This is a story of courage.
What chance did the little boy, born in the darkest time of Turkish rule in Serbia, have in the small village of Trsic? A boy whose siblings died in succession before he was born?
His parents named him Vuk (Wolf), because it was believed that ghosts and witches would not dare attack a wolf.
What chance did a young man have, a man whose one leg remained unusable and he had to use crutches to move for the rest of his life?
Not only did this young man reach a deep age (he died in Vienna in 1864, at the age of 78), he also managed to lay the foundations of modern Serbian, unite his people, place Serbia’s name high on the cultural map of Europe and became one of the greatest Serbs in history.
His name is Vuk Karadzic, and he is the greatest serbian philologist, language reformer, collector of folk art pieces and the author of the first dictionary of the serbian language.
His native village of Trsic, burned to the ground by the Turks centuries ago, is probably one of the most beautiful places in Serbia today, and beyond. Wooden houses, watermills and other objects surrounded by endless greenery will make you think that you are, literally, in paradise.
The nature here is lush, rich and generous, and at the end of the complex dedicated to Vuk is the house where he was born: a small, wooden, unsightly house preserved as it was more than two centuries ago.
As we stroll through this beautiful area, perfectly clean and perfectly decorated, we hardly notice the restaurants waiting for tourists in the shade of centuries-old trees.
The air here is perfect, the water is the purest you have ever seen, and human smiles are warm and sincere. It seems as if this whole complex remained trapped in Vuk’s time, when these things were normal.
We think aloud of the fact that it was here that a man who reformed the Serbian language came into existence and created one of the most perfect languages in the world, who wrote innumerable pearls of the oral folk literature of Serbs and abducted thousands and thousands of verses and passages of priceless folk from oblivion. goods.
The most important event in honor of Vuk, which is held here every year, is Vuk’s Council, first held in 1933, when the whole of this complex was erected in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, as the first outdoor museum in the country.
In addition to Vuk’s birthplace, there are 34 other objects, such as various houses, sculptures, watermills, barns, a church, shops… There is a Museum of Language and Letters, Writers’ House, Workshop for Old Crafts, as well as apartments for accommodating guests who they come here, as well as the inevitable souvenir shops…
Trsic, perhaps the most beautiful place in all of Serbia. And certainly the most important for the history of this people, which is divided into the one before and after Vuk Karadzic.
This text is part of the project “Seven Wonders of Miracles” and co-financed by the City of Loznica.
(Come to Serbia)