Oplenac - Topola - Serbia Stock Image

The extraordinary geographic position of the small town of Topola, situated on the slopes of Oplenac hill, at strategically the important crossroads of the Belgrade, Kragujevac, Rudnik and Šabac roads, with its views on the neighbouring hills of Šumadija and fertile plains of the Morava valley, created conditions for this small Šumadija town to become a political and administrative centre of the liberated part of Serbia in Karadjordje’s time. The old name of Topola was Kamenica, after the river that flows next to the edge of today’s town. The present name Topola was first mentioned in the official census reports by the Austrian cartographers at the beginning of the 18th century. Legend says that a big poplar tree, whose shade provided an ideal resting place, grew up and branched at the very crossroads of the above mentioned roads, where many travelling merchants used to meet or spend the night. Soon the spot marked by the poplar tree became the name of the whole settlement