From a town still haunted by vampires to a gruesome tower made of skulls, these are the most interesting facts about Serbia.
Fast facts
Official name: Republic of Serbia
Population: 6,652,212
Area: 77,474 sq km
Capital city: Belgrade
Major languages: Serbian, Hungarian, Bosnian, Romani
Major religions: Christianity
Time zone: UTC+1 (Central European Time)
Interesting facts about Serbia
1. Serbia is a landlocked country located in Southeastern Europe bordering seven countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro.
2. Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia, was once the former capital of the Roman empire AKA Sirmium. As many as 18 Roman emperors were born in the territory of what is now Serbia.
3. Serbian is the only digraphic language in Europe, meaning it is written in two alphabets: Cyrillic and Latin.
4. Arguably, the greatest tennis player who’s ever lived is from Serbia. As of 2024, Novak Djokovic has won 24 Grand Slams and is currently ranked third in the world in men’s ATP rankings.
5. Serbia’s flag is red, blue and white horizontally striped with the Serbian coat of arms located off-center near the hoist. The colors are inspired by the Russian flag of the 19th century.
See how Serbia’s flag compares to other European flags.
6. Between 1992 and 1999, under the leadership of President Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia was involved in a series of bloody wars in Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Kosovo, leaving an estimated 200,000 dead. In 2001, Milosevic was arrested and tried for war crimes after launching an ethnic cleansing campaign against Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians. He died in prison in 2006.
7. In 2008, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia. Kosovo is now recognised by over 100 countries although Serbia still refuses to.
8. Golubac Fortress is one of the most remarkable sights in Serbia. Located on the Danube, the fortress has 10 towers and dates from around the 14th century.
9. Vampires originated in Serbia. The legendary vampire Sava Savanović dates from the early 18th century and pre-dates Dracula which originated in the 19th century.
10. At that time, Serbians in the region would exhume the bodies of the dead in order to kill them again, referring to the corpses as “vampires”.
11. There are still reports that Savanović haunts an old mill in the town of Zarožje.
12. Ćele Kula (Skull Tower) in Niš was once made from 952 skulls of Serbian soldiers who defeated the Turks in the 1809 Battle of Čegar. Today, only 58 remain.
13. Dating from the 12th to 16th centuries, the UNESCO-listed Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards are a series of over 4,000 medieval monolithic stone tombstones spread across Serbia as well as Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro.
14. Milunka Savić, the decorated female combatant in the recorded history of warfare, was from Serbia. Savić ought in the Balkan Wars and in World War I and received numerous awards including the French Légion d’Honneur twice and the French Croix de Guerre; the Russian Cross of St. George; the British medal of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael; and the Serbian Miloš Obilić medal.
15. The name of Belgrade (Beograd), Serbia’s capital, means “white fortress” or “white city” and dates back to the 9th century and the white fortress wall that used to encircle the city.
16. Serbia is home to one of Europe’s shortest rivers. At just 365m long, the Vrelo River is nicknamed Godina (year) River dues to its unique length.
17. In 2018, a power grid dispute between Serbia and Kosovo caused millions of clocks in Europe to run six minutes late. A political spat caused a frequency deviation in the electricity supply which in turn made certain electric clocks lose time.
18. Acclaimed inventor Nikola Tesla was Serbian (although technically, he was born in modern-day Croatia). Among other inventions, Tesla discovered and patented the rotating magnetic field, the principle behind alternating-current machines.
19. Mt Rtanj, a mysterious pyramid-shaped mountain in Serbia, attracted attention in 2012 when apocalypse believers flocked to the mountain. Locals claim the mountain has mystical powers ever since it swallowed a castle owned by a sorcerer while others claim it was built by aliens.
20. Pule, a crumbly white cheese from Serbia, is thought to be the world’s most expensive cheese, fetching over $1,300 USD per kilogram.
21. It’s possible to see the endangered brown bear in Serbia, particularly in Tara National Park which is home to the country’s largest population of around 50 bears as well as foxes, lynx, otters and over 130 bird species.
22. Serbia has the highest smoking rate in Europe, with a daily smoking rate of 40%.
23. The UNESCO-listed Studenica Monastery is one of Serbia’s most sacred sites. It was founded in 1196 by the founder of the Serbian empire, and future saint, Stefan Nemanja.
24. Serbia is the world’s fourth-largest producer of plums and the second-largest of raspberries (after Russia).
25. Even though Serbia is landlocked, the country has a Blue Flag beach. Ada Ciganlija, an island on the River Sava in Belgrade, has a sandy beach that is particularly popular in the summer.
26. Seven Serbs worked on the 1969 NASA Apollo 11 mission, the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the moon.
27. Finally, one of the more obscure facts about Serbia is that in 2013, the world’s largest sausage coil was produced in Turija, Serbia. Measuring 3.97m (13ft) in diameter and weighing around 340kg (750lb) it took over seven hours to cook.
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Caitriona Maria is an education writer and owner of The Facts Institute. With seven years of teaching experience and a background in educational content, she specialises in creating clear reference resources about countries, geography and global topics.