Vrnjacka Banja

History of Vrnjacka Banja resort

The curative properties of water from local mineral springs have been known for almost two thousand years. In the II century A.D., Roman legionnaires noticed the healing properties of hot water beating from the ground and built a sanctuary and a bathhouse on the place of the spring. This bathhouse was used by warriors and the Roman nobility until the IV century, after which the springs were forgotten for a long time. By the way, the most popular spring of Vrnjacka Banja, "Topla Voda", is called the Roman spring. Numerous archeological finds testify to the Roman past of the resort: ruins of pools and pavilions, Roman coins, various household items.

Resort reboot began in the 30s of XIX century and ended in the late 60s of the same century. It began with Prince Milos Obrenovic's decree in 1835 to turn Vrnjacka Banja, which two years ago became part of the Principality of Serbia, into a resort of the same quality and comfort as the Czech Karlovy Vary. In the same year, Baron Herder began to implement the decree, under his leadership, the first study of the chemical composition of the water was carried out, and the construction of baths began. The official opening date of the resort was July 1, 1868, when the "Society of Acid-Hot Water" was founded in nearby Krusevac and in July 1869 the first tourist season in Vrnjacka Banja was opened.

Attractions and Events of Vrnjacka Banja resort

Bridge of Love

Bridge of Love or Most Ljubavi - a pedestrian bridge, where the tradition of hanging "castles of love" on the railing of bridges, trees, fences and other structures was born. The Bridge of Love is probably the most popular of the resort's 15 bridges, its railings are covered with a layer of several hundred locks with the names of lovers. While throughout Europe, the fashion for "locks of love" went on after the publication of the book "Want You" by Italian author Federico Moccia in 2006 and its film adaptation in 2007, the Love Bridge in Vrnjacka Banja has been doing it since the First World War. According to the urban legend, the teacher Nada and Serbian officer Relja fell in love with each other, got married, but Relja went to war met another woman in Greece and broke off the engagement. Such a blow Nada could not stand and died of unhappy love, and the women of Vrnjacka Banja after that began to write down their names and the names of their second halves on locks and fasten them on the railing of the bridge, which served as a meeting place for Nada and Relja.

Belimarkovic Castle

Not far from the central city park is a three-storey villa castle, built between 1882 and 1887 for Serbian general Jovan Belimarkovic. The palace was built of white marble in the style of romantic historicism with inclusions of Renaissance elements. Nowadays, the villa is known in the city as the "Palace of Culture" ("Zamak kulture"), there is a museum with a large number of exhibition halls. There is a small permanent exhibition dedicated to the history of the resort, the other halls hold various lectures, temporary exhibitions of contemporary artists, concerts, chamber music evenings, there is a cinema and an amphitheater for 1500 seats.

Annually, the cultural center of the city hosts an event called "Vrnjacka kulturna svečanost" ("Vrnjacka cultural festivals") for 100 days covering the whole summer. The program of this long festival includes: international festival of classical music, literary readings, theater performances, fine arts festival, screenplay festival and other cultural events.

Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God

The church is the same age as the modern resort - the archpriest of the Serbian Orthodox Church consecrated it in 1834, and he remained the rector of the church for the first 47 years of its existence. The church was rebuilt in 1936 and 1973. Particular attention should be paid to the ancient mosaic above the front door, dedicated to the Birth of the Virgin. You can also visit the new beautiful and bright temple of the Lifebearing Source of the Blessed Virgin Mary, founded in the year 2014.

Medieval monasteries

There are a lot of monasteries in the vicinity of Vrnjacka Banja, there are fewer ancient and interesting for tourists, but also enough for a few weeks of travel and trips around the area. We are not going to tell you about each of them separately, we are going to list the most interesting ones in our opinion. All the monasteries listed below (except for the monasteries of Manasija and Ravanica - an hour and a half to two hours) are within half an hour drive from the center of the resort Vrnjacka Banja.

Monastery Zica of the XIII century, nowadays a functioning female monastery, called the Royal Lavra, it is the first courtyard of the Serbian Archbishop. Sopocani – is another monastery built in XIII century, founded as a mausoleum of the king and his family.The frescoes of Sopocan around 1265 years, which illustrate various biblical stories (Communion of the Apostles, Dormition of the Mother of God, Proverbs of Righteous Joseph, etc.), are a wonderful example of Byzantine art, but they have been preserved in good condition. The monastery is also active. Men's monastery Studenica was founded in the year 1190 and is one of the largest and most richly decorated Orthodox monasteries in Serbia. Outside the walls of the monastery are two churches of white marble, and the most interesting are the Byzantine frescoes, which were painted on the walls of the monastery at the turn of XIII and XIV centuries. We also recommend visiting the monastery Ljubostinja of the XIV century, made in Moravian style; the well-preserved church-fortress Manasija of the XV century; the founder of the Moravian architectural style - monastery Ravanica of the XIV century and the oldest monastery St. Roman of the IX century.

Music festival Lovefest

The festival of electronic music is held annually in early August, first organized in the year 2007. Everything began as an initiative of a group of Serbian young guys, who managed to get several famous performers to the festival. Every year, the number of visitors to the festival increased, until the year of 2017, when it exceeded the level of 100,000 guests! Fans of electronic music come to the scenes in the park near the spring "Jezero" for performances of the best DJs in the world, among the previously performed here stars can be distinguished widely known in a narrow circle of artists: Eric Prydz, Mark Knight, James Zabiela, Joris Voorn, Svan Vath, Carl Craig, Robert Hood, Loco Dice, Maceo Plex, Green Velvet, Pan-Pot.