BELGRADE, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Serbia marked Statehood Day Saturday at ceremonies paying respects to ancestors that established its modern statehood.
The central ceremony took place in the village of Orasac, some 80 kilometers south of the capital city Belgrade, where Serbian people decided to launch a rebellion -- dubbed the First Serbian Uprising -- against Ottoman rule in 1804.
The state delegation, led by President of the National Assembly Maja Gojkovic, laid wreaths at a monument dedicated to the leader of the First Serbian Uprising, in front of the military guard of honor and hundreds of citizens.
Serbian Statehood Day, established in 2001, also marks the anniversary of the first constitution that the Principality of Serbia adopted in 1835.
Congratulating citizens in an open letter, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that the constitution was the "foundation of the modern Serbian statehood, together with memories on famous ancestors, whose vision of modern and free state we enjoy today."
At another state ceremony in Belgrade, state officials laid wreaths at the Monument to the Unknown Hero.
