Smiljan is a village in the mountainous region of Lika in Croatia. It is located 6 km northwest of Gospić, and fifteen kilometers from the Zagreb-Split highway; its population is 417 (2011).
Smiljan is known best for being the birthplace of Nikola Tesla on 10 July 1856. Due to celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of electricity pioneer and inventor Nikola Tesla, Croatian officials opened a Tesla memorial complex, including a museum inside his restored childhood home. Today, Tesla’s birth house, together with the Orthodox church of St. Peter and Paul (built in 1765) and the surrounding area, represents a memorial complex with various exhibits of Tesla’s inventions and a museum where the details of the inventor’s life are shown.
There is also a congress hall in a nearby building. The original memorial complex was built in 1956. During the Croatian War of Independence, several of the buildings were severely damaged by fire. The Croatian authorities restored it and reopened it in a 2006 ceremony with the highest dignitaries of Croatia as well as Serbia.
Join us on our 2020 Croatian Pilgrimage, September 14 – 27, and visit many historic and interesting sites like this! A Bright Idea!