Tara (mountain)

Initial attempts at protecting parts of the mountain occurred in the 19th century. Soon after Serbia's Institute for the Nature Protection was founded in 1948, six reserves were declared on the mountain in 1950. They were followed by an additional three in the 1960s and the 1970s. Tara National Park was established in July 1981. It encompasses Tara and part of the Zvijezda mountain, in a large bend of the Drina River. The area of the park originally was with altitudes varying from above sea level. On 5 October 2015, the National Assembly of Serbia adopted the new law of national parks which enlarged Tara National Park to , by adding to it the protected area of "Zaovine Landscape of Outstanding Features". The park's management office is located in nearby Bajina Bašta. The protective zone of the park, which encircles it, is much larger and spreads over the area of . Plantlife was discovered on the Tara Mountain in 1875 by Josif Pančić Forests account for three quarters of the national park's area, , some of them being the best preserved and well-kept in Europe. With 83.5% of the territory under forest, Tara is the most forested area of Serbia and thus nicknamed the "lungs of Serbia". The forest growth is among the highest in Europe: the total wood mass increases each year and the quality of the forest is enhanced. Cutting of the wood is strictly controlled. Since 1960, the total measurement of the wood mass on Tara has been measured every 10 years. From 1990 to 2000, the mass grew from to . Within the park, there are 9 reserves with an area of , or 16% of the park, where woodcutting is forbidden. Some of the areas have been left unattended for centuries, making them basically a temperate rainforest. In total there are 1,200 plant species in the park, of which 84 are Balkans endemites, and 600 species of fungi. There are two species of edelweiss which can be found in Serbia only on the Tara. Pančić discovered the Derventa knapweed (Centaurea derventana) on the cliffs of the Derventa canyon, while Alpine edelweiss habitats only one ridge on Mokra Gora and is strictly protected. Another endemite is common lady's mantle. Other plants include woodland strawberry, wild raspberry and various fungi. Wildlife There are total of 140 insect species in the park. Rare species include Pančić's grasshopper (Pyrgomorphella serbica), endemic cricket Balkan isophya discovered in 1882 by Carl Brunner von Wattenwyl and aspen longhorn beetle, which in Serbia lives only on this location. 135 bird species make their temporary or permanent homes on the slopes of the mountain, including golden eagle, griffon vulture, peregrine falcon, Eurasian eagle owl, spotted nutcracker, Eurasian bullfinch, crossbill, black woodpecker, rock partridge and black grouse. On Perućac lake on the Drina, there is a population of common merganser, with 50 pairs. Tara is inhabited by 53 mammalian species, including the protected brown bear and otter, as well as chamois, roe deer, lynx, wolf, jackal, wild boar, European pine marten, and European wildcat. In total, there are 19 species of fish in the park. In April 2019 there were some 60 bears on the Tara, making 80% of the entire brown bear population in Serbia. In the fall of 2021, a 15-year-old bear named Aleksandar (after Alexander the Great) was equipped with the GPS collar camera. He was specifically selected due to his massive size, as he weighed around . Footage until August 2022, when he managed to tear the collar, proved that he indeed was an alpha bear on the mountain. Aleksandar was hibernating from mid-November to late March and was quite reluctant to leave the cave. Other animals were hiding from him and moving out of his way so much, that he had no encounters with other animals than bears. He was feeding at the mangers and "enjoyed" spending time with two she-bears in this period, but he mostly was just calmly wandering all over. The bear avoided open spaces, not crossing over the forests' rims. He was extremely cautious to avoid humans, even when close to the villages. == History ==

, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Mramorje Work published in May 2018 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America journal by the research team from the Northumbria University revealed that the locality "Crveni Tepih" shows the evidence of the oldest lead pollution in Europe. It is dated to 3600 BC, predating the previous oldest findings dated to 3000 BC in southern Spain and pushed back the origins of lead metallurgy for six centuries. Locality Kremenilo, near the village of Višesava, is a prehistoric settlement, dated between 5000 and 7000 BC, as part of the Starčevo culture which developed in Podunavlje as the first agricultural culture in the Balkans. Mountainous Illyrian tribe of Autariatae inhabited the area during the Bronze Age. Though it is often mentioned that tara means "star" in Sanskrit, name of the mountain is derived from the name of the tribe. On the locality of "Borovo Brdo" near Kaluđerske Bare, a Slavic pottery from the 6th and 7th century was found. The medieval necropolis of Mramorje is located near the village of Perućac. As one of the most important stećci complex in Serbia, it has been protected by the state as a Cultural Monument of Exceptional Importance. Another such necropolis is near the village of Rastište. Mramorje is located near the Perućac lake. The necropolis originates rom the 1300s and the 1400s, and currently has 88 visible tombstones. All of them are plain, without ornaments, except for one which is decorated with a circle-shaped ornament. All stones are made of one white limestone block which weight 3 tons and more. They have been called mramorovi ("marble [blocks]"), hence the name of the locality. They are made in different shapes: slab, box, gable roof, slightly dressed rectangular stones, etc. Small scale exploration of the area was conducted in 2010 and the stone monuments were conserved in 2011. Rastište is from Perućac, in the valley of the Derventa river. It consists of two cemeteries, separated by , north of the village church. There are 35 tombstones at the Gajevi locality, and 33 at Uroševine. These stećci are decorated with carvings of bow and arrow, swords, etc. It is in the vicinity of the quarry Vagan, the source of the stone for the stećci. During the Ottoman period, a "Bosnian road" passed through the area. The hamlet of Gradina, near Kremna, was the location of a Turkish arsenal and a caravanserai. They were destroyed by the Austrians in 1738. Due to the heavy forestation, during the Ottoman rule Tara was the hiding place for the hajduks. The fort of Solotnik is also located on the mountain. For a period of time, Tara was an important railway crossroad. Exhibits from that period are kept in the , near the spring of the same name. They include the "maginot railway wagon" for the ammunition transport during the World War I or the German locomotive from 1928. There is also a Railway Museum in Mokra Gora, in the building constructed in 1916 by the AustroHungarians when they were building the narrow gauge railway in occupied Serbia. Known today as the Šargan Eight, it is a heritage railway and a major tourist attraction. == Tourism ==

