The Museum of Jovan Cvijić is set in the house where the great geographer and scientist lived and worked. It is located on Kopitareva gradina, in the more than one hundred-year-old cultural and historical core in the city center, and it was built in 1905 based on the designs and wishes of Cvijić himself. Cvijić's house with a garden that stands out for its beauty and rare plant species still reflects the spirit of the time from the beginning of the 20th century.
Following his motto from the youth "Study on your feet and not in your office", the great researcher and traveler depicted the results of his unusual scientific expedition in the ambience of his house. Possessing a taste for art and modernity, Cvijić ordered Dragutin Inkiostri-Medenjak to make the entire interior of his house, every detail of which was designed in the manner of the then very popular style in Europe, Vienna Secession, enriched with elements of Serbian national applied arts.
Both the salon and room of Cvijić's wife Ljubica kept their authentic arrangement. An exhibition depicting the life, numerous travels and research work of our great scientist has been set up in the remaining part of Cvijić's house.
Jovan Cvijić (1865-1927), a geographer, scientist, professor, rector of the University of Belgrade, president of the Serbian Royal Academy, honorary doctor and member of the oldest academies and universities in Europe, is an outstanding figure in the cultural and scientific history of Belgrade and Serbia.
Between scientific excursions and research trips, he worked in the most important institutions of Belgrade at that time – Belgrade Higher School, the newly established University of Belgrade and the Serbian Royal Academy. Cvijić was one of the first eight professors at the newly established University of Belgrade, rector of the University for two terms and president of SRA, founder of the Serbian Geographical Society, the first of its kind in the Balkans, and founder of the Bulletin of the Serbian Geographical Society.
Cvijić left behind a voluminous and diverse bibliography, mostly in foreign languages; maps, atlases and geographical maps of the Balkan Peninsula, ethnographic maps, records and drawings, dedicating entire editions to the phenomenon of typology of Balkan houses, customs and psychological characteristics of people from different cultural zones of the Balkans.
As a result ofhis efforts, professional terms for karst forms from our language were adopted in the world science of karst - (a closed karst depression, field, abyss, conical residual limestone hill, valley, pit).
