Serbia´s stone uncovered

The Republic of Serbia has limited domestic resources of dimension / decorative stone in volume terms. Below, the Chairman of the Stone Association of Serbia, Zoran Djajic, and the Publisher of KAMEN trade journal, Zika Milovanovic, summarize current knowledge of the sector.

Around 6000 BC near a place called Lepenski Vir on the Danube, an ancient tribe decided it was a good place to settle. Not too long ago, archaeologists exploring this region discovered two stone sculptures - heads with torsos. They are probably the first life-size representations of human beings ever. The place is today on the territory of the Republic of Serbia. Little is known about the ancient tribe, but it is a fact that Slavic peoples first arrived here from the east between the 10th and 12th centuries AD. Many monasteries and churches were subsequently built by local inhabitants. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed in 1918 and its name was changed to Yugoslavia in 1929. The rest, as they say, is history. The common factor is that stone has been used for decorative purposes and for building in all the former republics of Yugoslavia for a very long time. In this article we concentrate on Serbia.

According to Zoran Djajic, Chairman of the Stone Association of Serbia, today there are some 1.200 companies and trade shops involved in some way with the domestic stone industry, from geological exploration to locate new deposits to quarrying, processing and marketing of Serbian materials plus quite a variety of imported goods. Materials extracted from Serbian quarries include:

• Marble : Vencac beli, Vencac roze, Plavi tok
• Granite: Bukovik, Slavkovica, Brajkovac, Radali, Josanica, Senokos
• Limestone: Sirogojno, Skrzuti, Portoro, Slivovac, Zagubica, Koral
• Sandstone: Bele vode, Brajkovac, Ljig, Dragacevo, Temska
• Psephit: Ariljska ruza, Ropocevo, Grab
• Onyx: Sijerinska banja, Lozovik

Blocks and tombolas from Serbian quarries are processed and the final products sold almost exclusively on the domestic market. The local stone industry is today based mainly on raw material imports, from blocks to finished products. With a population of around 10 million, this is a not insignificant stone consumer market. The ratio of processors to quarriers is about 100 to 1. According to Zoran Djajic, there has been an increasing interest in opening new quarries during the last few years. Several foreign firms have entered the market introducing modern extraction technology. Mesozoic and carbonate formations offer the best prospects. The colour palette in limestone goes from grey to yellow, ochre and red to totally black.

Though not much is seen walking through central Belgrade today, there is a long-standing tradition of sandstone use for larger buildings. Marble has been quarried on Mt Vencac since 1881. A company called Vencac with headquarters in Arandjelovac was found in 1894 and has had a turbulent history for a long time. Vencac was privatised in 2003 but there were problems and it is now back in public ownership, with the accent on roadstone.

Today the dimension/decorative stone processing industry in Serbia is focussed around two main areas - Arandjelovac and Krusevac. The leading processing companies are Timotijevic with different parts administered by Mr Timotijevic Senior and his son Milos, Sumadija Granit, Hydro-Stone, Napredak and Majdan. The Timotijevic factory at Topola, 10 km from Arandjelovac, was established in 1983 and today it can offer products made from more than 60 types of granite. Bukulja Granit is an associate company that was founded in 2000.