Sava Vladislavić Raguzinski | Origin of Street Names

Sava Vladislavić Raguzinski (1669 - 1738) was a Serbian and Russian nobleman, merchant, and diplomat, philanthropist and patron, and ultimately an advisor to the Russian Tsar Peter the Great, thus one of the most influential people in Europe at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Despite being a figure of significant historical importance, very little is known about him. He was born in the vicinity of Gacko in Herzegovina. Having connections with Dubrovnik (Ragusa) and the Republic of Venice, he received education as a merchant and eventually became highly successful in that field.

Through his trade profession, he developed impressive negotiation skills that would later make him a great diplomat. Possessing crucial geopolitical information for successful trade, Sava Vladislavić established connections with Russian diplomats and shared his valuable knowledge in exchange for the right to free trade in Russia. This created a bond that would prove historic, not only on a personal level for Sava Raguzinski, but also between Russia and Serbia.

In the Middle Ages, Serbian-Russian relations were primarily based on religious grounds, between monks of the two Orthodox nations. By becoming a "Russian man," Sava gradually rose to a very high position at the Russian court - the position of the first advisor to Tsar Peter the Great. He drew the attention of the powerful Russian emperor to the issues faced by the enslaved fraternal state in the Balkans, which marked the beginning of significant interest from the mighty empire in the Serbian question. Besides the Orthodox connection, the skilled diplomat Sava Vladislavić won the Russian Tsar over with the idea of Serbian-Russian alliance in Russia's centuries-long aspiration to reach warm seas.

The assistance of the Russian Tsar to the subjugated Serbian people, who were trapped within two major empires (the Ottoman and the Habsburg), was both practical and political in the following years - from financial aid, books, sending educators and establishing schools, to support in the struggle for the realization of their constitutional rights.

Count Sava Vladislavić played a crucial role in reaching an agreement on the delimitation of the two largest empires of that time - the Russian and the Chinese. In his presence, the peace treaty between Russia and Turkey was signed in 1711.

An interesting and arguably fateful anecdote is associated with the name of Sava Vladislavić. While trading in Constantinople, he once bought two African boys from a slave market and gifted them to the Russian Tsar. At that time, black people were an entirely unknown phenomenon to the Russians, but unlike countries that actively colonized Africa, dark-skinned individuals were not enslaved in Russia. Evidently different from the white Russians, they were observed with astonishment but not disdain. The boys were raised at the court, and one of them, Hannibal, even became a Russian nobleman through marriage. It is said that distant descendants of his noble lineage include the great poet Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin and the renowned White Army general Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel.

Another significant name associated with Count Sava is the Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, whom Sava enabled to shine on the Venetian music scene through his influence. In gratitude, Vivaldi dedicated his opera "Truth in Temptation" to him.

Even today, it is not entirely clear why such an interesting figure is relegated to the margins of history textbooks, not only in Serbia but also in Russia.

Nevertheless, monuments in Sremski Karlovci and Herceg Novi, as well as streets bearing the name of Sava Vladislavić in Serbian cities, testify that his persona and achievements have not been entirely forgotten.