Drvengrad - Mokra Gora

 

On our holiday in Serbia, we visited Drvengrad. For all of you incurably in love with unique places, pin this down onto your travel list.

 

The ethno-village Drvengrad (Wooden town) is nestled right on Mechavnik hill, settled between the two beautiful mountains - Tara and Zlatibor. It was built by Serbian film-maker Emir Kusturica for the needs of his film Life is a Miracle.    Around the world it is also known as Kustendorf; The Kustendorf festival is also hosted by the creator of it - the award-winning director Emir Kusturica. It is a unique festival, without a red carpet, billboards and advertisements and it is fully devoted to film, music, friendships and exchange of creative ideas and energy.

 

The rectangular village's main street leads from the entrance gate on one end to an orthodox Christian church on the other end. The main street is paved with wooden blocks and surrounded by authentic log cabins brought in from their original locations and placed on foundations made of stone.
 

The streets in the village are named after many famous people. The main street carries the name of the Nobel prize winner, the writer Ivo Andrić.
Other streets carry the names of Nikola Tesla, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Diego Maradona, Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Novak Đoković, to name a few.
 

“Drvengrad” has an art gallery, a library, a cinema called “Underground” after one of Kusturica’s most famous films, a cake shop, a couple of restaurants, souvenir stalls, etc.

The beautiful thing is that the log cabins can be rented if you are in for an adventure.

Just below these stalls on a lower level, there is an art gallery with a free entrance. We were lucky to see the works of Ratko Lalic.  We enjoyed them immensely for their expressiveness and phenomenally created 3D effect. I am not sure if my pictures do them justice...