Aranđelovac

Aranđelovac grew around the Bukovička Banja springs, whose mineral water is bottled and sold nationally, and the spa park is the centre of the town: a large landscaped garden with pavilions, the old bath buildings, and since 1961 an accumulating collection of marble sculpture from the White Venčac Marble symposium, an annual gathering of artists working the local stone, so the park doubles as an open-air gallery of several hundred pieces. On the edge of town, Risovača cave was found during quarrying and yielded Palaeolithic tools and animal bones with evidence of Neanderthal presence; it is open as a small site museum. Venčac marble from the nearby quarries was used in the Oplenac mausoleum a short drive away.

History

Prince Miloš Obrenović, who often stayed at Bukovička Banja, built a church at Vrbica in 1858 dedicated to the Archangel Gabriel, and in 1859 he proclaimed the growing settlement the town of Aranđelovac and ordered the spa established. The Paleolithic Risovača cave lies at the edge of town, and by August 2018 a Roman necropolis of the 4th to 6th centuries with 23 graves had been found on Great Venčac (Wikipedia, Aranđelovac).

What's there

• The sculpture park - marble works accumulated in the spa gardens.
• Bukovička Banja - the springs, pavilions and old bath buildings.
• Risovača cave - the Palaeolithic site with its finds displayed.
• Venčac marble - the local white stone worked in the quarries nearby.

When to go

April to October for the park and the sculpture; the symposium runs in summer and new work appears then. The cave is open year round with limited winter hours. Museums close on Mondays.

Things to know

Parts of the spa complex are dated and in need of repair. The cave is small and the visit brief. The sculpture collection is uneven in quality, as such symposium collections tend to be. The town itself is plain outside the park.

Nearby

Oplenac and Topola lie east; Belgrade is north.

Key facts