Villages & Cinema
Drvengrad (Mećavnik) — Kusturica’s Wooden Town
Mokra Gora & Šargan · Šumadija & Western Serbia
QUICK INFORMATION
- CATEGORY
- Villages & Cinema
- COUNTRY
- Serbia
- REGION
- Mokra Gora & Šargan · Šumadija & Western Serbia
- DURATION
- 1–2 days
ABOUT THIS ATTRACTION
Drvengrad is a made-up town that became real: built for Kusturica’s 2004 film on the hill above Mokra Gora, it keeps a main street named after Chekhov and side lanes for Bergman, Fellini and Tarkovsky, an orthodox church, a cinema, a library, a brewery and a hotel. It is simultaneously a film set, a working inn and the most photographed village in Serbia. Every January the Kustendorf festival brings world cinema’s students and stars to it.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND
The story behind it
Kusturica built the town 2003–04 for “Life Is a Miracle” — a wooden town in the Bosnian tradition, on the hill his crew could see from the set. It stayed: hotel, restaurant, festival ground. Kustendorf (since 2008) is the festival Kusturica runs with his family — students study under the world’s directors in a village that exists because of a film about a railway.
WHAT TO SEE
What to see here
The cinema and the main street of named lanes.
The church and the square (with the Tesla statue).
The view terrace over the Mokra Gora valley — best at sunset.
GOOD TO KNOW
Facts & Curiosities
Streets are named for writers and directors — the main street is Chekhov’s; the church was consecrated in 2005.
Kustendorf (January) is one of Europe’s most unusual film festivals — no red carpet, one village, the world’s directors in the wood.
The town’s brewery and distillery make Drvengrad beer and rakija served only here.
The square’s statue is not of Kusturica — it is of Nikola Tesla, the town’s joke on “the greatest Serb”.
MAP & LOCATION
Drvengrad (Mećavnik) — Kusturica’s Wooden Town
Drvengrad (Mećavnik) — Kusturica’s Wooden Town, Mokra Gora & Šargan, Šumadija & Western Serbia, Serbia
43.7390, 19.4900
MORE ATTRACTIONS
More to see in Mokra Gora & Šargan
THINGS TO DO
Things to do nearby
FOOD & DRINK
Where to eat nearby
Drvengrad’s restaurant — ćevapi and the house dark beer
Mokra Gora village grills by the station — honest mountain kafana food
HOTELS & STAYS
Where to stay nearby
Drvengrad hotel for the wooden-town night; village rooms by the station for the early trains
Camping Viljamovka at Kremna (May–October) — the family camp famous for its pear rakia
ITINERARIES
Day-by-day routes
NEARBY DESTINATIONS
Continue the journey
INTERESTS
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PART OF
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