Sremski Karlovci

Sremski Karlovci (, ) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District, province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the banks of the Danube, from Novi Sad. According to the 2022 census results, it has a population of 7,872 inhabitants.

The town has historically been known as the seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church in the Habsburg Monarchy as well as the political and cultural capital of Serbian Vojvodina during the Revolution in 1848.

Etymology

In Serbian, the town is known as Sremski Karlovci (Сремски Карловци), in Croatian as Srijemski Karlovci, in German as Karlowitz or Carlowitz, in Hungarian as Karlóca, in Polish as Karłowice, in Romanian as Carloviț and in Turkish as Karlofça. The former Serbian name used for the town was Karlovci (Карловци), which is also used today, albeit unofficially. The name of the town in Serbian is plural.

Geography

The town is situated along the Danube River, about 12 km from Novi Sad and 75 km from Belgrade, in the geographical region of Syrmia. The town of Sremski Karlovci is the only settlement in the municipality.

History

Middle ages

The town was first mentioned in historical documents in 1308 with the name Karom. The medieval fortress of Karom was built on the ruins of the ancient Roman one. Until 1521, Karom was a possession of Hungarian noble families, of whom the most well known were Báthory and Morović.

In 1521, Turkish military commander Bali-beg conquered Karom under the Ottoman Empire's invasion of Europe. During the next 170 years, the town was part of the Ottoman Empire. The Slavic name for the town – Karlovci, was first recorded in 1532/33. During Ottoman rule, the town was still predominately Serbian in ethnicity, with the smaller part of population composed of Muslims. According to the Ottoman defterler from 1545, the population of Karlovci numbered 547 Christian (Serb) houses. The city also had three Orthodox churches and a monastery. From 1557, it belonged to Eparchy of Belgrade and Srem of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć.

Modern period

thumb|left|The Chapel of Peace, erected on the spot where the [[Treaty of Karlowitz was negotiated]]

Between 16 November 1698 and 26 January 1699, the town of Karlovci was the site of a congress that ended the hostilities between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League, a coalition of various European powers including Habsburg monarchy, Poland, Venice and Russia. The congress produced the Treaty of Karlowitz. It was the first time a round table was used in international politics.

After this peace treaty, the town was considered part of the Habsburg monarchy and was included in its Military Frontier. According to 1702 data, the population was composed of 215 Orthodox and 13 Catholic houses. By 1753, the population of the town numbered 3,843 people, of which 3,110 were classified as ethnic Serbs.

The town was the spiritual, political and cultural center of the Serbs in the Habsburg Monarchy. The metropolitan of the Serbian Orthodox Church resided here and the Serbian Patriarch retains the title of Metropolitan of Karlovci to this day.

The town had the earliest Serb (and Slavic in general) gymnasium (Serbian: gimnazija/, French: lycée), founded on 3 August 1791. Three years later, the Eastern Orthodox seminary of Sremski Karlovci was founded here. It was the second-oldest Orthodox seminary in the world, after the Spiritual Academy in Kyiv, and it remains in operation today.

At the Serb National Assembly in Karlovci in May 1848, Serbs declared the unification of the regions of Syrmia, Banat, Bačka, and Baranya (including parts of the Military Frontier) into the province of Serbian Vojvodina. In the late 18th century, the Habsburg monarchy had invited numerous settlers from Bavaria and southern Germany into some of these regions along the Danube, in order to repopulate the area and re-establish agriculture after the effects of the Ottoman invasion and disease. The Germans, who became known as Danube-Swabians, were allowed to keep their language and Catholic religion. For more than a century, they had fairly autonomous settlements.

The first capital of Serbian Vojvodina was in Karlovci; it was later moved to Zemun, Veliki Bečkerek, and Timișoara. At the same time the title of the Orthodox Metropolitan of Karlovci was raised to that of Patriarch.

thumb|left|200px|Proclamation of Serbian Vojvodina in 1848 in Sremski Karlovci

When Serbian Vojvodina was in 1849 organized as the new province named Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar, the town of Karlovci was not included into this province. It was returned to the administration of the Military Frontier (a Petrovaradin regiment that was part of Slavonian Krajina). With the abolition in 1881 of the Military Frontier, the town was included in Syrmia County of Croatia-Slavonia, the autonomous kingdom within Kingdom of Hungary and Austria-Hungary.

An Orthodox Patriarchate of Karlovci operated in Karlovci from 1848 until 1920. After World War I and the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, its territory was united with other Serbian ecclesiastical provinces to form the unified Serbian Orthodox Church, a process completed in 1920.

