Velika Plana (Serbian Cyrillic: Велика Плана, pronounced [ʋêlikaːplǎːna]ⓘ) is a town and municipality located in the Podunavlje District of Serbia. As of 2011, the town has 16,088 inhabitants, while the municipality has 40,902. Velika Plana lies on the left bank of Velika Morava.
Neighbourhoods
Administration Building
The municipality of Velika Plana has 13 settlements. The town is composed of three townships:[4] Town Mains, Stari Odbor (the Old Downtown),[5][6] and Bresje. Town Mains is further subdivided into the neighbourhoods of Centar, Bugarija, Đurakovac, Kod Železničke (railway station area), Gloža-Ciglana (brick factory area) where a tiny Morava river village has been reconstructed,[7] and Magareća Glava ('Donkey Head'). There is also a satellite so-called weekend settlement (vikend naselje) next to the Pokajnica monastery between Velika Plana, Staro Selo and Radovanje.
Meat processing plant of Scheuß & Schumacher, built between 1894 and 1902
The origins of industry in Velika Plana is connected to its agricultural environment and starts in the 1880s. Before World War II, there were three slaughterhouses-meat processing plants here, first that of Italian citizen of German origin Toni Klefiš (Tony Klefisch), and later that of Germans Christian Scheuß and Wilhelm Schumacher, and the one whose stocks were owned by a group of three larger and seven smaller Serbian entrepreneurs.
After World War II, all this property was nationalised and unified into a huge plant, expanding to include all sorts of food and food-related production, all the way to clothes and duvets with goose down. These have, however, folded in the 1990s with the disastrous events concurrent with the breakdown of ex-Yugoslavia.
Today, the main form of industry is a branch of Goša FOM from Smederevska Palanka[10] and the newly opened plant which produces parts for the military industry.[11][12]
The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2018):[13]
Activity
Total
Agriculture, forestry and fishing
167
Mining and quarrying
45
Manufacturing
1,904
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply
64
Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities
200
Construction
418
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles
1,837
Transportation and storage
378
Accommodation and food services
362
Information and communication
67
Financial and insurance activities
75
Real estate activities
4
Professional, scientific and technical activities
214
Administrative and support service activities
137
Public administration and defense; compulsory social security
397
Education
626
Human health and social work activities
315
Arts, entertainment and recreation
87
Other service activities
150
Individual agricultural workers
430
Total
7,876
Transportation
Velika Plana Train Station
The main Serbian A1 motorway from Subotica to Niš goes by the town. The town is also an important railroad junction. Twin tracks go south toward Niš, a track goes west to Belgrade, and a track goes north to Mala Krsna junction, where it splits towards Belgrade, Smederevo and Požarevac. This, in combination with the fact that many bus lines from southern Serbia to Belgrade and Vojvodina make a stop at the town bus station, makes Velika Plana an important transportation hub of central Serbia.[citation needed]
Culture and society
Education
Velika Plana has three elementary schools in the town itself: Sveti Sava (previously named Moša Pijade), Karađorđe (previously named Мiloš Mitrović), and Nadežda Petrović, and 11 in the surrounding suburbs and villages.
It also has three high schools: a gymnasium, technical high school and business assistant high school.
The Velika Plana Veterinary Centre started artificial insemination in cows in 1957 and later expanded to other livestock and claims to be one of the leading centres of its kind in Southeastern Europe.[14]
The latter two are within 4 kilometres (2 miles) from each other, and easily reachable by public transit. Koporin is more secluded but still within 11 km (7 mi) from the other two.
Rock festival
The Plana Demo Fest rock music festival has been organised since 2009 and is sponsored by the Velika Plana Youth Community Centre.
Serbia
