povest

1. formal history
   Ova knjiga govori o povesti Beograda. — This book is about the history of Belgrade.
   Povest srpskog naroda je duga i burna. — The history of the Serbian people is long and turbulent.
2. formal tale; story
   To je tužna povest o dvoje ljubavnika. — It's a sad tale of two lovers.

In the sense 'history' the everyday word is istorija, in the sense 'tale, story' priča; the Croatian form is povijest.