|
Geographically, Mt. Rudnik is the first mountain south of the Carpathians, and is located some 100 kilometres or so from Belgrade. In terms of tourism, Mt. Rudnik is potentially one of Serbia’s major tourist industry prospects given its natural features and cultural heritage!
The highest point on Mt. Rudnik is Veliki Šturac, reaching 1,132 metres above sea level, which is one of eight other peaks that rise above 1000 metres.
Mt. Rudnik is Šumadija’s hydrographic hub, the divide between the Velika Morava River, Zapadna Morava River and Kolubara River systems. The Jasenica River (a tributary of the Velika Morava River) demarcates the mountain in the north, the sources of the Despotovica River (a tributary of the Zapadna Morava River) to the west and the Gruža River (a tributary of the Zapadna Morava River) in the south and southeast. In other words, the area around Mt. Rudnik is the source of the largest rivers of Šumadija. In addition to these rivers, other notable rivers include Lepenica River (a tributary of the Velika Morava River) and the Ljig River (a tributary of the Kolubara River). The abundance of water could be used in a number of ways, from agriculture to the tourist industry.
 The nearby town of Rudnik, named after the mountain, serves as the region’s cultural and administrative centre, and long ago it was at the heart of dynamic mining activity that predates the arrival of the Slavs. Before the Romans, the region was inhabited by Illyrians and Celts. Rudnik, however, was much better known for its archaeological finds dating back to the classical period. It is believed that Rudnik was the centre of Roman mining activity in the region. Archaeological research reveals that Rudnik was the site of a large Roman settlement, which included a mint. Later, Serbian rulers and feudal lords struggled to control Rudnik. The dinar minted by King Dragutin at Rudnik was the first Serbian dinar with Cyrillic inscription. This is also where the city of Dubrovnik, as well as Saxons, had settlements in the 14th century. However, following the fall of Novo Brdo in 1441, Rudnik assumed special importance.
Lord Karadjordje’s insurgents liberated the region from the Turks, and to this day the legend of the infamous Salih-aga is recounted; this tyrant and bully whom locals had nicknamed Rudnik Bull fled before the liberators disguised as a woman. In the throes of a terrible fear, Salih-aga forgot about his ten-year-old son. When the child was brought before Lord Karadjordje, the latter gave him a 100 para coin and ordered that he be returned to his father. Karadjordje’s horsemen gave chase and caught up with the fleeing Salih-aga near the city of Čačak, where they duly returned the boy to his father.
The wealth of history about Mt. Rudnik is perhaps best supported by the large number of monasteries located in the mountain’s foothill: Vraćevšnica, Voljavča, Blagoveštenje, Nikolje. The Vraćevšnica Monastery was built in 1428 by Radič Postupović, popularly known as Oblačić Rade. He promised his patron saint – St. George – that if he returned alive from the Battle of Kosovo he would build a temple. Since that time, the monastery has been a living spring of Serbian spirituality. The monastery has been torched and pillaged on a number of occasions, but was restored to life with ever-greater splendour every time.
The monastery church was last painted in 1737 by fresco-painter Andrija Andrejević and his brothers. The church is covered in wall paintings from top to bottom, the most beautiful being the ceiling fresco depicting the Holy Trinity with the assembly of angels. The church’s iconostasis with the Holy Doors dates to 1754, except the four main flanking icons donated by Prince Miloš Obrenović, as confirmed by a record that says they were made in Kragujevac in 1824.
 An assembly convened by Lord Karadjordje, at which the conclusions of the Treaty of Bucharest were read aloud, was held at the Vraćevšnica Monastery in 1812. The assembly was attended by Consul Ivelić, the envoy of Russian Emperor Alexander I on whose behalf he received an oath of loyalty from the Serbian people and in whose name he presented decorations to the leaders, a proceeding that was done over the relics of Holy King Stefan the First-Crowned. Karadjordje received the Order of St. Anna with a broad ribbon and the others a lower class of the same Order.
On Palm Sunday 1815, Vraćevšnica Monastery Abbot Melentije Pavlović served the divine liturgy during the night, administered communion to Prince Miloš and the insurgents, who then proceeded to Takovo where the people awaited them outside the church. By the famous Takovski Grm (a giant tree), Prince Miloš called on the people to rebel and those who rallied there swore an allegiance to the Prince under the cross-bearing banner held by Melentije Pavlović. This was also where Prince Miloš later buried his mother Višnja and his great friend Melentije Pavlović, the first Metropolitan of liberated Serbia.
Today, as visitors pass through the monastery gates, they enter quite another world. A kind nuns offers a traditional serving – fruit preserve, cold water, coffee and brandy. Even for those not overly interested in cultural and historical heritage, the Vraćevšnica Monastery is worth visiting for its almost surreal calm, a rare tranquility that is beneficial for the mind, body and soul, even if only for a short while. Also, if you approach the mountain from its southern side, you may want to visit the monasteries Voljavča, Nikolje and Blagoveštenje.
