Barcelona’s Team Member to Build Basketball Arena, Ski Tracks and Hotel Complex on Stara Planina – Works to be Completed Next Year

Barcelona’s basketball player Nikola Mirotic wants to contribute to the development of the city of Pirot by investing in rural tourism, and he has also announced the construction of a basketball arena, a ski track and a hotel complex during his visit to the recently held event called “Tkacka Kolonija”, which took place on Stara Planina.

Together with his wife Nina, Mirotic visited the traditional weaving event on said mountain in order to support the activities toward the preservation of traditional techniques and handicraft skills, but also the economic strengthening of women in rural areas.

As the NALED announced, the former Chicago Bulls team member bought an elegant woven braid for his wife and got himself a felt ball as a symbol of Serbia’s success in sports.

Mirotic invests in the development of livestock breeding and tourism in the Pirot area, and his wife Nina comes from this area, where they spend a part of their summer vacation each year.

It was at their hotel, StarA, that the first “Tkacka Kolonija” weaving event was held. Furthermore, the basketball player has built the sheep farm Eva, which will provide meat and cheese for the new hotel, inspired by the patterns on the Pirot carpets.

Also, the complex will feature a basketball arena, a ski track and additional accommodation features in the form of special tree houses, the construction of which is supposed to be completed next year. More details about this complex can be found in a separate article.

Mirotic plans to revive the Pirot area and one of the key steps is the construction of a school in the Visocka Rzana settlement.

The sixth weaving event in the village of Dojkinci was organized by the handicraft association Etno Mreza, with the support of the NALED, the City of Pirot, the Ministry of Agriculture and the U.S. Embassy.

It brought together over 15 women from the entire Serbia with the aim of popularizing weaving and perfecting the traditional skill of carpet-making.

– Traditional handicraft products from all parts of Serbia are what make us proud and we need to present them to the world as well as possible, and one of the important steps is for our institutions and economy to use them more frequently as diplomatic and business gifts – points out the president of Etno Mreza and the executive director of the NALED, Violeta Jovanovic.

The sixth weaving event was held at the Sports and Recreation Center Dojkinci and the Technical School in Pirot.

This year’s event was visited by prominent guests, such as the ambassadors of Canada, Belgium and Portugal, Giles Norman, Koenraad Adam and Maria Virginia Pina, Philomena O’Brien of the Belgrade Foreign Visitors Club and Christina Czettl, a member of the presidency of the International Women’s Club.

NALED Beograd

Grad Pirot

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije

Ambasada SAD Beograd

Ambasada Kanade

Ambasada Belgije Beograd

Ambasada Republike Portugalije Beograd

Belgrade Foreign Visitors Club

International Women s Club

Etno Mreza handicraft association

Eva sheep farm

Giles Norman

Koenraad Adam

Maria Virginia Pina

Philomena O Brien

Christina Czettl

Nikola Mirotic

Stara Planina

construction of a hotel

hotel on Stara Planina

spa center

accommodation on Stara Planina

construction of a pool

construction of a hall

courts

ski track

weaving event

Tkacka Kolonija

Pirot carpet

construction of a school