The fertile valleys along the river protected by the hills provided good conditions for life from the biginning, which is evidenced by ground traces of human communities since the time the early Stone Age, found in Petnica cave. Since the end of the I century BC, Valjevo valley is part of the Roman Empire, as well as other territories of present-day Serbia. After it was divided at the end of the fourth century, it was a part of the Eastern Roman Empire. Since the foundation of independent state of Stefan Nemanja, its part was broader environment of today's town of Valjevo. Valjevo is first mentioned in written records of the Cyrillic books in the Dubrovnik archives, which date back to 1393. The rise of Valjevo, as well as the rise of Serbia, was stopped in 1459 when the medieval Serbian state was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.

Valjevo and Valjevo district had a prominent role in The First and The Second Serbian Uprising.The execution of Duke Aleksa Nenadovic and Ilija Bircanin that took place in Valjevo in 1804. was the immediate cause of the uprising in this region.

Culture:

• Tesnjar was built in the Serbian-Balkan style during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Some of the forgotten old crafts like clothier, potter, saddler still live here.
• Street of Knez Milos is now a shopping center. Street date from the second half of the nineteenth century, and its appearance brings us back in time. Most buldings are monuments.
• Square of Duke Misic is located in the heart of the city
• Square of Desanka Maksimovic
• National museum of Valjevo is located in a building from 1870
• Muselim’s refractory is the oldest building in Valjevo
• Tower Nenadovic is another building from the nineteenth century, built in 1813

Events:

• Svetosavska race (January)
• ‘Zlatni opanak’, folklore vestival (April)
• Yu Valjevo jazz festival (May)
• International festival of children’s folklore in Valjevo (May)
• Days of Bishop Nikolai, Lelic (May)
• Raspberry days, Brankovina (June)
• Petrovdan days, Valjevska Kamenica (July)
• Going down the health trails of mountain Valjevo, Lelic (July)
• Rally Povlen, Valjevo Mountains (July)
• Tesnjar Veser, Valjevo (August)
• Meeting of the pipers of Serbia, Lelic (August)
• Slovenian poets in honor of Desanka, Valjevo and Brankovina (October)
• Mushroom days, Divcibare (October)

Valjevo has a very rich environment, and we can point out: Divcibare (mountainous tourist site), Brankovina (cultural-historical complex), Petnica (sports center), the river Gradac and numerous monasteries (monastery Celije, Lelic monastery, monastery Pustinja and monastery Jovanja).