Zvečan

Zvečan (Serbian Cyrillic: Звечан) or Zveçan (Albanian: Zveçani), is a town and municipality located in the Mitrovica District in Kosovo.[lower-alpha 1] As of 2015, it has a population of 16,650 inhabitants.[1] It covers an area of 122 km2 (47 sq mi), and consists of a town and 35 villages.

Zvečan

Town and municipality
Panorama of Zvečan
Emblem
Location of the municipality of Zvečan within Kosovo
Coordinates: 42°54′N 20°50′E
LocationKosovo[lower-alpha 1]
DistrictMitrovicë
Settlements36
Government
 • Provisional presidentVučina Janković (SL)
Area
 • Total122 km2 (47 sq mi)
Elevation
461 m (1,512 ft)
Population
 (2015)
 • Total16,650
 • Density140/km2 (350/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
38227
Area code(s)+383(0)28
Car plates02
ClimateCfb
Websitewww.opstinazvecan.rs

Zvečan is a part of North Kosovo, a region with an ethnic Serb majority that functions largely autonomously from the remainder of ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo. After the 2013 Brussels Agreement, the municipality became part of the Community of Serb Municipalities.

History

The town of Zvečan is located near Mitrovica. It was mentioned for the first time in connection with the border clashes between the Serbs and Byzantines between 1091 and 1094. There is also an inscription that Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja, after the victory over the Byzantines in 1170, ordered that a prayer for the successful outcome of the battle be held in the church of St George at Zvečan.

In the 13th and 14th centuries Zvečan was one of the royal residences of the Serbian court. Queen Theodora died there in December 1322, and nine years later her husband, Stefan Uroš III was imprisoned and strangled there.[2]

First, the Musić, then the Vojinović noble family, held the fortified city and region during the Serbian Empire of Uroš V (r. 1355–1371). As imperial power collapsed Zvečan was in a disputed zone being held by Miloš Pović in 1370 but claimed by Nikola Altomanović.[3]

In 1389, after the Battle of Kosovo, it was integrated into the Ottoman Empire and later became part of the Sanjak of Novi Pazar.[4]

From 1878 to 1908 it, along with the rest of the Sanjak, was administered by the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a result of the Congress of Berlin. But in 1908 it was returned to Turkey.

On the highest spot, i.e., the Upper Town, there are remains of St George's church, cistern and the main octagonal tower. The ramparts of this part of the fort are reinforced by massive towers. The main entrance to the town was on the western side.

Demographics
Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
19818,675—    
199110,030+1.46%
201516,650+2.13%

According to the 2011 estimations by the Government of Kosovo, Zubin Potok has 1,838 households and 7,481 inhabitants.[5] In 2015 report by OSCE, the population of Zvečan municipality stands at 16,650 inhabitants.[1]

Ethnic groups

The majority of Zvečan municipality is composed of Kosovo Serbs with around 16,000 inhabitants (95.1%). Also, there are 500 Kosovo Albanians and 300 inhabitants of other ethnicity.[1] About 3,750 Kosovo Serbs are located in the municipality as Internally displaced persons (IDPs) as well as 250 refugees from Croatia. Most of Kosovo Albanians live in the villages of Boletin (Boljetin), Lipë (Lipa) and Zhazhë (Žaža).

The ethnic composition of the municipality of Zvečan, including IDPs:[1]

Ethnic group 2015 est.
Serbs15,850
Albanians500
Bosniaks, Romani, Gorani300
Others-
Total16,650

Economy

The largest employer in Zvečan is the lead and zinc melting factory “Trepča”. Its large smokestack is with 306 meters the tallest structure in Kosovo. Due to the serious environmental pollution from the factory, however, UN and KFOR shut it down and the only ongoing operation is alloy production for batteries and battery recycling. Once employing up to 4,000, the very low operations of “Trepča” has had a devastating effect on the local economy. Today, in the municipality only about 500 people are working at 60 small private companies and 150 shops.[1]

Culture and education

The Faculty of Arts, part of the University of Priština at Mitrovica, is situated at Zvečan.

Zvečan has hosted annually two international music festivals: The North City, Jazz & Blues Festival,[1][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and international rock festival Overdrive,[13] as well as international art colony Sokolica[14] and children song festival Cvrkuti sa Ibra (Chirrups from the Ibar River).

The Zvečan Fortress and Sokolica Monastery, both from the Middle Ages, have been located in the Zvečan area.[1]

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gollark: Anyway, with HTTPS being a thing basically everywhere and DNS over HTTPS existing, ISPs can only see:- unencrypted traffic from programs/services which don't use HTTPS or TLS- the *domains* you visit (*not* pages, and definitely not their contents, just domains) - DNS over HTTPS doesn't prevent this because as far as I know it's still in plaintext in HTTPS requestts- metadata about your connection/packets/whatever- also the IPs you visit, but the domains are arguably more useful anyway
gollark: On my (GNU/)Linux computing devices, which is all of my non-portable ones, I run dnscrypt-proxy, which acts as a local DNS server which runs my queries through DNS over HTTPS/DNS over TLS/DNSCrypt servers.
gollark: In other news, the first rule of tautology club is the first rule of tautology club.

See also

Notes and references
Notes
  1. Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the 2013 Brussels Agreement. Kosovo is currently recognized as an independent state by 97 out of the 193 United Nations member states. In total, 112 UN member states recognized Kosovo at some point, of which 15 later withdrew their recognition.
References
  1. "Zvečan". osce.org. OSCE. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  2. Bury, John Bagnell et al. (eds.) (1923) The Cambridge Medieval History Macmillan, New York, pg. 539; OCLC 271025434
  3. Rade Mihaljčić, Kraj srpskog carstva, pp. 121-22
  4. Map of Turkey and Greece 1847, from Sharpe's Corresponding Maps Chapman and Hall, London.
  5. "ESTIMATION of Kosovo population 2011" (PDF). ask.rks-gov.net. Government of Kosovo. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  6. ''Vreme'' No. 853. Vreme.com. Retrieved on 29 November 2011.
  7. ''Kosovska Mitrovica Live'' Archived 13 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Kosmitrovica.blog.rs. Retrieved on 29 November 2011.
  8. ''Glas javnosti'', June13, 2005. Arhiva.glas-javnosti.rs. Retrieved on 29 November 2011.
  9. Asocijacija medija , May 2007 Archived 10 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  10. Telekom, 16 May 2007
  11. Trident Archived 14 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ''Glas javnosti'', 5 June 2003. Arhiva.glas-javnosti.rs. Retrieved on 29 November 2011.
  13. Blic, 9 October 2006
  14. Krstarica, 22 August 2007
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