The Museum of the Second Serbian Uprising
The building of the Museum of the Second Serbian Uprising in Takovo is the endowment of King Aleksandar Obrenovic. It was built in 1891 for the needs of elementary school of the Takovo district. Respecting the wish of the ruler, contractor Nikola Nastasijevic completed the construction of the school building according to modern standards of that time. With short interruptions in wartime, the school worked until 1981.
The building was reconstructed for the first time in 1993/94 and converted into the Museum of the Second Serbian Uprising. The representative permanent exhibition entitled “Second Serbian Uprising and the Serbian Revolution 1804-1839” has had its place in a renovated building since April 1994. It chronologically represents thematic segments of Serbian modern history – from the beginning of First Serbian Uprising (1804) until the end of the first rule of Prince Milos Obrenovic (1839) – the period called “Serbian Revolution” in historiography.
In the Museum of the Second Serbian Uprising visitors have the opportunity to see works of art, documents, and a large number of original items (weapons and military equipment of uprising participants, everyday objects…). Certainly the most important exhibits are the remains of the “Oak Tree of Takovo” and the masterpiece of Serbian academic realism – painting “The Takovo Uprising”, by Paja Jovanovic (1895).
Historic Landmark of Exceptional Importance
In a quiet valley of the village of Takovo, edged with the Ljeskovica and Dicina rivers, under the biggest centuries-old oak tree, on Palm Sunday 1815 the final decision on starting the Second Serbian Uprising was made. It is this event that will become a starting point in creating a national identity in the nineteenth century, whose main symbol was “The Oak Tree in Takovo”.
Prince Mihailo, the son and successor of the uprising leader and Prince of liberated Serbia, Milos Obrenovic, established the tradition of “The Oak Tree in Takovo” during a visit to this place in 1865. He bought the land around the centuries-old oaks and declared it a public good, called “The Meadows of Prince” by thankful inhabitants.
During the reign of King Milan Obrenovic, the “Monument under the Oak Tree in Takovo”was erected in 1887 in honour of Prince Milos and the uprising participants. In 1901 a villa in Swiss style, known as “The Palace of Takovo”was built for King Alexander and Queen Draga Obrenovic, but was destroyed by fire in 1917.
By placing the memorial group “The Takovo Uprising” in 1990, made by Petar Ubavkic, the cultural and historical complex was completed, which in 1994 was declared as a cultural good of great importance.
“Oak Trees of Takovo”
The original Oak Tree of Takovo under which Milos Obrenovic and the Uprising participants began struggle for the final liberation from the Turkish rule on Palm Sunday 1815, had long defied time. It was 23 meters high, with five large branches and the tree trunk of over 3, 5 meters in diameter, with the perimeter of 9 meters. The tree did eventually begin to collapse, which the folk tradition connected with the fate of the Obrenovic dynasty: the largest branch broke in 1860, announcing the death of Prince Milos; another branch broke in 1868 when Prince Mihailo Obrenovic was assassinated, and finally, a storm ripped out the whole oak tree by the roots, announcing the downfall of the Obrenovic dynasty in 1903.
The oak tree that Prince Mihailo, during his visit to Takovo in 1865, consecrated for “successor” of “The Oak Tree of Takovo”, leafed until the 1990s. From that time on, it adorns this space as a natural sculpture. In 1995, by planting the seedling of the third “Oak tree of Takovo” the tradition that Prince Mihailo established, which says that as long as Serbian state and people exist, there should be an oak tree in this place as a symbol of freedom and independence, was followed.
Monument Under The Oak Tree of Takovo
The monument under the famous Oak Tree in Takovo was raised by the people of Rudnik district in 1887, in gratitude to Prince Milos and in memory of the Second Serbian Uprising. It was made of red polished marble by Mihailo M. Cebinac, sculptor from Kraljevo, according to the project of engineer Joseph Manok.
Besides the patriotic verses of Ljubomir Nenadovic, the Uprising and state symbols are carved in the monument.
The Palace of Takovo
In the valley of the river Dicina, which traveler and writer Felix Kanitz compared with “a beautiful valley Schultz near Vienna”, the construction of the summer house for the last royal couple of the Obrenovic dynasty began, on the initiative of the Chief of the Rudnik District, Svetozar Surdilovic, in 1899.
The Palace had three floors with 36 chambers, a large lounge, a billiard and a card room; its exterior resembled villas of Austrian and Swiss aristocrats of that time, while the interior was redolent of Serbian, Sumadija`s style.
On September 8th 1901 King Alexander and Queen Draga attended the consecration of the Palace in Takovo and the Liturgy in the log Church of Saint George, but it is assumed that they did not spend a single night in the Palace. The Palace was destroyed by fire in 1917 under suspicious circumstances, and the time had completely concealed its foundations.
Petar Ubavkic, “Takovo Uprising”
Memorial group sculpture “Takovo Uprising” is the work of one of the first sculptors of modern Serbia, Petar Ubavkic. Casted in bronze, 292cm high, it depicts Milos Obrenovic and Archimandrite Melentije Pavlovic at the moment of proclamation of a new Uprising. Made on the occasion of the World Exhibition in Paris 1900, where, unfortunately, it was not taken. The sculpture was set up in Takovo in 1990 for the celebration of 175 years of the Second Serbian Uprising.
According to the author, the statuary composition “Takovo Uprising” is “a historic and patriotic work of art, because it awakens and enlivens in every beholder: faith, hope and patriotism for better Serbian future”.