Serbian Minister of Labor and Social Policy Rasim Ljajic opened Sunday at the National Museum in Kragujevac (central Serbia) an exhibition dubbed "Srbija kroz vekove" (Serbia through the centuries), thus launching a program of marking Sretenje (Presentation of Jesus at the Temple) - the Serbian National Day (February 15), which will include a series of events organized by the government.

“As of today, we will all have an opportunity to go back to our homeland's past and look at the history of Serbia in an unusual way, by meeting with valuable exhibits from different epochs, Ljajic said, speaking about the display by one of the most prominent museums in Serbia and the region - the Museum of Yugoslav History.

On the occasion, the Serbian government has decided to present the real symbols of statehood, constitutions, honors and maps of Serbia within Europe, Ljajic said, and added that the representative displays, which will be opened also in Novi Sad, Belgrade, Vranje, Nis and Cacak, are not just exhibitions, but an extremely rare opportunity to see cultural heritage which symbolizes our country and its rich past.

Stressing that the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia says that Serbia is a state of Serbian people and all citizens who live in it, based on the rule of law and social justice, principles of civil democracy, human and minority rights and freedoms, and commitment to European principles and values, the minister said that today we remember the times when these values, or at least most of them, were highlighted in Serbia for the first time.

The Sretenje Constitution, promulgated in Kragujevac on February 15, stated that every slave who sets foot on Serbian soil becomes a free man. This happened 177 years ago, and it placed Serbia among the first countries in the world to speak out about basic human rights.