'Pod Gradom' Hydroelectric Power Plant

The 'Pod Gradom' hydropower plant is situated below the walls of the medieval town of Užice, on the Đetinja River. Today it is a small living museum and a location on the cultural route 'Tesla Ways'.

The idea of professor Đorđe Stanojević (1858-1921) regarding the Đetinja River water utilisation was accepted by the management of the Užice Weaving Mill Joint Stock Company. Stanojević was responsible for the introduction of the first electric lighting and construction of the first hydroelectric power plants in Serbia. He  selected and ordered the equipment of 'Pod gradom'. Not just any equipment, but the one enabling the application of Nikola Tesla’s principles in power plant operation and electricity transmission. This state-of-the-art equipment had to be shipped from Vienna and Budapest to Užice. The king of Serbia, Aleksandar Obrenović (1876-1903), laid the foundation on 3 May 1899 with a grand ceremony.

On St. Ilija’s Day, 2 August 1900, Užice got electric lighting, while the weaving mill was the first industrial facility in Serbia to use electricity to operate its machines. The weaving mill grew to be a large textile factory. Some 400 households were lit by electricity in the beginning. The people of Užice then remembered the words of Mitar Tarabić and his prophecy that ‘a light will shine from the river’.

'Pod Gradom' Hydroelectric Power Plant
Hydrocentrala Pod Gradom
31000 Užice
Serbia
+381 (0) 31 - 521360
Homepage