EXIT TRIP: Short history of Novi Sad

It is hard to imagine that the area of today’s Novi Sad used to be The Panonian Sea. After the withdrawal of the seawater, this settlement was first mentioned in the Roman Age by Barbarian, Avarian and then Turkish conquerors. History of the city started when Petrovaradin Fortress was built, in 1692.
History of Novi Sad

This settlement on the left bank of the Danube was formerly known as: Racka town (Raitzenstadt, i.e. Serbian City) and Petrovaradinski šanac (Petrovaradin Trench) and it was named Novi Sad later in 1748. Original inhabitants of these settlements were mostly Serbs, but there were also Germans, Jews, Hungarians, Armenians, Bulgarians, Tzintzars and Greeks. In 1748 it was proclaimed a free royal city and got the name that it has today, when rich citizens of Racka town paid 80.000 forints in silver to Empress Maria Theresa for the status of free royal city.

On that occasion, on February 1st, 1748 (which is from 1996 on celebrated as the official city jubilee) the Empress issued an edict on its independence. In 1771 and 1838 the city was destroyed by the flood. During 18th and 19th Novi Sad was the largest Serbian city (in 1820. it had around 20,000 inhabitants). In that period, Novi Sad was the centre of political, cultural and social life of the entire Serbian nation and thus it was called Serbian Athens. In the course of history Novi Sad suffered multiple devastations. In 1848, in a war between Serbs and Hungarians, Hungarian troops bombarded Petrovaradin Fortress, destroying the city and killing most of its population. Between the years 1849. and 1860, the city was a part of Vojvodstvo Srbije (Serbian Dukedom) and Tamiški Banat. Matica Srpska was move to Novi Sad in 1864.

For Novi Sad World War I was ended on October 9,1918 when Serbian Army liberated the city which was then joined to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In 1929 Novi Sad became the capital of Dunavska Banovina (The Danube County), one of the provinces in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Hungarian fascists occupied the city in 1941. The occupying army had committed numerous crimes over Serbian and Jewish people. One of the most notable mass murders was raid in Novi Sad.

On October 23, 1944 the city was liberated. From 1945 Novi Sad has been the capital of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The last decade of the 20th century in Novi Sad was also marked by numerous student and opposition protests. The longest and the most massive demonstrations led by the students from the University of Novi Sad took place in the period from December 1996 to March 1997.

NATO bombardment in 1999 is certainly the most painful part of the modern history of Novi Sad; all three bridges were destroyed and all types of infrastructure were damaged. However, Novi Sad, as the name suggests, is always ready to create new history...