Prijepolje

Prijepolje Пријепоље (Serbian)
Town and municipality
From top: Prijepolje Old Town, Monument to Mileševa monastery
UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	31300
Area code	+381(0)33
Car plates	PP
Website	www.prijepolje.ls.gov.rs

Prijepolje (Serbian Cyrillic: Пријепоље, pronounced [prijěːpoʎe]) is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of southwestern Serbia. As of 2022, the town has 11,928 inhabitants, while the municipality has 32,214 inhabitants.^[3]

Etymology

One possible meaning of the name Prijepolje is "Prija's field", where Prija is the owner of polje, the "field" in English. However, a more likely theory is that the name originates from the location of Prijepolje and its relationship to the travels of caravans. When those caravans were passing through the area which would become Prijepolje, they would arrive at the settlement "before the fields", where the present day neighborhoods of Ivanje and Velika Župa are located. "Prije" means "before", and "polje" means "field", hence, the location might be called Prijepolje.^{[4] [full citation needed]}

Geography

Prijepolje is located at the confluence of the fast-flowing

. Prijepolje is surrounded by hills, such as Pušina, Srijeteži, Gradina and Sokolica, which, prior to the construction of the "Potpeć" hydro plant near Nova Varoš, created a unique climate around the municipality. Since the hydro plant's construction, Prijepolje's climate has been changed into one that is typical for this cold part of Serbia. The highest peak in the Prijepolje area is Katunić, which reaches 1,734 meters above sea level.

Forests surround most of Prijepolje, however, along the Lim, there are numerous beaches. Two of the most popular beaches are under bridges, one at the centre of the town, under the bridge in Ivanje, and another under the bridge in Petrovac.[5]

Climate

Prijepolje has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfb), that's very close to an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb).

History

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Prijepolje was established as a settlement in 1234, the same year the

where pieces of ancient glass, silver, ceramics, and gold have been unearthed.

Prijepolje was mentioned for the first time by Gijom Adam in 1332 while it was part of Dubrovnik's sphere of influence. According to historical sources, Prijepolje developed as a road settlement for caravans along the route known as "Dubrovnik's road", a road connecting the central and eastern

Adriatic

coast. The caravan route traversed both mountainous and heavily forested areas, which could prove dangerous to travelers. Local villagers were tasked with protecting local roads, due to the statute which said, "If, on the road, someone has been killed or has had a bullet stuck into his body, let the local guardians gather together to pay the damage. Hitting by one small drum, the passers by would know that there was no danger".

By 1477, part of the

There was a cartographic reference to Prijepolje in "Regno della Servia detta altrimentri Rascia" by

, in 1689.

During the Ottoman period, there were quite a few buildings constructed in Prijepolje. Most famous of these are Ibrahim Pasha's mosque and the Sahat Kula. Pasha's mosque is located in Šarampov, one of three regions in town (the other two being Vakuf and the Town Center), and was most likely built in the 16th century. It is adorned with a single minaret, and covered by a "cheramida" (a special covering of the houses in that time). The region has a very tumultuous past. It was part of First Serbian revolt in 1875, known as Banine's revolt, as well as seeing the Javorian War in 1876, the Raonić Revolt, the Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913, and both World Wars.^[8] In 1912, during the First Balkan War, control of Prijepolje passed from the Ottoman Empire to the Kingdom of Montenegro.

During

Settlements

The municipality of Prijepolje covers an area of 824 km² (318 sq mi) with an altitude ranging from 440–1,735 metres (1,444–5,692 ft). Not including the town of Prijepolje itself, it contains 96 other settlements.[10] Those settlements are as follows, with population figures according to the 2002 census:

Demographics

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1948	31,328	—
1953	35,568	+2.57%
1961	38,925	+1.13%
1971	44,022	+1.24%
1981	46,902	+0.64%
1991	46,525	−0.08%
2002	41,188	−1.10%
2011	37,059	−1.17%
2022	32,214	−1.27%
Source: [11][3]

According to the 2022 census, the municipality of Prijepolje has 32,214 inhabitants, and 63% of the municipality's population is rural.^[3]

Ethnic groups

In 1991, the majority of the population of the municipality was composed of Serbs (54.78%) and ethnic Muslims (43.42%). By 2002, the population of the municipality had shifted to mostly Serbs (23,402) and ethnic Muslims (13,109), with ethnic Muslims now representing the third largest segment with 3,812. A reason for this is that a large portion of those who in 1991 declared themselves as ethnic Muslims, now declared themselves as Bosniaks.

In 2022, the two largest groups in the municipality were Serbs (46.4%) and Bosniaks (39.9%), followed by

(6%), therefore in line with pre-1991 balances.

The ethnic composition of the municipality:^[12][13]

Ethnic group	Census 2011		Census 2022
	Population	%	Population	%
Serbs	19,496	52.61	14,961	46.44
Bosniaks	12,792	34.52	12,842	39.86
Ethnic Muslims	3,543	9.56	1,945	6.04
Yugoslavs	47	0.13	64	0.20
Others	1,181	3.19	2,402	7.46
Total	37,059		32,214

Religion

Based on the 2022 census, in the municipality of Prijepolje, muslims surpassed the orthodox creating a relative majority of 46.8% of the population.

