Vitina

in Vitina

Vitina - located in the southeastern region of Kosovo and Metohija, this city is also the center of the municipality of the same name. This area, which is also known as Upper Morava, is located at the bottom of Skopje Montenegro. In historical data, the name of the village of Vitina was first mentioned in 1258, when the Bulgarian emperor Konstantin Tih Asen donated this village and its 1867 souls to the monastery of St. Đorđe near Skopje. In 1455, a Turkish population census was conducted, according to which there were 105 Serbian families headed by a Christian priest in this village. It is not certain where the name of the settlement itself comes from, but it is believed that it may be connected to a willow whose branches are popularly called vitine. The oldest school in Gnjilanska kaza started its work in Vitina in 1851. Later, around 1890, Vitina was granted an imperial license and thus an elementary school was created, which then celebrated the glory of St. Sava. Exactly on the date of that holiday in 1900, Todor Vasić served in the church and school, the sermon was recited by the teacher Stojan Dajić, and the godfather was Sava Tajić, church and school epitrope. Vitina received the status of a small town in September 1927, after which it became the center of the municipality. However, already in 1934, the citizens of the settlement allegedly expressed their desire to have their town declared a village again, which the king did to them. It is also worth mentioning that in Vitina there is a stone church from 1865 as well as a log church from 1785.