"Bože pravde" (, ; 'O God of Justice') is the national anthem of Serbia, as defined by the Article 7 of the Constitution of Serbia. "Bože pravde" was adopted in 1882 and had been the national anthem of the Kingdom of Serbia until 1919 when Serbia became a part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It was re-adopted as the national anthem at first by the parliamentary recommendation in 2004 and then constitutionally sanctioned in 2006, after Serbia restored its independence.

History

After the assassination of Prince Mihailo, Prince Milan came to the throne in 1872, celebrating his coming of age. Then he ordered a play from the manager of the National Theater in Belgrade, Jovan Đorđević, who quickly wrote and presented the play "Marko names the Emperor" (Marko kazuje na kome je carstvo), with the aim of glorifying Serbian history and the ruling house of Obrenović, and song "Bože pravde", composed by Davorin Jenko. Song gained more popularity among the people than the piece itself, and in 1882, on the occasion of Milan's enthronement as Serbian king, Đorđević reworked the text and so his new version became the first official anthem of Serbia. In 1903, after the May Coup, the Obrenović dynasty died out and the house of Karađorđević came to the helm of Serbia. The new king Peter I wanted to change the state symbols, even the anthem. The Austrian composer from Vienna, August Stol, composed a song for the Serbian king. Peter did not like the composition. Various competitions in which many Serbian poets (Aleksa Šantić among others) participated were also unsuccessful. In the end, in 1909, it was decided to make the anthem "Bože pravde" official again, with minor changes to the text. Various rulers of Serbia changed the words of the anthem to suit them. During the rule of Prince Milan I, the words were knez Milana Bože spasi ('God save Prince Milan'), which was changed to kralj Milana Bože spasi ('God save King Milan'), when Serbia became a kingdom. It was later tailored to Alexander I with the verse kralja Aleksandra Bože spasi ('God save King Alexander'), and Peter I with kralja Petra Bože spasi ('God save King Peter') as well. During the World War I, in the territories of Serbia occupied by Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria, the performance of the national anthem, as well as the display of the symbols of the Kingdom of Serbia, was prohibited. During the time of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which later became the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), "Bože pravde" was part of its national anthem. On the eve of the World War II, at the great international gathering of the Music Confederation, held in Paris, this anthem was declared one of the three most beautiful in the world. "Bože pravde" anthem was officially abandoned and banned after the World War II in 1945, in favour of "Hej, Sloveni" ('Hey, Slavs'), which was the national anthem of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for 47 years, from 1945 to 1992. After the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1991-1992, only Serbia and Montenegro remained in the federation (i.e. the newly-formed Serbia and Montenegro), but since no agreement over the anthem could be reached, "Hey, Slavs" remained the national anthem. Many Serbs disliked the song during this period and booed it whenever it was played, such as at sporting events. In 1992, "Vostani Serbije" and "March on the Drina" were proposed as the anthem of Serbia along with "Bоže pravde". "March on the Drina", popularized by then-ruling Socialist Party of Serbia, even received a plurality of popular vote on referendum, but was never officially adopted. The recommendation on the use of "Bože pravde" was adopted unanimously by the National Assembly in 2004 and constitutionally sanctioned in 2006, after Serbia restored its independence, while the recommended text was promulgated into the law in 2009. It utilizes slightly modified original lyrics, asserting that Serbia is no longer a monarchy — all the verses that had a monarchist overtone were changed. In three verses, srpskog kralja ('Serbian king') was changed to srpske zemlje ('Serbian lands'), and the verse srpskog kralja Bože hrani ('God save the Serbian king') was changed to Bože spasi, Bože brani ('God protect, God defend'). In public performances, the verses Bože spasi, Bože hrani ('God protect, God bless') and srpske zemlje, srpski rod ('Serbian lands, Serbian race') are often sung on the repeat as Srbiju nam Bože brani ('Our Serbia, God defend') and moli ti se sаv naš rod ('our whole race prays to you'), respectively. "Bože pravde" was also used until 2006 as the regional anthem of the Republika Srpska, a constituency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, when it was ruled down by the country's constitutional court for being unconstitutional.

Lyrics

The full Serbian national anthem as officially defined consists of eight stanzas, but usually only the first two are performed on public occasions for reasons of brevity. The third verse is also usually omitted in full performances.