Andric Town - Mega idea gets its final contours

Bridge on the Drina, view from Andric Town (Photo: Aleksandar Parezanović)

There is no dilemma any more. Andric's Visegrad, the place where different cultures are brought together and, often, tragically separated, will shine again on the maps of cultural and tourist pearls of the region.

Namely, the tourist railway route widely known as Sargan Eight has reached Visegrad and, thus, created a unique "story" involving the Tara, Kremna, Drvengrad (Wooden Town), Sargan Eight, Visegrad, The Bridge on the Drina and... Andric Town.

Soon, people heading from the Visegrad railway station to the town will be dazzled by the splendor of Andric Town, a wonderful complex spanning 17,000 square meters, which will be situated at the confluence of the Beli Rzav and the Drina.

Hundreds of people are hastily working this spring on the implementation of a mega idea. Trucks are delivering a precious stone that will soon shine all around the town. It will not take long until Visegrad starts looking like a renaissance Mediterranean town...

This project worth between 10 and 15 million euros is being implemented by Emir Kusturica's team (Uzice-based Lotika), the Government of the Republic of Srpska, the town of Visegrad, the Electric Power Company of the Republic of Srpska and numerous international organizations. About fifty renaissance stone houses in the future town will resemble Trebinje, Dubrovnik, and even Istanbul...

As many as 2,000 workers, mainly from this area, will be earning for their living by working on that building site. Andric Town should be completely finished in late 2014, while some parts of it will be available to visitors even earlier because a theater, a movie theater and the Town Hall are expected to open as early as in 2012. As many as 150 people will get a job, there will be a plenty of surprises, which would not be surprises if we revealed them now…

Visegrad will also become an international educational center because a Fine Arts Academy will be opened in Andric Town, comprising a Faculty of Directing and other facilities and gathering about hundred students from all around the world.

There will also be a building of new Andric Grammar School, marina, dock, hotel, town squares, church, stores, a commemorative house of the Nobel Prize winner Ivo Andric, etc. Serbia and other countries are expected to open their consulates and honorary consulates here and then organize exhibitions and various events in Andric Town.

French experts are now designing the acoustics for the new theater, stonecutters from Tvrdos monastery near Trebinje are processing stones, while famous artists and athletes announce their projects in Andric Town...

(future complex)

(entrance to Andric Town)

(Trebinje-Dubrovnik)

(town square in front of the Town Hall and the Fine Arts Academy)

(marketplace between the Town Hall and the church)

(church complex)

(all that, view from the air)