this is part number 10 of my 2021 serbia series i've been based in Uzice for a number of weeks
experiencing life in the city as well as visiting the spectacular scenery of Bajina Basta
and Mokra Gora with smoke billowing from chimneys surrounded by luscious landscape
we'll be back in Uzice for the next video but today we're off to Kragujevac in central serbia
a city not exactly known for its tourism once serbia's capital around two hundred years ago
Kragujevac has always been the beating heart of serbian industry home to one
of the country's most iconic names even the clock is Yugo if you like automobile classics
abandoned factories and 19th century architecture all in one place Kragujevac definitely delivers
good morning all and welcome to Kragujevac I'm just in an abandoned building as you do nice way
to start a sunday morning oh there's a penis on the door yeah i'm down by the uh arsenal or the
old factory i'll come on to that in a second this feels like um when i was in pripyat chernobyl
with like these abandoned desks i'm assuming there is no radiation this time
hang on there's an old book i don't know what it says yeah this book
here is like a security book zastava security yeah assume this was the uh
like security entrance bit okay someone has been here recently because there's a cigarette in
there we're heading over that way i'll tell you a little bit more about Kragujevac when we get there
Kragujevac is not the pretty synagogue land of Vojvodina or the wonderful scenery area of
western serbia we're in central serbia and this city used to be the capital of serbia i believe
on more than one occasion and it's very much the industrial heart of serbia particularly to
do with zastava look at this this is my kind of thing i was worried about whether i could get
in here or not but turns out i can it's the arsenal classic abandoned building amazing
over here as we pan to the left
the ceiling is all caved in of course as with much of serbia Kragujevac was bombed in 1999
during the NATO bombings and the Zastava factory did not escape that
this place is cavernous that's the best word for it
Yugos and Zastavas right you've probably heard me banging on about them quite a lot
in previous videos the cars because i love them particularly the ones from like 70s and eighties
you know that kind of era of car production a bit of a car geek oh what have i tried
on um but zastava actually started in serbia in i think 1853 they actually built cannons and weapons
and that's why the arsenal there's a museum a weapons foundry as well which i think is closed
today brilliant they then developed into producing cars in around 1955 i think it was and i think
the staffers were made until like the 80s i think but then i read they went bankrupt
in 2007. i'm not quite sure but whatever it's an important part of history in serbia
also zastavas were made under the fiat name as well i saw one earlier actually
with fiat on it but it was basically a zastava and i think there's now like a
actual modern fiat factory somewhere including now of course it's easy for me to say that it's
cool because as an abandoned buildings geek i find this interesting and they do do a music
festival here arsenal fest but the thing is about here is that i believe around 10
000 people are employed that there's us to have a factory obviously many of them who lived here
so there would be you know families where maybe half the family would work for zastava but then
1999 comes the factory gets bombed what do people do you know it's unimaginable
i guess these rooms used to be offices of some kind there's a little hatch thing in the wall
and then these ginormous cavernous spaces there's slightly inappropriate graffiti over
there not only the swastika but someone with a rather large penis what is it with penises today
look at this and the light coming down from the
gaps in the roof really give it a nice effect of you know abandonedness
and dilapidation what this building is i'm not sure what these
raised platforms are with the steps
just look at this so overgrown this is mother nature taking back the earth that sounded a
bit dramatic but it's true what's going to happen when we all get wiped out by whatever disaster we
initiate next this will be what's left right before i go i just want to
check in this building again another look at this book to look for dates
oh 2007. nice what about these ones 2009 2010 where these cupboards look all this down here
nice random books
cobwebs
oh newspaper from oh it's 2015 okay it's not that old
sorry it's so windy today milosev venac i believe in this area there are a number of buildings
dating back to the 19th century there's one very important one past that statue up there
i'll put it on the screen now and there's a market up here like a sunday market classic
people selling all sorts of junk clothing brands and electronics phones from 1997.
