Everything about Petrovaradin totally explained
Petrovaradin (Петроварадин), formerly a fortified town, is part of the
agglomeration of
Novi Sad in
Serbia (population 13,917 in
2002). Lying across the river
Danube from the main part of Novi Sad, it features a majestic fortress known as the "
Gibraltar of the Danube" (See:
Petrovaradin fortress).
Name
Petrovaradin is believed to be the
Roman Cusum. In addition, the town received its name from the
Byzantines, who called it
Petrikon (It is assumed that it was named after
Saint Peter).
In documents from
1237, the town was first mentioned under the name
Petrovaradin (
Pétervárad). Petrovaradin was known under the name
Pétervárad under Hungarian rule,
Varadin under
Ottoman rule, and
Peterwardein under
Habsburg rule.
Today, the town is known in
Serbian as Петроварадин or
Petrovaradin, in
Croatian as
Petrovaradin, in
Hungarian as
Pétervárad, in
German as
Peterwardein, and in
Turkish as
Petervaradin.
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, and during the Roman rule, a larger fortress was built (in the
1st century) with the name
Cusum and was included into Roman
Pannonia. In the
5th century, Cusum was devastated by the invasion of the
Huns.
By the end of the
5th century,
Byzantines had reconstructed the town and called it by the names
Cusum and
Petrikon. The town was then conquered by
Ostrogoths,
Gepids,
Avars,
Franks,
Bulgarians, and by
Byzantines again.
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 the Ottoman rule, 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 major battle on
August 5th,
1716 in which
Prince Eugene of Savoy defeated the forces of the Ottomans. Eugène later defeated the Ottomans at
Belgrade before the Turks sued for peace at
Požarevac.
During the Habsburg rule, Petrovaradin was part of the Habsburg
Military Frontier (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
Croatia-Slavonia, the autonomous kingdom within
Austria-Hungary.
In 1918, the town became part of the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Between 1929 and 1941, the town was part of
Danube Banovina, a province of the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During World War 2 (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, the town is part of the Autonomous Province of
Vojvodina.
Geography
Petrovaradin is one of the two municipalities of Novi Sad City and it's 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). Northern part of Fruška Gora is comprised of massive
landslide zones, but they're 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, City of Novi Sad is 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.
Today, Petrovaradin municipality has its own offices. Municipalities of Novi Sad were established for the sole reason that Novi Sad can get city status in
Serbia. Future of these municipalities is questionable because the ruling party in Novi Sad (
Serbian Radical Party) opposes municipalities. Keeping in mind that under the new constitution of Serbia (from November
2006), cities don't have to be divided into municipalities to get
city status.
Novi Sad and Petrovaradin municipalities don't have any real authority on their territory, since Novi Sad's city government runs the whole city.
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 municipality and 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
During the Ottoman rule, Petrovaradin was mostly populated by Muslims, while some Serbs lived there as well in the Christian quarter. During the Habsburg rule and in the first half of the 20th century, the largest ethnic group in the Petrovaradin town were ethnic
Croats. 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.
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.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Petrovaradin'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://petrovaradin.totallyexplained.com">Petrovaradin Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
