Meet Ruma

Ruma is a town with a little more than 30,000 inhabitants, scattered in the heart of Srem, a small but interesting and exciting region, surrounded by the Danube, Sava, and Bosut rivers. Starting from the left bank of the Sava River towards the north, Srem stretches through centuries-old forests, across moors and ponds, the oldest and most famous of which is Obedska Pond, to the youngest, called Trskovača Pond.

 

Then, through the plain, through the rosemary area to the north, it rises to the highest peaks of Fruška Gora, which here, despite its modest average height of about 450 meters, is called a mountain. The largest linden reserve in Europe. The national park, where you can find numerous forest springs, variety of game, and many lakes rich with fish. In this area are also 16 monasteries built in the 15th and 16th centuries.

In the center of all that beauty, near the Belgrade-Zagreb highway and the Novi Sad-Šabac-Loznica highway, and the regional roads leading from Semberija to Novi Sad, as well as from Sremska Mitrovica to Inđija and Zemun, on About 40 kilometers from the “Nikola Tesla” Airport, there is Ruma. For this city, paraphrasing the famous saying that “all roads lead to Rome”, is said that “all roads lead through Ruma”.

 

Ruma is located exactly on the 45th parallel, that is, halfway between the Equator and the North Pole, at about a hundred meters above sea level, in the central part of Srem, on the stretch from the left bank of the Sava River to lower part of Fruška Gora, on an area of 582 km2, is the Municipality of Ruma, with one city and its 16 rural settlements. Ruma with its rich history, cultural heritage, tourist potential, and natural beauty, represents interesting destinations. That’s why we welcome you to Ruma, welcome to the city of fairs, tambourines, and festivals, which most beautifully, through the enjoyment of the traditional gastronomic offer and the wine of Fruško Gora, brings peace to lower and upper Srem.

 

Settlement of the territory where Ruma is now, has been populated in prehistoric times, evidenced by various archaeological props.

The first written mention

of village Ruma is
found in the Turkish notebook from 1566.

 

The initiator of the construction of a new city-type settlement, with narrow streets, was Count Marko Pejačević, who, after the establishment of the military border, replaced his former Mitrovica manor with a Ruma’s manor, deciding, in 1745, to build a new settlement in the atar of the village of Ruma and in it the settle of the new authority.

The construction of the settlement was also favored by the policy of the Viennese court and Maria Theresa aimed at the colonization and economic revival of this area, at the expense of which in 1747 Ruma received the status of a trading center – a free town.

 

On January 1st, 1749, lord Marko Pejačević gave the so-called Slobodnica, which officially made it a privileged settlement, with its coat of arms and seal.

 

In that period, in addition to Serbs from surrounding towns, Germans, Croats, and Hungarians settled in Ruma. At the beginning of the 19th century, Ruma became a center of craftsmanship, and in 1818 it received the Imperial Guild Charter. At that time, 38 different trades were represented in Ruma, employing 185 masters, numerous apprentices, and journeymen.

 

After the end of the First World War, on November 24, 1918, at a large national assembly held in Ruma, a decision was made to join Srem to Serbia. In the period between the two world wars, Ruma was considered the largest grain market in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Due to its growth and economic prosperity in 1933, Ruma received the status of a city. At that time, Ruma had a little more than 12,000 inhabitants, most of whom were Germans (over 7,000), Serbs 3,500, and the rest were Croats, Hungarians, and members of other nations.

 

After the Second World War, with the liberation of Ruma on October 27, 1944, with the colonization of the population from Bosnia, Herzegovina, Dalmatia, Kordun, Banija, and Lika in these regions, the number of inhabitants grew and exceeded the number of 14,000. In the post-war period, agriculture remains the primary occupation of the local population, but the industry is also developing.