. Its founder, Avram Mrazovic, son of priest Georgije, an
educator and humanist as well as author and translator with classicist and
educational intentions was, together with Stefan Vijanovski and T. Jankovic
Mirijevski, reputed contemporary educators, the pioneer of the modern epoch in
Serbian education. Norma is one of those exceptional institutions which reaches
further than originally intended. At the time when it was founded, throughout
the following centuries (in modified institutional forms, of course) the school
was "a unique Serbian national institute for the promotion of Serbian
intelligentsia". Famous people of our cultural history at the end of the
18th century and throughout the 19th and 20th centuries were both among its
teachers and students. It is an important milestone in the cultural history of
the Serbian nation. In the 18th century the Serbs in Hungary
developed their genuine burgher culture inspired by Europe and rendered to Europe. It is of invaluable importance for the Serbian
culture that the synthesis of our cultural being with that of Western
Europe as far back as the 18th century was enabled by our
educators and authors. The Serbs did not move to Austria,
led by Arsenije Carnojevic as uneducated folk, but a community with already
existing spirituality, related more to the Byzantine civilization, which Europe also owes a lot to. Thus, we bridged the gap
between the patriarchal, feudal consciousness and modern Europe.
Important Dates:
• 1717. The first orthodox primary school founded in Sombor;
• 1756. Birth of Avram Mrazovic, founder of Norma, the first
teacher training school in the Slavic south;
• 1778. Mrazovic's Norma started their first year on 1st May;
• 1794. The first edition of Mrazovic's Instructions for Slavic
Grammar published;
• 1799. The first translation of Robinson Crusoe into Serbian by
Nikolaj Lazarevic, Mrazovic's disciple and schoolteacher;
• 1812. Serbian Preparatory founded in St. Andrew;
• 1816. Serbian Preparatory moved from St. Andrew to Sombor;
• 1817. Library of the Teacher
Training School founded;
school library of the "Royal Institute of Pedagogy of the Ilyrian
People" founded by royal decree. 1832 library catalogue with names of the
first contributors preserved;
• 1821. Mrazovic's Instructions for Slavic Eloquence published;
• 1848. The Serbian language became the language of administration
(after Latin until 1844 and Hungarian until 1848);
• 1863. The present Norma building was erected in place of the
former one;
• 1866. "[kolski list" (school magazine), the first
pedagogical magazine in Serbian started in Sombor, with supplement for children
called "Prijatelj srpske mladeži" (friend of Serbian youth);
• 1871. Studies extended to three years; introduction of natural
sciences; education for girls approved;
• 1895. New school building erected - donation by patriarch
Georgije Brankovic;
• 1920. Religious Teacher-Training School
renamed into State
Teacher-Training School;
• 1963. Commemorative school with gymnasium (the present Teacher-Training
Faculty) and students' dormitory erected;
• 1973. Academy
of Pedagogy, a
post-secondary teacher-training school, founded;
• 1978. International conference held, devoted to 200 years of
permanent training of teachers in Sombor; the book "200 Hundred Years of
Teacher-Training in Sombor" published; Teachers' Conference held;
• 1980. The Academy of Pedagogy joins Novi Sad University;
• 1989. Novi Sad
University proposed a
model of higher education for junior school teachers in Vojvodina;
• 1990. The Municipal Assembly approved the Feasibility Study for
the Teacher-Training Faculty in Sombor;
• 1993. Teacher-Training Faculty founded on 01 July;
• 1993. The first academic year at the Teacher-Training Faculty
commenced on 10 October.
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