Despotovac

Despotovac exists because Despot Stefan Lazarević needed a fortress-monastery—and because 45-million-year-old limestone caves made the Resava valley defensible. Between 1406 and 1418, the last Serbian despot built Manasija, a monastery surrounded by massive walls and towers that became the cultural center of the failing Serbian state. While Ottoman armies conquered the Balkans, Manasija's Resava School produced manuscripts and translations that preserved Serbian literary tradition. The monastery's walls still stand; the scriptorium's legacy shaped a national identity.

The same geology that created defensive terrain created tourist attractions. Resava Cave, discovered in 1962, contains speleothems dating back 45 million years—calcite formations that draw visitors ninety minutes from Belgrade. The Vinatovača rainforest, untouched since the mid-17th century, adds another layer of natural heritage. The Park of Miniature Medieval Monasteries at Despotovac's entrance markets the region's ecclesiastical density: this corner of eastern Serbia has more UNESCO-tentative monasteries per square kilometer than almost anywhere in Europe.

Tourism is the obvious economic logic, but Despotovac remains peripheral. The municipality's 23,000 residents—down from earlier decades—depend on agriculture and small industry. By 2026, the question is whether cultural heritage can sustain a population, or whether Manasija's walls will outlast the town that grew around them, as they have outlasted the despotate they were built to protect.