Serbian educational-cultural centre St. Helen of Anjou (SECC St. Helen of Anjou) is a voluntary organisation in Malta, established in the spring of 2021, and registered according to the laws of voluntary organisations of Malta (VO/2220).
The organisation was founded with the blessings of the Parish priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Eparchy of Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Malta, Father Risto Gorančić, according to the idea to build a bridge between the two cultures (Serbia and Malta) through the promotion of Serbian cultural heritage.
The basic idea of the organisation is, through the various projects such as reciting poetry, giving lectures, exhibitions, and concerts of artists of Serbian origins from all over the world, as well as other forms of cultural content, not only to enrich the daily lives of Serbian people in Malta but also to provide better understanding between the two nations – what leads to better integration of the Serbian population on the Maltese islands.
Except for the mentioned topics we want to deal with, we emphasise especially those relating to multiculturalism and religious pluralism in Serbia which we are able to testify for. The idea is to represent our country from a perspective less known to the European and the global community. On the other hand, prompt dialogue in the community would be useful to many current national and religious communities.
You can read about our goals in more detail here.
Inspired by the icon and the works of Saint Queen Helen of Anjou, one of the most distinguished women in the Serbian medieval in multiple aspects such as culture, religion, and diplomacy – we have named the organisation after her. Our desire is for the organisation to take engagement exactly in the same areas. You can read about who was the queen, ruler, founder and monarch Helen of Anjou in more detail in the special section of our page here.
Our very first project, the School of the Serbian Language in Malta, has been established with the cooperation of the parish St. Apostle Paul and St. Nicholas, together with the blessings of the priest Risto Gorančić, and refers to Serbian language lessons for children of Serbian heritage who attend school in Malta and Gozo. The project is recognised by The Directorate for Diaspora and Cooperation with the Serbs in the Region and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and has received considerable resources to run in the scholastic year 2021/2022.
You can read more about the project itself here.