"Kragujevac, the Cradle of Modern Serbia " a Kragujevac Travel Page by Zvrlj

Kragujevac is the city of about 200.000 people, in central Serbia, Sumadija region. It is on the river Lepenica, "small, but important river" – it was written in some schoolbook I used in primary school, about 25 years ago. That sentence makes my friends from Belgrade and other places laugh, but, if you call it river, Lepenica IS one of the quickest in Serbia.

The oldest known script about the city is from 1476, but, according to some theories, settlement Kragujevac dates back to 6th century, at the time of arrival of Slavic tribes to Balkan.

The first half of the 19th century was the most important period in history of Kragujevac. It was the capital of modern Serbia from 1818 until 1841. At that time important cultural and social institutions were established: the first high school, the first theatre, the first newspaper, lycce, printing house, library, hospital, court etc. Many famous Serbs, such as: Vuk Karadzic, Dimitrije Davidovic, Joakim Vujic, Sima Milutinovic – Sarajlija, Milovan Vidakovic... lived in Kragujevac during that period.

Since the second half of 19th century Kragujevac developed in strong industrial city, and it remains that till the late 20th century and wars on the territory of former Yugoslavia. During the 90s it was often called "valley of hunger". In past several years that has changed and nowadays Kragujevac is considered to be the most prosperous Serbian city south of Belgrade. And it is the place of the great, hospitable people and one where visitors would have a great time.