Last year, over 20,000 people visited the famous village of Küstendorf (also called Drvengrad) which was built by Emir Kusturica. It is an important tourist attraction in Serbia
Emir Kusturica’s Küstendorf
Drvengrad is located, 200 kilometers south of Belgrade, near Užice. Tourists visiting Drvengrad generally have the same impressions: “This is a magical place,” “the landscape is fantastic,” “It’s an unique place”… They visit the place to enjoy the fresh air, nature, traditional cuisine … and especially to meet Kusturica.
The creator of Küstendorf, the famous director Emir Kusturica, built the village in order to promote culture and encourage young artists to enter the world of cinema. After completing his film “Life is a miracle” in 2002, Kusturica has recovered all the old traditional houses (in ruins) around Mecavnik to gather it in Drvengrad.
Kusturica wanted to preserve the tradition by creating a Serbian cultural and environmental centre in an intact nature and with an incredible comfort.
Küstendorf was developed over the years and has now 25 houses, a restaurant with national specialties (Lotika), three cinemas, a souvenir shop (Aska), a bakery (Ćorkan), a café and sports center (Prokleta Avlija ), a restaurant with international specialties (Viskonti), a library (Sreten Marić), an art gallery, a crèche (Dr Nele Karajlić), a prison (Humanism and Renaissance prison) with “famous prisoner” such as George Bush and Javier Solana, a hairdresser (Andjela) and the Chapel of Saint Sava.
During a festival which is organized every year, Drvengrad becomes a film and music village. It welcomes the world’s famous stars in a much more relaxed place than in major film festivals.