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Nikola Tesla's birthplace house and his Serbian Orthodox Church in Smiljan, Lika, Croatia are restored

Tesla Memorial Society of New York is grateful to the Croatian government for restoring Nikola Tesla's birth home and his Serbian Orthodox Church in Smiljan, Lika, Croatia where he was baptized.  These following photographs were taken by Prof. Milica Novkovic, Board Member, Tesla Memorial Society, on May 10, 2002.

Above: Tesla's house where he was born in 1856.

Above: Serbian Orthodox Church in Smiljan, Lika, Croatia, where Tesla was baptized.  His father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest in this Church.

Above: The graves of Tesla's parents Djuka Mandic Tesla and his father Rev. Milutin Tesla.  In the photo is Prof. Milica Novkovic, Board Member, Tesla Memorial Society

Nikola Tesla's Family

Above: Tesla's father Rev. Milutin Tesla, a Serbian Orthodox Priest.  Tesla's mother Duka Mandic, was never photographed.

Above: (from left) Nikola Tesla's sisters: Milka, Angelina and Marica Tesla.

Above (left): Josif Tesla, brother of Nikola's father.  Above (right): Pajo Mandic, brother of Nikola's mother. 

"Military Frontier" of Austro-Hungarian Border against Turkish invasion

At the time of Tesla's birth in 1856, Tesla's birthplace in Smiljan, Lika was a part of the Austro-Hungarian "Military Frontier", as a defense border area against Turkish invasions which tried to invade Western Europe.  It was built at by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy at the south-east border of the empire which extended thousand of miles from the Adriatic Coast and Lika Region to Voyvodina - the northern part of Serbia.  The "Military Frontier" was inhabited mostly by Serbian populations, Serbs defended the Christian Europe against the Ottoman Turks.  For their bravery in wars against the Turks, the Serbs were given land by the Austrian Empress.  The "Military Frontier" was abolished in 1881.