Batajnica is an suburban neighborhood of
BelgradeBelgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, the capital of
SerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of
ZemunZemun is a historical town and one of the 17 municipalities which constitute the City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia...
.
Name
Coloquially and jovially, it is nicknamed
Bataja (Батаја)
Bataja Siti (Батаја Сити, i.e.
Bataya City or
BT State) among its citizens.
Location & geography
Batajnica is located in the
SyrmiaSyrmia is a fertile region of the Pannonian Plain in Europe, between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is divided between Serbia in the east and Croatia in the west....
region, in the northern part of the municipality, close to the administrative border of the province of
VojvodinaVojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
and it is both the northernmost and the westernmost part of the Belgrade's urban area. It is close to the
DanubeThe Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
's right bank, but not on the river itself, due to the floodings. A small, 114 metre-high hillock separates the settlement from the river.e
It is some 25 kilometres away from downtown Belgrade, but only 6 kilometres away from
Nova PazovaNova Pazova is a settlement in Serbia, founded by German settlers.It is situated in the Stara Pazova municipality, in the region of Syrmia , in the autonomous province of Vojvodina...
and
Novi BanovciNovi Banovci is an urban neighborhood in Serbia by the Danube River. It is situated in the Stara Pazova municipality, in the Srem District, in Vojvodina province. It is located 3 kilometers away from Batajnica and 20 km from the capital, Belgrade. Novi Banovci is situated on the...
, fast growing settlements in the Vojvodina's municipality of
Stara PazovaStara Pazova is a town and municipality in Srem District of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 18,645, while Stara Pazova municipality has 67,576 inhabitants.-Name:...
, to which it almost makes a continuous built-up area. However, it also makes almost no urban connection to the rest of Belgrade: it extends to the southwest in the direction of
UgrinovciUgrinovci is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Zemun.- Location :...
's neighborhood of
BusijeBusije is an suburban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Zemun.- Location :...
and southeast in the direction of other Zemun's neighborhoods:
Zemun PoljeZemun Polje is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Zemun.- Location :...
, Galenika and Goveđi Brod.
History
Vučedol cultureThe Vučedol culture was a Indo-European culture that flourished between 3000 and 2200 BC , centered in Syrmia and eastern Slavonia on the right bank of the Danube river, but possibly spreading throughout the Pannonian plain and western Balkans...
-
gravesGraves is an important subregion of the Bordeaux wine region. Graves is situated on the left bank of the Garonne river, in the upstream part of the region, southeast of the city Bordeaux and stretch over...
from the
Bronze AgeThe Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
were found in the fields of Batajnica. The modern settlement is first registered in 1708, of a school in the village and mentioning of the settlement in 1725 and 1753, when it was described as a small village with 90 wealthy households. The settlement in its modern shape originates from the period of the abolition of the
Military FrontierThe Military Frontier was a borderland of Habsburg Austria and later the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which acted as the cordon sanitaire against incursions from the Ottoman Empire...
in 1873 and the settlements of the former soldiers and their families in the village. This practice was continued further, so after
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, war veterans were also settled in Batajnica.
Batajnica was a district (
srez) seat between two World Wars. After the war it became part of the Zemun district, but still as a separate municipality, and together with it part of Belgrade district in 1955, when the municipality was abolished. A movement for re-creating the old Batajnica municipality was very active in 2002, when
SurčinSurčin is a neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is the youngest of Belgrade's 17 municipalities, as it split from the municipality of Zemun in 2003. Surčin municipality has 38,695 residents while Surčin town itself has 14,292...
also (and successfully) campaigned, but wasn't that much in the public media. Proposed municipality of Batajnica would split from the municipality of Zemun and comprise Batajnica and Ugrinovci (with Busije and
GrmovacGrmovac is an suburban settlement of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Zemun.- Location :...
), with a population of 37,371 in 2002.
Even though it made no urban connection to the rest of the city, Batajnica was declared a part of the Belgrade City proper (
uža teritorija grada) in the early 1970s, losing the status of the separate settlement.
