Banja, Skenderaj

Banja (Serbian Cyrillic: Бања, Albanian: Bajë or Baja) or Banja Rudnička (Бања Рудничка) is a settlement in the Skenderaj municipality in Kosovo. The rural settlement lies on a cadastral area with the same name, of 1033 hectares. The village has a Serbian majority; in the 1991 census, it had 274 inhabitants.

For other places with the same name, see Banja.
Bajë
Village
Bajë is located in Kosovo
Bajë
Bajë
Location in Kosovo
Coordinates: 42°48′51″N 20°40′21″E
Location Kosovo
DistrictMitrovicë
MunicipalitySkënderaj
Elevation
761 m (2,497 ft)
Population
 (2011)[1]
 • Total340
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Area code+381 290
Car plates02

Geography

Banja is located circa 2 km from Rudnik, on the Peć–Kosovska Mitrovica road.[2]

History

Banje or Banja Rudnička is an Old Serbian settlement.[2] It is mentioned for the first time in a charter of Serbian King Stefan Uroš I (r. 1243–1276), dating to the mid-13th century, granted (metochion) to the Gračanica monastery.[2] It was then granted by King Stefan Milutin (r. 1282–1321) to the Banjska Monastery.[2] The village church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, as founded by nobleman Rodop who served Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković (r. 1427–1456), and was buried here in 1436.[3] Two bells found in its ruins are preserved in the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć and National Museum in Belgrade.[3] Between 1936–41 the church was renovated, but destroyed during World War II[3] by Albanian fascists.[4][5][6] The village was among those in North Kosovo that was burned down by Albanian paramilitaries and the Serb population expelled.[7] In 1971 the church was reconstructed.[3] The church was used as a model for an Orthodox church in Norway.[8]

On the night of 21 May 1998 a large number of Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army members of Drenica attacked the villages of Banja and Suvo Grlo (which are inhabited by Serbs) and a military station in Rudnik, above Skenderaj. Serbs and Serbian police answered the fire, no deaths or injuries were reported by them.[9]

Demographic history
Ethnic group 1948 1953 1961 1971 1981[10] 1991
Serbs 338
Albanians 32
Total[11] 552 595 636 513 371 274

References
  1. 2011 Kosovo Census results
  2. Kalezić 2002, p. 131.
  3. Spomenici.
  4. "Kosovo i Metohija, sećanje (IV) – Zoran Bogavac: Nečujna zvona; Dobrica Erić: Svi moji preci". NSPM.
  5. "HRIŠĆANSKO NASLEĐE KOSMETA (1)". Glas Srspke.
  6. "Православне светиње на Косову и Метохији". Kosmet.
  7. Antonijević, Nenad (2009). Албански злочини над Србима на Косову и Метохији у Другом светском рату, документа (PDF). Muzej žrtava genocida. p. 40. ISBN 9788690632992.
  8. "Hellige Trifon skita". Ortodoks.
  9. "Dnevnik od 19. do 24. maja". Ilustrovana Politika (2054). 30 May 1998. Archived from the original on 3 January 2009.
  10. 1981 Census, Kosovo Archived 2012-03-17 at the Wayback Machine (Preliminary)
  11. "Kosovo censuses 1948-1991". Archived from the original on 2020-01-13. Retrieved 2012-02-17.

Sources
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