Novi Sad Petrovaradin by Alxadj Petrovaradin Fortress by Wolfgang Hunsche
The final feature in our tour of Norwich’s twin cities, this month we take a trip to the cultural metropolis of Novi Sad, Serbia. Norwich and Novi Sad’s links date back over forty years and have continued to grow, even through the difficult period of change in Yugoslavia. Both cities and their surrounding areas boast a fertile agricultural heritage, both posses multi- national communities and both are hubs of culture in their respective countries.
T
he capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina and the second largest city in the country (after Belgrade), Novi Sad is located
in the south of the Pannonian Plain on the banks of the Danube river. Translated from Serbian, its name means New Plantation.
The city was founded in 1694 by Serbian merchants who formed a colony across the Danube from the imposing Petrovaradin fortress. However, evidence shows signs of human settlement in the territory of the Petrovaradin as far back as around 4500 B.C. Both the Celts and the Romans conquered the region in the 4th and 1st Century B.C. respectively. The Celts erected the first military fortress on the right bank of the river, and this was replaced by the Romans with a larger fortress, which they gave the name Cusum, later devastated by the marauding Huns.
The town was reconstructed by the Byzantines Novi Sad by Ivan Aleksic
in the 5th Century and was later conquered by the Ostrogoths, Gepids, Avars, Franks, Bulgarians and again by the Byzantines. Between the 10th and 12th Century the region was conquered by the Kingdom of Hungary and a number of
NOVI SAD’S ABUNDANCE OF THEATRES, MUSEUMS, GALLERIES, INTERESTING CAFES AND RESTAURANTS, FAIRS, FESTIVALS AND EXHIBITIONS TRULY MAKE IT A CITY OF
VALUE - MUCH LIKE OUR VERY OWN FINE CITY.
FANTASTIC CULTURAL
additional settlements were erected on the opposite bank of the river. During the Ottoman invasion of the 16th and 17th Centuries, some
of these settlements were destroyed. The region remained under Ottoman rule up until 1687.
The final years of the 17th Century saw the area under Hasburg rule. The Serbs, therefore, unable to reside in Petrovaradin due to their orthodox faith, built a new settlement on the opposite side of the Danube. Its initial name was Ratzen Stadt (Serb City), officially gaining the title Novi Sad in 1748 when it became a ‘free Royal city’.
During the majority of the 18th and 19th Centuries Novi Sad was the largest city in the world populated by ethnic Serbs. It became an important merchant and manufacturing town, and after destruction at the hands of the Hungarian army in the 1848-49 Revolution it was restored as a national cultural and political centre, gaining its alias as the Serbian Athens. Over the next two centuries almost every Serbian novelist, poet, jurist and publicist had lived or worked in the town at some time or another.
From 1867 Novi Sad was under the rule of the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary before being proclaimed under the Kingdom of Serbia in 1918. In 1929 Novi Sad became the capital of the Danube Banovina province. Since 1945 Novi Sad has been the capital of Vojvodina, a province of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia. The city’s population more than doubled in a period of intense industrialisation between WWII and the breakup of Yugoslavia. Since 2006 Novi sad has been part of an independent Serbia.
Today, the main area of the city is divided into 8 Fine City Magazine 2011 To advertise call 01362 288084
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