Кикинда: История и современность города в Воеводине

City in the province of Vojvodina, Serbia

Kikinda (, ; Nagykikinda) is a city and the administrative center of the North Banat District in Serbia. The city's urban area has 32,084 inhabitants, while the city administrative area has 49,326 inhabitants. The city was founded in the 18th century. From 1774 to 1874 Kikinda was the seat of the District of Velika Kikinda, an autonomous administrative unit of Habsburg monarchy. In 1893, Kikinda was granted the status of a city. The city became part of the Kingdom of Serbia (and Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes) in 1918, and it lost the city status. The status was re granted in 2016. In 1996, the well preserved archaeological remnants of a half a million year old mammoth were excavated on the outer edge of the town area. The winter roosts of long eared owl, with a large number of individuals, are easily accessible as they are situated in town parks and attract birdwatchers both from this country and abroad.

In Serbian, the city is known as Kikinda (Кикинда), while in other languages it is called Great Kikinda: in Hungarian as Nagykikinda, in German as Gross Kikinda or Großkikinda, in Latin as Magna Kikinda, in Romanian as Chichinda Mare, in Slovak as Kikinda, in Rusyn as Кикинда, and in Croatian as Kikinda. Until 1947 it was also known in Serbian as Great Kikinda — Velika Kikinda (Велика Кикинда). The name of Kikinda is first found recorded at the beginning of the 15th century as Kokenyd, and most probably denoted, together with the name Ecehida, a number of small settlements, i. e. estates, firstly belonging to Hungarian and later to Serb local rulers. The name of the town first appears on a map of 1718 as Gross Kikinda, indicating an uninhabited area or a wasteland and not a settlement. The adjective Gross, Nagy or Velika (Great) in German, Hungarian and Serbian versions respectively, was in official use as the name of the town until the end of 1947.

The official coat of arms of the city dates back to the Austrian rule and the 18th century. It is derived from the coat of arms of the District of Velika Kikinda which was issued by Maria Theresa of Austria on 12 November 1774. The Coat of Arms represents a hand holding a sabre on which an Ottoman Turkish head is impaled. It symbolizes the fight of Serbs and the majority ethnic Hungarians at that time, against the Turks during the Military Frontier period

The city of Kikinda is located on a territory rich in remains of old and bygone cultures. Numerous archeological findings are the testimony of people who lived here more than seven thousand years ago. However, the continuity of that duration was often broken. People arrived and departed, lived and disappeared, depending on various historical circumstances.