Religious group	Census 2022 [14]
	Population	%
Islam	15,066	46.8
Orthodox	14,941	46.4
Other Christians	97	0.30
Did not declare / other	440	1.37
Unknown	1,670	5.18
Total	32,214

Economy

The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2018):^[15]

Activity	Total
Agriculture, forestry and fishing	174
Mining and quarrying	4
Manufacturing	1,804
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply	61
Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities	90
Construction	415
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles	1,220
Transportation and storage	655
Accommodation and food services	312
Information and communication	61
Financial and insurance activities	87
Real estate activities	14
Professional, scientific and technical activities	186
Administrative and support service activities	204
Public administration and defense; compulsory social security	687
Education	529
Human health and social work activities	598
Arts, entertainment and recreation	120
Other service activities	154
Individual agricultural workers	76
Total	7,455

Culture and tourism

Mileševa monastery

Prijepolje has many historical monuments from both the periods of Christianity and Islam. The

, Serbia's most honored patriarch.

A famous monument from the Turkish period, the Sahat-Kula, is in town, as well as several mosques, one of which is in Hisardžik, interesting because of a four-hundred-year-old wooden Quran which was recently unearthed. Jusovića's kula tower, built in the 18th century as a protective house tower for the wealthy. Currently in ruins, there are plans being made to reconstruct this building, adding another unique monument to Prijepolje.

The Museum of Prijepolje is a very significant part of the cultural life of Prijepolje. It serves as a gathering place for artists from diverse locations to visit Prijepolje, and corroborate on large projects to improve the town's culture. In addition to the museum, there is also another major cultural building in Prijepolje, where amateurs, led by Meša Šendelj, are very active in refreshing the cultural life in Prijepolje.^[16]

Society

Education

There are 2 kindergartens and one elementary school in town. Prijepolje also has a Gymnasium, a technical high school, an economics high school, and a higher technical school.

Sport

In Prijepolje there are many forms of recreation. There is the local football club "FK Polimlje", as well as "FK Jasen" from nearby Brodarevo (also in the municipality of Prijepolje). There are volleyball clubs like "FAP-Livnica" and "Putevi", a handball club "White angel", and a chess club "Priko". Many parks and playfields are in and around town. Traditionally every year during MOSI (an annual regional sporting event), both the male and female volleyball teams representing Prijepolje see great success. Ilija Andrejic, an alpinist from Prijepolje, together with the Serbian alpinist team, successfully climbed Mount Everest.

• On 14 of July, Prijepolje was the host of the European coupe in
  Lim River.^[when?
  ]
• On 22 of September 2007, Vlade Divac, came to Prijepolje, with a group of NBA basketball players, and opened the newly built museum building.

Besides basketball player Vlade Divac and numerous volleyball man and woman players, other notable sportspeople from Prijepolje are footballers Spaso Perić, Muhamed Preljević, Latif Čičić, Mirsad Kahrović, Ljubomir Brašnjević, Husein Mekić, Mihajlo Pjanović, Ivica Dragutinović, while Dragoslav Divac, Siniša Nestorović, Stevo Ljujić and Vule Maksimović archived notability in athletics.^[17]

Media

There is one weekly newspaper published in Prijepolje, Polimlje, and three radio stations. There is also one media civic station working from 2008 called Television Forum, operated by NGO Women forum of Prijepolje. There are two wireless internet operators, one TV cable operator, and two private TV and radio stations. Prijepolje got digital telephonic central since May 2003.

Events

• "Sopotnički izvori", is held near the famous Sopotnica's waterfalls, where you can hear old national songs.^[when?]
• A famous diving demonstration is held at Petrovac, consisting of highly ranked divers from the Balkan region.^[when?]
• There is a famous art colony called Mileševa, consisting of many artists from this municipality.
• "Gifts from Lim", is a sports and entertainment event where you can see diverse activities such as beach volleyball, a fish-soup making contest, and Prijepolje's Best son-in-law contest.^[when?]

Activism and youth

There are 29 registered

in Prijepolje, the most active ones being Jump, Helium, New Vision, Scout's "Boško Buha", Friends of Brodarevo, Friends of Sopotnica and Friends of Kamena Gora. Prijepolje has the first civic television program in Serbia run by a women's organization, the Woman Forum.

Prijepolje opened a Youth Club, under the auspices of National Strategy for Youth, and the Youth office of municipality Prijepolje was created in April 2008. The Youth Office's priority is to care for the rights and wills of the youth of the area, through constant youth work using the goals of local and national development organizations.

Gallery

• 
  Prijepolje in winter
• 
  The river

  Lim
• 
  Footballers of FK Polimlje celebrating a goal.
• 
  Mileševac fortrerss
• 
  Lim flowing through Prijepolje in the winter.
• 
  Mileševka river in Prijepolje.
• 
  Confluence of Mileševka river in the Lim.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms of Prijepolje depicts the mountain

.

Notable people

• Partisan
• Sreten Vukosavljević, minister in 1944. first Yugoslav government, sociologist, journalist, political active for decentralization of Sanjak region as unified region
• Savatije Sokolović, Serbian Patriarch
• Svetomir Borisavljevic, member of parliament of Yugoslavia before World War II, lawyer
• NBA
  player, two-time Olympic silver medalist, World and European champion
• Nemanja Petrić, volleyball player, European champion
• Dženan Lončarević, pop singer
• Aco Pejović, pop-folk singer
• Zvonimir Červenko, Croatian General
• Sefer Halilović, Bosnian Army general and politician
• Latif Čičić, footballer
• Ivica Dragutinović, footballer
• Mihajlo Pjanović, footballer
• Muhamed Preljević, footballer
• Aleksandar Svitlica, handball player
• Fahrudin Melic, handball player
• Miljan Pusica, handball player
• Armin Sinančević, Serbian shot putter
• Zećira Mušović, Swedish Goalkeeper

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Prijepolje is

with:

• Köniz
• Eyüp
• Aranđelovac

See also

• Bosniaks of Serbia
• Lim River
• Zlatibor District
• List of places in Serbia
• Sandžak

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Prijepolje.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Prijepolje.

• Official website