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Banja, Srbica
Banja or Banja Rudnička (Serbian Cyrillic: Бања, Albanian: Bajë) is a settlement in the Skenderaj municipality in the disputed region of Kosovo. The rural settlement lies on a cadastral area with the same name, of 1033 hectares. The village has a Serbian majority; in the 1991 census, it had 274 inhabitants.
History
It is mentioned for the first time in a charter of Serbian King Stephen Uroš I (r. 1243–1276), dating to the mid-13th century, which was granted (metochion) to the Gračanica monastery. The village church, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, was founded by vlastelin Rodop, a nobleman at the court of Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković (r. 1427–1456). The ktetor also gifted a bell to the church. The bell and charter is preserved in the Peć Patriarchate and National Museum in Belgrade. Rodop was buried in the church, and his tombstone lies in the church. In the years between the World Wars, the church was renovated, however, during World War II, members of the Albanian fascist Balli Kombëtar looted it and destroyed the iconostasis and buried it in stones. In 1971 the church was reconstructed.
Skenderaj
Skenderaj (Albanian: Skënderaj) or Srbica (Serbian: Srbica / Србица) is a city and municipality in the District of Mitrovica of northern Kosovo. It is the largest city in the Drenica region of Kosovo. It is solely populated by Albanians (100%). It is claimed to be the poorest city in Kosovo. It is the place where the Kosovo War began in 1998, and to which the most damage was done.
Geography
The settlement is located by the Klina river, in the Klina field (Klinsko polje). It is the main settlement of the Drenica region. The Klina river belongs to the Metohija region, while the settlement morphologically and hydrologically gravitates towards the Kosovo region.
The municipality covers an area of 378 km2, including the town of Skenderaj and 51 villages.
History
Archaeological findings in the municipality area include a Neolithic site in Rudnik, and remains of a Roman necropolis in Gornji Obilić. The municipality cadastral area includes several settlements that existed during the Middle Ages, among which some exist still today, such as Leočina, Poljance, Banja, and others. There are ruins of a church dating to the 14th century in southern Leočina. The Church of St. Nicholas was built in 1436, in Banja, as the endowment of Serbian magnate Rodop. The Devič monastery was built in Lauša near Srbica in the 15th century, dedicated to the local monk, St. Joanikije (d. 1430). The Church of St. John was built in the 16th century on the ruins of a 14th-century church, in Leočina; the church is surrounded by an old and large Serbian graveyard with tombs dating to the 17th–19th centuries. A 16th-century church and cemetery is located in Rudnik.
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