Zaječar, Southern and Eastern, Serbia

🇷🇸 Zaječar (Зајечар) is a city and the administrative centre of the Zaječar District in eastern Serbia. Zaječar is widely known for its rock music festival Gitarijada and for the festival dedicated to contemporary art ZALET.

History The Late Roman fortified palace compound and memorial complex of Gamzigrad-Romuliana at the outskirts of Zaječar was commissioned by Emperor Caius Valerius Galerius Maximianus, in the late 3rd and early 4th century. It was known as Felix Romuliana, named after the Emperor's mother Romula. The site consists of fortifications, the palace in the north-western part of the complex, basilicas, temples, hot baths, memorial complex, and a tetrapylon. The site offers a unique testimony of the Roman building tradition marked by the ideology of the period of the Second Tetrarchy. The group of buildings is also unique in its intertwining of ceremonial and memorial functions. The relation between two spatial ensembles in this site is stressed by the tetrapylon which is placed on the crossroads between the worldly fortification and palace on the one side and the other-worldly mausoleums and consecration monuments on the other.

History: Middle Ages Slavs entered the region during the 7th century, and the tribe living in the area was called Timočani. During the Middle Ages, the area of Zaječar was contested between Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia. During periods in the 9th-11th centuries and the 13th century the territory of modern-day Zaječar was a part of the Bulgarian Empire. It finally fell under Ottoman rule during the first half of the 15th century. The oldest preserved rendering of Zaječar listed in an Ottoman defter dates from 1466. At the time, there were only eight extended families (zadrugas) living there.

History: Modern In the First Serb Uprising, Hajduk Veljko Petrović liberated the area from Ottoman rule in 1806. The Ottomans retook the area in 1813 but finally ceded it to Serbia in 1833.

The population of the city and of the area to the south of it was partly Bulgarian, as the Serbian ethnographer Milan Đ. Milićević recognized. The city actively participated in the Serbo-Turkish War of 1876-1878. In 1883, it was partially engulfed in the famous Timok Uprising, a reaction against a governmental order to confiscate peasants' firearms and against a law replacing the militia with a standing army.

Bulgaria occupied Zaječar from 1915 to 1918, during the First World War. From 1929 to 1941, the city was part of the Morava Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The German army occupied Zaječar on 14 April 1941, during the Second World War; it was administered as part of the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia from 22 April 1941. Zaječar was liberated on 7–8 October 1944 in a joint operation by Yugoslav Partisans and the Red Army.

Settlements Aside from the urban area of Zaječar, the city administrative area includes the following settlements: • Borovac • Brusnik • Velika Jasikova • Veliki Izvor • Veliki Jasenovac • Vražogrnac • Vrbica • Gamzigrad • Glogovica • Gornja Bela Reka • Gradskovo • Grlište • Grljan • Dubočane • Zagrađe • Zvezdan • Jelašnica • Klenovac • Koprivnica • Lasovo • Lenovac • Leskovac • Lubnica • Mala Jasikova • Mali Izvor • Mali Jasenovac • Marinovac • Metriš • Nikoličevo • Planinica • Prlita • Rgotina • Salaš • Selačka • Tabakovac • Trnavac • Halovo • Čokonjar • Šipikovo • Šljivar.

Sport Zaječar hosted 2006 Serbian triathlon championship. The city has two sport-recreation centres, "Popova plaža" and "SRC Kraljevica" home of ŽRK Zaječar, while a third, "Kotlujevac", is under reconstruction.

Theatre Zaječar is home to the "Zoran Radmilović" theatre built 2 February 1947 under the name of the "Oblasno narodno pozorište". The first play ever performed in the new theatre was "Žita cvetaju". The theatre was renamed during its 45th (1992) anniversary as "Zoran Radmilović" to celebrate a famous and beloved actor who was born there. Every year, this theatre is home to the "Dani Zorana Radmilovića" art festival.

ZA*73T The Festival of Contemporary Art ZALET (stylised as ZA*73T) organizes manifestations, such as exhibitions, concerts, literary evenings and experimental theater.

Gitarijada Gitarijada (Гитаријада, Guitar fest) is a musical festival held during the summer in order to promote demo bands. Held since 1969, Gitarijada is one of the longest-lasting festivals in Serbia and in South Eastern Europe. The festival started its life in Zaječar during 1970. Some of notable bands from Serbia such as Bjesovi & Galija were winners in the Gitarijada competition during the '80s and '90s. The programme of the Gitarijada festival has several parts. Demo battles as a main item, with performances of artists and art exhibitions involving themes like rock, blues, metal and similar ones.

Education: University The city is the seat of the Megatrend University Faculty of Management; Business School of Management.