Sremska Mitrovica (Serbian pronunciation:[srêːmskaːmîtroʋitsa];Serbian Cyrillic:Сремска Митровица,Latin:Sirmium) is acity inSerbia. It is situated on the left bank of theSava river. As of 2022[update], the city has a total population of 36,764 inhabitants, while its administrative area has a population of 72,580 inhabitants.
The modern town name isSremska Mitrovica (Serbian:Сремска Митровица). TheHungarian name wasSzávaszentdemeter while inCroatian it is referred to asSrijemska Mitrovica.[4][5] InPannonian Rusyn, it is referred to asСримска Митровица.
The name of the city during the reign of theRoman Empire wasSirmium.[8] Beginning in 1180 AD the name changed from "Civitas Sancti Demetrii" to "Dmitrovica", "Mitrovica", and finally to the present form - "Sremska Mitrovica".
Visitors’ Center of the Roman Imperial PalaceCoins ofJulian, Syrmium, 361
Sremska Mitrovica is one of the oldest cities in Europe. Archaeologists have found a trace of organizedhuman life dating from 5000 BC onwards.Ionian jewellery dating to 500BC was excavated in the city. When theRomans conquered the city in the 1st century BC, Sirmium already was a settlement with a long tradition. In the 1st century, Sirmium gained a status of a colony of the citizens ofRome, and became a very important military and strategic location inPannonia province. The war expeditions of Roman emperorsTrajan,Marcus Aurelius, andClaudius II, were prepared in Sirmium.[citation needed]
Beginning in the 4th century, the city was an importantChristian centre, and was a seat of the Episcopate of Sirmium. Four Christiancouncils were held in Sirmium. At the end of the 4th century, Sirmium was brought under the sway of theGoths, and later, was again annexed to the Eastern Roman Empire. In 441, Sirmium was conquered by theHuns, and after this conquest, it remained for more than a century in the hands of various Germanic tribes, such wereEastern Goths andGepids.[citation needed]
For a short time, Sirmium was the center of theGepide State and the kingCunimund minted golden coins in it. After 567, Sirmium was again incorporated intoEastern Roman Empire. The city was conquered and destroyed byAvars in 582. This event marked the end of the period of late Antiquity in the history of Sirmium.[citation needed]
11 luxurious golden belts of Avar handicraft dating to the 6th century was excavated in the vicinity.[9]
For the next two centuries Sirmium was a place of little importance. At the end of the 8th century, Sirmium belonged to the Frankish State. The historical role of Sirmium increased again in the 9th century, when it was part of theBulgarian Empire. Pope Adrian II gaveSt Methodius the title of Archbishop of Sirmium. After having adopted Christianity, the Bulgarians restored in Sirmium the Christian Episcopate, having in mind old Christian traditions and the reputation this city had in the ancient world.[citation needed]
In the 11th century, Sirmium was a residence ofSermon, a duke ofSyrmia, who was a vassal of theBulgarianSamuil. After 1018, the city was again included into theByzantine Empire, and since the end of the 11th century, Sirmium was a subject of a dispute between the Byzantine Empire and theKingdom of Hungary, until 1180 when the Byzantine Empire gave up Sirmium, surrendering it to the Kingdom of Hungary. In the 11th century, a Byzantine province namedTheme of Sirmium had its capital in this city.[citation needed] EmperorBasil II (976–1025) created administrative system in which Sirmium was a seat ofstrategos Serbias.[10]
For a while, about 1451, the city was in possession of the Serbian despotĐurađ Branković. In 1521 the city came intoOttoman hands and it remained under the Ottoman rule for almost two centuries. According to Ottoman travelerEvliya Çelebi, Mitrovica had been conquered by the Bosnian sanjak beyHusrev-bey. It was renamed as "Dimitrofça".[citation needed]
The name of the mayor of the city was Dimitar and since the middle of the 16th century, the city was mostly populated withMuslims. According to the 1566/69 data, the population of the city was composed of 592 Muslim and 30Christian houses, while according to the 1572 data, it was composed of 598 Muslim and 18 Christian houses.[citation needed]
According to the 1573 data, the city had 17 mosques and no Christian church. During the Ottoman rule, Sremska Mitrovica was the largest settlement inSyrmia, and was the administrative center of the OttomanSanjak of Syrmia. It was temporarily occupied by Austrian troops between 1688 and 1690. They finally took it in 1717 and took possession of it after signingTreaty of Passarowitz in 1718.[citation needed]
With the establishment of theHabsburg administration in 1718, the Muslim population fled from the city and was replaced withSerbian,Croatian, andGerman settlers. According to the 1765 data, the population of the city numbered 809 people, of whom 514 were Serbs and 290 Catholics.[citation needed]
Sremska Mitrovica was part of the HabsburgMilitary Frontier (Slavonian Krajina). In 1848–49, it was part of theSerbian Voivodship, a Serb autonomous region within Austrian Empire, but in 1849, it was returned under administration of the Military Frontier. With the abolition of the Slavonian Military Frontier in 1881, Sremska Mitrovica was included intoSyrmia County, which was part of theKingdom of Croatia-Slavonia withinAustria-Hungary.
