Learning about Veljevo, Serbia

Valjevo Panorama - uptown part of the city and Church (source - Wiki)

With 24 days left before my Romani experience I took a spin through Wikipedia. The information below is my translation of the facts offered in the History online.

Condensed History:

In the nearby village of Petnica, scientists found the first complete 6,000 year old Neolithic habitat in Serbia.

In Ancient Roman time this area was an integral part of the province Moesia.

Valjevo was mentioned for the first time in 1393 when it was an important staging post on the trade route that connected Bosnia to Belgrade.

During the First World War the battle of Kolubara was fought in the vicinity of Valjevo where there was a large hospital that helped the wounded.

The city of Valjevo suffered vast destruction during World War II and again at the end of the 20th century when it was repeatedly bombed during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

Guthrie Theater Production

When this show opens in a couple of weeks I'll be part of the live music.  It's an amazing production.

The text on this advertisement from the Guthrie Theater reads:

"Heaven is a mind-bending dance theater epic that follows an American war photographer on an odyssey through war-torn Bosnia in the early 1990's. Set to a hard-driving Balkan score, the dance and music fly through the realms of pop, rap, rock, percussion, and opera mixed with traditional and contemporary Balkan styles. The story is heart-wrenching and suspenseful, but surprisingly hopeful. It blasts off at the frenetic pace of a battle, stopping along the way to look at the humanity behind the suffering. It is a story of survival, hope, understanding, forgiveness and even beauty in the face some of the most horrific events the late 20th century has seen."