Kuršumlijska Banja
Kuršumlijska Banja (Serbian Cyrillic: Куршумлијска Бања) is a spa town located in the municipality of Kuršumlija, Serbia.[3] As of 2011 census, the town has a population of 106 inhabitants.
Kuršumlijska Banja
Куршумлијска Бања | |
|---|---|
 Hotel "Žubor" | |
  Kuršumlijska Banja | |
| Coordinates: 43.056°N 21.25°E | |
| Country |  Serbia |
| District | Toplica District |
| Municipality | Kuršumlija |
| Area | |
| • Total | 7.73 km2 (2.98 sq mi) |
| Population (2011)[2] | |
| • Total | 106 |
| • Density | 14/km2 (36/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (CEST) |
Characteristics
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1948 | 415 | — |
| 1953 | 485 | +16.9% |
| 1961 | 457 | −5.8% |
| 1971 | 333 | −27.1% |
| 1981 | 198 | −40.5% |
| 1991 | 185 | −6.6% |
| 2002 | 151 | −18.4% |
| 2011 | 106 | −29.8% |
| Source: [2] | ||
Though a small establishment, Kuršumlijska Banja is statistically classified as an urban settlement.[2] It is located in the valley of the river Banjska, close to the administrative border with Kosovo. It is one of three spas on the territory of the Kuršumlija municipality. The other two are Prolom Banja and Lukovska Banja.[4]
There are two churches, Saint Nicolas and Holy Mother, built by Stefan Nemanja.
Spa
Temperature of the mineral waters varies from 14 to 64 °C (57 to 147 °F).[5] The water is rich in minerals and sulfur and was used to treat the skeletal-muscular system.[6] Apart from the water, a peloid was also used in the treatments, being harvested in the old mud springs. The spa was also used for the sterility treatments.[4]
The spa was given an official status by decree of the King Alexander I Karađorđević in 1922.[4] The king visited the spa, and a Hotel Jugoslavija was built to accommodate him and the tourists who followed him later. The hotel is located at the entrance into the settlement and is surrounded by several springs of mineral water. By 2019, it was turned into ruins, inhabited by the local domesticated fauna.[6]
By 1941 Kuršumlijska Banja developed into one of the leading spas in Serbia and was a location of numerous festivals. After the World War II, it was transformed into the one of the best organized spas in Yugoslavia. A rehabilitation center Žubor was open ed in 1982, an investment of DM17 million at the time.[4] Žubor covers 16,000 m2 (170,000 sq ft) with surrounding objects, while the area of the total complex is 95,902 m2 (1,032,280 sq ft). It includes the food venue “Prepolac”, villa “Milica” and an auxiliary object built around the spring of the geothermal water.[5] It employed 130 workers and had 250 beds with pools (including the Olympic one), bath tubs, saunas, etc. With over 10,000 tourists yearly, it wasn't just a gathering place of convalescents, but also of recreationists and excursionist, with numerous festivities being held in the town.[4] Thermal springs were used to heat the entire town.[7]
Due to the ownership dispute, the center was closed in 2006. It was partially owned by the state, that is, by the State retirement fund - PIO Fund, which claimed €14.5 from "Žubor". Serbian policed used the venue in 2003 and 2004, so the Tax Administration claimed further 44 million dinars (over €600,000) of taxes for this period.[7] The court decided in favor of the state in 2012, but the spa remained out of service and deteriorated a lot by 2018.[4] In May 2018, the state tried to sell the complex for €1.89 million, but no one offered to buy it. The state renewed the bidding in August 2019, lowering the price to €1.40 million. The spring itself is not offered for sale.[5] By this time, the complex appeared as "after the war", with only several houses around it being inhabited.[6]
The company "Planinka", which also owns spas Prolom and Lukovska Banja, water bottling factory in Prolom and administers the Đavolja Varoš natural park, purchased Kuršumlijska Banja for €1,415,836, which was approved by the government in February 2020. "Planinka" used to own the spa before it was awarded back to the state by the court. The company announced investing €10-12 million in order to make spa operational again by the end of 2020 or beginning of 2021.[7][8]
The entire business deal was debunked by the investigative journalists, as a process which allowed for the businessmen close to the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) to obtain the assets. The government tried to sell the spas before, but the PIO Fund's Administrative Board was rejecting the decision. The government changed the law in 2014 by which the Fund's Board was reduced from 21 members to 7, of which 4 were appointed by the government itself. Composed like this, the Board made a decision to sell the spas. The price was lowered three times, and so much, that in the end 1 m2 (11 sq ft) was sold for €72. It was even lower than the acceptable price set by the Board, so they changed their own decision, allowing the selling for the price which is "20 to 40% lower". Co-owners of "Planinka" are SNS officials, one of which is president of Kuršmlija municipality. One of Fund's deputy section directors, Valerijan Kadijević, publicly pointed to the illegal and dubious actions regarding the selling, but was fired. It was estimated that Fund invested €25 million in total in the spa, and sold it for €1.4 million.[9]
See also
References
- "Насеља општине Куршумлија" (pdf). stat.gov.rs (in Serbian). Statistical Office of Serbia. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
- Comparative overview of the number of population in 1948, 1953, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, 2002 and 2011 – Data by settlements, page 137. Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade. 2014. ISBN 978-86-6161-109-4.
- "Turistička organizacija Kuršumlija - Kuršumlijska banja". Tokursumlija.rs. Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
- Ljubiša Mitić (20 January 2018). "Kuršumlijsku Banju preuzima AD "Planinka"" [JSC "Planinka" takes over Kuršumlijska Banja]. Politika (in Serbian). p. 23.
- Jasna Petrović-Stojanović (2 August 2019). "Kuršumlijska Banja na licitaciji, nema kupaca" [Bidding for Kuršumlijska Banja, no buyers]. Politika (in Serbian). pp. 1 & 11.
- Milan Stojanović (12 August 2019). "Nekada u hotelu Jugoslavija boravili kralj i turisti, a sada samo - jedna krava" [Hotel Jugoslavija once hosted king and tourists, today its only visitor is a cow] (in Serbian). N1.
- Ljubiša Mitić (1 February 2020). "Uz Prolom i Lukovsku, "Planinka" kupila i Kuršumlijsku banju" [Apart from Prolom and Lukovska, "Planinka" also purchased Kuršumlijska Banja, too]. Politika (in Serbian). p. 20.
- Južne Vesti (14 August 2019). "Planinka kupuje Kuršumlijsku banju" [Planinka is buying Kuršumlijska Banja] (in Serbian). N1.
- N1 Beograd, Vuk Cvijić (16 February 2020). "Cvijić: Kuršumlijska i Vranjska banja novi plen za biznismene bliske SNS" [Cvijić: Kuršumlijska Banja and Vranjska Banja new spoils for the businessmen close to SNS] (in Serbian). N1.