About Subotica

Introduction

The Subotica region occupies a heartland position in the great plain and is surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains, Alps and the mountains of the Balkan Peninsula. In fact, the city lies slightly to the north from the Bela Crkva-Stara Pazova-Sremska Mitrovica line designating 45o of the North Temperate Zone Subotica is situated on the intersection of various geo-morphologic units. Telečka, a loess plateau on the south spans into the Subotica-Horgos sandy terrain northwards. The city is located centrally between the rivers Danube on the north and the Tisza on the east and represents the most distinctive urban settlement between the two rivers.The region's climate is typical for the great plain, with very hot summers and severe winters and small annual quantity of sediments. Northerly cold and westerly wet winds are the most frequent of the various winds that blow in the region, thus the vegetation is typical of a steppe, but it was replaced, in the course of times, with cultivated crops.
The tourist and transit location of Subotica has been, so to say, improved by the establishment of Serbia and Montenegro. Namely, the territory of Subotica lies in the vicinity of the international transit motorway, E-75 and two international, highly frequent border crossings. Presently, Horgos and Kelebia are the border crosses having the highest interaction of passengers and goods both in road and railway transport thus, generally, attributing Subotica as an advantageous location. There are traffic-related factors in the background of this beneficial position, especially in view of the fact that the city is located on the presently most important spatial and strategic direction: Corridor X .

Archaeology

The earliest archaeological findings in the broader Subotica area were excavated along the Lake Ludas front and originate from the period of the last Ice Age. Yet, there are also sites from the period of Neolith, Copper and Bronze Ages. Some of the findings evidence the presence of Scythians, Dracians, Goths, Huns and Avars in the area. In times when Hungarian tribes were settling the territory of the Carpathian Basin they encountered Slav tribes in this region.

 

History

Subotica lies where sand and fertile land meet. It lies between two big rivers: the Danube and the Tisa and on the administrative border of two countries. All that has influenced the history of the city a lot.
Subotica became a settlement of greater significance after the Tatar conquests at the beginning of the 13th century. Then, those who had survived, from the nearby villages, were brought together at the strategically chosen place. The elevation surrounded by water (on which the Franciscan church stands today) was the ideal place for the people of the plain to defend themselves against the conquerors.
For a long time, at the border of the two clashed powers (Hungarian and Turkish) - the settlement did not grow. Subotica began to develop as a town only after it had lost its military significance.
In 1779 Subotica got the status of the Free Royal city that brought bigger autonomy and privileges to the town and also attracted entrepreneurs: peasants, craftsmen and traders from the Middle Europe.

In the second half of the 19th century, after the railways came to the town (1869), the trade of agricultural and cattle products abruptly developed and the industrialization came into the town at the end of the 19th century. Subotica had High school in 1747, the theatre in 1850 and the School of music in 1868. At the turn of the centuries the streets of Subotica were lit by electric power (1896) and in 1897 the tram went through the town.

The oldest football club in the country was founded in Subotica in 1902 and the first Olympic medal was won by Đuro Stantić a citizen of Subotica in Athens in 1906. In 1910 Alexandar Lifka opened the first modern cinema and Ivan Sarić constructed and piloted the airplane from the town hippodrome.

Town hall

Subotica became a modern Middle European city. Roads, public buildings, sacral buildings, private palaces and palaces for rent were built then. Hungarian version of secession was dominant in the architecture of that period. Three most representative buildings of the style are: the synagogue (1903), the Raichle Palace (1904) and the Town Hall (1912).

Synagogue

After the WW I provinces Bačka, Baranja and Banat were united with the Kingdom of Serbs, Crats and Slovenians and in 1929 they affiliated to the new state, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, what was the beginning of a new period in the history of the town.

Raichle Palace

Subotica was, for the first time, mentioned in written documents in 1391 as Zabatka. Since than it has changed more than 200 names. The most characteristic names were: Szent-Maria, Maria Theresiopolis, Maria Theresienstadt, Szabadka and Subotica.

Theatre