Excursion SmartArt 2021
On the third day of the conference, a visit to the Manasija Monastery and the Royal Mausoleum in Oplenac is organized. The Manasija Monastery, built at the beginning of the fifteenth century, is the most significant monument of the last flowering of culture and art of the Serbian medieval state. Despot Stefan Lazarević built the monastery as his royal endowment and mausoleum, gathering on that occasion the most important artists of the region who participated in its construction and painting. Hidden in the hills of the Kuchaj Mountains, surrounded by walls with eleven magnificent towers, it was a spiritual refuge in whose scriptorium books were written and transcribed. This most beautiful offshoot of Serbian culture painted the autumn of the Middle Ages in the Balkans with lapis and gold, which still shimmer from the magnificent frescoes of the monastery church of the Holy Trinity.
Karadjordje’s residence in Topola and the Royal Mausoleum in Oplenac provide a picture of the efforts to liberate the Serbian state after centuries of subordination to the Ottoman Empire, and to establish the descendants of the people’s leader Karadjordje who led the First Serbian Uprising as the bearers of the Serbian and later Yugoslav state. In the complex formed on the top of a conical hill from where there is a view of the vineyards and the lovely expanse of Šumadija, the church of St. George stands out, built of marble, decorated with mosaics, in which members of the ruling Karadjordjevic dynasty found their eternal rest.
At the end of the day, we will visit one of the many local wineries that produce the highest quality wines from „Serbian Tuscany“, where the wine began to be grown in the time of the ancient Romans. Here we will have the opportunity to taste a couple of selected varieties of wine, some of the over 700 varieties in Serbia.
Tourist guide and organizer
Dr. Milan Prosen
Excursion program
| 08:30 | Studentski trg – gathering |
| 09:00 | Departure to Manasija |
| 10:30–12:00 | Manasija Monastery |
| 12:00–13:30 | Drive to Topola |
| 13:30 | Sightseeing tour of Karađorđe’s complex in Topola |
| 14:30–15:30 | Oplenac sightseeing tour |
| 16:00–17:30 | Visit to the Aleksandrović winery |
| 19:00 | Arrival to Belgrade |
