At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, with the establishment of a bourgeois class and their increased wealth, summer houses were added to many of the vineyards and were meant for family vacations. The areas around the houses were made into beautiful parks and woods, and fruit orchards were added to the vineyards.

On Plavinac, near Smederevo, prince Miloš bought a property with a vineyard in 1829, and on it he built a wine cellar. At the request of queen Natalija, in 1897 the modest one – story summerhouse of prince Mihajlo was added onto, and reconstructed into an opulent, for that time, summer court by the court architect Jovan Ilikić. All the members of the ruling Obrenović family stayed there, from prince Mihajlo to King Aleksander, when they visited the traditional grape harvest in ” The King Vineyard “.

The Obrenović family property, with its villa, woods and vineyards, covers an area of 36ha.

The medieval Church of the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God

The wall paintings were produced nearly two centuries after the church was built, and are dated as 16th and early 17th century.

The compositions on the west wall above the entrance are especially valued, as well as those on the arch of the west trave, which depict psalms 148 and 149.

The icons on the altar partition were done by Nikola Apostolović in 1808 and 1827. They are important for studying the art of the period of the Uprisings, considering that they were produced soon after Karađorđe liberated the cityfrom the Turks.

The grave of Dimitrije Davidović, the “father of Serbian journalism” , is located near the church.

Enormous quantities of stone necessary for the construction were dragged from ancient sites: Viminacium, Margum and Kulič, and Serbian medieval burial grounds were also sacrified. The Small Town The Court – was built within two years, triangular of shape, with six towers, the strongest of which is the Donjon tower.

A red brick inscription on the Despot’s tower that tells of the building of the town is preserved, inside the Court, facing the Danube, there was a reception hall - MAGNA SALA AUDIENTIAS, that is – with three Gothic bifores where medieaval court life took place. Along with it there was a room with a Romanic bifore designated for the ruling family. In the Small Town there was a famous centre for goldsmiths and transcription work, as well as a coin mint.

In the period from 1430 – 1439, THE LARGE TOWN – The Fortified Town – was erected in accordance with the triangular shape, taking up almost 11 hectares which puts the Smederevo Fortress among the largest European plain fortifications. Originally, the fortress was made for defence against cold steel weapons, but it was soon adapted for fire – arms warfare. In a longer, peaceful period from 1444 – 1453, the Large Town was raised with 19 towers, whose height was more than 20 meters. In this space there were The Court Church and The Church of the Annunciation with the holy remains of St Luke, who is also today the patron saint of the town. The Large Town became known as craft and trade centre in which also a colony from Dubrovnik did their trade. After the Turkish conquest of Smederevo in 1459, the Serbian mediaeval state ceased to exist.
In 1480 the Turks raised an outer defence wall around the fortress, and at the corners and at the entry into the Town four polygonal towers with gun openings.

The outer wall facing the town and the Turkish polygonal tower at the entry to the Town were pulled down when railway tracks were built in

In World War One, the Fortress was badly damaged. The last, largest destruction happened in an explosion of ammunition, on the 5th of June,1941.

The fortress is currently used as a city park, and occasionally hosts festivals, concerts, fairs, and other cultural events. A stage has been built in the small town. To the southeast, the previously open space along the Jezava now boasts a harbor and a marina. There are also discussions underway to determine compatible future, modernized uses, and to develop projects to restore and rehabilitate the fortress.

Presence of vines on Smederevo’ s area date from ancient history. Illyrian, Thracians and Celtic tribes were raising grapes in these areas before the arrival of Roman conquerors who forbid raising grapes in provinces on Balkan during the emperor Domician ( 56 – 96. A. D. ) . Marcus Aurelius Valerius Prob ( 276 – 282. ) abolished this prohibition and started, with soldiers from his legions to plant vines again on these areas. After the prohibition, numerous conquers and wars, viticulture and growing of Smederevka still keep the Smederevo’s tradition. Many people wrote about smederevo’ s grapes and wines but the name Smederevka as the name of the brand can be found in written sources from the 19th century. From 1879 merchants from European countries are buying wine from Smederevo and then selling it in Switzerland, France and other countries.

In 1882 on World Fair in Bordeaux, wines from Smederevo received significant recognition. Winegrowers from Smederevo still keep the tradition of growing Smederevka and still produce quality wines that can be tasted in their cellars.

Smederevo is located on the south coast of the Panonian see and on the north – east slopes of Šumadija hills. It is surrounded by the Danube in the north and by the Velika Morava in the east. This area is under the influence of mild continental climate, the average annual temperature is 11 – 12 C°. Dominant wind is Košava. The town consists of 27 rural and 11 urban local communities. The total area is 480,5 km2 and it has about 110000 inhabitants of which about 65000 live in the central town area.

