Indiana Jones in the Heart of Western Serbia ‒ Part One

The Art Press Caravan through Western Serbia ‒ Part One

Over three days, the crew of the Art Press Caravan toured the most beautiful regions of western Serbia, slept in the Mileševa monastery, sailed the magical Uvac lake, and also peered into the secrets of caves and a waterfall in which, according to legend, fairies bathe. What message the Mileševa White Angel sends to the world and how the Caravan came upon the fact that the Mileševa monastery is the keeper of St. Sava’s staff and of a part of his relics that were not burned, you can learn in the travelogue “Indiana Jones in the Heart of Serbia.”

The Stopić Cave was a true refreshment for all members of the Art Press Caravan, the first place we visited after a three-and-a-half-hour escape from the accelerated Belgrade hustle. The approach to the natural monument by narrow stone steps through untouched forest, to the murmur of a stream, instantly slowed down time. In the blink of an eye, the air too changed. The first sight of the cave entrance carried away the fatigue of the many hours’ drive, and upon entering it, it was as if we had touched a new dimension. The sight irresistibly recalls scenes from the Indiana Jones films. The deeper we went into the cave, our delight noticeably grew because of the joy of discovering the new and, until then, unknown to our eyes, such as the overflowing travertine basins. They formed by the deposition of limestone. They look like hollows edged with a stone rim. They are winding folds in which water collects and overflows from one basin to another. A feast for the eyes is also the scene that only cave nature can direct. We noticed that in the river channel there is a pool below which a chute forms that passes into cascades. At low water, falls form, and when greater water surges, an inconceivably powerful waterfall is created, whose height reaches about 9 metres. The waterfall is called “Spring of Life.” It makes a foaming mass of water from whose droplets even the air shimmers. The Stopić Cave is best described as when you proudly show someone your house with huge rooms for the first time, or a five-room flat in the city centre. So, that description would go in this order: the cave has a nicely arranged approach path, after which we come upon an impressive entrance opening, located at the nearly ideal 700 metres above sea level. The entrance is 35 m wide and reaches a height of 19 metres. The cave was named after the nearby hamlet of Stopići. We come upon five cave chambers (read: rooms). First they introduced us to the Light Hall, from which we passed into the Dark Hall (feng shui would call such an arrangement of rooms a home balance). The large hall with the basins reminded us of the cave “living room.” Somehow it found itself in the middle of this large cave stone house. We finished the tour of the house passing through the channel with the basins and the river channel. These channels we called the “bedrooms.”

The openings in the cave ceiling we experienced as windows with a view onto the heavenly blue. The luxurious stone dwelling has a refined natural design. It belongs to a new layer of cave bourgeoisie. It is adorned with specific jewellery that only the cave can hone.

Sirogojno we remembered for its authentic houses whose interior arrangement and architecture offer a clear picture of the way of earning a living and the organisation of family life of the people of the hilly-mountainous regions of Zlatibor in the 19th century. Seeing this lovely ethno-village from afar, we had the impression of travelling through time. Lunch in Sirogojno was outdoors. The surrounding rows of golden pine, with a view of the nearby glades, widened our inner frame of reference. The wooden tables covered with checked tablecloths gave an impression of welcome that only an old family hearth can offer. That warmth of home radiating from the courtyard in which we dined had the taste of childhood. We resembled city children who rejoice at going to the village, where grandmothers and grandfathers await them with open arms and open hearts. On top of all that, nature treated us during lunch to a free concert. Several species of birds performed, whose harmonious chirping was released into the ether in a sweet sound known only to the ear. For every future visitor of Sirogojno it would be a real shame to come and not taste the natural raspberry juice and the buckwheat pie with poppy seeds. The road led us further. The Art Press Caravan, guided by its inner compass, set off toward the village of Gostilje.

25 km from the centre of Zlatibor is the village of Gostilje, which became famous thanks to a waterfall about which legends circulate. Gostilje is located on the river Vrelo. Its charm is given by the story the locals cherish, passing it on to new generations. Drawn by the echo of this legend, the Art Press Caravan set off to meet the Gostilje Waterfall. A height of 20 metres makes it gigantic and Gulliver-like fairy-tale. A kind of myth was created that fairies bathed in its pools, which fit perfectly with our first impression when we approached it closely. Had the fairies by some miracle truly bathed before our eyes, we would have got a picture of their natural merging and eternal belonging to the mighty Gostilje pearl. The roar that the waterfall sends out resounds far. When you are near the watery giant, a whirlpool of strong original energy wraps around you, which for a moment can produce an additional visual effect. Who knows… Perhaps with this direct interactive experience we discovered the secret that this legend conceals. We slept over on Zlatibor to sort out our impressions. Refreshed by Sirogojno and Gostilje, the Caravan prepared to continue the journey.

