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On this day, June 12th, 2023, we mark the centenary of the birth of Miodrag Mića Popović. Remembered primarily as a painter, but also as a film director, screenwriter, theoretician, and art researcher, Miodrag Mića Popović will leave an indelible mark on the art of the twentieth century with his uncompromising struggle for freedom of thought and artistic expression. His search, which begins with poetic intimacy and civic realism, through expressionism and Art informel, and reaches the painting of scenes, testifies to the special talent and skill of a versatile artist.

Today, April 29th, 2023, we celebrate the International Day of Play. On this occasion, we bring a story about our fellow citizen, Petar Stojić, born in 1890, in the family of mechanic Rista Stojić in Kraljevo. In Belgrade, he opened a dance school on Terazije and initiated the establishment of the Association of Dance Teachers. He achieved an enviable international career and received several awards from the most prestigious European associations.

On this day, February 11th, 1953, in Belgrade, Uroš Predić, the most significant representative of academic realism among Serbs, died. Like Predić’s contemporaries, art lovers still respect him today even 70 years after his death.

The last years of King Milan’s life were marked by several events that contributed to his end. First of all, we are talking about the Midsummer assassination in 1899, as an attempt to kill King Milan himself. The following year, in 1900, King Alexander’s marriage to his mother’s court lady Draga Mašin contributed to ruining his health. He settled in Vienna and in January 1901 he fell seriously ill. Already on February 10th, alone and far from his king Milan, he passed away alone and far from his family, without a final farewell to his son.

We celebrate November 29th as the day of liberation of Kraljevo from the German occupation. After a 42-day siege, joint units of the National Liberation Army of Yugoslavia and the Red Army liberated Kraljevo on the night between November 28th and 29th, 1944. Kraljevo played an important strategic role in the operation to withdraw the German army from Greece, both because of its position on that important route and as an important railway hub. A bridgehead was erected around the city in a length of about 35 km, and numerous German units concentrated between 20,000 and 30,000 soldiers in the city. The army of the liberators was two to three times smaller.

With the return of King Milan to Serbia on January 21st, 1894, internal political relations were settled. Conspiracy related to Kraljevo industrialist Mihailo Čebinac, as well as the coup d’état of the young Alexander Obrenović on May 21st, which abolished the Constitution of 1888 and restored the one of 1869, are part of this instability. The famous military doctor, politician, and diplomat Vladan Đorđević became the Prime Minister, and the former King Milan became the commander of the active army. The former king’s activities laid the foundation for the glorious Serbian victories in the Balkan Wars and the First World War.

On this day, November 11th, 1918, the armistice between the Allies and the German Empress was signed in the railway carriage of French Marshal Ferdinand Foch in the city of Compiègne. The capitulation of the German Empire ended the First World War, or the Great War, which brought, until then, unprecedented destruction and human sacrifice. This important day in Serbia is celebrated as a national holiday. Our city, Kraljevo, was under occupation by enemy troops from November 1915 until October 22nd, 1918, when the Serbian army entered at around 07:00 p.m., after crossing the Ibar.

On this day, November 3rd, 2010, at 1 hour and 56 minutes local time, Kraljevo was hit by a strong earthquake of magnitude 5.3 – 5.4 on the Richter scale. The epicentre of the earthquake was 10 km northeast of Kraljevo, in the village of Sirča, along an 8 km long fault, in the Gruža river valley, in the Čačak-Kraljevo basin. The hypocentre of the earthquake was located at a depth of about 13 km. The earthquake was felt throughout Serbia, in neighbouring Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and on a global scale it is considered an earthquake of moderate intensity.

The life of King Milan after his abdication is more reminiscent of an exciting novel than of political history. It starts from a love affair with Artemisia, the wife of his secretary Milan Hristić, which included the birth of her son George in Constantinople, where she took refuge, through the king’s life in Paris accompanied by gambling and huge debts, to problems and conflicts with Queen Natalie and her return in Belgrade. But the coup d’état carried out by the young Alexander Obrenović will also bring a political turn for the King of Milan himself.

Today, October 7th, 2022, we celebrate King’s Day, the Day of the City of Kraljevo, when the Serbian Orthodox Church celebrates St. Simon, that is, the holy king Stefan Provovenčani, the founder of the Žiča Monastery.