Petrovaradin

Petrovaradin
Петроварадин
Location of Petrovaradin within Serbia
Coordinates:
Population
 • Total 13,973 (town)
31,227 (municipality)

Petrovaradin (Serbian Cyrillic: Петроварадин, pronounced [pɛtrɔv̞arǎdiːn]) is a town and municipality in Serbia, part of the agglomeration of Novi Sad. Population of the Petrovaradin town numbered 13,973 people in 2002. Lying across the river Danube from the main part of Novi Sad, it is built near the Petrovaradin Fortress, known as the "Gibraltar of the Danube".

Contents

Name

Petrovaradin was founded by Celts, but its original name is not known. During Roman administration it was known as Cusum. After the Romans conquered the region from the Celtic tribe of Scordisci, they built the Cusum fortress where present Petrovaradin Fortress now stands. In addition, the town received its name from the Byzantines, who called it Petrikon (Πετρικον) and who presumably named it after Saint Peter.

In documents from 1237, the town was first mentioned under the name Petrovaradin (Pétervárad). Petrovaradin was known under the name Pétervárad during Hungarian administration, Varadin or Petervaradin during Ottoman administration, and Peterwardein during Habsburg administration.

Today, the town is known in Serbian as Петроварадин or Petrovaradin, in Croatian as Petrovaradin, in Hungarian as Pétervárad, and in German as Peterwardein.

History

Human settlement in the territory of present-day Petrovaradin has been traced as far back as the Stone Age (about 4500 BC). This region was conquered by Celts (in the 4th century BC) and Romans (in the 1st century BC).

The Celts founded the first fortress at this location. It was part of the tribal state of the Scordisci, which had its capital in Singidunum (present-day Belgrade). During the Roman administration, a larger fortress was built (in the 1st century) with the name Cusum and was included into Roman Pannonia. Subsequently, the fortress was included into the Pannonia Inferior and the Pannonia Secunda. In the 5th century, Cusum was devastated by the invasion of the Huns.

The town was then conquered by Ostrogoths, Gepids, and Lombards. By the end of the 5th century, Byzantines had reconstructed the town and called it by the names Cusum and Petrikon. It was part of the Byzantine province of Pannonia. Subsequently it passed into the hands of Avars, Franks, Pannonian Croats, Pannonian Slavs, Bulgarians, and Byzantines again. During Bulgarian administration, the town was known as Petrik and was part of the domain of duke Sermon, while during subsequent Byzantine administration, it was part of the Theme of Sirmium.

Later, the town was conquered by the Kingdom of Hungary (in the 12th century), by the Ottoman Empire (in 1526), and by the Habsburg Monarchy (in 1687). During Hungarian administration, the town was firstly part of the Bolgyan County and then part of the Syrmia County, while during Ottoman administration, it was firstly part of the vassal duchy of Syrmia ruled by Serb duke Radoslav Čelnik (1527-1530), and then part of the Sanjak of Syrmia.

During the Ottoman administration, Petrovaradin had 200 houses, and three mosques. There was also a Christian quarter with 35 houses populated with ethnic Serbs.

Petrovaradin was the site of a notable battle on August 5, 1716 in which the Habsburg Monarchy led by the Prince Eugene of Savoy defeated the forces of the Ottomans led by the Silahdar Damat Ali Pasha. Habsburg forces led by Prince Eugene later defeated the Ottomans at Belgrade before the Ottomans sued for peace at Požarevac.

During the Habsburg administration, Petrovaradin was part of the Habsburg Military Frontier (Slavonian general command - Petrovaradin regiment). In 1848/1849, the town was part of Serbian Vojvodina, but in 1849, it was returned under the administration of the Military Frontier. With the abolishment of the Military Frontier in 1881, the town was included into the Syrmia County of Croatia-Slavonia, which was the autonomous kingdom within Austria-Hungary.

In 1918, the town firstly became part of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, then part of the Kingdom of Serbia and finally part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as Yugoslavia). Between 1918 and 1922, the town was part of the Syrmia County, between 1922 and 1929 part of the Syrmia Oblast, and between 1929 and 1941 part of the Danube Banovina, a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. From 1918 to 1936, Yugoslav Royal Air Force was based in Petrovaradin. During World War II (1941–1944), the town was occupied by the Axis Powers and it was attached to the Independent State of Croatia. Since the end of the war in this part of Yugoslavia in 1944, the town was part of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, which from 1945 was part of the new socialist Serbia within socialist Yugoslavia.

Geography

Petrovaradin is one of the two urban municipalities of the City of Novi Sad and it is located in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina. Approximately 25-30% of total area of City of Novi Sad (699 km²) is an area of Petrovaradin municipality, which is approximately 100–130 km²; of which approximately 30% is a part of urban area of Novi Sad. Much of land outside of urban area is part of National Park of Fruška Gora.