Population
Batajnica experienced a constant population growth in the 20th century. A special bust to the neighborhood's population was given in the mid 1990s with a large influx of refugees from the
Yugoslav WarsThe Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
, especially the Oluja military action which forced almost 250,000 Serbs from Croatia into Serbia, and many of them settled at the outskirts of Belgrade.
Population of Batajnica according to the official censuses of population (until 1971 as a separate settlement, since 1981 as a neighborhood of Belgrade):
- 1921 - 2,486
- 1953 - 5,291
- 1971 - 14,567
- 1981 - 18,599
- 2002 - 30,172
- 2010 - 40,000
Railway
Batajnica is located on the Belgrade-
Novi SadNovi Sad is the capital of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, and the administrative centre of the South Bačka District. The city is located in the southern part of Pannonian Plain on the Danube river....
railway and a place where one line of the railway separates and through the Belgrade's part of the Syrmia crosses the Sava river at
OstružnicaOstružnica is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in the municipality of Čukarica....
and continues through the southern outskirts of the Belgrade, forming an internal city's freight rail beltway.
Road
Batajnica is located on both Belgrade-Novi Sad roads: the old one (
Stari Novosadski put) and the new one (Belgrade-Novi Sad
highwayA highway is any public road. In American English, the term is common and almost always designates major roads. In British English, the term designates any road open to the public. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a...
). Two roads go parallel from Zemun (old one officially named Batajnica road or
Batajnički drum) and at the very entrance into Batajnica they cross each other via an
interchangeIn the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
. The Old Novi Sad road continues through the middle of the settlement (as the central street) and further into the Vojvodina, to Nova Pazova and Novi Sad. Two other important regional roads split from Batajnica: one to the south-west, to Ugrinovci and the other one to the north, to Novi Banovci. Batajnica is also the projected starting point of the future Belgrade beltway. Batajnica is connected to Belgrade by several bus lines of the city's public transportation: 73 (from Batajnica railway station to Blok 45), 705 (13. Maj), 706
Air transportation
A military airbase is located nearby. Batajnica Airbase, with a limited civil traffic, was heavily bombarded on a daily basis in 1999 during the NATO bombing of Serbia.
Economy and sport
Before accelerated urbanization in the second half of the 20th century, Batajnica was an agricultural village. As a result of this, the first industry was connected to this: food industry, mills,
brickworkBrickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar to build up brick structures such as walls. Brickwork is also used to finish corners, door, and window openings, etc...
s, roof tiles production, etc. Later, some heavy industry began to develop (bridge construction facilities) and today almost 400 privately owned small companies, repair shops, stores, etc. exist in the neighborhood.
BSK BatajnicaBSK Batajnica is a football club based in Batajnica, Belgrade, Serbia.-History:BSK Batajnica was formed in 1925...
is the town's local football club, who play in the fifth highest football league in Serbia (
Prva Beogradska Liga).
In Primary school OS Svetozar Golubovic Mitraljeta playing ki teams OK AS(Volleyball team AS)and KK Mondo Basket(Basketball clup Mondo Basket)
Neighborhoods
As a relatively large settlement, Batajnica developed several sub-neighborhoods of its own.
13. Maj
Local community next to Batajnica, with a population of 956 in 2010. It is the closest to the Batajnica Airbase. It is surrounded by farms and located near the river Danube. There is one soccer club with a regular sized field and a training ground where PKB plays. Most of the population lives in buildings although there are some houses in the area. It is located right next to a military training base which used to be open to public (Olympic sized pool, various sports fields and courts, playgrounds, etc.).
Šangaj
One of the fastest expanding parts of Batajnica, across the railway, concentrated along the
Šangajska street (after the city of
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
in
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
) and some other adjoinging streets. It extends to the north east, toward the Busije and Ugrinovci (
Šangajska itself extends into the road to Ugrinovci). Dozen of still nameless streets in the neighborhood were paved in 2006. It is purely residential area.
Crveni Barjak
The largest single local community within Batajnica (population of 11,129 in 2002), Crveni Barjak begins near the entrance into Batajnica, where the large interchange is located. It extends to the south, forming the future urban connection between Batajnica and Zemun Polje. Heating plant is also located in the neighborhood. Its name,
crveni barjak, is Serbian for the "red banner".
External links