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Svilajnac

Svilajnac (Serbian Cyrillic: Свилајнац, Romanian: Svilaina) is a town and municipality located in central Serbia at 44.13° North, 21.12° East, 100 km 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.

History

Svilajnac was first mentioned in Turkish records in 1467 as a village of a hundred households. The village, and later town, gained prominence through its silk production and location at the crossroads between north-east, south-east and western Serbia. The town flourished as a trading center, where silk, wool and livestock were traded.

Svilajnac and the area around it have been the birthplace of one of the most important and famous people in Serbian history, the leader of the First Serbian Uprising, Stevan Sinđelić. A statue in his honor was raised in the central square of Svilajnac.

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 Bidža (Serbian Radical Party). It failed, partially due to the opposition of the Democratic Party of Serbia.

Demographics

In 2002 the town had total population of 9,395, while municipality had a population of 25,511. A substantial part of the population (around 7,000) works abroad.

According to the last official census data collected in 2002, the ethnic composition of Svilajnac is:

• Total: 25,511
  • Serbs: 24,579 (96.35%)
  • Vlachs: 235 (.92%)
  • Roma: 187 (.73%)
  • Others : 510 (2%)

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.

Important Objects

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.

Svilajnac is also the location of a military barracks, which can house up to 5,000 soldiers at any one time, although it only regularly houses a nominal force of several hundred.

See also

• Šumadija
• Pomoravlje
• Resava
• List of cities in Serbia
• Dublje

External links

• www.svilajnac001.co.yu (in Serbian)
• www.svilajnac.com (in Serbian)
• www.kdsvilajnac.g0g.net (in Serbian)
• www.svilajnac.org.yu (in Serbian, official page of Municipality of Svilajnac)