Petrovaradin municipality is located in the Syrmia region, on the Danube river and Fruška Gora, a horst mountain with elevation of 78–220 m (municipality up to 451 m). The northern part of Fruška Gora consists of massive landslide zones, but they are not active, except in Ribnjak neighborhood (between Sremska Kamenica and Petrovaradin fortress).

Politics

The town of Petrovaradin is the seat of Petrovaradin municipality. Since 2002, when the new statute of the City of Novi Sad came into effect, it has been divided into two urban municipalities, Petrovaradin and Novi Sad. Between 1980 and 1989, Petrovaradin also had municipality status within Novi Sad. From 1989 to 2002, Novi Sad's municipalities were abolished and territory of the former Petrovaradin municipality was part of Novi Sad municipality, which included the whole territory of the present-day City of Novi Sad.

City municipalities of Novi Sad were formally established in 2002, for the sole reason that Novi Sad could get a city status. In 2007, after the update of the law of local government, the requirement for multiple municipalities for city status was lifted (and 20 additional cities were proclaimed).[1] However, the renewed 2008 city statute also foresaw formation of two separate municipalities, but as of 2009 none of them de facto exist, and the whole city is ran solely by the city administration. Petrovaradin municipality does not yet have its own offices,[2] and the town is administered only by local community office.

Settlements and neighborhoods

Municipality of Petrovaradin includes 5 settlements:

Neighborhoods and parts of the Petrovaradin town are: Petrovaradin Fortress, Podgrađe Tvrđave (which is a fortified part of Petrovaradin and part of Petrovaradin Fortress complex), Stari Majur (which is part of Petrovaradin where offices of Petrovaradin local community are located), Novi Majur, Bukovački Plato (Bukovački Put), Sadovi, Široka Dolina, Širine, Vezirac, Trandžament, Ribnjak, Mišeluk, Alibegovac, Radna Zona Istok, Marija Snežna (Radna Zona Istok), and Petrovaradinska Ada (Ribarska Ada).

Demographics

Ethnic groups in the municipality

According to the 2002 census, the total population of the territory of present-day Petrovaradin municipality was 31,227, of whom 24,026 (76.94%) were ethnic Serbs. All settlements in the municipality have an ethnic Serb majority.

Ethnic groups in the town

Ethnic group 1991 % 2002 %
Serbs 5,643 50% 9,708 69.48%
Croats 2,236 19.81% 1,364 9.76%
Yugoslavs 1,893 16.78% 779 5.58%
Hungarians 431 3.82% 396 2.83%
Montenegrins 250 2.22% 228 1.63%
Ruthenians 148 1.31% 141 1.01%
Other 653 5.79% 1,357 9.71%
Total 11,285 - 13,973 -

During the Ottoman administration, Petrovaradin was mostly populated by Muslims, while some Serbs lived there as well in the Christian quarter. According to Habsburg census from 1720, inhabitants of Petrovaradin mostly had German and Serbo-Croatian names and surnames.[3] During the subsequent period of the Habsburg administration and in one part of the 20th century, the largest ethnic group in the Petrovaradin town were ethnic Croats. According to the 1910 census the town had 5,527 residents, of which 3,266 spoke Croatian (59.09%), 894 German (16.18%), 730 Serbian (13.21%), 521 Hungarian (9.43%) and 159 Slovak (2.88%).[4] Since 1971 census, largest ethnic group in Petrovaradin are Serbs. Today, there are a couple of Croat-inhabited neighborhoods in Petrovaradin, like Stari Majur and Podgrađe Tvrđave.

Historical population of the town

In 1961 Petrovaradin had 8,408 inhabitants; in 1971 10,477; in 1981 10,338; in 1991 11,285; and in 2002 13,973. By city's registry estimation, from mid-2005, Petrovaradin town had 15,266 inhabitants.[5]

Culture

EXIT (also known as State of EXIT) is an annual summer music festival in Petrovaradin fortress. It is staged annually since 2000 and usually lasts for 4 days.

Notable people

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Law on Territorial Organization and Local Self-Government, Parliament of Serbia (Serbian)
  2. ^ "Petrovaradin - opština koje nema" (in Serbian). Radio Television of Vojvodina. 2009-04-27. http://www.rtv.rs/sr_lat/vojvodina/novi-sad/petrovaradin---opstina-koje-nema_124243.html. 
  3. ^ Ivan Jakšić, Iz popisa stanovništva Ugarske početkom XVIII veka, Novi Sad, 1966, pages 309-310.
  4. ^ Pétervárad. Révai nagy lexikona, vol. 15. p. 387. Hungarian Electronic Library. (in Hungarian).
  5. ^ City's police registry data

External links

Gallery