LES MONTAGNES SERBES

OD SRPSKIH PLANINA

VALJEVO, BRANKOVINA I POSETA ODGAJIVACU SARPLANINACA, SRETENU KOJICU

After the trip to Slavonia, I had a strong desire to visit the city of Valjevo and Brankovina. My mother’s maiden name was Nenadovic and in the description of her origins, she wrote that her ancestors migrated from the region of Valjevo to Banat during the great migration under Mr Arsenije Carnojevic. This information pushed me to search in the literature about the family Nenadovic and all the sources, and even Prota (archpriest) Mateja Nenadovic said in his memoirs that the Nenadovic are from Birac, in Montenegro. This village was destroyed by Turks and so its population has fled to Serbia. This is why the Nenadovic are of Serbian origin from the Banjani and Birac tribe or Birc near Niksic, which was once part of the Old Herzegovina. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Nenadovic were first settled in the town of Osecina, to pass to Brankovina around 1750. There is some confusion around the name Birac, as Birac exists in the region of Drina area from the side of Bosnia; it’s a plateau that is situated between Srebrenica and Vlasenica. If we take into account that the first great migration of Serbs began in 1690 and that the arrival of Nenadovic, in the region of Valjevo, is situated at the beginning of the 18th century, my opinion is that it is a later migration, maybe in 1813 when Jakov Nenadovic and other Nenadovic and a bigger number of Valjevo citizens from Serbia fled for the Turks towards Vojvodina. Jakov Nenadovic took refuge in the monastery Fenek, near the village Jakovo, 25 km from Belgrade. Valjevo is a very pleasant town, through which is passing the river Kolubara.

Krase ga nekoliko zgrada klasicnog stila kao sto su gimnazija, Hotel Grand.

There are some classic buildings like the Grand Hotel, the Museum and the gymnasium. In the city center, on the left bank of Kolubara river is the oldest building, built by the Turks in the late 18th century, Muselimov konak (house) which is now a historical and ethnographic museum dedicated to the period of first and second Serbian uprising. In the front of the House are the monuments (busts) of two well known "Knjaz" Aleksa Nenadovic and Ilija Bircanin, who were killed by the Turks in 1804 before the great Serbian uprising.

At the right side of the river Kolubara is the Tesnjar quarter, a well known quarter in the oriental style, characterized by narrow streets lined with small cafes and craft shops.

We also visited the Tower of Nenadovic, built in the 19th century, in 1813 and renewed in 1936. It was built by Voïvoda Jakov Nenadovic with the help of his son Jevrem. Jakov considered it was necessary to build this tower to store ammunition for the needs of the uprising. It is built on the edge of the hill Klicevac, not far from the center of Valjevo. When this tower was occupied by the Turks, it served as a severe prison. Today the tower is a monument of culture and history, under the protection of the state and one of the symbols of the city of Valjevo.

Near Valjevo there are several touristic attractions that we did not have time to visit, such as the cave of Petnica with archaeological finds, and Ribnicka, the monasteries Lelic, Celije, Jovanja, Pustinja, Dokmir, the church of Vaznesenja Gospodnjeg, the monuments in Voïvode of Zivojin Misic (an outstanding warrior who has participated in all the wars in which Serbia was driven between 1876 to 1918, and that is why he was promoted to the rank of Voïvoda “Duke”) and Desanka Maksimovic (the great Serbian poet) the mountains Povlen, Maljen and the well known place for picnicking in summer and winter, Divcibare. At the end of the afternoon, we headed towards Brankovina, beautiful village 11 km away from Valjevo. We visited the church Svetih Arhandjela (from Saints Archangels), the legacy of Prota Mateja Nenadovic, in these surroundings is also the old school. What impressed me the most, were the graves of most of famous Nenadovici, and also here was the monument of King Peter I Karadjordjevic because he is related with the family Nenadovic. His mother, Persida Nenadovic (1813-1873) was married to the youngest son of Karadjordje, Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic; she became princess and gave birth to ten children, and the 5th became King Peter I.

In the courtyard of the church we found the tombs, belonging to the following famous family members Nenadovic: - Voïvode Jakov Nenadovic (1765-1836) who was the commander of the districts from Valjevo, Sabac, Soko and Uzice, famous rebel, warrior and the Prime Minister of Internal Affairs. - Prota Mateja son of Aleksa Nenadovic (1777-1854), who in addition to his title of archpriest was one of the promoters of the great uprising, war commander, Voïvoda, diplomat, President of the "Praviteljstvujuci Sovjet" kind of parliament and government adviser . He wrote the famous Memoirs.

- Ljubomir-Nenadovic (1826-1895, son of Prota Mateja), well-known writer, translator, diplomat and minister of education.

A family tomb: - Mladen-Nenadovic (1834-1868, son of Voïvoda Jevrem, grand son of Voïvoda Nenadovic Jakov), captain of the cavalry - Sima Nenadovic (1838-1868, brother of Mladen) lieutenant in the Austrian cavalry. Mladen and Sima were sentenced to death, accused of participating a plot against the Prince Mihail Obrenovic in 1868. They were uncles of King Peter I Karadjordjevic. - Petar-Topalovic (1840-1891, son of Anka Nenadovic, the grand son of Voïvoda Jevrem).

- Voïvoda Simeon Nenadovic (1793-1815, son of Prince Aleksa, brother of Prota Mateja) He was killed in the battle against the Turks.

- Jelisaveta-Caja M. Nenadovic, born Barlovac (1845-1913, wife of Mladen Nenadovic, uncle of King Peter I Karadjordjevic.

In pedestal of one big monument we find again the name of Mladen Nenadovic and below the names of two of his sons: - Predrag-Nenadovic, died at young age (1863-1892) - Dr. Jakov-Jasa Nenadovic (1865-1915) Doctor of Laws, Chief of Staff of the King Peter I Karadjordjevic and diplomat.

This trip was pretty tiring, especially because we returned late in the evening and by stormy weather, and so the last day of the vacation of my cousin, we took the opportunity to do a small excursion to the town of Bjeljina in Serbian Republic. We left behind with the impression that this region is better arranged than at our side of the river Drina, that the roads are very good, that everything is renovated and sparkling clean. The rest of my stay, I spent at Koviljaca spa and it was dedicated to my spa therapy and it was rather boring, especially as the weather was bad. But, just before the end of my stay I had an enjoyable event: the family Vasic, Slavoljub and Marija, led me to visit Mr Sreten Kojic, Sarplaninci breeder in the village Jadranska Lesnica, just at the foot of Mont Cer.. The road was very bad. Our hosts welcomed us very warmly; they had plenty of space and plenty of Sarplaninci: three adult males, several females and a lot of puppies. I only took pictures of the males and the females who were still having their fur. The three males were recently exhibited at the exhibition of Loznica, the choice of the best was given to Herkul. I have preferred, for his construction and the head, the brother of Herkul, but he is characterized by a bit too short fur; he is a true athlete. All three have an excellent anatomy; they are very muscular, strong, agile and have a very strong character.

BARNI

HERKUL

FRERE DE HERKUL

I loved two females that I photographed, Mura and Bura, especially Mura, they are very correct and feminine with beautiful heads. Herkul and his brother are originating from Ljubomir Kekanovic dogs and the "favourite" of the family Kojic, Barni, is descending from dogs from Vujanski and Steva.

BURA

MURA

LES BEBES

My stay in Serbia ended in Belgrade where I have done with my cousin, a trip to Bela Crkva and by passing I saw Vrsacki Breg.