This is the most beautiful Serbian house: It is 133 years old, and when you open the door, you enter the magic land (PHOTO)

Catmara survived two wars, and everything in it is authentic and presents Serbian material fortune

In the village Gornji Racnik near Jagodina has been withstanding the elements and ravages of time and keeps it's authentic look, this village house, which entered the catalog of the most beautiful Serbian houses. Village 130 square feet catmara (made of wooden construction with beams, the walls are made of branches of trees that are intertwined and built of mud which is mixed with straw, the roof is covered with ceramic tiles. The walls are painted with white lime, which is a natural material) is grandiose, because all the houses from that time had 40 square meters at most.

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This building is not a ruin because one man, co owner of the house, decided to preserve it by giving up on his summer holiday and some luxuries.

- I invested a lot of money in it, but recently i decided not to let it go to ruin. As long as i am living, i will maintain it. The roots of my family are in its foundations, i feel warmth and energy in it, i am a part of it. It is a reminder who and where i come from, it is a representative of an old Serbian house, a monument - said Dragan Gligorijevic from Jagodina, the owner of half of this Catmara.

The house was built 133 years ago by four brothers - Aca, Aksentije, Djordje and Antonije Kostic. 

Aca was the first educated man in the village and commander of administration in the village of Bagrdan during World War II. Kostic family were wealthy. They had many sheep, land, a lot of money, as much as 20 servants. After marriage, the brothers made four houses on the property, but this is the main hero of the story was the most beautiful. And who will get it? It is said that the decision was made by drawing straws. It went to Aca.

- The house was made from mud, straw, wood and stone. Roof beams are as old as the house. They were made from the heartwood, it is the middle part, the heart of an oak tree, the best part of the tree. Grandpa told me that the beams, 13 meters long, brought from the mountain with double carts. The cellar was built of stone, with a small room in which fruits were stored and vegetables and casks of brandy. Doksat (balcony) is authentic and people used to sit there and rest when they came from the fields, resting and having meals. The house was painted in 1891, and nothing was changed since, those colors have survived to this day - explained Dragan Gligorijevic.

And in it - great celebration room, with authentic painted beds, benches, great table and dome, bed room, living room with a fireplace, dining table, three legged chairs. Dragan said that 90% of the furniture and various equipment in kitchen is from that period. That those things were used by his ancestors. Baths, wooden troughs, curry comb, pottery, weaving frames were preserved in the house.

It all exists today because Dragan Gligorijevic decided to save the house, the history and the memory of his ancestors.

- You see, a man sometimes chooses a full wallet or full hearth. I chose the later. I invested around 2.000 marks, and few hundreds of euros per year. Around 2002 it was decorated like a museum. I managed to find a man who knows to work with mud and who fixed the walls, and tiles to fix the roof. I painted the joinery. It was deteriorating with time, i had to replace the entire roof, to put new beams, cover it with tiles i have been gathering for years, all it all, it was 2.000 euros investment. But, i can't just let it go to waste. I come here during the weekend, only to work, i don't rest, but i can't let it go to ruin. It is something i will left behind me, just like my forefathers did - Gligorijevic tries to explains, who got this house "from his mother's side".

Aca Kostic, who got the beautiful house by draw, had three daughters. He married one for Stojanovic, from the nearby village Vojska. So the house was inherited by Dragan Gligorijevic uncle, who changed his last name Stojanovic into Kostic, because he wanted to honor Aca. Wanting to thank Dragan because he took care of the house, his uncle gave half of his house to him.

- Our village houses are becoming ruins, but not mine. We are forgetting who we are and where we come from, but my daughter Nikolina won't. I can't give money to go around world sights, and let mine go to waste - concludes Dragan Gligorijevic mentioning that his house survived two wars.

He says that the Institute for Protection of Monuments of Culture in Belgrade included this house in the catalog of the most beautiful Serbian houses.

(Telegraf.co.uk / Marija Raca)