ORIGINS Although the area of today’s Novi Sad was inhabited even in prehistoric times, the town itself was founded just over three centuries ago. It was firstly mentioned in 1694. FACTS & NUMBERS In 1692 the Habsburg Monarchy rulers had started their constructions of the Petrovaradin Fortress, which was actually...
ORIGINS
Although the area of today’s Novi Sad was inhabited even in prehistoric times, the town itself was founded just over three centuries ago. It was firstly mentioned in 1694.
FACTS & NUMBERS
In 1692 the Habsburg Monarchy rulers had started their constructions of the Petrovaradin Fortress, which was actually a fortified settlement for centuries before that.
The population of that area, consisting mostly of Serbs, but also of Germans, Jews, Hungarians, Greeks and many other nationalities, had decided to settle down across the river Danube, opposite of the Fortress.
Their settlement was firstly called Racka varoš, meaning ‘The Serbian village’ and later Petrovaradinski Šanac or Petrovaradin’s moat.
In 1718 the inhabitants of the village Almaš, in the Bačka area of Vojvodina, had left their old homes and resettled to Petrovaradinski šanac. The neighborhood where they settled down was named Almaški kraj or the Almaški quarter.
On February 1st, 1748, Petrovaradinski šanac acquired the status of a ‘free royal city’ and changed its name to Novi Sad. The edict and the new town privileges were signed by the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire, Maria Theresa.
The town has suffered heavy devastation and lost many of its population during the Uprising of 1848 and 1849. It was subsequently rebuilt in the spirit of that time.
After the First World War, Vojvodina and Novi Sad as its capital were unified with the then Kingdom of Serbia and had stayed an inseparable part of Serbia ever since.