On the occasion of the World Environmental Day, the Day of Public Enterprise “Djerdap National Park” Donji Milanovac and the Week of European Geoparks, on June 5, 2023, the exhibition Rocks, hidden colors and shapes was opened in the Visitor Center of the National Park and Djerdap UNESCO Global Geopark in Donji Milanovac. The author of the exhibition is Darko Timotić, B.Sc. geological engineer for paleontology of the Provincial Institute for Nature Protection. Through about thirty macro photos, the author presented visitors with the beauty of rocks, incredible colors and shapes that cannot be easily seen with the naked eye.
Minerals and precious stones have always attracted attention. They are given various magical properties. However, all their magical secret is in their beauty. But they are not only magically beautiful, but unlike most other beautiful things – they last. And not only from the point of view of human life, but from the point of view of eternity. Agates from Fruška Gora are among the younger beauties in Darko Timotić’s selection. They are only twenty – million years old. When something is so infinitely beautiful and lasts an infinitely long time – so is our enjoyment of them.
Man’s task is to find and recognize that beauty. Not every stone will open so easily. Sometimes the human contribution to their discovery requires sawing with a diamond blade and subsequent progressive grinding with finer and finer abrasives until the polished jasper from Gornja Trepča shines brightly. But even then it is not over.
Each of us sees that stone in a different way. Darko Timotić raised that vision to the level of art. He took us into detail. He guided us to the beauty that we might have missed by looking only at the whole. Even now, everyone will see something different in that detail and everyone will give it their own meaning. Bring something of your own into the stone.
In the hands of geologists, the photographic camera is the most common analytical tool, in the field, in the laboratory. This time, this geologist used the tool as an art tool. And that very successfully”: Assoc. Dr. Zoran Miladinović.
The exhibition Rocks, hidden colors and shapes can be visited every working day from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and it will be installed until August 2023.
