Simić House in Kruševac | Museums of Serbia

Simić House is located in the very center of Kruševac and showcases the family life and bourgeois home from the late 19th century. It is one of the oldest buildings in Kruševac and a symbol of the city of Rasina, particularly notable for its oriental architecture.

The exact time of construction is unknown, but the stylistic features of Simić House indicate that it was built in the late 18th or early 19th century. It is believed that the construction was completed before Kruševac was liberated from Turkish rule, i.e., before 1833. This building is not only architecturally valuable but also stands out as an important cultural and historical heritage.

Initially, Turkish begs, the Frenčević brothers, Osman-bey and Selim-bey, lived in this house, and later it became the residence of the Simić family. Namely, Prince Miloš Obrenović purchased the house and donated it to Stojan Simić, the first elder of the city after its liberation from the Turks. It was in Simić House, on Christmas Day 1834, that the idea of the Knez Milet uprising was born, which limited the power of Prince Miloš.

As the owners of the house changed, so did its external and internal appearance. Since 1953, it has become a museum, and its appearance has remained unchanged to this day. Among the residents of Kruševac, Simić House is also known as the "Little Museum." The ground floor of the house was used for economic purposes, while the upper floor was intended for residential purposes.

The museum is located on the upper floor and consists of a salon, hallway, dining room, and girls' room. The dining room features a divan, porcelain sideboard, silverware, glassware, and more. The sewing machine occupies a special place in the girls' room. A Pirot rug adorns the salon, and portraits of the Ban of the Danube Banovina and his wife, Radoslav and Ljubica Dunjić, hang on the walls. Lamps, candlesticks, a salon set, wall clocks are just some of the exhibits that can be seen in Simić House. Female and male costumes are displayed in the hallway, and it is interesting to note that Ana, the daughter of Jevrem Obrenović, was the first in these regions to introduce European elements into women's fashion.

The exhibition is periodically changed to allow the public to see numerous documents, objects, and photographs from that period, which are preserved in this building. Simić House has been declared a cultural monument of great importance and is a unique historical and cultural treasure.

It is interesting to note that broken stone was used for the construction of the ground floor of the house, while bondruk and čatma were used for the upper floor. Thanks to this cultural monument, one can get a glimpse of what the market square looked like in the first half of the 19th century.

Simić House is one of the major tourist attractions in the city of Kruševac and is open to visitors on weekdays and Saturdays from 8 am to 3 pm. The ticket price is 150 dinars.