the taxis in Kragujevac are pink is Kragujevac pretty not really um it's you know it's not like
a touristy city you know my airbnb hosted tell me that but you've got artwork out
there you've got different styles of buildings and as we've already seen interesting history
saying that you do have a nice pedestrianized street with cafes and things like that just make
sure i'm not gonna film the policeman and interesting architecture up there
similar to kind of um other cities i've been i guess in serbia with
those sort of colors and decoration on buildings
uh even the clock is Yugo i do get the sense of it being a former capital because all the buildings
in the central area are all very grand with these monuments statues outside
yeah it definitely has that ex-capital feel this building behind me it kind of reminds
me of hotel yugoslavia in belgrade because it's got that kind of similar
thing out the front does hotel yugoslavia have that or am i just imagining it but
it has that same kind of you know that rectangular feel it's ginormous
there's a wedding going on over there look at this beast is it like the city hall or something
i'm sure it is yeah there's police around the other side um it's monolithic and that's
one of the things about Kragujevac yes it's not a touristy place but not every city has to be right
because when you think about it without cities that are
known for industry countries wouldn't have money from that industry in their economy in order to
create those touristy places if you know what i mean genius isn't that cool i don't really want to
get close because i don't want to intrude they're having their wedding photography that's amazing
women in a nice white dress and they've got a big serbian flag that's so cool congratulations huns
okay no wonder there are cops everywhere i don't know if you can see them i can't see
anything the sun um never got like riot shields everything there are a lot of
guys up by that shopping mall up there like doing like you know the classic type of male
chant i don't know if there's some sort of protest going on oh here we go
oh is it kicking off the cops are moving closer i don't know what this is all about
okay as much as i'm english and writing comes a second nature um i don't want to get involved in
one so uh it seems quite peaceful actually we're going to the next spot and in case you are thick
as two short planks you might not have realized this video is all about Zastavas and the next
place is also about that you'll love london angela there are a lot of german things i saw a lidl
okay that was from a uk comedy show here we are now of course it's connected with death we're
at a cemetery but also there's a connection to zastavas supposedly and i want to see if i can
find what i'm looking for i've never been to a cemetery in serbia before it's quite vast isn't it
i'm going up the hill there on the other end there are these like proper mausoleums
but i can't find what i'm looking for i think i've seen an example of what i was looking for
surely that is meant to signify represent as a zastava right yeah these people died in 2006 84 86
so i guess potentially they could have worked at the zastava factory he had this big sort of stone
car on the back that's amazing
i'm actually filming this on october the 31st so tomorrow is all saints day right
in some countries for example poland they'll go to graveyards before that date to make
sure that the grave is all you know presented well everything but like in mexico with dia
di muertos that is tomorrow day of the dead people will do the same there and i think in
taiwan as well there's a grave cleaning day if i remember correctly maybe china as well
the third and final place in this video was meant to be a place called Sumarice but honestly i'm
really tired and i've got a headache because this sun is insanely bright this place is like
a memorial park for people that died in world war ii and another reason i'm not going there
is because i went to Nis last year and i filmed at a place there that was kind of similar yes
people there were buried there because there was a concentration camp in niche but
the people that this memorial is commemorating in Kragujevac there was a Kragujevac massacre when
2 800 people were killed by the nazis during world war ii many of them men and boys and high school
students basically you know if you do have a bit of extra time and you want to learn a bit more
about how this area of europe was affected by world war ii then definitely go there all that
place in niche also and i'm not ashamed to say that before i came to serbia for the first time
two years ago i didn't know that serbia was so impacted by world war ii and now i can say
that i think i said something similar in the Nis video um so it's definitely worth it if you are
curious about history that you want to learn more and know more than just what you were taught in
your country i'm off to the bus station i've enjoyed my day in Kragujevac we've had abandoned
buildings we've had Zastavas we've had an arsenal we've had cemeteries and we've had a variety of
architecture which means it's all good in my book and that's 10 videos in serbia this year without a
sign of buddha but don't worry i'm sure it's going to be coming in a future video we've got a couple
more left from serbia before i head to my next country once again i don't know where that video
is going to be but i've got a rough idea stay tuned to find out you can check out the end
screens over there like comment subscribe if you've enjoyed this video check out my other
serbia videos from this year they're bloody brilliant i'll see you next time catch later