Kruševac

Kruševac
Крушевац
City

The Kosovo Heroes Square

Flag

Coat of arms

Location of the municipality of Kruševac within Serbia
Coordinates: 43°35′N 21°19′E / 43.583°N 21.317°E / 43.583; 21.317Coordinates: 43°35′N 21°19′E / 43.583°N 21.317°E / 43.583; 21.317
Country  Serbia
District Rasina
Settlements 101
Government
  Mayor Dragi Nestorović
Area[1]
  Municipality 854 km2 (330 sq mi)
Population (2011 census)[2]
  Town 58,745
  Municipality 128,752
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 37000
Area code +381 37
Car plates
Website www.krusevac.rs

Kruševac (Serbian Cyrillic: Крушевац [krûʃeʋat͡s]) is a city and the administrative center of the Rasina District, in Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the administrative area has a population of 128,752, while the town has 58,745.

The city was founded in 1371, by Prince Lazar of Serbia (1371–1389), who used it as his seat.

History

The etymology is derived from the Serbian word for "river stone", krušac which was largely used for a building at that time.

Main train station in the town

Kruševac was founded in 1371, as a fortified town in the possession of Lord Lazar Hrebeljanović. The Lazarica Church (or Church of St, Stephen) was built by Lazar between 1375–78, in the Morava architectural style.[3] It is mentioned in one of Lazar's edicts in 1387, as his seat, when he affirmed the rights of Venetian merchants on Serbian territory. In preparation for the Battle of Kosovo (1389) against the Ottoman Empire, the Serbian army assembled in the city. The site of Lazar's palace is marked by a ruined enclosure containing a fragment of the tower of his spouse Princess Milica, and, according to legend, tidings of the defeat were brought to her by crows from the battlefield. After the battle, the city was held by Princess Milica as her seat. The little that remains of Lazar's city is the Kruševac Fortress, which was declared a Cultural Monument of Exceptional Importance in 1979.[4] Several old Ottoman houses were left at the beginning of the 20th century, besides an old Turkish fountain and bath, which was known as Alacahisar (Aladža Hisar) during Ottoman rule between 1427-1833 (nominally to 1867) when Kruševac was the seat of the Sanjak of Kruševac. The Ottoman rule was interrupted during Austrian occupations between 1688–1690 and 1717-1739.

A large monument dedicated to the fallen Serbs at the Battle of Kosovo was sculpted by Petar Ubaković (1852–1910). A part of the monument is also a statue of the famous blind Serbian poet and guslar Filip Višnjić.

From 1929 to 1941, Kruševac was part of the Morava Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Settlements

Aside from the city of Kruševac, which is the urban administrative center, the municipality includes the following 101 settlements:

Demographics (2011 census)

Ethnic groupPopulation
Serbs122,529
Roma2,461
Montenegrins282
Macedonians200
Croats107
Yugoslavs86
Total128,752

Politics

Seats in the municipality parliament won in the 2012 local elections:[5]

Party Seats
PZP 20
SNS 18
SPS, JS 14
DS 12
DSS 6

Famous residents

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Kruševac is twinned with:

Other forms of cooperation and city friendship similar to the twin/sister city programmes:

Gallery

See also

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kruševac.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, March 25, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.