To preserve the world’s most treasured landscapes and tangible and intangible cultural monuments, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) uses strict criteria when selecting world heritage sites to be inscribed on its lists.
Among the carefully selected landmarks to be preserved and promoted due to their immense value for humanity, there are several monuments and natural areas of Serbia.
Thus, the World Heritage List includes medieval Serbian monasteries Studenica and Stari Ras with Sopoćani, medieval monuments in Kosovo, as well as the Gamzigrad / Felix Romuliana palace as the only landmark from classical antiquity to be inscribed on this list.
Due to their high aesthetic value, as well as their contribution to the understanding of medieval customs, unique tombstones specific to this part of the world, known as stećci, have secured their place on the list.
The world register of documentary cultural heritage known as the Memory of the World Register includes the documents kept at the Nikola Tesla Archive, the Telegram of Austria-Hungary`s declaration of war on Serbia and Miroslav’s Gospel.
Slava, the celebration of Serbian people’s family saint patron’s day is a highly ritualised feast and is inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Also featuring on the list is kolo, a traditional Serbian folk dance.
There are areas in Serbia where human activity and the natural environment have coexisted in perfect harmony for centuries. To maintain this fragile balance between man and nature, the UNESCO included two of Serbia’s nature reserves in its Man and Biosphere Programme.
If you would like to spend your holiday at one of the UNESCO-protected nature reserves, visit Bačko Podunavlje and enjoy walks, boat rides and accommodation at traditional rural households on the banks of the Danube. Or you could spend your holiday on one of the peaks of Golija mountain, which forms the Golija – Studenica Biosphere Reserve together with the nearby Studenica monastery.