Early history , erected by Constantine I near his birth town of
Naissus. The first settlement on the site of today's Niš may have been founded by the
Celts at the end of the 3rd century BC. There is very little archaeological evidence however which can be used to reconstruct a pre-Roman history of Niš. During the
Roman era, the city of Naissus became a large urban center. The city, called
refugia and
vici in pre-Roman relation, as a result of its strategic position (the Thracians were based to the south In 169 AD, Naissus was established as a
municipium and from
Diocletian onwards it belonged to the province of
Dardania. The city was of great importance for the
Constantinian dynasty. It is the birthplace of
Constantine the Great who turned it from a middle-sized town to a large city with many public buildings. The city flourished greatly in the Constantinian period. A bronze bust of Constantine decorated city. It was his temporary residence and the city where he promulgated many laws, preserved in the
Theodosian code. In Constantinian narratives, Naissus was the city where the usurper
Vetranio abdicated to
Constantius II after a powerful speech he gave to the rebel armies.
Julian, the last Constantinian emperor, used Naissus, which had arms factories, as his base in the civil war and recruited
Illyrians and others as soldiers for his campaign. In 364 AD, the imperial Villa
Mediana was the site where emperors Valentinian and Valens met and divided the Roman Empire into halves which they would rule as co-emperors. It was besieged by the
Huns in 441 and devastated in 448, and again in 480 when the partially-rebuilt town was demolished by the
Barbarians. Byzantine Emperor
Justinian I restored the town but it was destroyed by the
Avars once again. The
Slavs, in their campaign against Byzantium, conquered Niš and settled here in 540.
Middle Ages and Prince
Géza receive gifts from the locals at Niš in 1072 (
Chronicon Pictum, 1358) In 805, the town and its surroundings were taken by Bulgarian Emperor
Krum. In the 11th century Byzantium reclaimed control over Naissus and the surrounding area. attacking Naissus on 4 July 1096 King
Solomon of Hungary and Prince
Géza marched along the valley of the river
Great Morava as far as Niš. The Hungarians seized the
Byzantine city without any resistance in 1072. During the
People's Crusade, on 3 July 1096,
Peter the Hermit clashed with Byzantine forces at Naissus.
Manuel I fortified the town, but under his successor
Andronikos I it was seized by the Hungarian king
Béla III. Byzantine control was eventually reestablished, but in 1185 it fell under Serbian control. By 1188, Niš became the capital of Serbian king
Stefan Nemanja. On 27 July 1189, Nemanja received German emperor
Frederick Barbarossa and his 100,000 crusaders at Niš. Niš is mentioned in descriptions of Serbia under
Vukan in 1202, highlighting its special status. In 1203,
Kaloyan of Bulgaria annexed Niš.
Stefan Nemanjić later regained the region.
Ottoman period The fall of the
Serbian Empire, which was conquered by Ottoman Sultan
Murad I in 1385, decided the fate of Niš as well. After a 25-day-long siege the city fell to the Ottomans. It was returned to Serbian rule in 1443. Niš again fell under Ottoman rule in 1448, and remained thusly for 241 years. During Ottoman rule Niš was a seat of the empire's military and civil administration. A
Silesian traveler stated in 1596 that the route from Sofia to Niš was littered with corpses and described the gates of Niš as bedecked with the freshly-severed heads of poor Bulgarian peasants. In 1689, Niš was seized by the Austrian army during the
Great Turkish War, but the Ottomans regained it in 1690. In 1737, Niš was
again seized by the Austrians, who attempted to rebuild the fortifications around the city. The same year, the Ottomans reclaimed the city without resistance. The existing fortification is of Ottoman Turkish origin, dating from the first decades of the 18th century (1719–1723). It is well known as one of the most significant and best preserved monuments of this kind in the mid-Balkans. The Fortress was erected on the site of earlier fortifications – the ancient Roman, Byzantine, and later yet Medieval forts. During the
First Serbian uprising in 1809, Serbian revolutionaries attempted to liberate Niš in the
Battle of Čegar. After the defeat of the Serbian forces, the Ottoman commander of Niš ordered the heads of the slain Serbs mounted on a tower to serve as a warning. The structure became known as
Skull Tower (). In 1821, the Ottomans arrested the Bishop of Niš, Milentija, as well as 200 Serbian patriots, on charges of preparing an uprising in the Niš area in support of the
Greek War of Independence. On June 13 of that year, Bishop Milentija and other Serbian leaders were hanged in public. In the 19th century Niš was an important town, but populated by Bulgarians in the 19th century, when the
Niš rebellion broke out in 1841. According to Ottoman statistics during the
