Municipality in Dalmatian Hinterland, Croatia
Biskupija
(
Serbian Cyrillic
:
Бискупи?а
)
[4]
is a village and municipality in
?ibenik-Knin County
,
Croatia
. The seat of the municipality is the village of Orli?.
[5]
Etymology
[
edit
]
The word
Biskupija
in
Croatian
means
diocese
, referring to the former estate and seat of Croatian bishops in this area. The place was also known as
Kosovo
from 11th til 18th century, after the
Kosovo field
.
[6]
Kosovo
is still used as name for the
train station
located in the municipality.
[7]
Geography
[
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]
The municipality covers a
karst field
called
Kosovo field
(
Croatian
:
Kosovo polje
,
Serbian
:
Косово по?е
) located between the mountains of
Promina
and
Veliki Kozjak
. The village of Biskupija itself is located in the north of the municipality, just south of
Knin
.
The
D33
and
D1
state roads and the
Zagreb-Split railway
pass through the municipality.
Languages
[
edit
]
Along with
Croatian
which is official in the whole country,
Serbian language
and
Serbian Cyrillic
alphabet are co-official on the territory of municipality.
[8]
[4]
History and culture
[
edit
]
The shrine of Our Lady of Biskupija, or
St. Mary
of Croatia, is situated in the village of Biskupija, 5 km southeast of
Knin
, the former church and cultural centre of the
Croatian
state in the
Middle Ages
. Archaeologists have discovered the foundations of five churches in that village, dating from the period of Croatian rulers from the 9th to the 11th century. St. Mary's church was the residence of the
Bishop of Knin
, who was Bishop of Croatia from 1040 to 1522. The earliest known figure of Our Lady in Croatian art was discovered by archaeologists in that same church on a part of the stone partition wall, which separated the shrine from the church nave. It is still venerated as
Our Lady of the Great Croatian Vow
.
Today, on the foundations of the old Croatian church of the same name there stands a memorial church, decorated between 1937 and 1938 according to the designs of Croatia’s most famous sculptor,
Ivan Me?trovi?
. The church is a single-nave building (16 x 8.4 m) with a square niche for the altar, and a 12.5 metre-tall steeple before it. Ivan Me?trovi? also created the statue of Our Lady, depicting a Mother wearing a folk costume from
Dalmatian Hinterland
, with a child on her lap, and who is writing the book of life. Regrettably, however, the statue was destroyed by
Serbian
rebels. Above the niche containing the main altar the renowned Croatian artist,
Jozo Kljakovi?
, painted the fresco "
King Zvonimir
holding Court", which was also riddled by bullets fired by Serbian extremists. The church was thoroughly refurbished in 1966, when Me?trovi?'s statue was restored. Since then, the main pilgrimage occurs on the last Sunday in September, when the Holy Virgin’s name is honoured. The church was once again destroyed during the
Croatian War of Independence
, and now awaits rebuilding.
Demographics
[
edit
]
As per 2011 census, there were a total of 1,699 inhabitants in the municipality: 1,452
Serbs
, 231
Croats
and 16 others.
[9]
By mother tongue, there were 589
Croatian
speakers, 417
Serbian
speakers, 687
Serbo-Croatian
speakers and 6 speakers of other languages combined.
[10]
Settlements
[
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]
The municipality consists of following
settlements
:
[11]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Government of Croatia (October 2013).
"Peto izvje??e Republike Hrvatske o primjeni Europske povelje o regionalnim ili manjinskim jezicima"
(PDF)
(in Croatian).
Council of Europe
. p. 36
. Retrieved
30 November
2016
.
- ^
Register of spatial units of the State Geodetic Administration of the Republic of Croatia
.
Wikidata
Q119585703
.
- ^
"Population by Age and Sex, by Settlements"
(xlsx)
.
Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in 2021
. Zagreb:
Croatian Bureau of Statistics
. 2022.
- ^
a
b
"Archived copy"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 29 October 2013
. Retrieved
8 March
2013
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link
)
- ^
"Op?ina Biskupija - Kontakt"
.
Op?ina Biskupija
. Retrieved
15 June
2020
.
- ^
"Biskupija | Hrvatska enciklopedija"
.
Hrvatska enciklopedija
. Retrieved
June 15,
2020
.
- ^
"Overview of railway stations"
.
H? Putni?ki prijevoz
. Retrieved
June 15,
2020
.
- ^
Izvje??e o provođenju ustavnog zakona o pravima nacionalnih manjina i o uto?ku sredstava osiguranih u dr?avnom prora?unu Republike Hrvatske za 2008. godinu za potrebe nacionalnih manjina, Zagreb, 2009.
- ^
"Population by Ethnicity, by Towns/Municipalities, 2011 Census: County of ?ibenik-Knin"
.
Census of Population, Households and Dwellings 2011
. Zagreb:
Croatian Bureau of Statistics
. December 2012.
- ^
"Population by Mother Tongue, by Towns/Municipalities, 2011 Census: County of ?ibenik-Knin"
.
Census of Population, Households and Dwellings 2011
. Zagreb:
Croatian Bureau of Statistics
. December 2012.
- ^
"Population by Age and Sex, by Settlements, 2011 Census: Biskupija"
.
Census of Population, Households and Dwellings 2011
. Zagreb:
Croatian Bureau of Statistics
. December 2012.
External links
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]
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