For centuries straddling the boundaries between East and West, Serbia had been divided among: the Eastern and Western halves of the Roman Empire; then between Kingdom of Hungary, Bulgarian Empire, Frankish Kingdom and Byzantium; and then between the Ottoman Empire and the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, as well as Venice in the south. These overlapping influences have resulted in cultural varieties throughout Serbia and the Serbian-inhabited regions; its north leaning to the profile of Central Europe, while the south being characteristic of the wider Balkans and the Mediterranean.
The Byzantine influence on Serbia was profound, firstly through the introduction of Eastern Christianity (Orthodoxy) in the Early Middle Ages. The Serbian Orthodox Church has had an enduring status in Serbia, with the many Serbian monasteries constituting the most valuable cultural monuments left from Serbia in the Middle Ages.
Serbia has a total of eight sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list: The Early Medieval capital Stari Ras and the 13th-century monastery Sopoćani, and the 12th-century monastery Studenica, and the endangered Medieval Monuments in Kosovo group, comprising the monasteries of Visoki Dečani, Our Lady of Ljeviš, Gračanica and Patriarchate of Peć (former seat of the Serbian Church, mausoleum of Serbian royalty) and finally the Roman estate of Gamzigrad–Felix Romuliana. There are two literary memorials on UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme: The 12th-century Miroslav Gospel, and scientist Nikola Tesla's valuable archive.
Serbia has a well-established theatrical tradition with many theaters. The Serbian National Theatre was established in 1861. The Belgrade International Theatre Festival, founded in 1967, is one of the oldest theatre festivals in the world, and it has become one of the five most important and biggest European festivals. The Serbian cinema is one of the oldest in the Balkans, having its foundation in 1896 with the release
