ZajeÃÂar (, ; or ) is a city and the administrative center of the ZajeÃÂar District in eastern Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the city administrative area had a population of 48,621 inhabitants. ZajeÃÂar is widely known for its rock music festival Gitarijada and for the ZALET festival dedicated to contemporary art. Roman Emperor Galerius was born in Gamzigrad, near ZajeÃÂar, where he built the city of Felix Romuliana.
In Serbian, the city is known as ZajeÃÂar (; in Romanian as Zaicear, ZÃÂiicer (archaic name), ZÃÂiceri, ZÃÂicear or ZÃÂiceari; in Macedonian as and in Bulgarian as (Zaychar).
The origin of the name is from the Torlak dialect name for "hare" = zajec / (in all other Serbian dialects it is zec / , while in Bulgarian it is / zaek"). It means "the man who breeds and keeps hares".
Folk etymology in Romanian, gives "ZÃÂiicer" as meaning "the Gods are asking (for sacrifice)".
Early renderings of the city in English used Saitchar.
Three Roman Emperors were born in the area of the modern city of ZajeÃÂar: Galerius (r. 293–311), Maximinus (r. 305–312) and Licinius (r. 308–324).
The Late Roman fortified palace compound and memorial complex of Gamzigrad-Romuliana at the outskirts of ZajeÃÂar was commissioned by Emperor Caius Valerius Galerius Maximianus, in the late 3rd and early 4th century. It was known as Felix Romuliana, named after the Emperor's mother Romula. The site consists of fortifications, the palace in the north-western part of the complex, basilicas, temples, hot baths, memorial complex, and a tetrapylon. The site offers a unique testimony of the Roman building tradition marked by the ideology of the period of the Second Tetrarchy. The group of buildings is also unique in its intertwining of ceremonial and memorial functions. The relation between two spatial ensembles in this site is stressed by the tetrapylon which is placed on the crossroads between the worldly fortification and palace on the one side and the other-worldly mausoleums and consecration monuments on the other.
Slavs entered the region during the 7th century, and the tribe living in the area was called TimoÃÂani. During the Middle Ages, the area of ZajeÃÂar was contested between Bulgaria, Hungary and Serbia. During periods in the 9th-11th centuries and the 13th century the territory of modern-day ZajeÃÂar was a part of the Bulgarian Empire. It finally fell under Ottoman rule during the first half of the 15th century. The oldest preserved rendering of ZajeÃÂar listed in an Ottoman defter dates from 1466. At the time, there were only eight extended families (zadrugas) living there.
In the First Serb Uprising, Hajduk Veljko PetroviÃÂ liberated the area from Ottoman rule in 1806. The Ottomans retook the area in 1813 but finally ceded it to Serbia in 1833.
The population of the city and of the area to the south of it was partly Bulgarian, as the Serbian ethnographer Milan ÃÂ. MiliÃÂeviàrecognized. The city actively participated in the Serbo-Turkish War of 1876âÂÂ1878. In 1883, it was partially engulfed in the famous Timok Uprising, a reaction against a governmental order to confiscate peasants' firearms and against a law replacing the militia with a standing army.
Bulgaria occupied ZajeÃÂar from 1915 to 1918, during the First World War. From 1929 to 1941, the city was part of the Morava Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The German army occupied ZajeÃÂar on 14 April 1941, during the Second World War; it was administered as part of the Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia from 22 April 1941. ZajeÃÂar was liberated on 7âÂÂ8 October 1944 in a joint operation by Yugoslav Partisans and the Red Army.
ZajeÃÂar has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfa), that's very close to a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa).
Aside from the urban area of ZajeÃÂar, the city administrative area includes the following settlements:
According to the 2022 census, the City of ZajeÃÂar has a population of 47,991 inhabitants, while the urban area has 32,448 inhabitants. The city has an urban area of over 97 km<sup>2</sup>.
The ethnic composition of the city:
The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2022):
ZajeÃÂar hosted 2006 Serbian triathlon championship. The city has two sport-recreation centers, "Popova plaà ¾a" and "SRC Kraljevica" home of à ½RK ZajeÃÂar, while a third, "Kotlujevac", is under reconstruction. Local football club FK Timok has competed in the second tiers of Serbian and Yugoslav football.
ZajeÃÂar is home to the "Zoran RadmiloviÃÂ" theatre built 2 February 1947 under the name of the "Oblasno narodno pozorià ¡te". The first play ever performed in the new theatre was "à ½ita cvetaju". The theatre was renamed during its 45th (1992) anniversary as "Zoran RadmiloviÃÂ" to celebrate a famous and beloved actor who was born there. Every year, this theatre is home to the "Dani Zorana RadmiloviÃÂa" art festival.
The Festival of Contemporary Art ZALET (stylised as ZA*73T) organizes manifestations, such as exhibitions, concerts, literary evenings and experimental theater.
Gitarijada (Serbian Cyrillic: ÃÂøÃÂðÃÂøÃÂðôð, trans. Guitar fest) is a musical festival held during the summer in order to promote demo bands. Held since 1969, Gitarijada is one of the longest-lasting festivals in Serbia and in South Eastern Europe. The festival started its life in ZajeÃÂar during 1970. Some of notable bands from Serbia such as Bjesovi & Galija were winners in the Gitarijada competition during the '80s and '90s. The programme of the Gitarijada festival has several parts. Demo battles as a main item, with performances of artists and art exhibitions involving themes like rock, blues, metal and similar ones.
Many local bands from ZajeÃÂar have participated in past events:
Zlatni Prsti, Visoko Mià ¡ljenje, Zoster, Crna Ruà ¾a, Civili , Blood Eruption, PriruÃÂnik Janga TrovaÃÂa, Hate-tech, Brain Damage, Plood , Mind Reflection, VIS Novi Dan, Huti Ota Tre...
Elementary schools
High schools
University education
The city is the seat of the Megatrend University Faculty of Management; Business School of Management.
ZajeÃÂar is twinned with:
The people listed below were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with the city of ZajeÃÂar area.