For the town in Bulgaria see Novi Pazar, Bulgaria.

Novi Pazar Нови Пазар
—  City  —
Coat of arms
Location of Novi Pazar within Serbia
Coordinates: 43°09′N 20°31′E / 43.15°N 20.517°E / 43.15; 20.517
Country	Serbia
District	Raška
Settlements	99
Government
- Mayor	Meho Mahmutović (SDP)
Area [1]
- Municipality	742 km2 (286.5 sq mi)
Population (2002 census)[2]
- Total	54,604
- Municipality	85,996
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	36300
Area code	+381 20
Car plates	NP
Website	www.novipazar.rs

Novi Pazar (Cyrillic: Нови Пазар) is a city and municipality located in southwest Serbia, in the Raška District. According to the official census in 2002, number of inhabitants of municipality was 85,996, while the city itself had a population of 54,604. Novi Pazar is the main economic and cultural center of the Sandžak region, and the cultural center of Bosniaks in Serbia.

[edit] Name

Its name means "a new bazaar" in the Serbo-Croatian language (referred to as the Serbian language by the Serb Christian inhabitants of the area, and Bosnian language by most of the Bosniak Muslim inhabitants). The term is derived ultimately from Turkish word "pazar" ("bazar" in Persian and "bazaar" in English) and Serbian/Bosnian word "novi" ("new" in English). In Turkish the name is Yeni Pazar, while in Albanian it is Pazar i Ri or Treg i Ri.

[edit] Geography

River Raška

Novi Pazar is the main economic and cultural centre of the Sandžak region (with Bijelo Polje in Montenegro after it), located in the valleys of the Jošanica, Raška (river), Deževska, and Ljudska rivers at the elevation of 496m. It is surrounded by the high lands of Golija and Rogozna mountains, as well as the Pešter plateau. The total area of the municipality is 742 km². It contains over 100 settlements, mostly small and spread over hills and mountains surrounding the city. After the city, the largest village is Mur, with over 3000 residents.

List of villages in the municipality: Alulović, Bajevica, Banja, Bare, Batnjik, Bekova, Bele Vode, Boturovina, Brđani, Brestovo, Vever, Vidovo, Vitkoviće, Vojkoviće, Vojniće, Vranovina, Vučiniće, Vučja Lokva, Golice, Gornja Tušimlja, Goševo, Građanoviće, Gračane, Grubetiće, Deževa, Dojinoviće, Drum, Dolac, Doljani, Dragočevo, Dramiće, Žunjeviće, Zabrđe, Zlatare, Ivanča, Izbice, Jablanica, Javor, Janča, Jova, Kašalj, Kovačevo, Kožlje, Koprivnica, Kosuriće, Kruševo, Kuzmičevo, Leča, Lopužnje, Lukare, Lukarsko, Goševo, Lukocrevo, Miščiće, Mur, Muhovo, Negotinac, Odojeviće, Okose, Osaonica, Osoje, Oholje, Pavlje, Paralovo, Pasji Potok, Pilareta, Pobrđe, Požega, Požežina, Polokce, Pope, Postenje, Prćenova, Pusta Tušimlja, Pustovlah, Radaljica, Rajetiće, Rajkoviće, Rajčinoviće, Rajčinovićka Trnava, Rakovac, Rast, Sebečevo, Sitniče, Skukovo, Slatina, Smilov Laz, Srednja Tušimlja, Stradovo, Sudsko Selo, Tenkovo, Trnava, Tunovo, Hotkovo, Cokoviće, Čašić Dolac, Šavci, Šaronje, Štitare and Zaguljača.

[edit] History

A 5th century BC princely grave (with regalia, gold-silver jewelry, beads, Attic pottery) of Greco-Illyrian type was excavated in a mound near Novi Pazar^[3].

The town probably began life as an informal trading enclave which had spilled out from the nearby medieval capital of the Serbian Kingdom, Ras (now Stari Ras). Ras was less ideally placed for catching onto the passing trade from the trade routes and major roads through the Balkans, and the establishment of a trading community a few miles away at Novi Pazar would have improved matters (and hence the name of the city).

Altun-Alem mosque

Novi Pazar was formally founded as a city in its own right in 1459-61 by Isa-beg Ishaković, who was also the founder of the city of Sarajevo. The first written document which mention Novi Pazar dates back to the 15th century, and describes the decision of Ragusan Council to appoint a consul in this town. That reinforces the idea that the town was already developed back then, thanks to its outstanding geographic position, as it was at the intersection of important roads leading to Dubrovnik, Niš, Sofia, Constantinople, Salonica (Thessaloniki), Sarajevo, Belgrade, and Budapest. Many authors wrote about Novi Pazar and Evliya Celebi noted that it was one of the biggest towns in the Balkans in the 17th century.

