Smiljan

For the village in Bulgaria, see Smilyan.
Smiljan
Village

Statue of Nikola Tesla at the Nikola Tesla Memorial Center in Smiljan
Smiljan

Location of Smiljan within Croatia

Coordinates: 44°34′N 15°19′E / 44.567°N 15.317°ECoordinates: 44°34′N 15°19′E / 44.567°N 15.317°E
Country Croatia
County Lika-Senj County
Municipality Gospić
Population (2011)[1]
 • Total 418
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 53211 Smiljan
Area code(s) +053

Smiljan (pronounced [smî̞ʎan]) is a village in the mountainous region of Lika in Croatia. It is located 6 km (3.7 mi) northwest of Gospić, and fifteen kilometers from the Zagreb-Split highway; its population is 418 (2011).[1] Smiljan is famous for being the birthplace of Nikola Tesla.

Etymology

Folk traditions interpret the origin of the name Smiljan poetic legends. According to one legend, the place is named after Smilja, flowers that once grew there, the second, named after the beautiful girl Smiljani who lived in it. The third legend is named after a famous national hero Ilija Smiljanić.

Geography

It consists of eighteen scattered hamlets (Baćinac, Bogdanic, Covina, Colon Hill, Drazic, Kolakovic, Kovacevici, Ljutača, Milkovic Varos, Miljac, Miskulin Hill, Podkrčmar, Rasovača, Rosulje, Smiljan, Smiljansko Polje, Vaganac).

Smiljan resort is located in the central part of the Velebit Lika plain, on the western edge of the field at the foot of the hill Licko Krcmar . It consists of twelve villages which makes the spatial and functional unit. The oldest traces of settlement on the ground Smiljanska dating from the Middle and Late Bronze Age . The hillfort Miljac once were situated necropolis, were found numerous remains Iapodian culture, after all, 22 graves with grave goods witnesses.

Tesla

Smiljan is known best for being the birthplace of Nikola Tesla on 10 July 1856.[2]

Due to celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the electricity pioneer and inventor Nikola Tesla, Croatian officials opened a Tesla memorial complex, including a museum inside his restored childhood home.[2] Today, Tesla's birth house, together with the Serbian Orthodox church of St. Peter and Paul (built in 1765)[3] and the surrounding area, represents a memorial complex with various exhibits of Tesla's inventions and a museum where the details of the inventor's life are shown.[4] There is also a congress hall in a nearby building. The original memorial complex was built in 1956.[4] During the Croatian War of Independence, several of the buildings were severely damaged by fire due to shelling from as yet unspecified perpetrators.[3] The Croatian authorities restored it and reopened it in a 2006 ceremony with the highest dignitaries of Croatia as well as Serbia.[5]

Surroundings

In the surroundings are hill-forts Bogdanić, Smiljan and Krčmar, prehistoric tombs, the churches of St. Anastasia, St. Mark and St. Vitus. The parish church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was built in 1860.[6] A nearby village of Smiljansko Polje ("Field of Smiljan") has 135 residents.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Population by Age and Sex, by Settlements, 2011 Census: Smiljan". Census of Population, Households and Dwellings 2011. Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics. December 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Electrical pioneer Tesla honoured". BBC News. 10 July 2006. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Lika napokon otkrila Teslu" [Lika finally discovers Tesla]. Jutarnji list (in Croatian). 2006-07-08. Archived from the original on 2011-05-22. Retrieved 2011-08-11. Vesna Bunčić, ravnateljica Muzeja Like u kojem se čuvaju namještaj i predmeti iz Tesline rodne kuće. Kada je u svibnju 1992. jedan projektil pao na gospodarski objekt tik uz kuću, izbio je požar u kojem je ta drvena zgradica u potpunosti izgorjela. No, požar je zahvatio i dio krova Tesline rodne kuće. - Pripadnici HV-a ugasili su požar, a onda su namještaj i svi predmeti deponirani u Muzeju Like. Od 2000. godine Muzej Like krenuo je u sanaciju krova, dok je gospodarski objekt ponovno sagrađen 2003. godine - pojasnila je Vesna Bunčić. U Muzeju su, uz namještaj, i porculanski predmeti te 133 knjige iz biblioteke Teslina oca Milutina. Namještaj će tu i ostati jer se u obnovljenoj Teslinoj kući sada priprema drukčiji postav.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Museum of Lika in Gospić – Nikola Tesla Memorial Centre in Smiljan". Museum Documentation Center (Croatia). Retrieved 2011-11-08.
  5. ↑ "150. obljetnica rođenja Nikole Tesle" [150th anniversary of the birth of Nikola Tesla] (in Croatian). Office of the President of Croatia. HINA. 2006-07-10. Retrieved 2011-11-08.
  6. ↑ culturenet

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Smiljan.