Sisak


Sisak is a city and episcopal see in central Croatia, located at the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavina begins, with an elevation of 99 m. The city's total population in 2011 was 47,768 of which 33,322 live in the urban settlement.
Sisak is the administrative centre of the Sisak-Moslavina County, Croatia's biggest river port and a centre of river shipping industry. It lies on the D36 state road and the Zagreb-Sisak-Novska railway. Sisak is a regional economic, cultural and historical center. The largest oil refinery in Croatia is located here.

Name

Prior to belonging to the Roman Empire, which gave it the Latin name Siscia, the region was Celtic and Illyrian and the city there was named Segestica or Segesta. Writers in Greek referred to the city as Siskía, Σεγέστα Segésta, and Σεγεστική Segestikḗ.
In German the town is known as Sissek, in Hungarian as Sziszek, Latin as Siscia and in Kajkavian and Slovene as Sisek.

History

Roman empire

Siscia is described by Roman writers as a great town in the south of Upper Pannonia, on the southern bank of the Savus, on an island formed by that river and two others, the Colapis and Odra, a canal dug by Tiberius completing the island. It was situated on the great road from Aemona to Sirmium. According to Pliny the name Segestica belonged only to the island, and the town was called Siscia; while Strabo says that Siscia was a fort in the neighbourhood of Segestica; but if this was so, it must be supposed that subsequently the fort and town became united as one place. Siscia was from the first a strongly fortified town; and after its capture by Tiberius, in the reign of Augustus, it became one of the most important places of Pannonia; for being situated on two navigable rivers, it not only carried on considerable commerce, but became the central point from which Augustus and Tiberius carried on their undertakings against the Pannonians and Illyrians. Tiberius did much to enlarge and embellish the town, which as early as that time seems to have been made a colonia, for Pliny mentions it as such: in the time of Septimius Severus it received fresh colonists, whence in inscriptions it is called Col. Septimia Siscia. The town contained an imperial mint, which produced coins under a series of emperors between 262 and 383 AD.
The Christian martyr Quirinus of Sescia, presumed the first bishop of the Diocese of Sescia, was tortured and nearly killed during Diocletian's persecution of Christians. Legend has it that they tied him to a millstone and threw him into a river, but he freed himself from the weight, escaped and continued to preach his faith. Today he is the patron saint of Sisak. When Diocletian split Pannonia into four provinces, Siscia became the capital of Pannonia Savia, the southwestern one, for which Siscia contained the treasury; at the same time it was the station of the small fleet kept on the Savus. Siscia maintained its importance until Sirmium began to rise, for in proportion as Sirmium rose, Siscia sank and declined.

Middle Ages

of Lower Pannonia reigned from Sisak until he was killed in the Hungarian invasion ca. 898. According to Historia Salonitana, Duke Tomislav reclaimed it soon after.

Early modern

The 16th-century triangular fortress of the Old Town, well-preserved and turned into the Native Museum, is the main destination of every tourist. The fortress is famous for the victory of the joint forces of Croats, Austrians and Carniolans over the Ottomans in 1593, known as the Battle of Sisak. It was one of the early significant defeats of the up-to-then invincible Ottoman army on European territory. The Croatian Ban Thomas Erdődy who led the defense in this battle became famous throughout Europe. The Baroque palace of Mali Kaptol, the classicist Veliki Kaptol, the brick Stari most over the Kupa, and the ethnological park are the most frequently visited landmarks. However, this victory didn't prevent Sisak from brief Ottoman rule between 30 August 1593 and 10 August 1594.

Modern

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Sisak was a district capital in the Zagreb County of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia.

Contemporary

From 1929–39, Sisak was part of the Sava Banovina and from 1939-41 of the Banovina of Croatia within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
During World War II, Sisak children's concentration camp was set up by the Croatian Axis Ustaše government for Serbian, Jewish and Romani children. It is estimated that 1,152–2,000 children were killed in the camp.
With the outbreak of the Croatian War in 1991, Sisak remained in Government hands while the territory to the south was controlled by rebelled Serbs. During the war, the Serb forces often shelled the city, causing dozens of civilian casualties and extensive damage to the city's industry. The war ended with the Operation Storm.

Population

In the 2011 census, of the total population of 47,768 there were 40,590 Croats, 3,071 Serbs, 1,646 Bosniaks, 648 Romani, 179 Albanians, 29 Montenegrins, and the rest were other ethnicities.
In the 2011 census, the population by religion was 37,319 Roman Catholics, 3,279 Orthodox Christians, 2,442 Muslims and others.

Municipal makeup

The city's administrative area is composed of the following settlements:
Chief occupations are farming, ferrous metallurgy, chemicals, leather, textiles and food processing plants, building material, crude oil refinery and thermal power.
Sisak features the largest metallurgic factory and the largest oil refinery in Croatia. Sisak has many rich mineral springs with healing properties in the temperature range from.
The city hosts University of Zagreb's Faculty of Metallurgy.
Sports and recreation facilities in the town and the surroundings include mainly the waters and alluvial plains a public beach on the Kupa. All rivers with their backwaters offer fishing opportunities. There are hunting grounds in the regions of Turopolje and Posavina. Sisak is the starting point for sightseeing tours into Lonjsko Polje nature park. The local football club is HNK Segesta. Sisak features the oldest ice hockey club in Croatia, KHL Sisak est. 1934.

Geography

Climate

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Sisak is twinned with:

  • Szombathely, Hungary '
  • Leszno, Poland '
  • Jihlava, Czech Republic