Karling klub Vukovi

The first of the two excursions scheduled for June 2018 was carried out on Sunday, June 10th – this time the NUSANTARA Association of Serbian-Indonesian Friendship travelled to Brankovina and Valjevo.

In the serene Brankovina, homeland of the illustrious Nenadović lineage, „an hour and a half walk“ far from Valjevo, as Prota Mateja was accustomed to putting it, the excursionists toured this village, known as well as „the village imbued with history“. They visited the church of Brankovina, which represents a poignant example of this people’s persistence – Turks destroyed and burnt it seven times, and seven times it was rebuilt. The church of Holy Archangels, completed in 1830, is Prota Mateja’s endowment. Its builders were Aleksa and Đura Gođevac. It contains a rich and valuable collection of church artefacts, relics, theological works and historical documents dating from the 18 and 19th centuries, which visitors saw by themselves.

On the churchyard, next to the church, there are about 20 graves and tombs dating from the 19 and 20th centuries, also visited by the excursionists. Plenty of members of the heroic Nenadović lineage were buried here. Not at all surprising – when it is about Brankovina, it is about the Nenadović.

Brankovina is a unique cultural and historical complex, molded by the nature and divided by a bridge into two areas. In the unique surroundings, imbued with historical and cultural heritage, members of the NUSANTARA Association of Serbian-Indonesian Friendship visited the Nenadović hut, old courthouse, as well as the old school dating from 1838 – first public school built in Brankovina erected after the sultan’s bill, issued in 1830. The old school is also known as the Priest’s House, as its establishment was Prota Mateja Nenadović’s merit. Today, it represents a museum demonstrating the development of schooling in those times.

The new school building, where the greatest Serbian poetess Desanka Maksimović initiated her schooling, was built in 1894 and renewed in 1985. In the New or Desanka’s school NUSANTARA saw a permanent exhibition dedicated to the life and opus of the poetess: her personal belongings, jewellery, favourite books … The tour is followed by an audio recording, in which Desanka herself reads her own verses and tells experiences of her own life.

NUSANTARA also visited her grave in Brankovina – according to her own wish, Desanka was buried in the greenery of Brankovina, side by side with her husband Sergije Slastikov Kalužanin.

The road further led from Brankovina to Kličevac, Northern suburb of Valjevo, where members of the NUSANTARA Association of Serbian-Indonesian Friendship visited the Nenadović Tower. Within the Tower, erected in 1813 by duke Jakov Nenadović, younger brother of obor prince Aleksa Nenadović, a promotional film about the history of the building was played for them. Nowadays, it is a cultural and historical monument, protected under state, with a permanent museum exhibition, and one of the landmarks of the city of Valjevo.

NUSANTARA also visited the National Museum Valjevo and Muselim’s house – the oldest preserved building in Valjevo, erected in the 18th century. Since the time it was built, the Muselim’s house has had a sombre reputation because of its basement containing a dungeon – in January 1804, obor princes Aleksa Nenadović and Ilija Birčanin from Valjevo were imprisoned there. Members of the NUSANTARA Association of Serbian-Indonesian Friendship had an opportunity to feel at least just for a moment the ambiance of an Ottoman dungeon and recall the names and identity of the first victims of the „Serbian Revolution“ – event known in history as the „Execution of the Dukes“ was a direct reason for the outbreak of the First Serbian Uprising.

After a lunch break, which gave members of the NUSANTARA Association of Serbian-Indonesian Friendship a chance to spend it as they pleased, the road led from Valjevo to the Ćelije monastery, dedicated to St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel. King Dragutin’s endowment according to a legend, Ćelije has been reputed as the place where Father Ava Justin lived as a monk and clergyman since 1948 till the end of his earthly life in 1979. The monastery is also reputed as the place holding the grave of Ilija Birčanin, renowned duke of the Valjevo region, whose beheaded body was buried up North the altar of the church in 1804.

Once again, the excursionists were given a choice of spending the Sunday’s afternoon either at the monastery or in the nearby ethno village „Skok po skok“.

It has already been turned into one of NUSANTARA’s traditions that the author of these lines gives members of the NUSANTARA Association of Serbian-Indonesian Friendship lectures related to certain places or landmarks toured by NUSANTARA each month. This time the subject was „the uncrowned dynasty“ – the Nenadović dynasty.

Biljana Đorđević