Tanzimat the population of
Sanjak of Niš was treated as Bulgarian, and according to French travelers such as
Jérôme-Adolphe Blanqui and
Ami Boue in 1837/1841. According to all authors between 1840 and 1872 the delineation between Bulgarians and Serbs is undisputed and ran north of Nis, although one author Cyprien Robert claims that half of the population of the town was made up by Serbians. Serbian cartographers of the time (such as
Dimitrije Davidović in 1828 and
Milan Savić in 1878) also accepted
South Morava river as such delineation and added Niš outside the borders of the Serbian people. In 1862 some Muslim families from Belgrade and Smederevo settled in Nis due to the
forced displacement of Muslims in the Principality of Serbia. The urban population of Niš consisted of 17,107 Christian and 4,291 Muslim males, with total number of 3,500 Serbian houses and 2,000 Muslim houses. Muslim population of Niš consisted mainly of
Turks, of which a part were of Albanian origin, and the rest were Muslim
Albanians and Muslim Romani. Before the area had been under the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the
Serbian Patriarchate of Peć. The city was also stipulated the area to be ceded to Bulgaria according to the
Constantinople Conference in 1876. Niš was finally taken by the Serbian Army during the
Serbo–Ottoman War of 1876–1878. The battle for the liberation of Niš started on 29 December 1877, and the Serbian Army entered Niš on 11 January 1878, and it became a part of Serbia. The Albanian quarter was burned and some of the town's Muslim population, which the majority were Albanians, were
forced to flee to the Ottoman
vilayet of Kosovo, resettling in
Pristina, while others went to Skopje. The number of remaining Muslims counted were 1,168, with many being Muslim Romani, out of the pre-war ca. 8,500. The Albanian bazaar in Niš was destroyed. 12 out of 15 mosques and about 1,300 out of 4,000 houses were torn down, while the rest of the Muslim houses were sold at discounted prices. The destruction of buildings owned by Muslims, Jews and recalcitrant Christians was followed by the widening of streets and other measures to "modernise" the town and weaken its Ottoman outlook. Albanian traders who wanted to stay were subjected to a targeted campaign of murder. The Serbian authorities subjected the Jewish community to extortion of money, arbitrary arrests, confiscation of property, forced labour and desecration of graves. The demographics of Niš underwent change whereby Serbs who formed half the urban population prior to 1878 became 80 percent in 1884. The first hotel,
Europe, was built in 1879; shortly after the first district hospital and the first bank started operating in 1881. In 1878, the first Grammar School (Gimnazija), in 1882 the Teacher Training College, and in 1894, the Girls' College were founded in Niš. A railway line to Niš was built in 1884, as well as the city's railway station; on 8 August 1884, the first train arrived from Belgrade. In 1885, Niš became the last station of the
Orient Express, until the railroad was built between Niš and Sofia in 1888. In 1887, the
Niš Theatre Sinđelić was built. , King Alexander Square
During the age and breakup of Yugoslavia In the first few years after the war, Niš was recovering from the damage. In 1921, Niš became the centre of the Region (oblast), governed by a grand-župan, appointed by royal decree. From 1929 to 1941, Niš was the capital of the
Morava Banovina of the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The tram system in Niš started to run in November 1930. The national airline
Aeroput included Niš as a regular destination for the route Belgrade—Niš—Skopje—Thessaloniki in 1930. During the time of German occupation in World War II, the first Nazi
Crveni Krst concentration camp in Yugoslavia was in Niš. About 30,000 people passed through this camp, of whom over 10,000 were shot on nearby Bubanj hill. On 12 February 1942, 147 prisoners staged a mass escape. In 1944, the city was
heavily bombed by the Allies. In September 1943, the Germans established the Dulag 413 transit camp for
Italian Military Internees in the city. On 14 October 1944, after a long and exhausting battle, the 7th German SS Division '
Prinz Eugen' was defeated and Niš was liberated by
Bulgarian Army, and
Partisans. The city was also the site of a unique and accidental
friendly fire air war on November 7, 1944 between the air forces of the United States and
Soviet Union. On 23 June 1948, Niš was the site of a catastrophic flood during which the
Nišava river's water level raised by an unprecedented 5.5 meters. After World War II, the
University of Niš was founded on 15 June 1965. Over the course of the
1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, Niš was subject to airstrikes on 40 occasions. On 7 May 1999, the city was the site of a
NATO cluster bomb raid which killed 16 civilians. ==Geography==