Ripanj

Ripanj (Serbian Cyrillic: Рипањ) is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Voždovac. It has a distinction of being "the largest village of Serbia" taking in account its number of population, but also because it has the largest area of all rural settlements in the country. Sr icon Cite web |url= http://www.rex.b92.net/flux01/ripanj%20uvod.html |title= Izveštaj iz Ripnja "Report from Ripanj" |date= |author=Bratislav Stojić |accessdate=2008-07-28 |work= [http://www.rex.b92.net B92 Kulturna laboratorija] ]

Location

Ripanj is located some 25 kilometers south of Belgrade, on the southern slopes of the Avala mountain, in the valley of the Topčiderka river. It is the southernmost settlement in the municipality, on the northern side of the Lipovica woods, near the tripoint of the municipalities of Voždovac, Barajevo and Sopot.

Population

Ripanj is statistically clasiffied as a rural settlement (village). Population has been stagnating for the last several decades, according to the official censuses of population: [cite book |author= |date=2004 |title=Uporedni pregled broja stanovnika 1948, 1953, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991 i 2002 - podaci po naseljima |publisher=Republički zavod za statistiku |location=Belgrade|isbn=86-84433-14-9|language=Serbian]

* 1863 - 1,839
* 1921 - 5,012
* 1948 - 7,475
* 1953 - 8,255
* 1961 - 10,533
* 1971 - 10,673
* 1981 - 10,463
* 1991 - 10,571 (de jure)
* 1991 - 10,320 (de facto)
* 2002 - 11,020 (de jure)
* 2002 - 10,741 (de facto)

History

It is believed that settlement got its name from the large rock in the vicinity, called Ripa. Slopes of the Avala were already inhabioted in Neolithic. The location is an old mining area as it is known that already Romans were extracting mercury and silver and the tradition was later continued by the medieval Saxon miners. One of the major Serbian industrialists in the early XX century, Đorđe Vajfert, also owned several mining fields. The mercury extraction from the Avala mountain ended in the second half of the XX century.

The village got its first school in 1824, the same year when the first church was built. The small, wooden church ("crkva-brvanara") was later replaced with the large Church of the Holy Trinity in 1892.

Characteristics

Ripanj is still largely agricultural settlement. The electrotechnics factory "Elektrosrbija" is located in Ripanj, so as the three "Minel" factory departments.

Ripanj is located in the northern, low Šumadija and the neighboring plateau is named after the settlement (Ripanj plateau), south of the Pinosava plateau. A railway Belgrade-Niš (both parallel lines) passes next to the settlement and the tunnel south of Ripanj is named the "Ripanj tunnel".

Boroughs

As a large and elongated settlement, stretched along the road and railway (there are five railway stations within the Ripanj area), it developed outer boroughs or comprised the formerly separate settlements. Some of the largest are:

* Bela Zemlja ("white land"), east of downtown Ripanj;
* Brđani ("hilly (village)"), south-west;
* Čaršija ("market street", from Turkish "çarşı"), on the foothills of the Avala, it is a location of an archeological site [Sr icon Cite web |url= http://www.vozdovac.org.yu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=80&Itemid=142&lang=srl |title= Kulturna dobra na opštini Voždovac "Cultural properties of Voždovac municipality" |date= |author= |accessdate=2008-07-28 |work= [http://www.vozdovac.org.yu Municipality of Voždovac] ] The most important artefact from this Neolithic find is the "Ripanj statuette", a female deity, dated to 4th or 3rd millennium B.C., represented as sitting on a throne. Figurine is made of terra cotta, 16 centimeters high and missing head, arms and feet. [Sr icon Cite web |url= http://www.ljubisabojic.com/index_files/downloads/istorijaumetnosti.pdf |title= Istorija umetnosti "History of arts" |date= |author=Prof.dr. Branko Vujović |accessdate=2008-07-28 |work= [http://www.ljubisabojic.com Ljubisa Bojic Portal] ]
* Kablar, informal settlement, mostly inhabited by the Roma people. In June 2008 old shacks were replaced with the new mobile homes and water and sewage systems were introduced; [Citation | last = | first = | author-link = J.L. | title = Uređeno romsko naselje u Ripnju | newspaper = Politika | pages = 24 | language = Serbian | year = 2008 | date = 2008-06-14 | url = ]
* Kolonija ("colony");
* Prnjavor ("ragged place"), east of Bela Zemlja;
* Stepašinovac;
* Stražarija ("guard tower");
* Trešnja ("sweet cherry"), an easternmost settlement of Ripanj, a popular picnic area located north of the Ralja river, on the northern slopes of the 310 meter-high Koviona hill, along the Belgrade-Kragujevac road. It is 32 kilometers south-east of Belgrade and closer to Vrčin in the municipality of Grocka than to Ripanj and the village of Mala Ivanča is just south of it. It is located in the afforested valley, rich in big game. The surrounding area comprises a small artificial pond, two cold water springs, a restaurant, weekend-settlement and a car camping park.

References

* Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): "Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije"; Svjetlost-Sarajevo; ISBN 86-01-02651-6
* "Turističko područje Beograda", "Geokarta", 2007, ISBN 86-459-0099-8

Footnotes