Country Serbia Settlements 22 Postal code 35210 Local time Sunday 1:12 AM | Time zone CET (UTC+1) Area 326 km² | |
Region Šumadija and Western Serbia Weather 13°C, Wind SE at 14 km/h, 45% Humidity | ||
Svilajnac (pronounced /sviːlaɪnʌt͡s/; Serbian Cyrillic: Свилајнац) is a town and municipality located in the Pomoravlje District of the central Serbia. It is 100 km (62 mi) south-east of Belgrade, on the banks of the river Resava, and bordering the river Morava. Its name stems from the word for silk in Serbian. It is the de facto administrative center of the Resava region. The population of the town is 9,131 while municipality has 23,391.
Contents
Map of Svilajnac, Serbia
History
Svilajnac was first mentioned in Ottoman records in 1467 as a village with a hundred households. The village, and later town, gained prominence through its silk production, from which it derives its name (svila, "silk"). Located in central Serbia, it flourished as a trading center, where silk, wool and livestock were traded.
Svilajnac is the birthplace of revolutionary Stevan Sinđelić; a statue in his honor was raised in the central square of Svilajnac.
From 1929 to 1941, Svilajnac was part of the Morava Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
One of only several bridges across the Morava is located in Svilajnac, giving it a unique strategic value. During the Second World War, the original bridge was destroyed by the retreating Yugoslav Army. After the war, the bridge was rebuilt with German war reparations.
On 3 September 2007 there was a Democratic Party initiative to depose the president of the municipality Dobrivoje Budimirovic "Bidža" (Serbian Radical Party). It failed, partially due to the opposition of the Democratic Party of Serbia.
Economy
Today, Svilajnac is a fairly wealthy city, though its wealth can be attributed to the fact that 7,000 of its residents work abroad. The city's economy is largely based on its service sector that caters to the diaspora that returns over the summer. Apart from commercial services, Svilajnac's economy is largely agricultural, with the exception of the Compo (now defunct) furniture factory.
The state-owned factory contributed substantially to the local economy, until the 1990s, when economic crisis lead to the partial closure of the plant. The factory has been privatised in recent years, and is expected to reach its former production output, greatly aiding the local economy.
Recently, the municipal government signed a deal with the German car-parts manufacturer, Reum GmbH, on the construction of a new manufacturing plant, which should eventually employ 200 workers, and produce up to 50 million euro worth of exportable goods.
Infrastructure
Svilajnac is also the location of a coal power plant. Built in 1969, only several hundred meters upriver from the bridge, it has an energy output of 125 MW. The town is also the location to now decommissioned military barracks which could house up to 5,000 soldiers at any one time.