Tršić - birthplace of Vuk Karadžić, the father of modern Serbian

The village Tršić is about 9 km southeast from Loznica and it is the birthplace of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, major reformer of the Serbian language and the author of contemporary Serbian Cyrillic.

Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (born 1787 in Tršić, died 1864 in Vienna) was the most significant reformer of the Serbian language and alphabet. In his work he consistently emulated the folk vernacular, continuing the work of his predecessors Dositej Obradović, Sava Mrkalj and Luka Milovanov. Vuk's work on language reform is inseparable from his work on the collecting and systematisation of oral folk literature, and his writing of historiographical and ethnographical works; which offer clear evidence of his talent as an author. Vuk's linguistic, lexicographical, historiographical and ethnographical works were written at the same time as his language reforms, demonstrating both the need for them and their importance. During his long and successful life, he worked with the most renowned intellectuals of Europe at that time - the Brothers Grimm, Leopold von Ranke, Johann Goethe, Therese Albertine Luise von Jakob Robinson, Jernej Kopitar and many others. With his persistent work on popularising Serbian national culture, he succeeded in interesting the European public in the history, tradition and culture of the Serbian people. In 1984 UNESCO declared Vuk Karadžić a Honourable Citizen of the World in recognition of the huge impact of his work and the contribution which he made to the spiritual unity of mankind.

"I was born and raised in Serbia, and so it seems to me that there is no more beautiful country in the world than Serbia, nor a more beautiful place than Tršić." V.S.Karadžić

In the village there is an ethnographic park with a memorial house, different representations of national architecture and places for visitors. In 1933, at the place where once was the Karadžić family home, a memorial house was built - two-piece log cabin, partly above the basement with a steep, shake roof. One part is the house, and the other is a warehouse, a log cabin for making rakia (kačara) and a corn-store.

The house has an open fireplace, furniture and dishes, everything characteristic for the 19th century household. In the room there is a bed, a table, a bench, icons, gusle and Pavel Djurković's portrait of Vuk Karadžić, dating from 1816. When making ethno-park, special attention was paid to the desire to permanently mark and preserve the memories of Vuk and his work, and to preserve the natural environment.

Vuk's birth house was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia.

The Museum of Language and Letters opened on 21 April 2011 in Tršić. The museum aims to build an interactive relationship with visitors, to preserve the contemporary usage of the oral Serbian language in all registers and to show the changes, and causes of change in the Serbian language through its long history. One of the most important aims of the museum is to investigate transformations in the Serbian language and to contextualize them in relation to cultural developments, historic events and other languages. The uniqueness of this museum is in displaying the language, which is itself a living organism, yet which, in comparison with other museum displays, is in a constant state of renewal as it comes into contact with visitors. In this interaction with visitors, the temporary materialisation of language is dispersed in the most varied ways. In the cultural and ethnological museum complex of the Tršić Heritage Site, this museum continues all that on which Vuk Karadžić worked - it examines the connections between the vernacular and literary language, reveals the context of their usage, and it leaves behind linguistic variations in a record of trends from everyday life and the possibility of linking them to the past. The museum is adapted for interaction with visitors.

There is a pedestrian zone connecting Tršić and Tronoša monastery, once the road Vuk was passing every day on his way to school (monastery itself). Recently in Tršić is present rural tourism converting family houses in buildings designed to accommodate guests, so it is now possible to visit this picturesque place and stay there a few days and enjoy the charms of the local cuisine and the natural rural environment.