Kostolac is a small Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , 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...

n town on the Danube

Danube

The 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....

 river in the Braničevo District

Branicevo District

The Braničevo District expands in the north-east of Serbia. It has a population of 180,480. Seat of the District is in the city of Požarevac, a famous cross-roads, with numerous communications running through it still today...

. The remains of the Roman capital of the province of Moesia Superior Viminacium

Viminacium

Viminacium was a major city and military camp of the Roman province of Moesia , and the capital of Moesia Superior. The archeological site occupies a total of 450 hectares. Viminacium is located 12 km from Kostolac, was devastated by Huns in the 5th century, but rebuilt by Justinian...

are located near Stari Kostolac some 2 km to the east of Kostolac. Kostolac is situated in the municipality of Požarevac

Požarevac

Požarevac is a city and municipality in eastern Serbia. It is the administrative center of the Braničevo District of Serbia...

. Kostolac is a center of area called Stig and home of thermo-power plants and coal mines.

History

A 1,5 million year old mammoth skeleton was uncovered in the Viminacium site in June 2009.

The tribes of Autariatae

Autariatae

The Autariatae or Autariates were an ancient people that eventually became the most powerful Illyrian tribe. Their territory was called...

 and Scordisci

Scordisci

The Scordisci were an Iron Age tribe centered in the territory of present-day Serbia, at the confluence of the Savus , Dravus and Danube rivers. They were historically notable from the beginning of the third century BC until the turn of the common era...

 are thought to have merged into one in this area after 313BC, since excavations show that the two groups made burials at the same exact grave field in Pecine

Pecine

Pečine is a village in the mountains above the right bank of the Idrijca River in the municipality of Tolmin in the Littoral region of Slovenia....

, near Kostolac. Nine graves of Autariatae dating to 4th century BC and scattered Autariatae and Celt

Celt

The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....

ic graves around these earlier graves show that the two groups mixed rather than made war and this resulted in the lower Morava valley becoming a Celto-Thracio-Illyrian interaction zone. The Celtic Invasions of Greece in 279 BC formed the sub-Celtic group of Scordisci who would according to Strabo, defeat and push the powerful Triballians towards the Getae

Getae

The Getae was the name given by the Greeks to several Thracian tribes that occupied the regions south of the Lower Danube, in what is today northern Bulgaria, and north of the Lower Danube, in Romania...

, the Scordisci self-rule in different regions of Serbia gradually ended with the Roman conquest of the Balkans in the 1st century AD.

Viminacium

Viminacium

Viminacium was a major city and military camp of the Roman province of Moesia , and the capital of Moesia Superior. The archeological site occupies a total of 450 hectares. Viminacium is located 12 km from Kostolac, was devastated by Huns in the 5th century, but rebuilt by Justinian...

, a major city of the Roman province of Moesia

Moesia

Moesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River. It included territories of modern-day Southern Serbia , Northern Republic of Macedonia, Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobrudja, Southern Moldova, and Budjak .-History:In ancient...

, and the capital of Moesia Superior was situated 20 km east to the present centre, in the area of Stari Kostolac (Old Kostolac). Viminacium was the base camp of Legio VII Claudia

Legio VII Claudia

Legio septima Claudia Pia Fidelis was a Roman legion. Its emblem, like that of all Caesar's legions, was the bull, together with the lion....

, and hosted for some time the IV Flavia Felix

Legio IV Flavia Felix

Legio quarta Flavia Felix , was a Roman legion levied by Vespasian in 70, from the ashes of the Legio IV Macedonica. The legion was active in Moesia Superior in the first half of the 4th century...

. It was destroyed in 440 by the Huns, but rebuilt by Justinian I

Justinian I

Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...

. During Maurice's Balkan campaigns

Maurice's Balkan campaigns

Maurice's Illyricum campaigns were a series of military expeditions conducted by emperor of Constantinopolis Maurice in an attempt to defend the Illyrian provinces of the East Roman Empire from Avars and Slavs...

, Viminacium saw destruction by the Avars

Eurasian Avars

The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...

 in 584 and a crushing defeat of Avar forces on the northern Danube bank in 599, destroying Avar reputation for invincibility.

Đorđe Vajfert

Đorđe Vajfert

Đorđe Vajfert was a Serbian industrialist of German descent, Governor of the National Bank of Serbia and later Yugoslavia. In addition, he is considered the founder of the modern mining sector in Serbia.-Biography:...

 opened coal mines in Kostolac. During WWII, Germans constructed first power plant "Mali Kostolac" ("small Kostolac"). After the war, people from every where came to build it.

Features

• Ostrovo, the biggest island of Serbia
• Klenovnik, a village
• Petka, a village

Tourism

In Kostolac is the archaeological site of Viminacium

Viminacium

Viminacium was a major city and military camp of the Roman province of Moesia , and the capital of Moesia Superior. The archeological site occupies a total of 450 hectares. Viminacium is located 12 km from Kostolac, was devastated by Huns in the 5th century, but rebuilt by Justinian...

, a former Roman outpost with wide streets, luxurious villas, extensive baths and an amphitheater, just recently opened to the public.

Industry

Kostolac has two thermal power plants:

• TPP "Kostolac A" – with 2 blocks – total available capacity of 281 MW and production of 716 GWh
• TPP "Kostolac B" – with 2 blocks – total available capacity of 640 MW and production of 3,027 GWh

Thermal power blocks of Economic Association "Thermal Power Plants and Mines Kostolac" plc with total available capacity of 921 MW, make 11 percent of the total available capacity of the electric power system of Serbia.

Electric power production in Economic Association "Thermal Power Plants and Mines Kostolac" plc of 3,743 GWh makes almost 11 percent of the total electric power production in EPS's system.

Thermal power plants Economic Association "Thermal Power Plants and Mines Kostolac" plc use fuel lignite produced at open-pit mines "Cirikovac" and "Drmno", for electric power production.

In addition to electric power, TPP "Kostolac A" produces heating energy for heating the cities of Kostolac and Požarevac.

Demographics

Ethnic groups in the town (2002 census):

• Serbs = 6,913
• Roma = 1,756
• others (e.g. Vlachs/Romanians)

External links

• Municipality of Požarevac