Villagers in Serbia's south dig for gold for centuries believing it was left there by the Middle Age King Milutin
In the villages around Lukovska spa in Serbia’s southern municipality of Kursumlija, there is no a single farmer who has not search for treasure allegedly buried by King Milutin who ruled Serbia from 1282 till 1321.
One of the most persistent among the diggers is Miodrag Miletic, 70, who said we had left no stone unturned following the legend and folk belief running through centuries and boosted by an official geological confirmation that there are some gold reserves in the area, mostly in rivers and cricks, and on the surface as quartz wires.
„I searched for the gold as a kid, and I am still seraching. I dugged using all available tools wherever I suspected it may be buried,“ Miletic said. He added that everyone in his village knew gold was there. No one has any metal detector or anything like that. „I usually bump my feet and if I hear a sound I know that something is down there. I have found a number of such places“.
Miletic said the others had found some gold, while he got lucky only once, when he „heard a sound and digged. I continued digging and a huge hole opened up. My lamb fell into the hole and I followed it through an underground passage for almost a mile. I found nothing at the time. But while I was digging the hole, I found a gold coin and a piece of cold, probably from somebody’s tooth“ Miletic said.
Stefan Uroš II Milutin (c. 1253 – 29 October 1321), known as Stefan Milutin , was King of Serbia between 1282 and 1321, as a member of the Nemanjic’s dinasty and one of the most powerful rulers of Middle Age Serbia. He is credited with strongly resisting the efforts of Byzantine Emperor Michael VII Palaiologos to impose Roman Catholicism on the Balkans. As most of the Nemanjic monarchs, he was proclaimed a saint by the Serbian Orthodox Church.
It is widely believed that King Milutin had a summer house in the village of Stava which he frequented with his wife Simonida. Middle Age miners digged ore and separated gold which then craftsmen used for making jewellery and other things. Archaeological researches confirmed that there were some smelters for gold, silver and lead.
