Heritage

The place that genuinely made Užice popular was the power-plant. And here is why.

Đetinja river that flows around the city was given an assessment in 1898 that it was strong enough to support the hydroelectric power-plant according to principles of the great Serbian scientist Nikola Tesla. The first one in the world was implemented only a few years earlier – in Niagara Falls in 1895.
Serbian king Aleksandar Obrenović laid the foundation stone in 1899, which triggered the electrification of the country and further development of the city.

Still, the authorities had to put some effort into the actual construction. The overwhelming equipment had to be imported from abroad. It was taken by train from Vienna Austria, while the railway didn’t go all the way to Užice at the time. For the last few hundred kilometers, heavy construction had to be dragged by ox-carts through local mud and unpaved roads.

The power plant still attracts curious visitors, adorning the beginning of the Đetinja river gorge. It now houses the Museum of Technology.