Kragujevac - Hearth of Serbia

Kragujevac is the fourth largest city in Serbia, the administrative centre of Sumadija District. It is situated on the banks of the Lepenica River and surrounded by mountains Rudnik, Crni Vrh and Gledic. The city has a population of around 180,000 inhabitants.

Kragujevac was the first capital of modern Serbia (1818–39); the first constitution in the Balkans was proclaimed in the city in 1835. Further on, the first full-fledged university in the newly independent Serbia was founded in 1838, preceded by the first grammar school, print-works (both in 1833), professional National theatre (1835) and the Military academy (1837). The city was the site of a massacre by the Nazis, in which 2,778 Serb men and boys were murdered.

Contemporary Kragujevac is known for its munitions (Zastava Arms) and automobile industry (Fiat Automobili Srbija).

Kragujevac is an important university center. University of Kragujevac was established on 21 May 1976, from departments of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Faculty of Economics, which began to work in late 1960s. The University of Kragujevac consists of twelve faculties - six faculties are located in Kragujevac, while the other six faculties are located in Cacak, Kraljevo, Jagodina, Uzice and Vrnjacka Banja. It also has two scientific research institutes: the Institute for Field Crops in Kragujevac and Fruit and Grape Research Institute in Cacak.

1st SEECCM was held in Kragujevac in 2006 when the Serbian Society for Computational Mechanics was founded.

In a word: it is worth coming to Kragujevac! You are warmly welcome!