Ivanjica


Ivanjica is a town and municipality located in the Moravica District of southwestern Serbia. The population of the town is 11,715, while the population of the municipality is 31,963 inhabitants. With an area of 1090 km², it is the eighth largest municipality in Serbia.
Situated in the valley of Moravica river, Ivanjica has a predominantly hilly and mountainous terrain. It is surrounded by the mountain ranges of Golija, Javor, Mučanj, Čemerno and Radočelo. The municipality has large potato and raspberry plantations in which many locals are employed. It is also known for the cultural event Nušićijada and as being the birthplace of World War II Chetnik leader, Draža Mihailović.

History

Following the Serbian Revolution which took place in early 19th century, and Serbian liberation from the Ottoman Empire, Ivanjica has gained the status of village in 1833, after the Prince of Serbia, Miloš Obrenović took the area. In 1836, Orthodox church was built in town centre. Ivanjica got the status of a town on 16 June 1866 through the Prince Mihailo Obrenović’s decree, thus becoming one of the first towns in the region.
With the 1878 Congress of Berlin recognition of the independence of Principality of Serbia, King Milan I founded the Kingdom of Serbia. In 1918, Kingdom of Yugoslavia was formed, following the World War I. From 1929 until the beginning of the World War II, Ivanjica was part of Drina Banovina. In August and October 1941 it was briefly captured and held by forces of Pećanac Chetniks commanded by Božidar Ćosović.
With the end of World War II, Ivanjica was part of Užice Oblast. At the time, Ivanjica was the administrative center of so-called Moravica County. That changed in 1963 following the adoption of the 1963 Yugoslav Constitution, when counties were replaced with regions and municipalities, thus creating the municipality of Ivanjica, as a part of Užice District. Since the founding, Ivanjica's population mostly lived in the rural areas, with only 1,532 living in the town, as of 1948. That began to change with the period of industrialisation which hit Ivanjica during the 1960s. That caused the rural population to move to the urban areas of municipality. Until the 1990s urban population made up to 31% of total municipality's population.
Following the Government of Serbia Enactment of 29 January 1992, Ivanjica became part of Moravica District, with the administrative center in Čačak, thus becoming more connected to the region. In 2003, a monument of Draža Mihailović, former Chetniks leader who was born in Ivanjica, was set in town center on his 110th birth anniversary.
Today, Ivanjica is a modern little town and the municipality with around 32,000 citizens. It is the economic, cultural, administrative and health care center of the municipality. Its economy and development are based on agriculture, lumber industry and tourism.

Geography

Ivanjica lies in the southwest of Serbia, at the bank of the Moravica river. It is surrounded by the mountain ranges of Golija, Javor, Mučanj, Čemerno and Radočelo and is in a valley. Ivanjica's highest elevation is 1833 m, at the Jankov Kamen peak. The mountains in this area belong to the Dinaric range. The local environment includes forests and clearings, pastures, springs and rivers, wild fruit, 'medicinal' herbs and various game.
The river system of the municipality and its neighborhood is made up of clear fast-flowing mountain rivers: the Moravica, the Studenica and the Nošnica which, together with their tributaries, curve down the Moravica mountains. There are and two small lakes: Nebeska Suza and Tičar Lake.

Climate

Ivanjica has a humid continental climate, that's very close to an oceanic climate.

Settlements

Aside from the town of Ivanjica, the municipality of Ivanjica includes the following 48 settlements:
According to the latest official census done in 2011, the municipality of Ivanjica had 31,963 inhabitants. About 36.7% of the municipality’s population is living in town of Ivanjica. Population density of the municipality is 29.3 inhabitants per square kilometer. There is a trend of population decline since the 1960s. The reasons for this trend are bad economic conditions in Serbia, negative natural increase rate and majority of the older population. Depopulation is typical for villages because of the migrations to urban and other areas. The municipality of Ivanjica has 10,388 households with 3,03 members on average, while the number of homes is 13,469.
Religion structure in the municipality of Ivanjica is predominantly Serbian Orthodox, with minorities like Atheists, Catholics, Muslims and others. Most of the population speaks Serbian language.
The composition of population by gender and average age:
The total of 11,595 citizens have secondary education, while the 2,167 citizens have higher education. Of those with higher education, 1,182 have university education.

Ethnic composition

Most of Ivanjica’s population is of Serbian nationality. The ethnic composition of the municipality:
Ethnic groupPopulation
1931		Population
1948		Population
1953		Population
1961		Population
1971		Population
1981		Population
1991		Population
2002		Population
2011
Serbs-32,59736,15434,16138,91937,33136,11135,02131,507
Romani---211083329
Montenegrins-19694165791346824
Albanians--9101316--13
Macedonians-814151721-1213
Croats-13431112241299
Muslims-1-31251168
Gorani-------77
Yugoslavs--2120265245327
Others-1592947174136286257346
Total24,82032,79736,32034,29139,23337,88736,68635,44531,963