Between 1921 and 1944 the Palace of the Patriarchate was the seat of the administration of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

Contemporary period

In 1918, the town became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (also known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia). In the summer of 1921, the town's former palace of the Patriarch of Karlovci was used as the residence of Russian metropolitan Antony Khrapovitsky. Together with some refugee bishops from Russia, he organised what a few years later was instituted as the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, at the time called called the Karlovatsky Synod (), or Synod of Karlovci.)

In 1922, the town became the headquarters of Russian White émigrés under the leadership of General Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel. In 1924 he set up the Russian All-Military Union, designed to include all Russian military émigrés the world over. Many emigres went to western Europe, especially France, and to the United States. A monument to Wrangel, sculpted by Vasiliy Azemsha, was unveiled in September 2007 in Karlovci.

thumb|right|200px|Monument dedicated to fallen soldiers of the World War II

Between 1929 and 1941, the town was part of Danube Banovina, a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During World War II (1941–1944), after Nazi Germany's invasion of eastern Europe, the town was occupied by forces of the Axis Powers. It was attached to the Independent State of Croatia. During that time its name was changed to Hrvatski Karlovci.

Between 1980 and 1989, Sremski Karlovci was one of the seven municipalities of the city of Novi Sad.

Demographics

According to daat from the 2011 census, ethnic composition of the municipality of Sremski Karlovci was as follows:

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Ethnic group

! Population

| style="background:beige;"|Serbs||align="right"|6,820

|77.94%

| style="background:beige;"|Croats||align="right"|576

|6.58%

| style="background:beige;"|Hungarians||align="right"|182

|2.08%

| style="background:beige;"|Yugoslavs||align="right"|71

|0.81%

| style="background:beige;"|Germans||align="right"|63

|0.72%

| style="background:beige;"|Montenegrins||align="right"|41

|0.47%

| style="background:beige;"|Slovaks||align="right"|29

|0.33%

| style="background:beige;"|Macedonians||align="right"|25

|0.29%

| style="background:beige;"|Rusyns||align="right"|16

|0.18%

| style="background:beige;"|Slovenes||align="right"|15

|0.17%

| style="background:beige;"|Romani||align="right"|14

|0.16%

| style="background:beige;"|Russians||align="right"|11

|0.13%

| style="background:beige;"|Others||align="right"|969

|11.07%

|style="background:#F0F0F0;"|Total||align="right"|8,750

Politics

From 1947 to 1989, Sremski Karlovci formed one of the city municipalities of the City of Novi Sad. After Novi Sad merged six of its municipalities into one City of Novi Sad, a referendum was held in Sremski Karlovci and a separate municipality was established. Although Sremski Karlovci lies in Syrmia region, the municipality belongs in South Bačka District, because of its close proximity to Novi Sad.

Education

Karlovci Gymnasium (the oldest secondary school in Serbia)
Saint Arsenije Serbian Orthodox Seminary
Faculty of Management
College of Applied Studies in Management and Business Communication

Buildings and structures

Educational historical buildings:
Karlovci Gymnasium
Saint Arsenije Seminary
Administrative buildings:
Town Hall
Religious buildings
Palace of the Patriarchate
Saint Nicholas Cathedral
Holy Trinity Church
Other buildings
Four Lions Fountain
Chapel of Peace
Archives of Sremski Karlovci

Twin towns

Sremski Karlovci is twinned with:

Bardejov, Slovakia
Karpoš, North Macedonia
Prnjavor, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Tivat, Montenegro (2007)

Gallery

File:Patriarchate Court in Sremski Karlovci 04.jpg|Palace of the Patriarchate

File:RS-NS-SK-Karlóca014.JPG|Saint Arsenije Seminary

File:Karlovačka gimnazija 15.7.2018 013.jpg|Karlovci Gymnasium

File:Градска скупштина у Сремским Карловцима.jpg|Town Hall

File:Kuća Sabov Dejanović u Sremskim Karlovcima.jpg|Sabov-Dejanović House

</gallery>

File:The Orthodox Cathedral of St. Nicholas.jpg|Saint Nicholas Cathedral

File:Eglises de Sremski Karlovci.jpg|Orthodox and Catholic churches

File:Museum of Sremski Karlovci 01.jpg|Municipal museum

File:RS-NS-SK-Karlóca016.JPG|Four Lions Fountain

File:Vidikovac Sremski Karlovci 8295 13.jpg|Duško Trifunović Monument