The next day we visited the Dubnica monastery from the 15th century, in the village of Božetići on the slopes of Javor. From the monastery we carried away a feeling of lightness and spiritual fullness, with which the archimandrite Makarije gifted us by his very presence. He carried away the burden of our worries with simple stories of the great kindness and hospitality of the people of this place, especially toward passing travellers. To our usual “Good day,” the cleric returned the greeting with a seemingly simple sentence: “Be good yourselves, and the day will be good to you too.” At the same time he greeted us and unobtrusively conveyed a message through which old-time folk wisdom wafts. Secretly this wonderful old man touched our hearts, so that we felt an influx of primordially pure love. For a moment we recognised fullness. Without much question and answer, as if everything had already been said to us. We were wrapped in an invisible heavenly cover.

The visit to the Uvac Special Nature Reserve and the ride on the Sjenica lake brought us a much-needed living contact with the specific nature of this place. The lake is the largest natural reservoir of clean drinking water in Europe. The greatest attraction of the reserve is the griffon vultures, one of the two remaining species of vulture that nest in the territory of Serbia today. They look very powerful with a wingspan of almost two metres, they are natural cleaners, they do not hunt the weaker in nature’s chain, and most interestingly, they are faithful the whole time to their original partner with whom they raise their young. In support of this claim is the fact that, during experiments, they were separated and new pairs were made. The result of the scientific experiment was at first news hard for many people to grasp. The griffon vultures did not respond to new partners, so we humans too could take an example from this species of bird, which by its existence bears witness to sincere love and faithfulness, giving a life example and showing that for our species too this should be natural. There is hope.

The crew of the Art Press Caravan briefly left the boat, visiting the Ice Cave, located within the Uvac nature reserve. One of the members liked the stay in the cave so much that she almost remained with the guide. Since the rest of the Caravan embarked in time, the boat simply set off on the way back to civilisation. We spontaneously began to wave to them, jokingly, of course, and they waved back at us, treating us to sour smiles. Our writer was looked upon by the finger of fate. It rewarded her with an Uvac Robinson. Still, not every Crusoe survives. To their luck or misfortune, only time will give the answer, we returned for them. Who knows, perhaps in time we too would have taken an example from the griffon vultures had we left them longer near these wondrous birds, making some modern version of Noah’s Ark.

Prijepolje was the next stop on our journey across western Serbia. The Mileševa monastery is like a touch of eternity in time. It fills your eye with beauty, fills your soul with silence, which little by little tells you the history of this beautiful spiritual edifice. The voice of that, to us, talkative silence more clearly evoked Prijepolje for us. We could listen to Serbia in its entirety. This could be experienced during a visit to the monastery treasury, where every stone, fresco and icon has its own value. Relics and objects enrich the treasury with their presence. Some of them silently bear witness to centuries of endurance and an eternal flame. For certain ones, the exact date and year of their arrival at the monastery are known. Some relics and treasures carry with them a story and the whole journey of their arrival at this holy treasury. About various unexpectedly found things, legends circulate, and for some, stored from time immemorial, a secret hidden from people for centuries is suddenly revealed. It is made known by a strange concurrence of circumstances, or when the Lord judges that the time for the discovery has matured. Either way, what matters is that it happens so and that it manifests usually when it is most needed. Sometimes for consolation, sometimes for joy, often for encouragement.

A special impression was made on me by the chalice, a gift of the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible, whose grandmother was a Serbian woman of the Jakšić family. Then, the staff of St. Sava, which even today seems so life-giving. The episcopal sceptre (staff) possesses miraculous properties. The story of this staff reaches deep into the past. Its beginning is tied to the 13th century (the year 1219). It was solemnly handed to St. Sava by the Ecumenical Patriarch Manuel in the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. By the act of handing the sceptre into Sava’s hands, the Serbian church gained autocephaly, and Sava became the first Serbian archbishop. The significance of the staff is enormous for our country. Over time, its importance grew into a cult. Generations of monks not only kept and cherished it but for centuries magically adorned it with gold, encasing it in silver and precious stones. Besides the crystal apple at the top, on the staff is also engraved a troparion dedicated to the saint. The monks did not do this by chance. They held to the events written in Sava’s hagiographies. In them it is written: “Where Sava would step and touch the earth with his sceptre, there it would turn to gold… He walked the Serbian lands and everywhere carried with him the almighty staff.” In support of this are places called Sava’s Spring, Sava’s Water, Sava’s Well and Sava’s Lake on the Sinjajevina mountain. Dozens of such places exist exclusively thanks to the Serbian Moses. Sava’s and Moses’ staffs cleared paths there where to all it seemed impassable. The sea parted and storms ceased so that these righteous men might carry out the mission intended for them. The passing centuries not only did not take the shine from Sava’s staff but it makes the monastery treasury more brilliant today than ever before. It would be unjust not to mention the exhibited objects of priceless value, such as two oil lamps from the 15th century that arrived from Moldavia, a Venetian goblet and old Serbian coins. The oldest object in the treasury is a jar dating from the time of the monastery’s construction. The unusual jar is a contemporary of Mileševa, eight centuries old.