Two important medieval settlements existed near the location of modern Kikinda. The names of these settlements were Galad and Hološ. Galad was one of the oldest Slavic settlements in northern Banat and was built by Slavic duke Glad in the ninth century. In 1337, Galad was recorded as settlement populated almost exclusively by Serbs. This settlement was destroyed during the Austro Ottoman wars at the end of 17th and beginning of the 18th century. Another settlement, Hološ (also known as Velika Holuša), was a local administrative centre in the 17th century, during the Ottoman administration. According to some sources, an older settlement named Kekenj (Kekend, Keken) existed at this location. In 1423 it was mentioned as the domain of Hungarian kings, under the name of Kokenyd, and as a property of the Hungarian king Sigismund. In 1558, this settlement was populated by Serbs. The Serbs settled in two waves. Beside Kikinda, the district included another nine settlements of the Serb border military establishments in North and Central Banat: Srpski Krstur, Jozefovo (today part of Novi Kneževac), Mokrin, Karlovo (today part of Novo Miloševo), Bašaid, Vranjevo (today part of Novi Bečej), Melenci, Kumane and Taraš. During that period, the inhabitants of these places had substantial economic and even political privileges within the Habsburg monarchy. The District functioned, with some interruptions, until 1876 when it was abolished, and Kikinda was allocated both organizationally and administratively to the direct authority of the Torontal County with its headquarters in Veliki Bečkerek (today Zrenjanin), which covered most of the territory of present day Serbian Banat. In 1848/1849, the famous uprising of the Serbs in Vojvodina took place. Initially, Kikinda's citizens expressed, almost unanimously, social revolt, while later the uprising turned into a national one, and Kikinda became part of the Serbian Voivodship, a Serb autonomous region within the Austrian Empire. During the war, control over the city changed hands between the Serbian and Hungarian governments at the expense of great conflicts, which resulted in suffering and destruction. It was one of the most difficult and most complex periods in the history of Kikinda. Between 1849 and 1860 Kikinda was part of the Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banat, a separate Austrian crown land. In 1860, this crown land was abolished, and Kikinda was incorporated into Torontal county, in the Kingdom of Hungary after the compromise of 1867. A railway connecting Szeged, Kikinda and Timișoara was built in 1857 and is the oldest railway on the territory of present day Serbia and the entire southeast Europe, predating Belgrade by 27 years. Kikinda had 15,000 inhabitants at the time. The first train arrived on 15 November at 15:00 at the still unfinished railway station. The railway itself was part of a long railway Vienna Bratislava Budapest Timișoara Baziaș, a spa town and port on the Danube. Days before the first train arrived, public drummers were announcing the event and huge crowds gathered at the arrival ceremony. But some complained. Farmers whose land was appropriated by the state for the route of the railway were not satisfied with the compensation they received. Others spread stories that the fumes from the locomotive are toxic, that sparks from the wheels will set grain fields on fire or that the sound of locomotive will scare the cattle. However, the railway brought an economic boom to Kikinda, as in the next five years industry began to develop, including steam mills and brickyards. When at the end of 19th century Veliki Bečkerek was linked directly to Szeged, bypassing Kikinda, the economy slowed down. In 1953 the connection with Szeged was cut as the bridge over the river Tisza was demolished. The connection to Timișoara was operational via railbuses until 2015. The Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I visited Kikinda in 1872 arriving by this railway and it was also used for the original Orient Express route. As of 2017, trains operate only as far as Subotica and Zrenjanin. In 1893, Kikinda was declared a royal free city. After the declaration of a free city, period from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the World War I was a peaceful and fruitful one in the history of Kikinda and was marked by a strong economic and urban development of the city. A date around the end of the First World War (20 November 1918) denotes one of the most crucial moments in the modern history of Kikinda. The entry of the Serbian army into the city represented the achievement of the Serbs of Kikinda in striving to unite with Serbia. From 1 December 1918, the city was part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed Yugoslavia in 1929). However, the city suffered greatly in the economic realm, as it was located in the hinterland, between two borders, with lines of communication disconnected. The period between the two world wars was not a one of economic prosperity for the city. In 1921, the population of Kikinda numbered 25,774 people and included 15,000 (58%) Serbs and Croats, 5,500 (21%) Germans (Banat Swabians), 4,000 (16%) Hungarians, and 5% Romanians. Between 1918 and 1922, Kikinda was part of Banat county, Between 1922 and 1929 it was part of Belgrade oblast, and between 1929 and 1941 it was part of Danube Banovina. During the Interbellum, numerous public buildings were built. While the Historical Archive and the People's Museum moved into the old district building in 1876, new buildings were constructed for the city administration, other museums, a library, etc. Clergy House was built in 1939. In 1948, shortly after the end of World War II, Kikinda had a population of 28,070. From the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s, the city saw continuous economic and cultural development: new factories and production plants, new blocks of flats and residential neighbourhoods, various objects of general social interest, and paved streets definitely stressed and formed the urban dimension of Kikinda. In 1971 the city had a population of 37,487. In March 2016, Kikinda was again granted city status.

According to the last official census done in 2011, the city of Kikinda has 59,453 inhabitants.

Rail line Banatsko Aranđelovo – Kikinda – Romanian border at Jimbolia, part of the former Szeged – Timișoara railway is the second oldest railway in present day Serbia. The city is also connected by railway to Subotica and to Belgrade via Zrenjanin. Regional roads connect Kikinda with all the neighbouring cities and villages. Buses operate regularly to the surrounding villages and major domestic and some European cities. The only transport waterway in the city is the Danube Tisa Danube Canal. There is a dock which is used for industrial transport. There is also the Kikinda Airfield, a recreational aerodrome near the city. The local flying club organizes lessons in parachuting, aviation and space modeling. "Cropduster" planes are also flown from this airstrip to spray agricultural fields.

Situated in the city square, the building of the National Museum of Kikinda was built in 1839. In the beginning, the building served as the city curia and the seat of the District of Velika Kikinda until its abolishment in 1876. In 1946, the National Museum of Kikinda and the City Archive were founded and housed in the building. The Museum boasts numerous artifacts which are displayed in its four sections: archeological, historical, ethnological and naturalist. As of recently, it also possesses a mammoth skeleton which was excavated on the grounds of the "Toza Marković" brick factory in 1996. The Jovan Popović National Library was founded in 1845 as Čitaonica Srbska (Serbian Reading Room). It was renamed in 1952 to Jovan Popović in honor of a prominent poet from Kikinda. Besides serving its primary function of loaning books, the library also organizes literary meetings, book promotions, seminars, lectures, exhibitions, and has published several works. Although the National Theater in Kikinda was founded only 50 years ago, Kikinda has a long theatrical tradition. Kikinda witnessed its first theatrical play in 1796 in German. The first play in Serbian was performed in 1834. The theater has a continuous program all year round, including the summer when the stage is set up outside, in the yard of the theater. The most famous band is Downstroy formed in 2004. In 2007, the group was the first in the history of the ex YU to perform at one of the biggest heavy metal festivals in the world Wacken Open Air. In 2022, Downstroy received an invitation to perform on the main stage of the EXIT festival, which was the first time a performer from Kikinda had succeeded.