Culture and tourism

Cultural monuments

The Old Bazaar - stands in the center of the town, which was declared good for a remarkable stationary culture in 1987. The center of the town, especially the main street, Milinka Kušića, retains its original appearance dating back to the middle of the 19th century. Most of the structures were built after the Great Fire in 1846, which burned the town to the ground which was stopped after some houses where blown up to prevent spread. The Old Bazaar was used for a decades as backdrop for movies and TV shows in the golden-age of Yugoslavian cinematography. Promotion of the Old Bazaar as a place for making films started with Soja Jovanović making the first version of Branislav Nušić's Sumnjivo lice, in the 1950s. Later Zdravko Šotra made the TV show Više od igre, and after that, the movies Sok od šljiva and Užička republika. The 19th century ambiance of the area was desirable for these films, and Ivanjica was named "Little Hollywood".
There are several cultural monuments in the area of the Old Bazaar:
The main cultural institutions in the area include the Ivanjica Culture Centre and the Svetislav Vulović Library.
Some of cultural events are: Hunters’ Fair and Wolf Hunt, Parade of Folk Creative Work - Sounds of Golija, Motorcycle Meetings in Ivanjica, Most Beautiful Love Poem Competition, If May Were All the Time, Parade of Reciters and others.
In 2010, cultural event Nušićijada was renewed by initiative of citizen organization "KudeS" from Ivanjica.

Tourism

The beginnings of the development of tourism in Ivanjica municipality are connected with the 1930s when Ivanjica was proclaimed to be a spa and a climatic place.
Tourists visiting the Ivanjica municipality are drawn by its natural and cultural resources, history and tradition, the identity of numerous sites and the cordiality of Ivanjica’s hosts. Ivanjica has a number of tourism sites, including those supporting sports, hunting and fishing, excursion, congress, festival and event tourism. This municipality was proclaimed to be the first air spa in Serbia in January 2000, while Golija Mountain is Biosphere reserve under the UNESCO protection. The municipality has around 1000 beds in classified facilities and around 200 beds in village households, in the town and in the suburbs.
In 1978, the Institute for Specialized Rehabilitation was opened and it operates as a state institution which has both medical and tourist character. Its core activity is medical rehabilitation and provision of services based on recreational medical tourism. Air spa of Ivanjica spreads on 2,165 hectares with 7 hectares belonging to the Institute for Specialized Rehabilitation.
Ivanjica also has several transport links to the Serbian Orthodox Church monasteries of Pridvorica, Kovilje and Studenica.

Economy and infrastructure

The municipality of Ivanjica, with a total area of 1090 km², has 49.54% under forests, 47% of arable land and only 3.40% of non-arable land. The economy of Ivanjica municipality is typified by the processing industry, lumber processing, production of textile products and production of raspberry, blackberry and potato.
As of 2012, Ivanjica has a total of 7,728 registered agricultural entities. With 1,800 hectares of raspberry plantations, together with neighboring municipality of Arilje, Ivanjica is the biggest producer of raspberries in Serbia. With 1,000 hectares, potato plantations are the second most cultivated culture in Ivanjica.
During the 1960s many large textile enterprises were opened in Ivanjica, but their production was severely hit during the 1990s Western sanctions on FR Yugoslavia.
;Historical statistics
In 1988, Ivanjica had 11,300 employed people, of which 7,100 were employed in processing industry and mining sectors. In 2017, it had 7,471 employed people, of which 2,991 were employed in processing industry and mining sectors.
Ivanjica belongs to group of economically underdeveloped part of Serbia, with the level of GDP in the range of 60% to 80% of the national average. Coverage of imports by exports is 92%. There are 362 active enterprises in the municipality of Ivanjica. Small enterprises make 95% of the total number of enterprises.
;Economic preview
The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity :
ActivityTotal
Agriculture, forestry and fishing353
Mining and quarrying6
Manufacturing3,201
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply28
Distribution of water and water waste management106
Construction504
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles968
Transportation and storage527
Accommodation and food services334
Information and communication134
Financial and insurance activities47
Real estate activities7
Professional, scientific and technical activities217
Administrative and support service activities52
Public administration and defense; compulsory social security296
Education489
Human health and social work activities434
Arts, entertainment and recreation99
Other service activities299
Individual agricultural workers397
Total8,498

Infrastructure

The municipality of Ivanjica has 84.47 kilometers of state roads class I, the most in Moravica District, mostly because of its size. It also has 134.3 kilometers of state road class II and 170 kilometers of local roads.
Ivanjica lies on State Road 21 which intersects with State Road 23 in Požega. Later, State Road 23 intersects with State Road 22 in Čačak, which is the main and fastest road connection with the capital city of Belgrade.

Sport

There are 28 sports clubs in the municipality of Ivanjica. The dominant sports are football, basketball, volleyball, archery and winter sports. According to results, the most successful sport club is a football club FK Javor Ivanjica, which was founded in 1912. In 2012 this football club was celebrating its centenary from club founding. This club was a continuous member of the First League for the last several years. Other popular sport clubs are OK Putevi volleyball club and KK Ivanjica basketball club, playing in the lower, regional leagues of western Serbia.
On the territory of Ivanjica municipality there are 6 football fields, 2 indoor swimming pools, 2 outdoor swimming pools, 3 gyms, one air rifle range, 29 outdoor fields for recreation, one athletics track, one chess hall and 2 sports halls.

Gallery

Notable residents