Sombor

Sombor (Serbian Cyrillic: Сомбор) is a city and municipality located in northwest part of Serbian autonomous province of Vojvodina. The city has a total population of 51,471 (as of 2002), while the Sombor municipality has 97.263 inhabitants. It is the administrative center of the West Bačka District of Serbia.

The first historical record about the city is from 1340. The city was administered by the Kingdom of Hungary until the 16th century, when it became part of the Ottoman Empire. During the establishment of Ottoman authority, local Hungarian population left from this region. During the Ottoman administration, the city was populated mostly by ethnic Serbs. It was called "Sonbor" during Ottoman administration and was a kaza centre in Sanjak of Segedin at first in Budin Province till 1596, and then in Eğri Province between 1596 and 1687.

In 1665, a well-known traveller, Evlia Celebi, visited Sombor and wrote: "All the folk (in the city) are not Hungarian, but Wallachian-Christian (Serb). These places are something special; they do not belong to Hungary, but are a part of Bačka and Wallachia. Most of the inhabitants are traders, and all of them wear frontiersmen clothes; they are very polite and brave people." According to Celebi, the city had 200 shops, 14 mosques and about 2,000 houses.

Since 1687, the city was under Habsburg administration, and was included into the Habsburg Military Frontier. In 1717, the first Orthodox elementary school was opened. Five years later a Roman Catholic elementary school was opened as well. In 1745 Sombor was excluded from the Military Frontier and was included into Bacsensis County. In 1749 Sombor gained "free royal city" status. In 1786, the city became the seat of Bacsensis-Bodrogiensis County. According to 1786 data, the population of the city numbered 11.420 people, mostly Serbs.

According to the 1843 data, Sombor had 21,086 inhabitants, of whom 11,897 were Orthodox Christians, 9,082 Roman Catholics, 56 Jewish, and 51 Protestants. The main language spoken in the city at this time was Serbian, and the second largest language was German. In 1848/1849, Sombor was part of the Serbian Voivodship, a Serb autonomous region within Austrian Empire, while between 1849 and 1860, it was part of the Voivodship of Serbia and Tamiš Banat, a separate Austrian crown land. Sombor was a seat of the district within voivodship. After the abolishment of this crown land, Sombor again became the seat of the Bacsensis-Bodrogiensis (Bács-Bodrog, Bačka-Bodrog) County.

According to the 1910 census, the population of Sombor was 30,593 people, of whom 11,881 spoke the Serbian language, 10,078 spoke the Hungarian language, 6,289 spoke the Bunjevac language, 2,181 spoke the German language, etc.

Since 1918, Sombor was part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed to Yugoslavia). Between 1918 and 1922 it was part of Bačka County, between 1922 and 1929 part of Bačka oblast, and between 1929 and 1941 part of Danube Banovina.

In 1941, city was occupied by the Axis Powers and annexed by Hungary. Many prominent citizen from Serbian community were interned and later executed. In 1944, Yugoslav partisans and Soviet Red Army expelled Axis forces from the city. Since 1944, Sombor is part of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina of the new Socialist Yugoslavia and of the socialist Serbia (since 1945). Today, Sombor is the seat of the West Bačka District.

Obligatory in this city you should visit the building of the Municipality of Sombor, built at the beginning of the 18^th century. In its ceremonial hall, one wall of this facility is covered by painting called Bitka kod Sente (Senta battle) in impressive size- 7x4metres. This grandiose canvas was painted by Ferenc Eisenhut. It is made in memory of the victory of the Christian army headed by Eugen Franz von Savoyen, over Sultan Mustafa Second forces. The battle took place on 11^th September 1697 with the Serbs from Vojvodina who participated in it as well. Within tourist offer, Sombor citizens keep the old fiacre (horse- driven coaches) and use them in city sightseeing tours. The buildings worth to be seen are: The City Tower (former castle of the Count Branković, from the 18^th century), The Turkish Tower (former Turkish soldiers garrison, and nowadays- the regional historical archives), The Saint Trinity Church from1743 and the Galery of the famous painter Milan Konjović. Two kilometers from the city there is Saint Stephan Monastery that can be reached by bicycle, the common mean of transportation in this city.

Sombor cheese is well known local specialty and the secret of its preparation was well preserved in the past. Mothers from the families producing this cheese were not allowed to familiarize their daughters with preparation recipe, since they would after getting married reveal this secret to the other family. That is why daughters in law were of that privilege, to learn the secret of making cheese, which was very much demanded product in Vienna and Budapest. Traditional music is played by tamburitza orchestras. There is a funny song, about Sombor city, starts with the verse: “In that Sombor city, there’s everything you desire. There’s everything, that’s true, even women enjoy drinking wine in that Sombor city”

Source: www.sombor.rs