Epoch-defining inventor Nikola Tesla was born to an orthodox priest’s family in the mixed Serbian-Croatian village of Smiljan in 1856. His birthplace, set in what is now a verdant park, forms the centre of the Nikola Tesla Memorial Centre (Memorijalni Centar “Nikola Tesla”), an entertaining and easily-digestible introduction to his work.

Tesla spent his childhood years in Smiljan before moving on to education in Gospić, Karlovac and Graz. After periods in Hungary and Paris he emigrated to America in, where he became a leading figure in a new age defined by radio waves and electric power. He pioneered the use of AC current, was co-inventor of radio and worked on x-rays, light bulbs, remote controlled devices and all manner of other innovations.

As an ethnic Serb born in the historic territory of Croatia who was a citizen of Austria-Hungary at his birth and America at his death, Tesla was a global phenomenon in every sense.

You can visit the church where Tesla’s father ministered to the local congregation, and enter the house where the electronic wizard spent his early years. Items of period furniture and a shelf of books - providing some idea of what his priest-father would have kept in the house - provide an evocative sense of period.