Bela Palanka (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, t ...

: Бела Паланка, ) is a town and municipality located in the

Pirot District The Pirot District ( sr, Пиротски Округ, Pirotski Okrug, ) is one of nine administrative districts of Southern and Eastern Serbia. It expands to the south-eastern parts of Serbia. According to the 2011 census results, it has a popul ...

of southeastern Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the population of the town is 8,143, and the population of the municipality is 12,126. In ancient times, the town was known as

Remesiana Remesiana (Byzantine Greek: Ρεμεσιανισία) was an ancient Roman city and former bishopric, which remains an Eastern Orthodox and also a Latin Catholic titular see, located around and under the modern city of Bela Palanka in Serbia. R ...

in Dacia Mediterranea. The name ''Bela Palanka'' means 'white town'.

History

Ancient Bela Palanka

The town was originally settled by the Dacians and was known under the ancient name of Aiadava or

Aeadaba Aiadava (''Aiadaba'' or ''Aeadaba'', gr, Αἰάδαβα) was a Dacian town in the Remesiana region, present day Bela Palanka, Serbia. After the Romans conquered Moesia in the 75 BC, the new castrum (imperial domain with estates) and municipi ...

Thracians The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...

inhabited the area until their assimilation into contemporary ethnic groups in the area. After the Romans conquered Moesia in 75 BC, the new castrum (imperial domain with estates) and municipium was known initially as ''Ulpianorum'' and then ''Remesiana'' (

Moesi In Roman literature of the early 1st century CE, the Moesi ( or ; grc, Μοισοί, ''Moisoí'' or Μυσοί, ''Mysoí''; lat, Moesi or ''Moesae'') appear as a Paleo-Balkan people who lived in the region around the River Timok to the south ...

) and stood along the

Via Militaris Via Militaris or Via Diagonalis was an ancient Roman road, starting from Singidunum (today the Serbian capital Belgrade), passing by Danube coast to Viminacium (modern Požarevac), through Naissus (modern Niš), Serdica (modern Sofia), Philippo ...

between Naissus and

Serdica Serdika or Serdica ( Bulgarian: ) is the historical Roman name of Sofia, now the capital of Bulgaria. Currently, Serdika is the name of a district located in the city. It includes four neighbourhoods: "Fondovi zhilishta"; "Banishora", "Orlandov ...

. Emperor

Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...

had following strongholds in the district of Remesiana: The

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Nicetas of Remesiana Nicetas (c. 335–414) was Bishop of Remesiana (present-day Bela Palanka, Serbia), which was then in the Roman province of Dacia Mediterranea. Biography Nicetas promoted Latin sacred music for use during the Eucharistic worship and reputedly co ...

, was a 4th-century

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

at Remesiana.

Peter the Hermit Peter the Hermit ( 1050 – 8 July 1115 or 1131), also known as Little Peter, Peter of Amiens ( fr. ''Pierre d'Amiens'') or Peter of Achères ( fr. ''Pierre d'Achères''), was a Roman Catholic priest of Amiens and a key figure during the militar ...

was defeated by the Byzantines in the north and regrouped at an evacuated Bela Palanka, gathering the harvest before heading to

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

. Excavations include well-preserved castrum dating to 4th century and a hoard of 260 coins minted during the rule of

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

Theodosius I Theodosius I ( grc-gre, Θεοδόσιος ; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also called Theodosius the Great, was Roman emperor from 379 to 395. During his reign, he succeeded in a crucial war against the Goths, as well as in two ...

, Tiberius Claudius Nero.Ancient diseases: the elements of palaeopathology-Srboljub Živanović 1982 During the 1096

People's Crusade The People's Crusade was the beginning phase of the First Crusade whose objective was to retake the Holy Land, and Jerusalem in particular, from Islamic rule. After in 1095 the head of the Roman Catholic Church Pope Urban II started to urge faith ...

the town, left abandoned by its inhabitants, was briefly occupied by the pilgrims led by Peter the Hermit, Walter of Breteuil and Rainald of Breis.

Ottoman Empire

During the centuries of Ottoman control, Bela Palanka was the site of a major caravanserai (or ''han'') along the Tsarigrad Road. Ottoman authorities ordered the first such caravanserai be built in the settlement (then named ''Izvor'') from wood in 1598-99, during the

Long Turkish War The Long Turkish War or Thirteen Years' War was an indecisive land war between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire, primarily over the Principalities of Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia. It was waged from 1593 to 1606 but in Europ ...

, largely due to persistent attacks on travelers by hajduks. This structure deteriorated after a few decades and was replaced by a larger and more durable caravanserai made of stone, commissioned by the local governor, Musa Pasha. This han differed from others in the region because of its large size and because it had separate large rooms for harems of dignitaries. The interior of the han was painted by an artist brought from Buda. To honor its patron, the name of the settlement was then changed to Musa-paša Palanka, from which the town's current name was derived.

Modern Serbia

From 1929 to 1941, Bela Palanka was part of the

Morava Banovina The Morava Banovina or Morava Banate ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Моравска бановина, Moravska banovina), was a province ( banovina) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. This province consisted of parts of prese ...

of the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

Geography

Bela Palanka is a small town in the southeast of the country and is surrounded by countryside and mountains. The town is accessible from the nearby city of Niš by the Niš Express buses that run from

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...

to Pirot, Babušnica, Dimitrovgrad, and

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

Climate

Bela Palanka has an oceanic climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

: ''Cfb''), that's very close to a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(

: ''Dfb'').

Settlements

Aside from the town of Bela Palanka, the municipality consists of the following villages:

Demographics

According to the 2011 census results, the municipality has 12,126 inhabitants.

Ethnic groups

The ethnic composition of the municipality:

Economy

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

Gallery

File:Bela Palanka nocu.jpg, ''Bela Palanka by night'' File:BelaPalankaFontana.JPG, ''Fountain'' File:BelaPalankaVrelo.JPG, ''Spring'' File:Donja Koritnica.jpg, ''

Donja Koritnica Donja Koritnica ( sr-cyrl, Доња Коритница) is a village in the Municipalities of Serbia, municipality of Bela Palanka, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 216 people.Popis stanovništva, domaćinstava ...

'' File:BelaPalankaIskopine.jpg, ''Basilica Apse under excavation in Remesiana'' File:Bela Palanka Sept Sev.jpg, ''3rd century

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary suc ...

monument in Bela Palanka.'' File:Rajko_Mitic_monument.jpg, ''

Rajko Mitić Rajko Mitić ( sr-Cyrl, Рајко Митић, ; 19 November 1922 – 29 March 2008) was a Serbian footballer, coach, executive and journalist. Mitić is considered one of the most important players in the history of Red Star Belgrade as he is th ...

Monument''

References

External links

* {{Authority control Populated places in Pirot District Municipalities and cities of Southern and Eastern Serbia Roman towns and cities in Serbia Moesia