Novi Sad

Novi Sad - is a city located in the north of Serbia on the banks of the Danube, the administrative center of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the historical region of Bach-Bodrog on the border of Bach and Srem. According to the preliminary results of the 2011 census, the population of the city is 250,439 inhabitants, the population of the community is 341,625 people. The city has a multinational composition - it is inhabited by Serbs, Hungarians, Slovaks, Ruthenians, Germans, Croats, Czechs, etc.

The city was founded in 1694, when Serbian merchants created a settlement on the opposite bank of the Danube from the Petrovaradin fortress. In the XVIII-XIX centuries. Novi Sad became an important trade and craft center, as well as the center of Serbian culture in the region, earning the nickname "Serbian Athens". The city was severely destroyed during the revolution of 1848-1849, but was subsequently rebuilt. Currently Novi Sad is an industrial and financial center of the Serbian economy, as well as a major cultural center. There is an airport near the city, currently used mainly for sports and agricultural purposes.

In Novi Sad, the official languages are Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak and Ruthenian. Accordingly, in Serbian the city is called Novi Sad, in Hungarian Újvidék, in Slovak Nový Sad, in Ruthenian Novi Sad. In other languages spoken or spoken in the city, its name is Neoplanta in Latin, Neusatz or Neusatz an der Donau in German, Novi Sad in Romanian, Croatian and Mlada Loza in Bulgarian.

Initially, the city was called Ratzen Stadt, Ratzenstatt or Peterwardeiner Schantz, and the modern version was received only in 1748.

The city appeared in the middle of the XVIII century as a settlement of Orthodox Serbs, who were forbidden to settle in Catholic Peterwardein — a city on the opposite bank of the Danube, formed around the impregnable Peterwardein fortress. Empress Maria Theresa in 1748 gave the Serbian settlement the Latin name Neoplanta, which means "new garden". Currently, Peterwardein (Petrovaradin) is one of the districts of Novi Sad.From January 21 to January 23, 1942, 1,246 local citizens were killed in the city.

In 1999, Novi Sad was repeatedly bombed by NATO aircraft.

Novi Sad is the economic center of Vojvodina, the fertile granary of Serbia. The city is also one of the largest economic and cultural centers of Serbia and the entire former Yugoslavia.

In the 1990s, like the whole of Serbia, Novi Sad suffered greatly from economic sanctions and hyperinflation of the Yugoslav dinar. All this led to the bankruptcy and closure of many enterprises of the city, including such large ones as Novkabel (cable production), Pobeda (metallurgy), Jugoalat (tools), Albus and HINCE (chemical industry). The only large enterprise that continued to operate was an oil refinery located northeast of the center near the suburb of Shangai. NIS Gasprom Oil is conducting an extensive program of reconstruction of the processing capacities of the refinery in Novi Sad.

The city's economy began to recover after 2001, and then its noticeable growth began. Privatization of many state enterprises

After the lifting of international sanctions and the cessation of wars on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, the number of tourists from the United States and Western European countries increased in the city. The number of tourists has been growing since 2000. Every year at the beginning of July, the Exit music festival is held in Petrovaradinskaya Fortress, where participants and spectators from all over Europe come together. On average, the festival is attended by up to 150,000 people every year.

The Novi Sad Exhibition Center also attracts the attention of tourists. In May, it holds the largest agricultural exhibition in the region, and the number of visitors in 2006 reached 600,000 people. In addition, the city port receives numerous ships with tourists sailing along the Danube.

Important sights of the city are the Petrovaradinskaya Fortress, which offers a beautiful view of the city, and the Fruska Gora National Park, located 20 kilometers from the center of Novi Sad.

Novi Sad is a typical Central European city. Currently, only a few buildings built before the XIX century have been preserved in it. All the others were not preserved, since the city was devastated during the revolution of 1848-1849. The city center is now dominated by the architecture of the XIX century. In the past, there were low single-storey houses around the center, which were gradually replaced by modern multi-storey ones.

During the Yugoslav period, new blocks of multi-storey buildings were built around the city center. At that time, most buildings consisted of 3-6 floors, and buildings with more than 10 floors numbered from 40 to 50. The main city highway — Liberation Boulevard - was laid through the areas of old houses in 1962-1964. Several more roads were built on a similar principle, which created a rather original network of streets in the Old City.

There are numerous public and private museums and galleries in the city. The most famous of them is the Museum of Vojvodina, which was founded by Matiza Srpska in 1847. It houses a permanent collection of historical and cultural monuments of Serbs in Vojvodina. The city Museum in Petrovaradinskaya Fortress demonstrates a collection telling about the history of the fortress itself.

The Matica Srpska Gallery is considered the main and most valuable in the city. At the same time, it consists of two separate galleries. In addition to her, there is also a Fine Arts Gallery in the city, which presents the collections of Raiko Mamuzich and Pavel Belyansky. They are one of the largest collections of works of Serbian art of the XX century (until the 1970s).

Novi Sad is one of the most important centers of higher education and science in Serbia. Novisadsky State University, Novisadsky Open University, numerous private faculties, colleges, including Theological, and schools are located in the city.

The main educational institute of the city is the Novisadsky University, founded in 1960. 38,000 students study at its 9 faculties, and the number of employees is 2,700 people. Most of the faculties are located in the modern university campus, while the rest are located in Subotica, Sombor and Zrenjanin. There are also 37 main schools in the city, of which 3 are special, with almost 26,000 students, as well as 12 vocational schools and 4 gymnasiums with 18,000 students.

According to the 2011 census, there were 270,831 Orthodox Christians, 21,530 Catholics, 8,499 Protestants, 161 representatives of other Christian movements, 4,760 Muslims, 84 Jews and 130 representatives of Eastern religions in Novi Sad.

The oldest Orthodox churches in the city are Sobornaya, Nikolaevskaya, Almashskaya and Uspenskaya. The nearest monastery is Kovil.

In the center of the city there is a Catholic church named after Mary, which was built in 1894. In Petrovaradin there is a monastery of St. George. The Rusyn Greek Catholic Church of Peter and Paul operates in the Old Town.

There are churches of other Christian trends in Novi Sad, including the Slovak Evangelical Church (1886). There was also an Armenian church in the city (1746), but it was demolished in the 1960s. The largest non-Christian religious building in Novi Sad is the Novi Sad Synagogue.