Bistrica (), also known as Novo Naselje (), is an urban neighborhood of the city of Novi Sad, Serbia. Bistrica (including Satelit) is one of the most populated urban areas of the city.
Names The old name of the settlement was Novo Naselje, but it was officially changed to Bistrica in 1992. However, most of the inhabitants of the settlement still prefer to use the old name. In Hungarian the place is known as Újtelep.
Satelit neighborhood would get its name due to the launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957, starting the space era craze, as well the neighborhood being located far from the majority of the city (as a satellite to the city).
Tozinovac neighborhood would get its name after the mayor of Novi Sad at the time, Todor Jovanović Toza.
Šonsi neighborhood would get its name after the 29th Chess Olympiad held in Novi Sad (ŠONSI-Šahovska Olimpijada Novi Sad), due to chess competitors moving in that neighborhood a year prior to the competition.
Location Borders
The northern border of Bistrica is Vojvode Stepe Boulevard, the western border is Somborska rampa street, the southern border is Futoški road, and the eastern border is Subotički Boulevard or Europe Boulevard.
The neighbouring settlements are: Jugovićevo in the north, Veternička Rampa in the west, Telep in the south, and Sajmište and Detelinara in the east.
Parts of the neighborhood Some of the parts of Bistrica are: Savina, Tozin Sokak (Šonsi), Šarengrad (Jamajka), Satelit (a separate settlement in the past), Mali Satelit (Little Satelit, a part of Satelit), Tozinovac (a part of Satelit), Rasadnik (Radna Zona Zapad), Zapadna Privredna Zona.
History Name origin According to old maps from the 16th and 17th centuries, the old Serbian village of Bistrica existed in the area of today's Novi Sad, before the city was founded in 1694. It is not known what happened with the old settlement, since from the 18th century the place has not been mentioned on any of the existing maps. The official name of the modern neighborhood was given from the name of this village.
In 1528, the cartographer Lazarus drew a map of the area where Novi Sad is located today, where the site called Bistritz (Bistrica) was located. The mention of Bistrica on the old maps was researched by the historian Pavle Stanojević, former director of the Vojvodina Archive. The name Bistrica was mentioned on seven maps dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries. On them, a neighborhood at the other side of the Petrovaradin Fortress was called Bistrica. Among other things, the name appears on the map of the famous Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594), who placed the cartography on a strictly scientific basis.
Name Bistrica is of Slavic origin (notably Serbian) that denotes a fast river or stream. Toponyms bistrica and bistra are common among Slavs, and appear in all areas where Serbs have lived.
According to Ammianus Marcellinus, a fourth-century Roman historian, there existed a Roman villa called Pistrensis Villa, on the left bank of the Danube. Here the future Roman Empress Constantia, wife of Emperor Gratain, was almost captured by Sarmatians. She barely escaped to Sirmium. According to some opinions, Slavic Bistrica from later time period might be a corruption of Pistrensis. Jacob Hofmann in his Lexicon of Universal History, 1698, mentions the place. This would actually date the origin of name of the area to at least 374 ad.
It is not possible to say with certainty which part of today's Novi Sad was the location of the old settlement of Bistrica. There is no evidence that it was located in the area of the modern neighborhood of the same name. Archaeologists have found the remains of a medieval village in the Bistrica-Novo Naselje area, although they did not identify them with old Bistrica. It is thought that these remains are actually part of the former settlement of Donje Sajlovo.
Woods and picnic grounds
It is indisputable that there were two larger forests in the area of today's Bistrica neighborhood during the Middle Ages: Gornja (Upper) and Donja (Lower). The Gornja (or Čenejska) forest was in the northwestern part of modern Bistrica neighborhood, towards Sajlovo, while Donja forest, with an area of about 340 hectares, was in the southern part of the modern Bistrica neighborhood. They were vibrant woods, full of tough lichen, oaks, elm trees and poplars.
The first issues that came with the legal rights to use this space came after 1748, when Novi Sad became the free royal city with its own administration. At this time, there were squabbles between the city administration and the rulers from Futog over the land boundaries, including the water passages. Because of the unresolved ownership problems, the workers of the Futog estates would break the water embankments. At that time, the Donja Forest relied on the Futog Forest. Through these forests, a road passed to Futog, then to Vienna and the rest of Central Europe. The last of the Futog rulers was Count Chotek.
After the elongations, Novi Sad residence would make the Donje Forest into a picnic ground, 6 kilometers away from the center of the city. At the beginning of the forest, the alleys and playgrounds have been decorated in the style of similar parks in Vienna, which is why the residence of Novi Sad named this part of the forest Prater. In front of Prater was the Pejić family tavern, which was set on fire during the Hungarian Rebellion. In the Hungarian Rebellion (or the Serbian Movement), between 1848 and 1849, the Donje forest was severely damaged due to extensive logging.
