Glogonjski Rit ( Serbian Cyrillic: Глогоњски рит) is a

suburban settlement A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separa ...

of Belgrade, the capital of

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

. It is located in the Belgrade's municipality of Palilula.

Location

Glogonjski Rit is located in the northern,

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of ...

section of the municipality, 18 kilometers north of downtown Belgrade and 3 kilometers east of the ''Zrenjaninski put'' road which connects Belgrade with the town of

Zrenjanin Zrenjanin ( sr-Cyrl, Зрењанин, ; hu, Nagybecskerek; ro, Becicherecu Mare; sk, Zreňanin; german: Großbetschkerek) is a city and the administrative center of the Central Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia ...

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

. The settlement is built in the central part of the marsh of

Pančevački Rit Pančevački Rit ( sr-cyr, Панчевачки рит) is a small geographical area in south-western Banat, Serbia. It is situated between the rivers Danube and Tamiš, in Belgrade's municipality of Palilula. Features Its wetland was const ...

, on the ''Sibnica'' canal.

Name

The locality was formerly known as Lepušnica. The settlement was named after the nearby village of

Glogonj Glogonj ( sr-Cyrl, Глогоњ, ) is a village in Serbia, situated in the South Banat District of the province of Vojvodina. It is located on the banks of the Tamiš River, about 20 kilometers northwest of Pančevo, and about 20 kilometers dir ...

Pančevo Pančevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Панчево, ; german: Pantschowa; hu, Pancsova; ro, Panciova; sk, Pánčevo) is a city and the administrative center of the South Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is located on ...

municipality in Vojvodina and means ''Glogonj marsh''. It is a local center of the sport fishing.

History

As almost all of the settlements in the Pančevački Rit, it was developed after 1947 for housing workers employed in the melioration and later those who became workers of the PKB agricultural company, so even today Glogonjski Rit is surrounded by the PKB plantations. Originally, it grew fast and was nicely arranged and kept. Streets were paved with avenues of

plane trees ''Platanus'' is a genus consisting of a small number of tree species native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae. All mature members of ''Platanus'' are tall, reaching in height. All except ...

, the settlement had a park, an ambulance and a school. It looked so nice that Yugoslav president

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

took foreign guests to visit Glogonjski Rit, including presidents of Algeria, China and Egypt. It was one of 9 settlements developed for PKB. But, as the PKB's fortune changed to worse, so did the state of the settlement which is today neglected and deteriorated. The settlers were completely dependent on the PKB, but now they were being left without work. In 2010s depopulation accelerated as inhabitants were moving closer to Belgrade, along the

Ovča Ovča ( sr-Cyrl, Овча, ; ro, Ofcea or ) is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located to the northeast of the city, in the municipality of Palilula. Name In Serbian the settlement is known as ''Ovča'' (О ...

road or to

Borča Borča ( sr-cyr, Борча, ) is an urban settlement of the municipality of Palilula, Belgrade, Serbia. , it has a population of 46,086 inhabitants. Location Borča is located just north of the downtown Belgrade, in the Banat section of the mu ...

. With the PKB's collapse and subsequent dubious selling to

Al Dahra Agricultural Company Al Dahra Agricultural Company ( ar, شركة الظاهرة الزراعية) is an agribusiness firm specializing in the cultivation, production, and trading of animal feed and human food commodities such as rice, flour, fruits and vegetables. ...

, the PKB machines stopped clearing the access road during winter, while public transportation connecting Glogonjski Rit to Belgrade thinned significantly. During NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, NATO aircraft targeted the fuel tank of the petrol station near Glogonjski Rit.

Characteristics

Until the 1970s Glogonjski Rit was statistically a separate settlement. Since then, it was administratively attached to

Padinska Skela Padinska Skela ( sr-Cyrl, Падинска Скела), or colloquially Padinjak (), is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in the Belgrade's municipality of Palilula. Location Padinska Skela is located in th ...

, 5 kilometers to the west, even though the two settlements make no continuous built-up area. If

Dunavski Venac Dunavski Venac ( sr-cyr, Дунавски венац) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Palilula, geographically located in Banat. Location & neighborhood Dunavski Venac ...

would detach from Palilula and become a separate municipality (process began in 2006) it is said that Glogonjski Rit would also be detached from Padinska Skela into a separate settlement again. On the location planned for the swimming pool, a church was built. It is a small edifice, made of red brick and is dedicated to the

Feast of the Cross In the Christian liturgical calendar, there are several different Feasts of the Cross, all of which commemorate the cross used in the crucifixion of Jesus. Unlike Good Friday, which is dedicated to the passion of Christ and the crucifixion, t ...

. The settlement has its own football club "Lepušnica", which preserved the original name of the locality.

Demography

While it was a separate settlement, according to the official censuses, Glogonjski Rit had a population of 1,259 in 1961 and 1,293 in 1971.

References

Suburbs of Belgrade Populated places in Serbian Banat Palilula, Belgrade {{BelgradeRS-geo-stub