UZICE SERBIA

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• Uzice Serbia is hiding first hydroelectric power plant build in the world located on river Djetinja situated at the bottom of the Užice Old Town, it was made in 1900 and is one of the symbols of the town of Užice. It was the first electrical plant made according to Tesla’s principles of an alternating current in Serbia, just one year after the first of its kind was built on the river Niagara in America.

  For its Hundredth Annual, the water plant has been renovated and on the day of Holy Elias in 2000 it was repaired to work again. The old machines by Siemens can make electricity again. In this beautiful building now there is the Technical Museum.

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• The remains of the Old Town lie on the rocky cliff, which separates the river bed of the Djetinja at the place where it flows out of the gorge into the tame valley .The fortification was built on a high cliff, rather difficult of access, which is surrounded by the river Djetinja on all three sides. The road, linking Bosnia to Serbia, could be monitored and defended from the fortress. Over the centuries, the position of the town caused admiration among the travellers and unexpected guests passing by its ramparts.

  The first reliable sources about the fortress of Uzice date back to the middle of the 14th century.

Then it was the property of the feudal family Vojinovic, and from 1366. to 1373. it belonged to Nikola Altomanovic. A historian from Dubrovnik Mavro Obrini mentions Uzice in his description of the events about the conflict of the prince Lazar and king Tvrtko with Nikola Altomanovic, who was captured, imprisoned and made blind in the fortress on that occasion, in the summer of 1373.

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• The old church in Uzice is situated in the town centre , in the part of the town known as Carina . The church was mentioned for the first time in the third decade of the 18th century as a small church-wattle house, built in the style of wooden churches and located in the Serbian part of the town .. Feliks Kanic mentions Marko’s church in Uzice which is said to have been built in 1928, in the “bondruk” style, with steep and high roof, covered with shingles, with a small wooden tower on the west side. A wooden bell-tower, 22 m, high, was built next to the church. By its harmonious forms and beauty it is unique in Serbia. The church contains precious icons and numerous valuables and relics, including the parts of the old iconostasis, the work of the iconographer Simeon Lazarevic.

The icons were made in 1851, probably by Dimitrije Posnikovic. The church contains a collection of engravings made from the 17th to 19th century, as well as the works of applied art and those made by Uzice coppersmiths.

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• At the initiative of well-off merchants and distinguished citizens of Uzice , the main church , dedicated to St. George was built from 1842-1844.It is situated in the town centre, not far from the Grammar school . The iconostasis and the frescoes were made between 1851. and 1856. by the painters Dimitrije Posnikovic and Milija Markovic. The church used to have three bell-towers of which two have been preserved. One of the preserved towers was a gift of prince Alexander Karadjordjevic to the town. The missing bell is the one taken by the Austrians in World War I. In 1859. the first public clock was placed on the church tower.

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• Jokanovica Kuca was the property of the one of the richest merchant families of Užice in the second half of XIX century- the Jokanovics family. It is also known under the name “peccara” (The Jokanovics family traded, besides other things, with wine and brandy and owned a couple of inns in Užice). This house is one of the rare representative houses from XIX century, not only in Užice but wider as well. Due to its emphasized ethnography characteristics, the building has been declared a national cultural heritage.

  Jokanovica Kuca is in the very center of the town, next to the City Art gallery. There is a museum exhibition of ambient character under the title:”City House in Užice in the XIX and the beginning of XX century”. Within this exhibition it is able to be seen the total transformation of Užice from the oriental settlement “sheher” into the Serbian small town.

The exhibition consists of three ambient parts (three interiors): the first one, so-called “Oriental Room” where you can see the way citizen of Užice lived in XIX century. “Maiden’s – City Room” shows the beginning of the new “Serbian” time, when after the liberation against the Turks, Serbian craftsmen and merchants needed more comfortable things and flats, European suits, jewelry etc.

The saloon of the town house from the end of XIX and the beginning of XX century depicts time when in Užice started distinctive separation of rich class people, the merchants, who wanted to show their wealth by living under luxurious conditions.

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• National Museum in Uzice Serbia presents monument that was since the day it was founded placed in two separate buildings, built just before the Second World War for the needs of National Bank. In these buildings, in the autumn of 1941 the general headquarters of NOPOJ and the Central Committee of KPJ were placed there, and underground, in the rooms of so- called “Trezor” (vaults), was the public shelter and partisan ammunition and arms factory.

  Museum was founded in 1947 and the activities were based on collecting and studying material significant for cultural and political history of the town and surrounding.

Today there are about 70.000 musicological units in the collections and depots of this museum. The buildings of national Museum are under protection of the government as an estate of cultural significance. The visitors can see two permanent museum exhibitions and the Legacy of the painter Mihailo Milovanovic, and from time to time there are interesting thematic exhibitions. The Display of Museum of Uprising of 1941 scopes the period from March 1941 in Yugoslavia till the fall of Republic of Uzice. The permanent exhibition Uzice Foundation and Development includes period since pre- history up to the modern times.

Legacy of the painter Mihailo Milovanovic, the first academy painter from Uzice, includes 15 paintings (oil on canvas), photographs, documents, medals and the parts of the home furniture from the heritage of the Milovanovics family. For this Legacy, national Museum Uzice was awarded the greatest museum award – prize Mihailo Valtrovic.

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• When in 1938. the construction of a larger school edifice began, that was the first indication of more serious interest of Uzice craftsmen and merchants for the advancement of education in the town. The two-year semi-grammar school worked for three years only, as it was moved to Cacak by a decree of September 15th 1842.

  For the following twenty-three years the citizens of Uzice had to fight for the reopening of the grammar school until June 19th 1865, when the decree on the opening of the two-year Grammar school was revised. The first grade enrolled in the school year 1865/1866. The period from 1862 to 1880 meant “the golden age ” for Uzice , which certainly influenced the decision of the minister of education to turn the two- year grammar school in Uzice into Semi-grammar school. As soon as 1881. it became the complete Grammar school.

Ljubomir Stojanovic, a statesman, politician and philologist, Ljuba Davidovic, the minister of education and prime minister, Nastas Petrovic, one of the leaders of the National radical party, the sculptor Simeon Roksandic and writer Milos Petrovic, Dragisa M. Djuric, the professor of Belgrade university and many others taught at the Grammar school in Uzice.

The building of the Grammar school was constructed in the style of academic realism- academism.

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• The beach on the Djetinja below the Old Town is an area of exquisite beauty. It is at the same time a promenade and a path of health. This place is an oasis of happiness and enjoyment in the very heart of the town. In summer time this is very popular swimming area.

  Since August 1993, competition in jumping from the old railway bridge above the beach, by the Hydroelectric Powerplant, has been organised.

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• Partisan square takes the central place in the town. The architectural solution of the town square as a unique and exceptional scenic area fits perfectly into the need of the citizens to have the place of the most diverse- cultural, amusement and political gatherings .

  Starting with the Theatre and the Library on the front, the square, by its full width, descends by means of several levels towards the main street and extends to the hotel “Zlatibor ” .

  Scenic performances takes place on the square, but it is also a favourite place of get- togethers of all generations.