The Magistrate tried to restore the thinning forest by planting saplings in the period of 1874–1876. In 1877, a section was set aside for the Bostanluk, but due to the pressures of mostly the Rotkvarija residence, the forest was increasingly shrinking and slowly disappearing.
After the First World War, the last parts of the forest was gone. Accounts from older Novi Sad residence tell of three poplar trees that were the last remnant of the Donje forest that were cut down after World War II when Jugoalat was built.
The northern part of this territory was mostly grassland, and since 1913 was the location of the first Novi Sad airport. After World War II, the airport was transferred to Batajnica for strategic reasons. A reminder of the old airport can be found at the famous "Pilot" pub in the center of Detelinara neighborhood.
Constructions of the 1950s–1960s According to the book by Dr. Slobodan Ćurčić (Naselja Bačke - geografske karakteristike, Novi Sad, 2007), houses existed in the eastern part of today's Satelit neighborhood as early as 1952. Construction on this site continued from 1956 to 1957, with construction of first houses and buildings in the central Satelit area known as Tozinovac. This building phase lasted with extreme intensity until 1963. The first elementary school in the neighborhood, Miloš Crnjanski (originally named Boris Kidrič), was built in 1962.
Constructions of the 1970s–1990s
In the first General Urban Plan of Novi Sad after World War II in 1950, the city had no plan for the areas north of Satelit. Rodoljub Radosavljević, architect and urban planner for the Novi Sad City Planning Institute between 1960 and 1998, revised the General Urban Plan in 1963, which established the concept of Novo Naselje. In early 1978 Dr. Natalija Nataša Reba was appointed, as deputy director of the Construction Land Institute, as the head of social-oriented construction in Novo Naselje, and her husband Blagoje Reba (1938-2002) designed a large number of the housing units in Novo Naselje.
The first buildings outside of the Satelit neighborhood were constructed in Bate Brkića street (today's 18-26 street numbers) by the Neimar enterprise (which would be responsible for most of the building construction in the coming decades). Those first high rises were wide buildings, with 8 stories of residential apartments as well as space for local shops, craftsmen, merchants and lodges.
From 1978, construction continued after a short pause. In late February, rapid snow melt would cause underground water issues, due to the neighborhood being located in a wetland environment. In some areas the water was half a meter deep, with some buildings (A-4) having its foundations submerged in a pool of water. The city would place several cisterns that would continuously pump out the water until the issue was resolved.
Out of 25 residential buildings that were being constructed, 14 of them were being built in the then new IMV Žeželj system, which was used in the construction of buildings in Liman III and IV.
The "Bačkopalanačkog odreda" Road (Bačkopalanačkog Squad) was the main road in this neighborhood. Most of the major buildings were constructed along that road. With new building methods, this street would expand into a boulevard, being renamed into the Jovana Dučića Boulevard in 1991.
While the first buildings were finished in November 1978, with final technical admissions and processes being done for obtaining licenses for use. There were delays to connect the buildings to the city heating system that were resolved in February, with the construction of the first neighborhood Heating station (19 February with heated water; 24 February with headed rooms). On 19 March 1979, the first residence moved in building A1-4 with 54 apartments. The second building, A1-3, would have its residence move in several days later. In April, building A2-2 with 126 apartments. Novi Sad bank would move in building A1-1. The post office and flower shop moved in building A1-2 where they are located to this day.
Concerted mass construction reached its peak between 1978 and 1980. This was also a period when the settlement received its present constitution. At that time 4,250 apartments were built, with reconstruction and complete construction of municipal buildings (roads, water supply, heat supply, sewage, electricity, telephone lines) was carried out.
With the new elements from the General Urban Plan of 1985, Novo Naselje would expand westward. Most of the buildings would be fully built and occupied between the 1980s and 1990s (Šonsi neighborhood in 1989 with 280 apartments; Šarengrad in 1995). By the summer of 1994, another 8,728 apartments were built.
First markets While unofficially a market existed in the area before 1968, beginning of that year would see the construction of the first official modern green market in the neighborhood, with 139 desks and 22 booths for selling green produce such as bostana. The market would be finished in July of that year and named Satelit fresh market.
On 13 August 1979, the neighborhood would get its first grocery store in the form of a kiosk named Centroslavije (between buildings A1-3 and A1-4). Soon after Podunavlje enterprise from Beočin would open up a shop.
Between 1980 and 1981 began the construction of the Stoteks department store (later named "Mladost"). The ground floor of the building would be used by several supermarket chains throughout its history, with the upper floor later used by a Chinese department store.
School at Novo Naselje At the end of 1978 began the construction of the second school in the neighborhood by the plans of architect Albert Josipović from the Institute of Physical Culture of Vojvodina. Taking up 7,100 square meters, Prva vojvođanska brigada, would be located in Seljačkih Buna street. First students would be accepted in the 1980/1981 school year, with all construction work being completed in 1981. At that time this was the largest school in the city, but its capacity would exceed expectations, leading many students to sign in Miloš Crnjanski school as a result.
First bus lines