The hand of St. Sava was preserved despite the burning of his relics by Sinan Pasha in 1594 at Vračar. This fact is of exceptional importance, and yet it is little known to the wider public. It is kept in a recently restored reliquary, in which the relics of the saint once lay. The sarcophagus had its own paths and twists. For security reasons, the coffin in which the relics of the saints are kept was moved, and was for a long time stored in Pljevlja. At this moment, the reliquary with the hand adorns the new treasury in the Mileševa monastery. For the mercy and consolation of the faithful people, people of all faiths flock to it. Orthodox, Muslims and Catholics. It is an endowment of King Vladislav, nephew of St. Sava. It was built in 1219. Its founder Vladislav, son of King Stefan the First-Crowned, is buried in his endowment Mileševa. The church within the monastery courtyard is dedicated to the Ascension of the Lord. The monastery hurries to meet a great jubilee, when in 2019 it will celebrate eight centuries of existence. It was often ravaged, plundered, destroyed and humiliated to such a degree that during the Second World War it was turned into a German stable. However, it did not yield. It was resurrected, restored, even faster. In unusual ways, part of the lost treasures in the form of treasure and medieval Cyrillic manuscripts returned to its embrace. In 1377, the Bosnian king Tvrtko I Kotromanić was crowned in it. During the 15th century, the seat of the Bosnian Orthodox bishop was in Mileševa.

The most famous fresco of Mileševa is the White Angel.

An interesting piece of information related to this wondrous fresco is that the first satellite image that Europe sent to America was precisely the Mileševa White Angel. Europe presented itself by satellite to the USA in a divine-human way. It sent an image symbolising joyful news. A fresco that showers beauty and sends a message of (universal) peace. Serbia, with its angelic fresco, illuminated Europe, which placed that heavenly flash before America.

There are a thousand reasons why one should visit this monastery, holy in many ways, of turbulent past and rich history. We have listed only some of them. It is located on the river Mileševka, near Prijepolje. It is only 6 km from the town.

The road from Nova Varoš toward Sjenica, which pulls over the Zlatar mountain, is spectacular. Whether we wanted to or not, it opened new horizons for us. Our person, only when they find themselves face to face with the natural panorama of these torn-off parts of untouched nature, slowly begins to understand that they need not at all costs trek all the way to Switzerland or Austria to be illuminated by the sight of the famous Alps. Those same scenes, if not even more beautiful, we can see between Zlatar, Zlatibor and Pešter, only on condition that we remove the curtains of prejudice from our eyes. Perhaps the Alps only sound more modern to some people on first utterance. We fell into the far-famed Siberian climate in the middle of Serbia. Sjenica, even in advanced May spring, at times reminded us why it is called the Serbian Siberia. A cold wave of biting air, with the sounds of a strong swirling wind sent from the top of the Pešter plateau, awakened in us a pleasant shiver of an until-recently unknown climatic experience. The sun’s rays aimed at Sjenica stealthily broke through the massive clouds that loomed over the town. For a while we witnessed a kind of war in the sky above Sjenica. The conflict took place between the sun and the rain. We rejoiced when a truce came in the form of simultaneous drizzle and sunshine. To our regret, the heavenly truce did not last long.

The short-lived harmony between the sun and the raindrops vanished. The struggle continued with the sun’s initial advantage over the occasional drop of rain. In the next surge there was a reversal. A volley of water drops mercilessly began to pound from all available clouds and the sun withdrew behind them. Everything was clear. On this small heavenly battlefield, victory went to the rain, which forced us to take shelter under the roof of a traditional Sjenica restaurant. It was recommended to us by the exceedingly obliging locals. In the weather conditions that caught us, there was no place or time for choice. We did not err in heeding them without a shred of thought. It was the trademark of this region in the field of hospitality. Namely, we rested in the well-known restaurant “Borići.” This establishment cherishes the customs of the old Sjenica cuisine, which offered us a special gastronomic pleasure. We truly enjoyed the far-famed Sjenica cheese and the cosy winter atmosphere completed by the crackling of fire in the fireplace, so that, despite it being May, we felt the winter charms of the Serbian Siberia.

To Belgrade we carried full suitcases of impressions that western Serbia gifted us. It was a western in the Serbian version.