Kaznovice

Kaznovice exists because the Ibar valley between Kopaonik and Golija mountains offered habitable terrain in Serbia's medieval heartland. The village sits in Raška municipality—the region that gave medieval Serbia its alternative name (Rascia) and served as the nucleus of the Nemanjić state. Ras, the original capital, lies nearby; UNESCO recognized the Stari Ras and Sopoćani complex as World Heritage in 1979.

The area actually contains twin settlements: Gornje Kaznovice (Upper) and Donje Kaznovice (Lower), a common pattern where villages split along elevation gradients to exploit different ecological niches. The upper village at higher altitude suited pastoralism and summer grazing; the lower village in the valley floor supported field agriculture. This vertical partitioning maximized resource utilization across limited arable land.

Raška municipality has complex historical geography. In October-November 1915, during World War I Serbian retreat, Raška briefly served as Serbia's unofficial capital when King Peter and the government paused here before the exodus through Albania. Twenty kilometers away, Novi Pazar marks the cultural boundary with the historically Ottoman-influenced Sandžak. Kopaonik's ski resorts (Serbia's largest) draw tourism that largely bypasses valley villages.

Kaznovice's contemporary population is minimal—part of the broader Raška District demographic crisis where average population age in some villages exceeds 60 years. In 2026, the village's trajectory depends on whether Kopaonik tourism overflow creates economic opportunities in surrounding valleys, or whether Kaznovice continues its trajectory toward abandonment—another settlement returning to the forests that first defined this medieval Serbian heartland.