Official presentation of the Municipality of Ruma

 RUMA

The town of Ruma is located in the middle of the flat and fertile region of Srem which is situated between the Danube and Sava rivers, at the foot of the beautiful Fruska Gora Mountain. The surface of Ruma is 582 square kilometers. An interesting geographical curiosity is the fact that the 45^th parallel intersects the town, while it is only 15 kilometers west from the 20^th meridian. The center of the town lies at 111 meters above sea level.

The distance between Ruma and Belgrade is about 50 km, Novi Sad 35 km, Sabac 30 km and Sremska Mitrovica 20 km. The town is next to the major railway line Belgrade-Zagreb and major road M-21 Novi Sad-Sabac. Ruma is 6 km away from the highway E-70 and about 10 km from the Sava River.

The beginnings of the organized life of the human communities on the broader territory of the Municipality of Ruma date back to prehistoric times. The testimonies to this thesis are the archeological excavations of prehistoric settlements, out of which Gomolava near the village of Hrtkovci is definitely the most significant archeological site.

At the turn of the era, the Roman conquering army appeared in the region of Srem for the first time and soon afterwards Srem became one of the most significant Roman border Provinces turning Sirmium into one of the capitals of the Roman Empire. Next to Sirmium, an important crafts center was also Basijana (near the village of Donji Pecinci),

At the time of the migrations of the peoples (from the 3^rd century forth) various Germanic peoples, afterwards the Huns, Avars and Slavs destroyed the Roman culture on this soil. After 1526, Srem became an integral part of the great Ottoman Empire. It was then that a settlement named Ruma was mentioned for the first time. A town with such a name was recorded in the defter of Srem in 1566/1567.

After the Treaty of Pozarevac in 1718, the Ottoman dominion was substituted by the Austro-Hungarian dominion and it was to stay in Srem for the next 200 years. In 1744 Military Frontier was formed and while Sremska Mitrovica remained a part of it, Ruma was settled in the provinces. The town we know today is the result of the planned growth and the colonization. Having had the map of the town done in 1746, a landowner Marko Pejacevic initiated the construction of a new town. The system of streets was orthogonal, while construction terms were precisely determined. Beside the existing Serbian population, German, Croatian and colonists of various nationalities were settled in Ruma. At the beginning of 1749, based on so called “slobodnica”, the contract signed between the landowner and the residents, Ruma gained the status of a free trading town while its residents gained civil rights and obligations. The development of the town began, primarily as an important crafts and merchant area.

Throughout the history, Ruma has produced many notable citizens. Atanasije Stojkovic, ex- Rector of the University of Kharkov is the author of the first textbook of Physics in Serbian. The Grujovic brothers were the Secretaries of Serbian separate government during the First Serbian Uprising (Praviteljstvujusci Sovjet), Radovan Kosutic-famous Slavist and publicist, Rudolf Rauer-agricultural expert, Zarko Miladinovic-lawyer and politician, Atanasije Teodorovic, Dimitrije Matic, Antun Lombajer, Tosa Andrejevic Australijanac, Pavle Vujovic…The schools of Ruma were attended by peope as great as Isidora Sekulic or Mileva Maric.

Presently, Ruma has 32,000 residents while the entire municipality has 60,006 residents, 16 villages and an urban village. Along with developed agricultural industry, there are other industries present: leather industry, shoe and tire industry, building materials, metal, printing and food industry, transportation, trade, crafts and catering industry. Great attention is paid to the harmonious town development. All the capital municipal facilities and the infrastructure of the town were built from the voluntary taxes.

Ruma has a network of pre-school institutions, primary and secondary schools. It has extensive health care services and several pharmacies, the Social Service Center and the Gerontology Center. The joint of cultural, sports and business facilities and hotels offers great possibilities for the development of cultural and sports activities and modern hotel industry. The town has three Orthodox Churches, the Catholic Church, the museum, library, adult education center, cultural arts societies, town choir and a radio station. The Festival of Music Societies of Vojvodina has been hosted in Ruma for over three decades now. The new town theater also works successfully. Sports recreational activities take place at the four football fields and school playgrounds. There is a managed beach at Borkovac Lake. The Sava River, Obedska Pond, the woods in the southern part of the municipality, Borkovac Resort, Fruska Gora National Park in the northern part of Srem offer great possibilities for tourism and recreation development.

As the Day of the Town, Ruma celebrates November 24.