The main tourist points are Kaluđerske Bare on the north, close to Bajina Bašta, and Mitrovac on the south. Hotels Beli Bor and Omorika, as well as several smaller ones, are located on Kaluđerske Bare, while Mitrovac hosts eponymous children's recreation hotel. The National Park can be reached from Bajina Bašta directly (by the Bajina Bašta - Kaluđerske Bare road), from Perućac via Bajina Bašta (by the Perućac - Mitrovac road) and from Kremna (the Kremna - Kaluđerske Bare road). The Drina gorge, which is an integral part of the park, can be toured by boat. There is a total of 10 arranged scenic viewpoints, of which Banjska is the most visited. Others include Kićac, Vranovina, Veliki Teferič, Mali Teferič and Vranica. There are of arranged hiking trails and bicycle paths. On the rivers, there are facilities for kayaking, rafting, board rowing and canyoning. Locally made items include woolen handcrafts, dairy products, juniper and plum spirits and honey, particularly Pine honey. Since the mid-2010s, construction of numerous objects on the mountain, in the park and along the lake began. By 2020 there were several thousands of them, vast majority being built illegally, without proper or any permits. Objects include houses, villas and floating barges with houses, with some covering several hundreds of square meters. There is no sewage, so the waste is dropped directly into the lakes, streams and the Drina, while floating garbage covered areas around the barges. In 2018, all but 4 objects along the bank were removed, but in the next two years additional 150 were placed or built. The situation was described as "everyone is having a jurisdiction and no one is having a jurisdiction". Only the management of the national park publicly and officially protested, but neither the state nor the municipal authorities reacted. File:Jezero Zaovine, Nacionalni park Tara.jpg|Zaovine Lake File:Kucica na Drini77.jpg|Drina in Bajina Bašta File:Banjska stena77.jpg|Perućac lake == Features ==

The Rača monastery is a Serbian Orthodox monastery built by king Stefan Dragutin (1276-1282) on the right bank of the Rača river. Three centuries later, a famous scriptorium, known as the School of Rača () developed and flourished in the 16th and 17th century. The monks translated texts from Ancient Greek, wrote histories, and copied manuscripts. They translated and copied not only liturgical but scientific and literary works of the period so the history of Serbian literature is owing a lot to it. Turkish travel writer, Evliya Çelebi noted in his travelogue of 1630 that in Rača Monastery there were 300 monk scribes, who were served by 400 shepherds, blacksmiths, and other staff. The security guard included 200 armed men. It was damaged several times during the Ottoman period. During the Great Turkish War the monastery was partially destroyed by the invading Turks in 1689. In 1826 it was reconstructed due to being burned down several times. Gendarmerie lieutenant colonel Jaraković handed over the Miroslav Gospel to hegumen Platon Milojević in 1941, who kept it during the war. The Rača monastery is declared a cultural monument. was founded in the 13th century by Stefan Dragutin, Serbian king There are houses on the mountain, representatives of the folk architecture. House of Vukajlović is one of the oldest, built in the middle of the 19th century. It was constructed by Vitor Vukajlović, a meyhane owner from Bajina Bašta. House is not residential anymore and is turned into the tourist facility. It is noted for the writing near the entry doors "Slaviša, with his Mrs. Ana, lodged here in 1905", which is today considered as the oldest date when the tourism on Tara began to develop. Also, there are over 650 shepherd's huts scattered over the mountain, the oldest being from the 1700s. Earlier, there were also specific log cabins, called kućer. Instead on the foundations, they were built on the sledge-type pedestals, so they could be easily moved by the yokes or teams. Next to the Zaovine Lake the photovoltaic solar power plant "Brana Lazići" was built. Location, at an altitude of , was chosen in 2014 when the conceptual design was drafted. First became operational in 2016, with the remaining added in 2017, bringing the total installed capacity to . The plant has 1.152 solar panels covering . == See also ==