Bačka Palanka

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Бачка Паланка
Bačka Palanka
Location in Serbia


General Information
District	South Bačka
Land area	579 km²
Population (2002 census)	29,449 (town) 60,966 (municipality)
Settlements	14
Coordinates	45°09′N 19°15′E
Area code	+381 21
Car plates	NS
Time zone	CET (UTC+1) CEST (UTC+2)
Website	http://www.backapalanka.org.yu

Politics
Mayor	Dragan Bozalo

Church in Bačka Palanka, St. John the Baptist (18th century), is one of the oldest Serbian Orthodox churches in Vojvodina

Bačka Palanka (Бачка Паланка) is a city located in Serbia, on left bank of the Danube, at 45.15° North, 19.24° East. In 2002 the city had a total population of 29,449, while Bačka Palanka municipality had 60,966 inhabitants.

1 Name
2 History
3 Inhabited places
4 Ethnic Groups
5 Tourism
6 Industry
7 Sports
8 Politics
9 Famous people
10 Trivia
11 Twin cities
12 See also
13 External links

[edit] Name

Its name means "a town in Bačka" in Serbian. In Slovak, the town is known as Báčska Palanka, in Croatian as Bačka Palanka, in Hungarian as Bácspalánka, in German as Plankenburg and in Turkish as Küçük Hisar.

[edit] History

Archeologists have proved that people live here for centuries. There are many archeological objects from Stone, Bronze, and Iron age and Roman period.

It is first mentioned as a settlement in 1486, as a suburb of Ilok called Iločka. In the beginning of the 16th century, village was in property of landowner Lovro Iločki, a duke of Syrmia. It was destroyed by the Ottomans after The Battle of Mohács in 1526. It was rebuilt as small Ottoman fortress named Palanka. During the Ottoman rule, Palanka was mostly populated by ethnic Serbs.

In 1687 Palanka was included into Habsburg Monarchy and more Orthodox Serbs settled here. In the year of 1699, Turks left Palanka, which was then mentioned as a small town where Serbs and Hungarians live.

It was used for military purposes from 1702 to 1744. Nova Palanka (New Palanka) was founded between 1765 and 1770 2 kilometers away from Palanka and Nemačka Palanka (German Palanka) was founded by Germans in 1783. Those three cities will become one city, Bačka Palanka, in the 19th century.

Palanka's industrial development started in 1765, when brick plant was built. It got its first post office in 1828. In 1875, one of the first libraries in Vojvodina was opened.

In 1884 Sintelon was founded. In 1886, first public school started working. By the year of 1894, railroad was built from Bačka Palanka to Feketić and a first phone call was made with Novi Sad.

During 1990s, about 5,000 people from Croatia and Bosnia moved to Bačka Palanka because of the Yugoslav wars. During the NATO bombing in 1999, Bačka Palanka was bombed by NATO only twice, on 2nd and 27th April. Both times target was The Bridge of Youth. It was only damaged, but not destroyed.

[edit] Inhabited places

Bačka Palanka municipality

Bačka Palanka municipality includes the city of Bačka Palanka and several villages.

Villages on the northern bank of the river Danube, in the region of Bačka:

Villages on the southern bank of the river Danube, in the region of Syrmia:

[edit] Ethnic Groups

The population of the Bačka Palanka municipality (2002 census):

Serbs = 47,916 (78.59%)
Slovaks = 5,837 (9.57%)
Hungarians = 1,490 (2.44%)
Yugoslavs = 1,041 (1.7%)
Croats = 982 (1.61%)
Roma = 841 (1.37%)
Others (including Rusyns, Bosniaks, etc).

Most of the settlements in the municipality have an ethnic Serb majority, while the village of Pivnice have an ethnic Slovak majority.

[edit] Tourism

Swans in Lake Tikvara

Lake Tikvara in sunset

Tourism is developed in Bačka Palanka. City is famous for Tikvara, a Natural Monument. Tikvara is a Danube lake. Tikvara covers the surface of 500ha. The Tikvara Resort complex is built along the lake for practising various sports, recreational and entertaining activities. There are 33 archeological sites in municipality. It is also known for Karađorđevo, which has a hunting ground and horse farm. People enjoy racing derbies in Karađorđevo. Bačka Palanka's church St. John the Baptist is one of the oldest churches in Vojvodina. North of the town is forest Bagremara.

[edit] Industry

Industry of Bačka Palanka started developing in the 18th century. First companies were built in the second half of the 18th century. Brick plant was opened in 1765, and tobacco storehouse was opened a year later. In 1974 the Bridge of Youth was built to connect Bačka Palanka and Ilok. Today, Bačka Palanka falls among the ten most developed municipalities in Vojvodina. Bačka Palanka municipality is an agricultural and industrial center. Main industries are food, metalurgy, textiles, electronic and machine industry. Most famous factories are Sintelon, Tarkett, Nectar, Čelarevo Brewery, Marina, Majevica, Žitoprodukt, Budućnost and others.

[edit] Sports

Stadium Slavko Maletin-Veva, where FK Bačka plays

Sport is very popular in Bačka Palanka. People enjoy swimming in Lake Tikvara and cycling down the coast of The Danube. Professional sports include handball, football (soccer), basketball and karate. There is a chess tournament every year, Bačka Palanka Open.

Most famous sport clubs in Bačka Palanka are:

Bačka, football (soccer) club
Sintelon, handball club
Nopal, women's handball club
Sintelon, kayak club
Bačka Palanka, women's basketball club
ČSK Pivara, football (soccer) club in Čelarevo

[edit] Politics

Dragan Bozalo, Mayor of Bačka Palanka

For many years Socialist Party of Serbia's member Zvezdan Kisić was the mayor. Now, Dragan Bozalo from Serbian Radical Party is the Mayor.

[edit] Famous people

Natasa Janics
Dragan Zorić
Milan Janić
Žarko Šešum
Milan Kurepa
Ratko Nikolić
Dragan Sudžum
Kalman Konrad
Sanja Papić
Vojislav Brajić
Aleksandar Rađenović - Lepi
Goran Rađenović

[edit] Trivia

World Sensible Soccer tournaments in 2001 and 2004 were held in Bačka Palanka.
There is a legend about how was city named: There was once a beautiful girl called Anka. One night, she snuck out of the house to be with the young man he loves. She fell into a nearby river and drowned. Because she was very beautiful people called the town Palanka, which also means Pala Anka (Anka Fell).
On 13th January 2002, 4 tons of fish stew were cooked in Bačka Palanka and it entered Guiness Book of Records.