CULTURAL VALUES – Wine cellars

Growing vines in Krajina preserved the traditional way of raising the vineyard, cutting, processing and making wine. Processing and care of wine grapes are in a separate room - facilities that are known as wine cellars (pimnice). Built of stone, often ashlars with thick walls, even over 60 cm.

Wine cellars is no longer built and in many villages there are complexes missing, the only one left are Rajačke, Rogljevske, Smedovačke, Stubicke and Bratujevačke wine cellars. The hosts make a effort to reorder some of them in a modern, functional space, keeping the specific environment. This space is offered to tourists where they can taste and buy wine.

Rajac wine cellars are situated near the same village, on a hill next to Timok. They present a unique architectural complex wine cellars made from half of the eighteenth to the thirties years of the twentieth century. The complex consists of 270 wine cellars and the central square with fountain. They are built of stone, often ashlars and covered with Ceramida. Substructures are partially buried in the ground so that temperature can vary very little during the year, and on the first floor are rooms to stay when wine harvest and cherishing are taking place.

Wine cellars in the village Rogljevo presents a complex of about 150 cellars . Most of them were built in the XIX. century, but it’s thinking that they were like in other places, in the XVIII. century. As well as other settlements wine cellars are made of irregular streets with a central plateau, cultural and gathering place.

Wine cellars of the village Štubik s are located at about 5 km from Negotin, and 15 km from the same village. Sometimes there were over 300, and only thirty was preserved by today. Built as a wooden building with ground floor porch, or as a high floors with basement.

Wine cellars in the village Smedovac are located at the entrance to the village, on the road between Rogljevo and Rajac.

In addition to the above, it should be mentioned that the biggest complex of wine cellars was once in the village of Tamnic, with the stone paved streets and squares in which the trading was taking place. The last stone tavern in this complex was destroyed in the year 1955.