Svilajnac

Svilajnac (, ) is a town and municipality located in the Pomoravlje District of central Serbia. The population of the town is 8,593 inhabitants, while the municipality has 20,141 inhabitants (2022 census).

It is located south-east of Belgrade, on the banks of the river Resava, and bordering the river Morava. Its name stems from the word for silk in Serbian.

History

thumb|200px|left|The Velika Morava Bridge

Svilajnac was first mentioned in Ottoman records in 1467 as a village with a hundred households. The village, and later town, gained prominence through its silk production, from which it derives its name (svila, "silk"). Located in central Serbia, it flourished as a trading center, where silk, wool and livestock were traded.

The First Serbian Uprising revolutionary Stevan Sinđelić was born in the village of Grabovac near Svilajnac. His birth house serves as an exhibition space with a display depicting the period of the First Serbian Uprising, including original furniture from this region. A statue in his honor was raised in the central square of Svilajnac, in the pedestrian zone of Kriva čaršija. It was erected in 1991 after the design of sculptor Mihailo Paunović. The bronze monument marks the decisive moment in the Battle of Čegar, when Sinđelić, standing in the trench shot the powder keg.

In 1832 a hospital was established in Svilajnac, one of the first medical centers in this part of Serbia. Due to its architectural and historical importance, the building of the Old Hospital has been declared a cultural monument and placed under the state protection. The monument was designed by Slovene sculptor Ivan Zajec and the model for the bronze sculpture was a local woman Zora Milosavljević Bidžić. There are several stories on her identity. A mythical ones, claim that Mara was a fighter in the Resava region against the Ottoman invasion in 14th century or a daughter of legendary Jug Bogdan who became a nun with her mother after the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. One of the plausible stories mentions Mara, a daughter of Kosovo migrant Joksa Resavac, from the period of the First Serbian Uprising, who fought the Turks with Sinđelić and the Resava knez Petar Jakovljević Erčić. Soon a cult of Mara Resavkinja developed and she was considered a symbol of maternity, freedom and life, with numerous songs being written about her. The monument shows Mara holding a torch in the right hand and laurel wreath in the left. Under her feet are the trumpet and a drum, symbols of monarchy. Because of this, a representative of the King Alexander on the monument's dedication left the ceremony. Due to this symbolism, the monument was attacked and finally in 1934 it was decided to demolish it. Actually, mayor of Svilajnac Mihajlo R. Milenković officially pleaded for the figure to be replaced with some other, "more appropriate", so the demolition was announced on 3 October 1934, but ban of the Morava Banovina nullified the decision of the town's administration on 26 October.

On 3 September 2007 there was a Democratic Party initiative to depose the president of the municipality Dobrivoje Budimirović "Bidža" (Serbian Radical Party). It failed, partially due to the opposition of the Democratic Party of Serbia.

The town was damaged during the 2014 Southeast Europe floods.

Economy

Apart from commercial services, Svilajnac's economy is largely dependent on agricultural activities. Svilajnac has developed two fully equipped industrial zones. One of the facilities is of Panasonic since 2011.

During the existence of SFR Yugoslavia, the state-owned companies contributed substantially to the local economy, until the 1990s, when international sanctions imposed on FR Yugoslavia lead to the massive closure of the companies.

As of September 2017, Svilajnac has one of 14 free economic zones established in Serbia.

;Economic preview

The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2018):

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%;"

! Activity

! Total

|Agriculture, forestry and fishing||align="right"|57

|Mining and quarrying||align="right"|7

|Manufacturing||align="right"|1,317

|Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply||align="right"|153

|Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities||align="right"|71

|Construction||align="right"|121

|Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles||align="right"|1,221

|Transportation and storage||align="right"|143

|Accommodation and food services||align="right"|314

|Information and communication||align="right"|51

|Financial and insurance activities||align="right"|72

|Real estate activities||align="right"|9

|Professional, scientific and technical activities||align="right"|148

|Administrative and support service activities||align="right"|94

|Public administration and defense; compulsory social security||align="right"|266

|Education||align="right"|385

|Human health and social work activities||align="right"|310

|Arts, entertainment and recreation||align="right"|50

|Other service activities||align="right"|114

|Individual agricultural workers||align="right"|817

|- class="sortbottom"

|Total||align="right"|5,720

Infrastructure

One of only several bridges across the Morava is located in Svilajnac, giving it a unique strategic value. During the Second World War, the original bridge was destroyed by the retreating Royal Yugoslav Army. After the war, the bridge was rebuilt with German war reparations.

Svilajnac is also the location of a coal power plant. Built in 1969, only several hundred meters upriver from the bridge, it has an energy output of 125 MW. The town is also the location to now decommissioned military barracks which could house up to 5,000 soldiers at any one time.

Sports

Local football club Radnički has competed in the second tier of Serbian football.

History

Economy

Infrastructure

Sports

Notable people

Twin towns

See also

References

External links