01About the Lug
The forest the river left behind.
Natural Monument · Šalinac, Smederevo
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44°41′24″ N 21°00′59″ E
Where the Lug is
At the confluence of two rivers.
The Lug stands on the plain of the Godomin Field, which the Velika Morava built up with its sediment, close to where it flows into the Danube. It is surrounded by the villages of Šalinac and Kulič and, in a wide arc, by the former meander of the Morava — now an oxbow lake.
- 1.5 kmVelika Morava
- 3 kmDanube
- 10 kmSmederevo
- about 70 mabove sea level
Why it is special
The last forest of its kind.
Forests of pedunculate oak and narrow-leaved ash once covered the floodplains of Morava Serbia. Only Šalinački lug remains of them — a rarity not just for Serbia but for the whole Balkans.
Querco–Fraxinetum serbicum
At the confluence
The crossing over the Danube and the Morava has been used since prehistory. Passing this way, by land and by water, were —
Alexander the Great, Trajan, Constantine, Justinian, Despot Đurađ, Zmaj Ognjeni Vuk, Karađorđe, Captain Miša — and also merchants, soldiers, swineherds, craftsmen, ferrymen, fishermen, healers and the river militia.
All of them, like sentinels,
were watched by the oaks.
1988
Part of the film “Boj na Kosovu” (The Battle of Kosovo) was shot on this plain.
According to the catalogue of the exhibition on Šalinački lug, 2009.
History of protection
Written into the wood.
1971On the initiative of the villagers of Šalinac, the Lug was first protected — as a strict nature reserve.
1984Specialists from the Faculty of Forestry in Belgrade carry out the first major surveys and mark the trees.
2005The Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia prepares a study for a new protection of the Lug.
2007Šalinački lug becomes a Natural Monument.
2019The Lug is managed by the public utility company JKP “Zelenilo i groblja Smederevo”.
2022A new protection study: 168 large oaks, 19 hectares, part of the European Emerald Network.
02Next chapter
The Oaks
Two hundred years, standing upright.
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