The Pumpkin Days (Дани лудаје/Dani ludaje in Serbian) are an annual manifestation that takes place in mid October. Every year people from all over the region gather in Kikinda to take part in a competition of who has the largest pumpkin and longest gourd. The term ludaja is specific to the Kikinda region, while the common Serbian word for pumpkin is bundeva. Kikinda has a special relationship with this plant because throughout its history, the locals used to say that one had to stand on a pumpkin while working in the fields in order to get a clear view of the whole city. Every year, since 1982, 6 to 8 world renowned sculptors are invited to Kikinda, to the premises of an old production plant of the "Toza Marković" brick factory, to take part at the international symposium of sculpture "Terra". Previously proposed locations were within the brickyard complex, old brickyard II and old drier, but the adaptation of manjež began in 2012. There are over 1,000 sculptures in the exhibition space of Previously, the collection was shown in Venice, Paris, Ljubljana and Belgrade. Several sculptures are permanently exhibited in the parks of Kikinda and Belgrade, while 5 monumental ones were donated to Venice after the 1999 Venice Biennale.

Before the break up of former Yugoslavia, hunting tourism was widespread in Kikinda. There are a number of hunting grounds in the city covering an area of , mostly around the banks of the Danube Tisa Danube Canal, where rabbits, pheasants and deer are hunted. On the location of the former clay pit of the "Toza Marković" company, an artificial lake was created. Located at the southern entrance into the town, it was named Plava banja ("Blue Spa"). Though it is not officially classified as a spa, the water is highly mineralized, microbiologically suitable for swimming and chemically has an elevated levels of sulfates and chlorides, so as higher electroconductivity and pH values. That means the water may be beneficial for the skin and some skin diseases, like the eczema. Until the early 2000s, the lake was arranged with numerous recreational activities and was visited by several thousand people daily. It was busy in the evenings as the lake was place for many concerts and other artistic and entertaining happenings. As the lake is on the lot of "Toza Marković", new owners stopped all that and by 2017 the lake was neglected and without even the basic infrastructure (showers, toilets, etc.). However, the locals still visit the lake, though on a much smaller scale. In the summer of 2017, the lake shores were cleaned from garbage and vegetation. There is another lake, Staro jezero ("Old Lake"), in the town itself. It is a remnant of the former river Galacka, part of the Mureș river system. The river was diverted at a time, partially channeled and conducted underground, so there is no river in Kikinda today. In the city, there is a park called Blandaš, which was declared a natural monument. The tree line along the long Generala Drapšina Sreet is made up of 400 trees, and the street was declared the 22nd most beautiful street in the world by the Architecture and Design magazine. The tree line was planted after the World War II, even before the war ended in the rest of Europe and Yugoslavia. It is believed that the seedlings were a gift from the U. S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, due to his friendship with Mihajlo Pupin. Located in the center of the square, the Serbian Orthodox church was built in 1769. The icons of the iconostasis were done by Jakov Orfelin (nephew of Zacharius Orfelin) in 1773. Teodor Ilić Češljar is the author of the two large wall paintings "The Last Supper" and "Ascension of Jesus Christ" (1790). Both, the late baroque iconostasis and the wall paintings show significant influence of western European art of the period. New church bells were installed in 1899. The small Vodice church was built in 1865. On an elevated plateau above it, four water wells were dug. The complex was declared a cultural monument. Among the birdwatchers Kikinda is known as the prime hotspot for observing winter roosts of long eared owl with large number of individuals. Kikinda has been nicknamed the Serbian owl capital. The roosts are situated in city parks so they are easily accessible. In November 2017, 238 owls were numbered while the record was set in 2009 when 743 birds were counted in the town. At one point, 145 owls were counted on only one tree. The BBC crews visited Kikinda in 2015 and 2018, filming documentaries about the wild animals in urban areas and focusing on the owls.

In 2003, the Organization for Security and Co operation in Europe Mission to Serbia awarded the Municipality of Kikinda the Municipal Award for Tolerance.

Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfa" (Humid subtropical climate).

Brane Marijanović et al. Kikinda: istorija, kultura, sela, privreda, sport, turizam, Novi Sad: Prometej, 2002. Jovan M. Pejin, Iz prošlosti Kikinde, Kikinda: Istorijski arhiv & Komuna, 2000. Milivoj Rajkov, Istorija grada Kikinde do 1918. godine, Kikinda, 2003. Dr Slobodan Ćurčić, Naselja Banata – geografske karakteristike, Novi Sad, 2004.