Kruševac

Kruševac takes its name from krušac, a word for the river stone used in its buildings. Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović made it the seat of his realm in the 1370s; the city traditionally dates its founding to 1371, and the fortress is first mentioned in 1381. Lazar built his court church, Lazarica, in 1375–78, and in a charter of 1387 called Kruševac "the famous city of my dominion". The Serbian army assembled here before the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, and legend says crows brought news of the defeat to Princess Milica, who held the town after Lazar's death. Their son Stefan Lazarević ruled from Kruševac until he moved his capital to Belgrade in 1405.

The town was fought over through the first half of the 15th century and fell to the Ottomans in 1454. They called it Aladža Hisar, the "colourful fortress", probably for the mixed materials of its walls, and made it the seat of a sanjak. Lazarica was abandoned and used as a stable; during the Austrian occupation of 1736–39 it was partly repaired and painted with new frescoes. After Serbia's revival in the 19th century the church was restored, and in 1904 King Petar I unveiled the Monument to the Heroes of Kosovo in the main square.

During the Second World War about 1,650 people were shot by the German occupiers on Bagdala hill. In socialist Yugoslavia Kruševac became one of the country's strongest industrial centres; the machine works 14. oktobar alone employed about 7,000 people. The transition after 2000 was harsh: between 2002 and 2014, 27 factories closed and about 11,000 workers lost their jobs.

Kruševac is closely tied to the story of Kosovo. Vidovdan, 28 June, the feast of Prince Lazar and the warriors who fell in 1389, is Kruševac's most important day, marked each year with a memorial service in Lazarica for the fallen of Kosovo and of later wars of liberation. The Monument to the Heroes of Kosovo shows the wounded standard-bearer Boško Jugović, still holding the flag, with a vila, a fairy of Serbian legend, with a figure of the blind epic poet Filip Višnjić on one side; in 2000 protesters knocked the bow from his hands, and a new one was later cast.

Until 2002 the Slobodište memorial park hosted the "Festivities of Freedom", created by the writer Dobrica Ćosić, who is among the city's best-known residents. The city has had its own theatre since 1946, a national museum since 1951 and an art gallery since 1962. The composer Stanislav Binički, author of the March on the Drina, and the comedian Miodrag Petrović Čkalja are among the figures associated with Kruševac.

Football supporters follow FK Napredak, now in the second tier of Serbian football, whose nickname, Čarapani, "the sock-men", is traced to rebels of the First Serbian Uprising who crept up on the Ottomans in their socks.

The 2022 census counted about 114,000 people in the city's administrative area, which covers the urban area and 100 surrounding settlements in the valleys of the Rasina and West Morava. Kruševac is the administrative centre of the Rasina District, and the city lies at about 137 metres above sea level in the broad valley floor. In Yugoslav times the city grew quickly, and a large number of factories were built around it.

The collapse of much of the Yugoslav-era industry left deep marks: in 2015 unemployment stood at almost 39 per cent. The largest employers today include Trayal Corporation, the machine works 14. oktobar, the drinks company Rubin and a tyre factory owned by Cooper Tire, and the city has one of Serbia's free economic zones to attract new investment.

The main square, the Square of the Heroes of Kosovo, was first renovated for the city's 600th anniversary in 1971 and given its present look in 2021, for the 650th.

Kruševac eats in the central Serbian way. Grilled meat is the everyday favourite: pljeskavica, a spiced patty of minced pork, beef and lamb and one of Serbia's national dishes, comes on a plate or in a lepinja flatbread with onions, kajmak and sometimes ajvar or urnebes; ćevapi, small fingers of grilled minced meat, are served in fives or tens with chopped onion. At home, sarma — minced meat and rice rolled in cabbage leaves — and gibanica, an egg and cheese pie of filo pastry, are national dishes, and proja, a cornbread, is eaten with kajmak and sour cream.

The city is also a drinks town. Rubin, a Serbian drinks company, has its headquarters here, with a factory making alcoholic and soft drinks. Kruševac gives its name to a wine subregion, and Aleksandrovac, to the south-west, is the centre of the Župa wine country. Prokupac, a traditional Serbian red grape, is planted mostly in the Morava wine regions and their neighbours.

Rakija, the fruit brandy of the Balkans, most popularly of plums in Serbia, is widely drunk; home-made versions can be far stronger than the usual 40 per cent.