 
TRAFFIC CONNECTIONS

Diversified town traffic net enables good connectivity of Smederevo with its road, railway and water lines. Smederevo is 45 km away from Belgrade. The town is connected to Belgrade and to the north of the country by its railway and to the south parts of the country through Mala Krsna. There is a highway that runs through Smederevo, it is 30 km long (exits are Vodanj, Kolari and Ralja).

 
TOWN HISTORY

Smederevo is one of the oldest settlements in the Serbian District Podunavlje. The settlement which was located on the current position of Smederevo was mentioned for the first time in 1019 in the charter of Byzantine emperor, Vasilije II, and the present name of Smederevo is mentioned in 1381 in the charter of Ravanica. In the 15th century Despot Đurađ Branković chose this very place on the Danube to be the capital of the Serbian state. In the period between 1428-1430  ” Mali grad “ was built as a rulers castle at the lower end of the river Jezava into the Danube, and then looking up to the Fortress of Carigrad the construction of ” Veliki grad “ on an area of 10,5 ha was continued in the period between 1430 – 1439. During the time of Despots reign Smederevo was the centre of political, economical and cultural life of Medieval Serbia. On November 8th 1805 Smederevo was liberated by uprising forces under Karađorđe Petrović. Nevertheless, Smederevo was completely liberated from Turkish rule in 1867 when the town keys were handed over to Knez Miloš Obrenović.
In the beginning of the 20th Smederevo s opulent agricultural area with significant production of fruits and vines with the famous ” Smederevo’s vineyard “, its excellent geographic position on the Danube and growing trade made the basis of its further development.

 
TOURISM OFFERS

If you are visiting Smederevo, don’ t miss the following tourist destinations and historical and cultural monuments :

 
SMEDEREVO’ s FORTRESS

Smederevo’ s Fortress is a Serbian capital from 15th century, the biggest plain fortress in Europe.
By order of Despot Đurađ Branković began in 1428, at the mouth of the rivers Jezava and Danube, at the very north of the country, the building of the Smederevo fortress, which became the seat of Serbian secular and clerical authorities of the time. Enormous quantities of stone necessary for the construction were dragged from ancient sites: Viminacium, Margum and Kulič, and Serbian medieval burial grounds were also sacrified.

 
MONUMENT OF VICTIMS OF TRAGEDY ON JUN 5th 1941.

The monument is near the Fortress and the Museum and reminds us on people killed in explosion of the ammunition in the Fortress.

 
MUSEUM IN SMEDEREVO

Learn about Smederevo’ s history from ancient times until today.

 
THE MAIN CITY SQUARE

Square represents the central part of the contemporary town fabric of Smederevo. With its historical continuity, triangular urban form and representative heritage, it shows the identity of the town itself and together with the Fortress expresses its recognizable profile.
It was established in the first half of the 19th century, aftre the Second Serbian uprising, on the place where the Big Market conected the Serbian and Turkish part of the town.

 
MONUMENT OF FALLEN SOLDIERS IN FIRST WORLD WAR 1914 – 1918

The monument is near the Orthodox temple of St. George on city square.

 
ORTHODOX TEMPLE OF St. GEORGE

1850 – 1854, the third biggest temple In Serbia, built as a Monastery Manasija.

 
COMMUNITY COURT BUILDING

The building of the former Regional Prefecture, today the Regional Court, is one of the greatest accomplishments of the renowned Serbian architect Aleksandar Burgarski who also projected the National Theatre and the King’ s Court buildings in Belgrade. It was raised between 1886 and 1888. It has stylistic characteristics of the academism at that time was dominating, with elements of Neorenaissance and Neoclassicsm. The characteristic thing about this building is the use of metal pillars in the interior as a new construction option in architectural work.
It was among the first public buildings in Serbia on which the newly – established state coat – of -arms was placed : a two – headed eagle with a shield with a cross and four tinders on its chest – which from the Second World War and to 2005 was substituted by a five – pointed star.

 
FORMER COMMUNITY HOUSE BUILDING

Building is built in 1926, wiork of the Russian architect Nikola Krasnov represents valuable architectural achievement.

 
HIGH SCHOOL GYMNASIUM

 The High School in Smederevo was established in 1871, but did not move into the building of the elementary school – which was raised in 1904 according to a project by the architect Milorad Ruvidić – till after the First World War. This building was given its current look, through the building of annexes and adaption in 1933 / 34, and has a ground plan in the form of the Cyrilic letter for ‘p’ ( П ).

” ASSUMPTION OF HOLY MOTHER OF GOD”  CHURCH

The curch is built in 15th century, is on Smederevo’ s old cemetery, and it is believed that it was the family tomb and the church of despot Đurađ Branković.

KARAĐORĐE’ S MULBERRY TREE

Karađorđe’ s mulberry tree is authentic monument from the First Serbian  uprising under which Turkish commander Dizdar Muharem Guša gave the keys of the city to Lord Karađorđe Petrović in November 8th 1805.