Gornji Bunibrod
Upper village in post-industrial Leskovac's hinterland—formerly supplied textile factory labor, now agricultural settlement in declining southern Serbia.
Gornji Bunibrod (Upper Bunibrod) occupies the Jablanica District within the Leskovac municipality, one of Serbia's largest municipal territories covering southern Serbia's Jablanica river valley. The settlement pairs with Donji Bunibrod (Lower Bunibrod, population 644 in 2002), following the standard Serbian pattern of upper and lower village designations along elevation gradients.
The Leskovac region has historical significance as a textile manufacturing center that once earned the city the nickname 'Serbian Manchester.' This industrial heritage shaped settlement patterns, with villages like Gornji Bunibrod supplying labor to urban factories while maintaining agricultural household economies. The collapse of Yugoslavia's industrial system in the 1990s devastated this economic model, transforming former worker-farmers into subsistence agriculturalists or economic migrants.
With approximately 762 residents (2002 census), Gornji Bunibrod exemplifies the village cluster pattern characteristic of the Jablanica valley—surrounded by Guberevac, Rudare, Badince, Mala Grabovnica, and other settlements sharing common municipal services. The annual Leskovac Barbecue Festival (Roštiljijada) each August brings regional attention and tourism revenue, though villages outside the urban center capture little of this economic activity. By 2026, Gornji Bunibrod will continue as part of Leskovac's agricultural hinterland, its future tied to whether southern Serbia can develop alternative economic drivers to replace the lost textile industry.