"Despotovac, Manasija – Memory of Despot... " a Despotovac Travel Page by Zvrlj

Despotovac is a town of about 5.000 inhabitants, located in east part of central Serbia. The name Despotovac is derived from the word "despot", a title of Serbian medieval prince Stefan Lazarevic who had founded Manasija Monastery, cultural centre of the Serbia during the 15th and 16th centuries. Despotovac had been mentioned for the first time in 1381 as the village Voinci (Vojnik), which, literally translated, means "soldier". It existed as Vojnik until June 17th 1882 when, by decree of king Milan Obrenovic, village had changed its name to Despotovac as a memory of prince Stefan Lazarevic, and had become the town.

Nowadays the town itself is a bit "off the beaten path", considering the fact that the main tourist attractions – Manasija Monastery, and beauties of nature Resava cave and waterfall Veliki Buk are out of it.