Quote:
“I decided to study the Illyrians when I was a student of archaeology. I’ve continuously been preoccupied with them, first of all because I thought and still think that the history of the Balkans and even the present, cannot be studied without having a knowledge of Illyrian element. Everything that has happened in the Balkans since the Middle Ages, in some way has been built on a layer known and called by us as Illyrian. So every story about the Balkans begins with the Illyrians.”
Background
On the occasion of his 93rd birthday, we bring to your attention today the contribution of the historian of antiquity, Illyrianologist and academician Aleksandar Stipčević.
Stipčević was born in Arbëneš, Zadar, into an Albanian family on October 10, 1930. He completed his higher education in archaeology and graduated from the University of Zagreb in 1954. In 1957, he began working at the National University Library in Zagreb. Stipčević became director of the Library of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb in 1974–1983. In the early 1970s, he contributed as a lecturer in archaeology at the University of Prishtina.
He has been a member of the editorial board of the journal “Gjurmime albanologije” for 15 years. In 1977 he completed his doctorate and a year later he received the titles: “Senior Advisor in Librarianship” and “Scientific Advisor in the Field of Social Sciences”. Editor-in-chief of the “Croatian Biographical Lexicon” in 1983–1987. Stiptevic became a full professor at the Faculty of Philosophy (Department of Librarianship) of the University of Zagreb.
He is the author of many studies in the field of Illyrianology, such as: “Gli Illiri” (Illyrians), in 1967; “Arte degli Illiri” (Art of the Illyrians), in 1967; “Bibliographia Illyrica” (Bibliography for the Illyrians) in 1967; “Kultni simboli kod Ilira” (Symbols of the cult of the Illyrians), in 1983; “The Problem of Illyrian-Albanian Continuity and Its Political Actualization Today”, etc., as well as in the field of Albanology: “Albanological Interpretations”, “Ethnogenesis of Albanians”, “Albanology in Croatia”, etc.; he has also published the monographs: “History of the Book” in 1988, “O savršenom Censoru” (The Perfect Censor), in 2003 and a series of scientific articles.
He has contributed as an external member of the Kosovo Academy of Sciences and Arts. Prof. Stipçeviç has left a rich legacy of about 230 scientific and professional works, in Croatian, Albanian, Italian, English. He passed away on September 1, 2015 in Zagreb.
Four years after his departure from this life, around 1,100 book titles of exceptional scholarly value, mainly on Illyrian and Albanological studies, were donated to the Albanian Academy of Sciences through a will left by him, a gesture that testifies to Stipçeviç’s deeply rooted love for Albanians as descendants of the Illyrians.
Quote:
“The Illyrians did not disappear with the arrival of the Romans and later the Slavs, they continued to live with their culture and art among the peoples of the Balkans, most notably among the Albanians, who are their descendants…”
