Sirogojno - an alpine museum of Serbian ethnos

Belgrade, June, 03. 2010 (Serbia Today) – It represents a genuine architectural wonder that depicts life, culture and heritage of past generations. In 1980, it became a museum and ever since, it has been know as the Old village. Occupying an area of 5 ha, Sirogojno is located in south-western Serbia, on the slopes of the Zlatibor mountain and 20 kilometers away from the town of Uzice. The museum itself holds 47 wooden objects relocated from the surrounding villages and equipped with authentic furniture and tools. Each household has a dairy room, a barn, a bread-baking oven, wooden vessels for production of home-made brandy, a beekeeping chamber, a room for production of prunes, while stables for cattle were built outside the main area. The whole exhibition has over 2000 valuable pieces spread around the yards and under the roofs of this ethno village. A special feature of Sirogojno is a summer shepherd home. It is composed of two cottages and a small house on sleighs, which makes their “business” a lot easier during winter periods. This beautiful ground is also home to sacred spaces such churches of St. Peter and St. Paul (1821), and an old graveyard. In order to breathe life into this museum, various workshops are being organized. The workshops deal with manual production of wooden, metal and coal items. In accordance with the Orthodox Christian calendar, Christmas Eve, Christmas, Easter and other traditional holidays are celebrated. It is through revival of old customs that Sirogojno demonstrates the spiritual, Christian yet pagan, heritage of its people. Every year the village hosts many exhibitions and educational programs. Still, Sirogojno remains famous for its manually knitted sweaters and the “Sirogojno fashion”, is today very present in Paris, Rome, London and even Japan. Be it Museum days or Museum nights, the village celebrates all manifestations dedicated to museums, while summer time is reserved for the festival of eco and environmental film. Sirogojno is surrounded by dazzling alpine scenery, ideal for both, winter and summer vacations. Nearby, there is the village of Gostilje, the Stopica cave, the Vapa spa resort and the Zlatibor tourist center. Around 100.000 people visit Sirgojno annually.