The city was the capital of the Ottoman Sanjak of Novibazar that existed between the 15th and the 20th century. The father of the famous Ragusan (Dubrovnik) scientist Ruđer Bošković from the 18th and 19th centuries, migrated from Dubrovnik and came to Novi Pazar, where he spent the last years of his life.

The name Novi Pazar (then Novibazar) entered the world encyclopedias as a synonym for the Sandžak region in 1878, the year when the Congress of Berlin designated the entire region as "corpus separatum" named Sanjak of Novi Pazar. The Sanjak of Novi Pazar was occupied and administered by Austria-Hungary from 1878 to 1908. In 1908 it was returned to the Ottoman Empire, which ruled this territory until it was lost to Serbia in 1912 during the First Balkan War. After World War I, the town of Novi Pazar rapidly lost its importance.

[edit] Demographics

[edit] Municipality Data

According to the 1953 census data, the population of the Novi Pazar municipality numbered 53,331 people, and it was composed of:

• Serbs (50.38%)
• Turks (21.87%)
• Yugoslavs (26.94%)
• Others (0.83%).

Most of those labeled as Turks and Yugoslavs were Bosniaks. On the following several censuses, the term "Muslim by nationality" was offered by the authorities; option for Bosniak as an ethnicity appeared only in the 2002 census.

[edit] Town Data

According to the data of Red Cross and NGOs, the city hosts about 6,000 Serb refugees from Kosovo, Bosnia, and Croatia.

[edit] Politics

After the last Serbian local election held in May 2008, local assembly seats are distributed as following:^[4]

• Sandžak Democratic Party (23)
• Party of Democratic Action (18)
• Serbian list (6)

Mayor of the city is Meho Mahmutović from Sandžak Democratic Party (recently renamed to Social Democratic Party of Serbia).^[5]

[edit] Economy

This section requires expansion.

Lying on crossroads between numerous old and new states, Novi Pazar has always been a strong trade center. Along with the trade, the city developed manufacturing tradition. During the 20th century, it became a center of textile industry.

Paradoxically, during the turbulent 1990s and, Novi Pazar prospered, even during the UN sanctions, boosted by the strong private initiative in textile industry. Jeans of Novi Pazar, first of forged trademarks, and later on its own labels, became famous throughout the region. However, during the relative economic prosperity in Serbia of 2000s, the Novi Pazar economy collapsed, with demise of large textile combines in mismanaged privatization, and incoming competition from the import.

[edit] Culture

Faculty for Islamic studies in Novi Pazar

The old Serb Orthodox monastery of Sopoćani, the foundation of St. King Uroš I, built in the second half of the 13th century and located west of Novi Pazar, is a World Heritage Site since 1979 accompanying with Stari Ras (Old Ras), a medieval capital of the Serbian great župan Stefan Nemanja.

The city also houses an old church from the 9th century^[6], the church of St. Peter, referred to as Petrova crkva, which suffered offensive graffiti by ethnic Bosniaks in April 2008^[6]. On a hilltop overlooking Novi Pazar is the 12th century monastery of Đurđevi stupovi, long left in ruin, but recently restored and with a monastic community using it, with plate glass to keep out the weather and preserve the fine frescos. The fine main mosque of the city, the Altun-Alem mosque, is the largest in this region of the Balkans and dates from 16th century. There are various other historic Ottoman buildings, such as the fine 17th century Amir-agin Han, a 15th century Hammam, and the 15th century Turkish fortress (all gone but the walls, the site of which is now a pleasant walled park in the city centre).

[edit] Sport

Novi Pazar

The city's football club FK Novi Pazar was founded in 1928, under the name "FK Sandžak", which later changed to "FK Deževa". The club has played under its current name since 1962, when Deževa and another local football club, FK Ras, unified under this name. The club was a SFRJ amateur champion, and a member of the Yugoslav Second League. FK Novi Pazar qualified for a promotional play-off spot twice, but lost both times (to FK Sutjeska Nikšić in 1994, and to FK Sloboda Užice in 1995).

Volleyball clubs in the city are OK Novi Pazar and OK Koteks.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website of Novi Pazar
• Tourist organization of Novi Pazar
• Novi Pazar: The oriental gem

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