Divljana ( sr, Дивљана) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Bela Palanka Bela Palanka (Serbian Cyrillic: Бела Паланка, ) is a town and municipality located in the Pirot District of southeastern Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the population of the town is 8,143, and the population of the municipality i ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 141 people.Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava i Stanova 2002. Knjiga 1: Nacionalna ili etnička pripadnost po naseljima. Republika Srbija, Republički zavod za statistiku Beograd 2003.

Divljana Monastery Divljana Monastery, also known as the Monastery of Demetrius of Thessaloniki, St. Demetrius, is a Serbian Orthodox monastery located near the village of Divljana and Divljana Lake,

is one of the landmarks in Divljana.

''Zapis'' oak

There is a large old oak tree in Divljana that is a ''

zapis A ''zapis'' ( sr-Cyrl, запис, , literally "inscription"; plural: ''zapisi'' (записи)) is a sacred tree in Serbian tradition, protecting the village within whose bounds it is situated. A cross is inscribed into the bark of each ''zapis''. ...

'' ("inscription"), a village tree considered sacred. In a custom originating in pre-Christian Slavic mythology, a large tree, usually an oak, would have a cross carved into its bark, and would serve as a temple. Oak trees were sanctified in the settlements which had no church of their own. Experts from the

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...

Institute for the natural protection estimated that it sprouted in c. 1400. The trunk is completely open and hollow on one side. Inside, eight adults can fit, or a table and chairs. The tree, a

durmast oak ''Quercus petraea'', commonly known as the sessile oak, Cornish oak, Irish Oak or durmast oak, is a species of oak tree native to most of Europe and into Anatolia and Iran. The sessile oak is the national tree of Ireland, and an unofficial emble ...

, is under state protection as a natural monument. Circumference of the Divljana oak trunk (as of 2017) is , diameter is , while the diameter of the crown is . The tree is tall.

References

External links

Populated places in Pirot District {{PirotRS-geo-stub