BRANKOVINA

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BY UNKNOWN AUTHOR, WEB MASTER: PAVLOVIC BRANKO ( OCTOBER 1996 )

TWELVE KILOMETRES SOUTHWEST OF VALJEVO LIES BRANKOVINA , A VILLAGE

WELL KNOWN FOR ITS CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS. IT WAS NOT

ONLY A CENTRE OF THE SERBIAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT AND AN IMPORTANT

CENTRE OF LITERACY, EDUCATION AND ART IN THE 19th CENTURY, BUT ALSO

THE BIRTHPLACE OF MANY DISTINGUISHED PERSONALITIES OF SERBIAN

HISTORY AND LITERATURE: THE LOCAL LEADER ALEKSA NENADOVIC , FATHER

MATEJA , THE WELL KNOWN INSURGENT , DIPLOMAT AND WRITER , THE ARMY

LEADERS JAKOV , SIMA AND JEVREM NENADOVIC , THE WRITER LJUBOMIR

NENADOVIC , THE ARTIST HADZI RUVIM , THE PAINTER AND ARMY LEADER

PETAR MOLER. CLOSELY LINKED WITH BRANKOVINA IS ALSO THE NAME OF THE

GREATEST YUGOSLAV 20th CENTURY POETESS DESANKA MAKSIMOVIC WHO

SPENT A PART OF HER CHILDHOOD AND BEGAN SCHOOL IN THIS VILLAGE.

HOWEVER, BRANKOVINA HAS NOT ONLY ITS POLITICAL , MILITARY AND

CULTURAL HISTORY WITH ITS NAME RECORDED IN BOOKS ON THE SERBIAN

PAST, IT IS ALSO VERY VIVIDLY PRESENT AND PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART

IN THE NATIONAL CULTURE OF TODAY. TODAY BRANKOVINA IS A SYNONYM

FOR THE MONUMENT COMPLEX WHICH UNITES THE HISTORICAL, LITERARY,

ETHNOLOGICAL, ARTISITIC AND ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND OFFERS

IMMEDIATE CONTACT WITH THE PAST AND THE CULTURE OF THE WHOLE

NATION. INCLUDED IN THE MONUMENT COMPLEX BRANKOVINA ARE THE

GRAVES AND TOMBS OF NENADOVICS FAMILY, THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY

ARCKANGELS BUILT 1829, THE SCHOOL BUILT BY FATHER MATEJA

NENADOVIC IN 1834, THE DESANKA MAKSIMOVIC SCHOOL DATING FROM

1894, THE COTTAGE OF LJUBA NENADOVIC, A 19th CENTURY COURTHOUSE