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Povlen ( sr, Повлен) is a
mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...
in western
Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
, located thirty kilometers west of
Valjevo Valjevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Ваљево, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Kolubara District in western Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the administrative area of Valjevo had 90,312 inhabitants, 59,073 of whom were urban dwell ...
. It has several peaks, the three most important being Small Povlen (), Middle Povlen () and Big Povlen (), which is, ironically, the lowest.


Geography

It belongs to the Valjevo mountain range, which form the highland west of
Valjevo Valjevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Ваљево, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Kolubara District in western Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the administrative area of Valjevo had 90,312 inhabitants, 59,073 of whom were urban dwell ...
towards
Mačva Mačva ( sr-Cyrl, Мачва, ; hu, Macsó) is a geographical and historical region in the northwest of Central Serbia, on a fertile plain between the Sava and Drina rivers. The chief town is Šabac. The modern Mačva District of Serbia is nam ...
. The mountains are not very high, their highest point, Small Povlen, reaches to , but they are difficult to cross. Dense forests and deep river canyons hide narrow and winding roads that lead to small hamlets. In the canyon of Trešnjica under Povlen, there is a colony of
griffon vulture The Eurasian griffon vulture (''Gyps fulvus'') is a large Old World vulture in the bird of prey family Accipitridae. It may also be known as the Griffon vulture, though it may be used for the genus as a whole. It is not to be confused with Rü ...
s.
Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...
s and hawks also live on the mountain. Successful program of
brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is ...
s protection was conducted on the
Tara mountain Tara ( sr-Cyrl, Тара, ) is a mountain in western Serbia. It is part of the Dinaric Alps and stands at above sea level. The mountain's slopes are clad in dense forests with numerous high-elevation clearings and meadows, steep cliffs, deep rav ...
in the 21st century, some southwest of the Povlen. As the number of bears grew, by the 2020s they re-appeared on the Povlen, too.


History

In November 2019 it was announced that the remains of the
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
church were discovered. The object was discovered close to the Taor Springs, some from Valjevo. Remains of the Early Byzantium-style church are part of the wider complex, with parts of small fortification and presumably a mining settlement being located for now. It is located at an altitude of , on the prehistoric and Antiquity travelling corridor from the valley of the
Kolubara The Kolubara ( sr-cyr, Колубара, ) is a long river in western Serbia; it is an eastern, right tributary to the Sava river. General overview Kolubara is formed by the two small rivers Obnica and Jablanica. ''Obnica'' is the river in W ...
river to the
Užice Užice ( sr-cyr, Ужице, ) is a city and the administrative centre of the Zlatibor District in western Serbia. It is located on the banks of the river Đetinja. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 59,747. The C ...
depression. Remains from the Stone Age, Iron Age, Antiquity and Middle Ages have been found along the corridor. Church dimensions are , it has arched altar area and is surrounded by the
dry stone Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction m ...
wall made of large chunks of stones and boulders, which is long and wide. In the surrounding area there are numerous traces of ancient mining activities, including mining of copper and iron. Also, this is the fourth such church discovered in the Valjevo region in the past several years. In the village of Brangović there are remains of the fortification, called Jerinin Grad, with the remains of the church quite similar to the one discovered in Taor. With another fortification in the village of Ćelije, the archeologists theoreticize that all this objects were connected in the wider but specific complex. Also, the findings point to the idea that every village, even unfortified ones, had their own churches during the period of Early Byzantium.


Features


Taor Springs

One of the attraction of the Povlen are the "Taor Springs" (''Taorska vrela''). Beautiful cascades were used in many touristic brochures in the
Former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...
. They are located at the village of
Taor Taor ( Macedonian: ''Таор'') is a village in North Macedonia. Administratively, Taor is in Zelenikovo Municipality and it is located some 20 km south-east of Skopje. Taor is on the left bank of the Vardar River. Etymology The etymology ...
's hamlet of Donji Taor. It is located in the southwestern section of the mountain, southeast of Valjevo and northwest of Kosjerić. Majority of the location is covered in beech forests and the location is especially known for bear's garlic, which is abundant. It grows on the shady slopes and in the woods. An annual "Days of Bear's Garlic" festival has been established in 2015. The Taor is known for its
tufa Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of water in unheated rivers or lakes. Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less porous) carbonate deposits, which are known as travertin ...
rocks, on which the Taor springs formed cascades on the long slope, which ultimately flow into the
Skrapež Skrapež is a village in the municipality of Vlasotince, Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of t ...
river. In the 1980s. when the Kosjerić waterworks was constructed, the springs were partially capped and transferred to town's water system. Though the project wasn't conducted fully as planned, it still harmed the cascades as during the droughty years, the water dries out completely. The area was placed under the preliminary protection, but on paper only. Locals were digging the tufa stones, ruining the waterfalls and the entire environment. There were 12 watermills on the springs, but as of 2017, none of them are operational, with only a few still physically surviving. By 2019 only three derelict ones remained (Delićka, Drojićka and Pejina), but the fourth one, Pepića watermill, was fully restored and became operational in 2018.


Folklore


Mythology

Area of Povlen is known for its myths. Southern extension of the now extinct Pannonian Sea, which drained out some 600,000 years ago, reached Povlen. Hence, fossils of the
sea snails Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...
are occasionally being found, which influenced the myth about the massive ring, which allegedly exists somewhere on the mountain, by which Noah moored his ark after the
deluge A deluge is a large downpour of rain, often a flood. The Deluge refers to the flood narrative in the Biblical book of Genesis. Deluge may also refer to: History *Deluge (history), the Swedish and Russian invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Com ...
. Large balls, called the "Povlen balls" (''Povlenske kugle''), which are results of an underwater volcanic activity during the existence of the sea, are claimed by the locals to be made by the extraterrestrials or by the extinct race of giant warriors who used it as the
cannonball A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a lar ...
s or for the catapults.


Vampires

On the western slopes of the mountain is the village of Zarožje, location of the famed watermill owned by Sava Savanović, the mythical, best known Serbian vampire. He was immortalized in the short story ''After Ninety Years'' by
Milovan Glišić Milovan Glišić (6 January 1847 – 20 January 1908) was a Serbian writer, dramatist, translator, and literary theorist. He is sometimes referred to as ''the Serbian Gogol''. Legacy Glišić is considered to be one of the best translator ...
from 1880, predating Bram Stoker's '' Dracula'' by 17 years. It served as the base for '' Leptirica'' ("She-butterfly"), generally considered one of the best Serbian horror movies, made in 1973.


Gallery


References

{{Commons category, Povlen Mountains of Serbia