Two- days
international conference entitled „Evolution of Cremation, Ecology, Ethics and Solidarity“
was held in Belgrade form October 17 to October 18, 2019. The conference was organized by the Cremationists
Association “Oganj”, under the auspices of the European Cremationists
Association (Union Crématiste Européen) and was devoted to 104-years anniversary of the Cremationists
Association „Oganj“ and 55 years from establishing of the first crematorium in
Belgrade (Serbia).
The first day of
conference was reserved for speeches and presentations. The participants were
first welcomed by Ms Grozdana Banac on behalf of the Parliament of the Republic
of Serbia. This was followed by the introductory address of the President of
the European Cremationists Association, Mr. Maurice Tore. In continuation, the
participants were able to hear presentations of cremationists from France,
Belgium and Italy, including representative of the Gem Matthews International
Company, which is dong business all over the world and is involved in
manufacturing of cremators, filtration system and related solutions intended to
enable „smart“ and environmentally sound cremation process. In the course of
the second session the participates were addressed by Dragan Baltovski, General
Manager of the Public Utility Company „Funeral Services“, Silvano Urciuoli, General Manager of „Sofia
Crematoriums“ from Bulgaria and Aleksandra Pavicevic, scientific consultant
(Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ethnographic Institute), author of the
publication “Fiery bodies. Burning Dead in Serbia: From Pagan Ritual to Modern
Cremation”.
During the
second day of the conference, i.e., October 18,2019, the participants visited
the New Cemetery in Belgrade, which was followed by successful and informative
visit to the crematorium at Lesce Cemetery. The second day of conference was
concluded by the visit to the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia.
