The name Matica has three meanings - ‘queen bee’, ‘nut’ and the ‘centre, the fastest part of the river’.
Our vision
Our vision is to build a diverse village organism - a place for social and spiritual development that can accompany various aspects of human life - agriculture, education, art, crafts, movement and health. We believe that the village of the future should be a place - like an oasis - for creative work, learning focused on the future and a healthy life, but in the way that Uwe Burka described it in his text on the Villages of the Future... read more.In that respect we are working on implementation of these concepts on our Matica Farm that with its agricultural activities gives foundation for it:
- Community supported agriculture (CSA): This is a system where consumers buy "shares" of a farm's harvest in advance. In return, they receive regular deliveries of fresh produce throughout the growing season. This model helps supportand provide security both for local farmers consumers by providing financial support for the farmers throughout the year and provides consumers with high quality fresh, locally-grown food . Matica with its farm, land and animals is an ideal place for development... read more
- Community supported education or Handlungspädagogik (often translated as "Action Pedagogy" or "Practical Pedagogy") is an educational approach that emphasizes learning through action, practical experience, and hands-on activities. It is rooted in the belief that meaningful learning occurs when individuals actively engage with their environment and participate in real-world tasks. We think that current educational framework in Serbia gives space for such educational model to have its own space. We would like Matica farm to be one of such educational places that would further integrate our activities with local needs... read more.
- Community supported medicine - as Anthroposophic medicine is integrated into Serbian health system at Matica farm we create place for educational activities as well as offering some modalities of anthoposophic therapies. We invite individuals from local and wider community to commit and support our activities in exchange for taking care for their well being... read more.
Our projects
At the moment, Matica Village has an old farm with 50 cows, poultry and sheep with around 30 hectares of fertile land, older buildings for workshops, a hostel with 30 beds for communal accommodation, a large room for seminars and eurythmy, two residential buildings (more are planned), and a half-finished building for the future agricultural culture centre with seminar rooms, a café/restaurant and smaller and larger flats. Other areas such as a health centre, a kindergarten/school and a bakery are planned for later.
Our public activities
In Matica Village, in addition to the practical construction activities, biodynamic workshops are held twice a year in spring and autumn. A Waldorf school class completed a work placement and more are planned. Since summer 2024, Matica Village has also been a meeting place where the Matica Youth Camp takes place, where young people aged 18 to 28 meet for an orientation seminar in anthroposophical science with a focus on medicine. There was also a one-week peace conference in summer 2024 with participants from nine nations.
Our further development needs responsible people
A small group of people have brought Matica Village to this stage through their enormous human and financial sacrifices. Now the foundations have been laid to such an extent that other responsible people can join in to develop the village organisation professionally so that it can act as a role model and give people beyond its borders a new orientation. Now we need people in charge of the farm, garden, building activities, café/restaurant and guest services, ideally people who can also train young people.
Our roots
Dr Maria Ljubica Petrov is family doctor with practice in Oslo. Originally she accomplished her medical training in Sweden and training for antroposophic Medicine was done in Sweden, Switzerland and Serbia. Zoran Petrov finished his training for Waldorf kindergarten teacher and practitioner for traditional Chinese medicine in Sydney Australia. the whole family with three daughters moved to Serbia from Norway in 2006. they were the moving force in establishing biodynamic association of serbia in 2009 and serbian anthroposophic medical association In 2010.
Dr Maria Ljubica Petrov and her husband Zoran are founding members of Matica foundation in 2019. the name Matica has threefold meaning - the queen bee, the nut and the middle of, the fastest part of the river.
Our past
Vrsac,over the last 15 years, was the focal point in Serbia for different biodynamic agricultural and antroposophic medicine initiatives. Biodynamic association of Serbia held its annual conferences in Vrsac as well biodynamic workshops, more than dozen books were published in the field of biodynamic agriculture and Antroposophic medicine were published in Vrsac. With the help of Medical section from Goetheanum, Serbian Anthroposophic medical association, held five years training program for doctors in antroposophic medicine. Also dozens of seminars and lectures were given in Serbia and the neighboring countries. as a result of all these activities Antroposophic medicine became official part of Serbian health system.