Get to know “rebellious Serbia” and it’s path of establishing modern state while visiting Oplenac, The Mausoleum of The Serbian Royal Dynasty of Karadjordjevic.
Djordje Petrovic – established Karadjordjevic Dynasty
Djordje Petrovic – Karadjordje or ”Black George”, led the First Serbian Uprising against the Turks in 1804. and established the Serbian Royal Dynasty of Karadjordjevic. In 1787. after killing a Turk, he fled to Habsburg Austria to join the army. At the end of the Austro-Turkish war in 1791. he returned to Serbia to settle in Topola. He was elected as a leader of the Serb insurgents at Orasac in February 1804. and quickly instigated the events that led to the First National Uprising. Djordje Petrovic was killed in 1817. by the command of Milos Obrenovic. Milos was leader of the Second National Uprising and founder of a dynasty that would become rival to Karadjordje’s. The Obrenović dynasty ruled Serbia from 1815. to 1842.
Wine Cellar at the Oplenac Complex
Topola served as Karadjordje campaign headquarters during the First National Uprising. His remains are still there in the Byzantine-style church that was built for him.Oplenac hill complex visited sites on the tour : King Peter’s House with thematic exhibitions dedicated to the Karadjordjevic Royal Family. Exhibitions includes numerous relics and symbols of artistic and material value. Church of St. George is the mausoleum of the Serbian and Yugoslav Royal house of Karadjorđević. Decorated entirely with spectacular mosaics, church is sort of a museum of reproductions of the most beautiful frescoes of the medieval Serbian art. Royal wine cellar – on the hills of Oplenac, where King Peter I planted vineyards, from which they made superb wine. Wine from this region was well known for it’s quality among major European royal courts. Karadjordje’s konak, once fortified residence of Djordje Petrovic – Karadjorđe during First Serbian Uprising (1804.) now stands as a museum dedicated to him.