Zaječar

Infobox Serbia municipality
native_name = Град Зајечар|official_name=City of Zaječar
image_shield =COA_zajecar.pngdistrict = Zaječar
mayor = Boško Ničić (LS)
area_km2 = 1068
population_total = 39491 | mpop = 65969
latd = 43| latm = 55|longd = 22| longm = 18
code = 19
settlements = 42
plates = ZA
postal_code = 19000
website = www.zajecar.info

Zaječar (Serbian Cyrillic: Зајечар, Bulgarian: Зайчар-"Zaychar", Romanian: Zaiciar) is a city and municipality in the eastern part of the Republic of Serbia. The town has a population of 39,700 people, and its coordinates are 43.91° North, 22.30° East. It is the administrative center of the Zaječar District of Serbia and a main town in the Timočka Krajina region.

Name

In Serbian, the town is known as "Zaječar" (Зајечар), and in Vlach/Romanian as "Zăiicer" (archaic name) / "Zăiceri" / "Zăicear".

The origin of the name is from the Torlak dialect name for "hare" = "zajec / зајец" (in all other Serbian dialects except kajkavian it is "zec / зец", while in Bulgarian it is "zaek").

Folk etymology in Vlach, a language of a local minority, gives "Zāiicer" as meaning the "Gods are asking (for sacrifice)", but this is clearly not the origin of the city name, as such convoluted syntagms never are.

Roman Emperors

Three Roman Emperors were born in the municipality of Zaječar

*Galerius ruled 293-311
*Maximinus ruled 305-312
*Licinius ruled 308-324

History

Zaječar was first mentioned in Turkish defter in 1466. At the time, there were only eight families living there. A Roman imperial palace "Felix Romuliana" dating from the third century AD is located nearby.

Municipality

Municipality of Zaječar include following settlements:
*Zaječar
*Borovac
*Brusnik
*Velika Jasikova
*Veliki Izvor
*Veliki Jasenovac
*Vražogrnac
*Vrbica
*Gamzigrad
*Glogovica
*Gornja Bela Reka
*Gradskovo
*Grlište
*Grljan
*Dubočane
*Zagrađe
*Zvezdan
*Jelašnica
*Klenovac
*Koprivnica
*Lasovo
*Lenovac
*Leskovac
*Lubnica
*Mala Jasikova
*Mali Izvor
*Mali Jasenovac
*Marinovac
*Metriš
*Nikoličevo
*Planinica
*Prlita
*Rgotina
*Salaš
*Selačka
*Tabakovac
*Trnavac
*Halovo
*Čokonjar
*Šipikovo
*Šljivar

Demographics

Ethnic groups in the municipality

In 2002 census, the population of city of Zaječar numbered 65,969 people, and was composed of:
* 59,867 (90.75%) Serbs
* 2,981 (4.52%) Vlachs
* others

Settlements with the absolute Serb ethnic majority are Zaječar, Borovac, Brusnik, Veliki Izvor, Veliki Jasenovac, Vražogrnac, Vratarnica, Vrbica, Gamzigrad, Gornja Bela Reka, Gradskovo, Grlište, Grljan, Zagrađe, Zvezdan, Jelašnica, Klenovac, Koprivnica, Lasovo, Lenovac, Leskovac, Lubnica, Mali Izvor, Marinovac, Metriš, Nikoličevo, Ošljane, Planinica, Prlita, Rgotina, Salaš, Selačka, Tabakovac, Trnavac, Halovo, Čokonjar and Šljivar.

Settlements with the absolute Vlach ethnic majority are Dubočane, Mala Jasikova and Šipikovo.

Mixed settlements with relative Serb ethnic majority are Velika Jasikova and Mali Jasenovac.

Mixed settlement with relative Vlach ethnic majority is Glogovica.

Ethnic groups in the town

In 2002 census, the population of the Zaječar town numbered 59,491 people, and was composed of:
*Serbs = 57,500
*Roma = 233
*Yugoslavs = 219
*Vlachs = 159
*Montenegrins = 131
*Macedonians = 111
*others

port

* Host of 2006 Serbian triathlon championship

ee also

*Zaječar District
*List of places in Serbia

Palace of Galerius - UNESCO World Heritage 2007

The Late Roman fortified palace compound and memorial complex of Gamzigrad-Romuliana, Palace of Galerius, in the east of Serbia, was commissioned by Emperor Caius Valerius Galerius Maximianus, in the late 3rd and early 4th century. It was known as Felix Romuliana, named after the Emperor's mother. The site consists of fortifications, the palace in the north-western part of the complex, basilicas, temples, hot baths, memorial complex, and a tetrapylon. The site offers a unique testimony of the Roman building tradition marked by the ideology of the period of the Second Tetrachy. The group of buildings is also unique in its intertwining of ceremonial and memorial functions. The relation between two spatial ensembles in this site is stressed by the tetrapylon which is placed on the crossroads between the worldly fortification and palace on the one side and the other-worldly mausoleums and consecration monuments on the other.

The Alternative Culture Festival Zalet

The Alternative Cultural Festival ZALET is an artistic manifestation founded as a response to the necessities of initiating, organizing and holding cultural events. In addition to organizing of manifestations, such as exhibitions, Concerts, literary evenings and experimental theater, there is an emphasis on innovative and progressive aspects of artistic Expressions: performance, art comics, low - video, video-art, conceptual art, the synthesis of fine and conceptual arts. Also, ZALET is trying to promote some locations in Zajecar that are unexploited in art purposes (old factory buildings, roofs, nearby old fortress, shop windows, crossroads, playgrounds, River beach Popova Plaza, etc.).The Alternative Cultural Festival ZALET is a non-profit project, organized in cooperation with The National Museum Zajecar, The Zajecar Youth Cultural Center and The Biro for Culture and Communication Belgrade.

The Biro for Culture and Communication Belgrade will give publishing and Internet media support for the ZALET Festival. In two days of presentation and workshop a new approach toward digital media and arts will be shown to the public in Zajecar. Participants from regional network slobodnakultura.org will be invited to take a part in this segment of a festival. In two terms of happening (2005, 2006) ZALET has attracted the great number of young people and many important institutions, such as Serbian Ministry of Culture, National museum Zajecar, Independent Artistic Association REMONT (Belgrade), Radio Belgrade Third Programme, Zajecar Youth Cultural Centre, Municipality of Zajecar, NGO Resource centre of Zajecar, have paid attention on it and have given valuable support.Serbian Ministry of Culture has put ZALET into the group of the most distinguished contemporary art initiatives in Serbia.

Because of that ZALET got its place in publication of Serbian Ministry of Culture „Les initiatives artistiques contemporaines en Serbie“, which was represented on the conference “Maison des cultures du monde i l`Observatoire des politiques cultureless” (OPC) last November in France. The events of ZALET festival are holding every summer in July or august. This year, ZALET festival will take place from 24th to 29th July in Zajecar.

External links

* http://www.zajecar.info/
* http://www.zajecarci.com Zajecar Online community
*http://www.elmundosefarad.eu/wiki/wiki/index.php?title=Zajecar