Ilija M. Kolarac

From apprentice to wholesale merchant

Ilija Milosavljević, better known by the nickname Kolarac (born in the village of Kolari), was one of the most successful Serbian merchants of the 19th century. He began his career as a poor apprentice and, through hard work and skill, acquired enormous wealth trading in pigs and food between Belgrade and Austria.

Although he himself had no higher education, Ilija was a man of broad outlook. He was a member of Matica Srpska and a close friend of Vuk Karadžić. He and his wife Sinđelija had no children, which awakened in him the wish to leave his property to "his people" as his sole heir.

The Literary Fund and the University

During his lifetime, in 1861, he founded the Literary Fund to help Serbian writers and to publish books. However, his greatest work is set down in his will – the establishment of the "Ilija M. Kolarac Fund" for the founding of a Serbian university. Today it is the Kolarac Endowment, a centre of culture and music in Belgrade.