Central Serbia

The region south of Belgrade is the heart of Serbia, where the tourism is very developed. Here you have numerous hills and low mountains. It is the place where Serbian kings had built their capitals, but also where the nicest monasteries in the Serbian Orthodoxy were constructed. The folklore festivals and the gipsy music, like Guca Festival give this area a particular charm.

Belgrade

is the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city lies at the confluence of the Sava and Danube Rivers in north central Serbia, where the Pannonia Plain meets the Balkan Peninsula.

With an official population of 1,576,224 (2002), Belgrade is the largest city in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, and the fourth largest in Southeastern Europe, after Istanbul, Athens and Bucharest.

One of Europe’s oldest cities, Belgrade’s wider city area was the birthplace of the largest prehistoric culture of Europe, the Vinca culture. The foundation of the city itself dates back to Celtic and later, Roman periods, followed by the settlement of Slavs around the 7th century. In medieval times, it was in the possession of Byzantine, Frankish, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Serbian rulers, until it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1521 and became the seat of the Pashaluk of Belgrade. It became the capital of an independent Serbian state for the first time in 1284 (lost to Hungary in 1427), the status that it would regain only in 1841, after the liberation from the Ottomans. In the 20th century, it was also the capital of several incarnations of Yugoslavia, up to 2006, when Serbia became and independent state again.

Belgrade hosts many annual cultural events, including FEST (Belgrade Film Festival), BITEF (Belgrade Theatre Festival), BELEF (Belgrade Summer Festival), BEMUS (Belgrade Music Festival), Belgrade Book Fair, and the Belgrade Beer Festival.

The Nobel prize winning author Ivo Andric wrote his most famous work, The Bridge on the Drina, in Belgrade. Most of Serbia’s industry is based in Belgrade; the 1995 Palme d’Or winning Underground, directed by Emir Kusturica, was produced in the city.

There are numerous theatres, Belgrade’s two opera houses are: National Theatre and Madlenijanum Opera House, many foreign cultural institutions in Belgrade, and Museums.

Museums
National Museum, founded in 1844; it houses a collection of more than 400,000 exhibits, (over 5600 paintings and 8400 drawings and prints) including many foreign masterpieces and the famous Miroslavljevo Jevandjelje (Miroslav’s Gospel).

The Military Museum houses a wide range of more than 25,000 military exhibits dating as far back as to the Roman period, as well as parts of a F-117 stealth aircraft shot down by Yugoslav forces. The Museum of Aviation in Belgrade has more than 200 aircraft, of which about 50 are on display, and a few of which are the only surviving examples of their type, such as the Fiat G.50. This museum also displays parts of shot down US and NATO aircraft.

The Ethnographic Museum, established in 1901, contains more than 150,000 items showcasing the rural and urban culture of the Balkans, particularly the countries of the former Yugoslavia. The Museum of Contemporary Art has a collection of around 8,540 works of art produced in Yugoslavia since 1900.

The Nikola Tesla Museum, founded in 1952, preserves the personal items of Nikola Tesla, the one of the world most important inventors. It holds around 160,000 original documents and around 5,700 other items. The Museum of Vuk and Dositej, which showcases the lives, work and legacy of Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic and Dositej Obradovic, the 19th century reformer of the Serbian literary language and the first Serbian Minister of Education, respectively.

One of the more unusual museums in Belgrade is the Museum of African Art, founded in the days of socialist solidarity with the undeveloped nations of the Third World.

With around 95,000 copies of national and international films, the Yugoslav Film Archive is the largest in the region and amongst the 10 largest archives in the world.

Museum of the City of Belgrade has interesting exhibits such Belgrade Gospel (1503), full plate armor from Battle of Kosovo and various paintings and graphic.

Sport
There are around a thousand sports facilities in Belgrade, many of which are capable of serving all levels of sporting events. Belgrade has hosted several relatively major sporting events recently, including Euro basket 2005, the 2005 European Volleyball Championship, the 2006 European Water Polo Championship, and the European Youth Olympic Festival 2007. Belgrade will be the host city of the 2009 Summer Universiade chosen over the cities of Monterrey and Poznan.

Nightlife
Belgrade has a reputation for offering a vibrant nightlife, and many clubs that are open until dawn can be found throughout the city. The most recognizable nightlife features of Belgrade are the barges (splavovi) spread along the banks of the Sava and Danube Rivers. Many weekend visitors prefer Belgrade nightlife to that of their own capitals, due to a perceived friendly atmosphere, great clubs and bars, cheap drinks, the lack of language difficulties.

A more traditional Serbian nightlife experience, accompanied by traditional music, is the most prominent in Skadarlija, the city’s old bohemian neighborhood where the poets and artists of Belgrade gathered in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Skadar Street and the surrounding neighborhood are lined with some of Belgrade’s best and oldest traditional restaurants. At one end of the neighborhood stands Belgrade’s oldest beer brewery, founded in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Topola and Oplenac
The hill of Oplenac, in the heart of the picturesque Sumadija region, is a foundation of the modern Serbian State. This is where the first rebellion against the Ottoman Empire took place 200 years ago when Serbia started building a modern State. On its peak, stands a unique monument of the Serbian cultural and historical heritage: the Church of Saint George. A white marbled five-domed mausoleum of the Karadjordjevic dynasty.

The Komorin monastery is a foundation of the Despot Stefan Lazarevic, built in 1408. Today this is an extremely well arranged convent. The monastery church is one-nave, plain building with kube (chapel), devoted to the Sacred Martyr and Archdeacon Stefan. Only the minor part of the frescoes is preserved, including the portrait of the Despot Stefan. The monastery was devastated many times, and it played very important role in the uprisings in the 1788 (Koca’s Uprising) and in 1804 (the First Serbian Uprising), by giving the sanctuary to the rebellions which provoked the Turks to burn it down. It was reconstructed in the 19th century. Near the monastery there is a spring of sacred water. In the 70’s of the past century, the relics of the Despot Stefan Lazarevic were discovered, which was the sensation because, until then, it was thought that he was buried in his main foundation – the Manasija monastery.

Vrnjacka Banja
One of the oldest and most beautiful spa centers in Serbia. Lies beneath the Goc Mountain. It is known for its numerous mineral springs used even in Roman times.

Kragujevac
Cultural, industrial and educational center of Sumadija region. From 1818 to 1839 Kragujevac was the capital of Serbia. It is known for its Zastava car factory the only car factory in Serbia. Weapons and hunting equipment are also produced in this factory.

Ljubostinja Monastery
Built at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th century in style of the Morava school. Endowment of Kneginja Milica, wife of Knez Lazar, Serbian ruler from the 14th century. She is buried in the nartex of the church.

The Manasija Monastery
Surrounded by colorful nature, lies on the hill upon the Resava River not far away from the little town Despotovac.

Endowment of Despot Stefan Lazarevic. Built between 1408 and 1417. First was named Resava upon the river that passes near the monastery. Church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and it was built in the style of the Morava school, with the elements of the Raska school. The monastery is surrounded by 11 defense towers connected with ramparts. Famous Serbian school of Resava copying and translating school was located in the monastery.