Knjaževac, Serbia

This is my place - small, enigmatic, beautiful and it tickles the attention of every casual traveler to get to know it

It is believed that the first schools in the Knjaževac area existed during medieval Serbia - in the Holy Trinity Monastery in Gornja Kamenica and in Vasilje, near the church.

In the Turkish era, there were no schools in the Gurgusovac area, neither Serbian nor Turkish. A few years before the liberation of Gurgusovac from the Turks, a secret private school operated in Zbirište, which was run by a priest Mirko in his chant and taught children to read and write. When the Turks discovered the school, they severely punished both students and teachers.

The first school in Gurgusovac was founded in 1835. The first teacher was Mateja Nikolić from Vršac. The school had few students, there was still no prescribed curriculum, and it used the "Serbian Primer" and the "Small Reading Room" from the textbooks.

The school worked in several houses in the town until the construction of the first school building in 1874. As it was located next to the church, the church gate also served as a school yard.

The women's primary school was opened in Knjaževac in 1851. The first generation had 26 students and a teacher, Jelena Tomić. It was located in the school building in today's Njegoševa Street. The work of the school was financed by the parents of the students, with a little help from the municipality.