Why I like living in Kragujevac

Before I start writing about history and culture of Kragujevac, about education and tourism, I would like to say that the real reason why I like Kragujevac is my family, my friends, my school, and my teachers. I was born here, I spent my childhood in this town, and that's something that connects me with this town. The people in Kragujevac are very nice and the most important is they are naturale. In Kragujevac you will never hear the sentence " Mind your own business ", because we are the people with soul, with deep feelings. We are ready to help our friends, neighbours in any situation, any time. We are the people who know to respect what we have. So, according to that, I respect my family as the biggest fortune, I respect my friends, my home, my neighbours... For me, the nicest street in the world is my street, and the warmest home, with the most love, is my home. These were the reasons why I liked my town, and now I would like to tell you why I respect this town. First, because of the history that this town has: the history of the town is rich with events that changed the course of the history, economy and culture of this part of the world and the Balkans. Now, you can notice that Kragujevac had an important role in history and economy. The history of Kragujevac runs deeper than the history of the capital city of Serbia, Belgrade. Kragujevac is located at crossroads. Because of it, the town has been devastated many times and has suffered from great losses of human lives in numerous wars throughout the history. But it couldn't have demoralized us. We went on, and Kragujevac became the cultural and educational centre of the state. The most important institutions which were built in that time, are: The First Grammar School, the first Pharmacy, and the first printing press. But, the new centuries brought new wars. Durind the World War I, Kragujevac had lost 15% of its population. In the World War II, Kragujevac suffered from great losses of human lives and was destroyed. The most tragic day in the history of Kragujevac was October 21, 1941. On that day, fascists committed one of the biggest mass crimes when they shot several thousand Kragujevac citizens. But, even in those hard situations, our people were strong, and in in the post war period, Kragujevac developed more industry. Since 1976, Kragujevac has grown into a University centre. In my town, there is: 1. " Gimnazija ", the first grammar school in Serbia 2. " Knjazevsko-Serbski Teatar ", the first theatre in Serbia 3. Chatedral 4. Old National Assembly 5. Memorial park " October of Kragujevac " 6. Other numerous monuments There are some cultural and art instititutions of regional and national importance. These institutions continue to promote cultural activities in modern Serbia: theatre " Joakim Vujic " ( founded in 1835 ), national library " Vuk Kardzic" ( 1866 ), cultural and artistic group " Abrasevic " ( 1904 ). Also, in this, not so big town, there are 22 primary schools and 8 secondary schools. Kragujevac is the educational centre of Country of Sumadija. We also have three special educational institutions including: 1. a boarding school for deaf children 2. the school for mentally handicap children and 3. the school of music According to all these facts, I can say that I am proud of my town, and there is no reason why I shouldn't like my town with historical name Kragujevac. By Jelena Blagojevic