According to the 1910 census, the population of the city numbered 12,909 people, of which 8,793 spoke the Serbo-Croatian language (4,878 of those spoke Serbian and 3,915 spoke Croatian) and 2,341 German. The administrative area of the city (which did not included the city itself) had 32,012 inhabitants, of which 28,093 spoke Serbo-Croatian (27,022 of those spoke Serbian and 1,071 spoke Croatian) and 2,324 German.[citation needed]This was attacked during the 1914Shelling of Belgrade which was the first battle of the First world war
In 1918, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy collapsed and the Syrmia region first became a part of the newly formedState of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, and then, on 24 November 1918, the assembly of Syrmia inRuma decided most of Syrmia (including Mitrovica) would join theKingdom of Serbia.[citation needed]
Subsequently, on 1 December 1918, Kingdom of Serbia united with theKingdom of Montenegro and the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to form theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed toYugoslavia in 1929). Between 1918 and 1922, Sremska Mitrovica was part of the Syrmia County, between 1922 and 1929 part of the Syrmia Oblast, between 1929 and 1931 part of theDrina Banovina, and, between 1931 and 1941, part of theDanube Banovina.[citation needed]
DuringWorld War II, the city was occupied byAxis troops and was attached to theIndependent State of Croatia. During that time its name was changed toHrvatska Mitrovica (meaningCroatian Mitrovica). One of the largest Nazi concentration/death camps in the Independent State of Croatia existed in Sremska Mitrovica and as many as 10,000 victims (Serbs, Jews, and antifascists) were killed here.[11][12]
Map of the city of Sremska MitrovicaMap of local communities in urban Sremska Mitrovica
The city of Sremska Mitrovica includes the town ofMačvanska Mitrovica, and several villages. Villages on the northern bank of the riverSava, in the region ofSyrmia:
Most of the settlements in the city have an ethnic Serb majority. Stara Bingula is an ethnically mixed settlement with a relative Serbian majority. The main concentration of ethnic minorities is in the urban area of the city.[citation needed]
The last emperor of the united Roman Empire,Theodosius I (378–95), became emperor in Sirmium. TheusurpersIngenuus andRegalianus also declared themselves emperors in this city (in 260) and many other Roman emperors spent some time in Sirmium includingMarcus Aurelius who might have written parts of his famous workMeditations in the city.[citation needed]
^Protić, Marijana; Smičiklas, Nemanja; Bulajić, Vladimir (2017)."Conservation, Restoration, and Presentation of Two Mosaics from Room 16, Imperial Palace, Sirmium". In Teutonico, Jeanne Marie; Friedman, Leslie; Abed, Aïcha Ben (eds.).The Conservation and Presentation of Mosaics: At What Cost?: Proceedings of the 12th Conference of the International Committee for the Conservation of Mosaics, Sardinia, October 27–31, 2014. Getty Publications. p. 387.ISBN9781606065334.
^"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-01-06. Retrieved2020-05-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Градови партнери [City of Banja Luka - Partner cities].Administrative Office of the City of Banja Luka (in Serbian). Archived fromthe original on 17 September 2011. Retrieved9 August 2013.
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