Birth House of Đorđe Natošević
The House of one of the Greatest Serbian Scientists
Đorđe Natošević’s birth house is located on the banks of the Danube. It is assumed that it was built at the beginning of the 19th century as a ground floor building, almost square in shape, with simple façades without decorations. The street façade is dominated by a huge gable framed by a profiled plaster frame, divided by a profiled cornice in the middle.
Đorđe Natošević was born on 31 July 1821 in Stari Slankamen, where he finished elementary school. He enrolled in the Grammar School in Sremski Karlovci, completing medical studies in 1850.
He was a famous doctor, the first writer of textbooks using Vuk’s spelling among Serbian people, the founder of the Teachers’ Schools in Pakrac, Novi Sad, Karlovac and Pančevo. He founded, edited and published the first Serbian pedagogical newspaper, School Gazette(Školski list), and the first Serbian children’s newspaper, “Friend of Serbian Youth” (Prijatelj srpske mladeži).
He became the principal of the Novi Sad Grammar School in 1853. From that year on, he began to dedicate himself more and more to education and literature. As early as 1857, he became the imperial and royal school advisor in the administration of the Duchy in Timisoara and became the manager and supervisor of all Serbian schools in Vojvodina. He also worked as a clerk in the Ministry of Education of the Principality of Serbia, and was also the President of Matica Srpska.
In 1996, the Assembly of Vojvodina established a recognition with his name for what he left behind, which is awarded to individuals for their creative contribution to the improvement of teaching. He died in 1887 and was buried with the greatest honors at the Assumption Cemetery in Novi Sad.
The house was declared a Cultural Heritage of Great Importance in 1976, and categorized in 1991.