Velizar Miljković, a surveyor from Jarmenovci, a hunter and Mt. Rudnik enthusiast, a man brimming with optimism that he radiates unsparingly to everyone around him, dispelled the impression that Mt. Rudnik, like many other places in Serbia, has a surplus of history and a shortage of vision. Not only does Miljković have vision and ideas on how to go about developing tourism on Mt. Rudnik, but he also has concrete plans:
 – The project worked out by CIP implies building cableways in three stages. In winter, they would carry skiers, while outside the winter season, tourists from Rudnik would visit the tallest peaks of this mountain where they will find a variety of services awaiting them, ranging from restaurants with traditional cuisine to ethno villages. The cableways would also carry hunters because we are in the process of renewing game resources, building shooting stands and hunting lodges. At present, the Neda-Zamid Hotel on Mr. Rudnik is operational, and it will soon be vacated of refugees from Croatia who will be given newly-built apartments – as is the Karadjordje Hotel at Jarmenovci, which will be privatised through a tender. We expect to receive 1.3 million euros from the National Investment Plan, a sum that will suffice for starters, and later private investors will also appear... – says the energetic Miljković in a single breath, leaving no room for doubt.
An initial visit to the town of Rudnik supports Miljković’s claims; the town is clean and bright with a church that is impossible not to notice regardless of the direction one chooses to approach the town. The church, recently built by town residents using modern materials such as tegola shingles and stainless steel, dominates the town and seems to connect it to the sky. But it does strike one as pretty and harmonious. The town also has several stores and restaurants, the already-mentioned Neda-Zamid Hotel with some 160 beds, an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, a SPA center, a discothčque and a Miners’ Memorial Monument in the town centre. The town is intended primarily for children’s and youth tourism, including basketball summer school on four courts with floodlights for playing at night.
Some 5-6 kilometres from town, in the direction of the mountain peaks, is Šumska Kuća, known far and wide for, among other things, lepinja with kajmak (a type of flat Serbian bread filled with cheese-like dairy cream). The establishment is owned by JP Srbija Šume. This is certainly an interesting place that’s worth the visit, despite the atrocious condition of the road, which seems as though it hasn’t been resurfaced since it was built in the 1920s to transport timber. The way from Šumska Kuća towards the mountain peaks can only be conquered in an off-road vehicle. If plans materialise, this is where cableways will pass on the way to the top of the mountain.
It turned out later that the Karadjordje Hotel in Jarmenovci was deserted. Once a destination for guests from Belgrade, Novi Sad and other cities, including major football clubs like Partizan, OFK Beograd, Crvena Zvezda and even Rijeka, all of which used to come here to train, the hotel has changed owners several times since then, and following the displacement of people from Krajina, Croatia during Operation Storm in 1995, several score of refugee families found shelter at the hotel.
The hotel is located on a larger tract of land on which it is possible to build sport terrains of all kinds, including the restoration of an existing Olympicsize swimming pool. Because Mt. Rudnik has been an "air spa" since 1922 (high quality air), the future owner of this hotel will enjoy a broad window of opportunity for development of the tourist industry – from recreational tourism to hunting and sports, including the most elite type of tourism.
Owing to the exceptionally high level of ozone in the air, the UN took an interest in Jarmenovci in the 1950s with a view to making an experimental centre there. Some facilities built during that period are still in use. Nevertheless, for reasons unknown, the project never moved beyond the level of initial planning. At any rate, following privatisation of the hotel and its opening, Jarmenovci may once again become a tourist destination that many will find interesting due to its easily accessible location (17 km from Topola, and via Mladenovac, slightly over 80 km from Belgrade, nearly half of which is on highway quality road).
On the way back from Mt. Rudnik towards Topola, while enjoying the ride through breathtakingly beautiful landscape you may want to stop at the Aleksandrović winery to be welcomed by Boža Aleksandrović. Formerly a promising agronomist, he turned down a staff position at university in favour of returning to his native Vinča, where he restored the family vineyard and the formerly notable wine called Trijumf. This is one of the legendary wines from the cellar of King Aleksandar Karadjordjević, which was deliberately pushed into oblivion. Through hard work and much sacrifice, Mr. Aleksandrović has succeeded in attaining his ambitious goal. His smile – melancholy, with signs of fatigue – is the response to the comment that a tour of his winery is reminiscent of a similar tour in France or Italy. He openly shows satisfaction with his achievements, but looks to the future too. "The problem is manpower – he sets out. It is lacking. Romanians used to find work here, but now they’re gone. They went to other European countries. A vineyard is very demanding. You know what they say: Brandy seeks a master, but wine a servant!", he says and smiles somewhat less melancholically. When asked whether Serbia could have scores of such wineries: "It could, and nothing would give me greater pleasure than if this were, in fact, the case. I would apply my knowledge and experience to help, but this is a hard and uncertain business and few dare to try their hand at it..."
Moving further towards Belgrade the next stop is Oplenac. Final preparations were underway for opening the winery to visitors at the royal cellar. Here guests will be able to tour a fully-preserved wine cellar, designed and built by French experts in the 1920s. A particular rarity is the preserved wine from that period which some resourceful cellar-keeper hid from Communist authorities after World War II. This wine made it into the next century in a barrel and in the company of weak and flickering cellar light bulbs.
One reaches Belgrade from Topola in no time.
God has blessed Mt. Rudnik and Šumadija amply. It is up to humans now to do the rest... | 
