INĐIJA
Inđija was mentioned in books around 1455 as the property of the noble family Šuljok from Lekča, as Ingia or Ingya. The settlement was not small even then – it had a church and a castle. According to the data collected by the Turks keeping books on levies for the population, in 1596 there were 23 houses and one Widows’ home.
According to some writers, the name of the town originated from the Turkish word ‘ikindia’ – evening hour, the third daily prayer among the Muslims, which is performed after sunset. Others claim that the name originated from the Latin word ‘indigena’ meaning indigenous, native, host, based on the fact that the Roman conquerors gave it a name. Others assume that the name originated from the Old Latin word ‘indago’ – a fenced area for game.
The first public building in Inđija was the Orthodox church built in 1755. The cost of construction was covered by the fact that the elders went out to the crossroads in the early evening, when the plowmen were returning from the fields, and took two oxen from each who had six to eight oxen, and one from those who had fewer. Eighty years later, when the number of German Catholics in Inđija increased to five hundred, the Roman Catholic church was built. The Synagogue, built during 1903 or 1904, burned down in the Second World War and the plot on which it was located was bought by one of the settlers.
Various fairs began to be held in Inđija at the beginning of the 19th century, at the time when the state postal service was established. The telegraph became operational in Inđija in 1850, while the postal transfer of money began in 1886. The first bank was founded in 1897, as was the first trade school. The first power plant in Inđija started operating in 1911.
Industrial progress in Inđija began with the establishment of mills during the middle of the 19th century. The first larger steam mill with a capacity of ten wheat vehicles per day was built by a company from Budapest in 1890. The mills were followed by brick factories, while the tradition in the production of carpets and furniture began in 1876.
The urban core of Inđija originated at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, during the period of industrial development when the population of German nationality settled. At that time, the building of the Municipal Administration, the House of Vojnović, the Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter and the Town House with eclectically shaped street façades, with elements of Baroque, Classicism, Secession and Neo-renaissance, were built. Somewhat earlier, the Church of the Presentation of the Most Holy Mother of God was built, which according to its proportions is one of the most beautiful and harmonious buildings in Srem preserved from the 18th century.
Inđija, as the center of one of the most developed and well-organized municipalities in the country, owing to its accelerated development, has grown into a modern urban environment. With its new pedestrian zone with a monumental square, a modern building of the Cultural Center, flower arrangements and urban outdoor furniture, Inđija is building the image of a European city tailored to the modern man.
Vojvode Stepe St. passes through the central part of the city and is the main pedestrian zone. This exceptional ambient, a combination of modern and civic architecture from the end of the 19th century, is the main commercial and business zone of the city with numerous shops and cafes. The central place of the pedestrian zone is the square near the post office, where many important events are held today, such as concerts, festivals, theater performances and other events that enrich the cultural life of the city.
It was in the center of Inđija that rich industrialists, mostly Germans, who had factories outside the city, built their homes. In the 19th century, the houses were built mostly of adobe, the foundations were made of unfired brick, and the roof was covered with pepper tiles. The gables of these houses are decorated in rich Baroque – motifs of the Eye of God, the Sun with rays, the Moon, the Tree of Life etc. The surface of the façade around the windows and doors is enriched with decorative elements of leaves, flowers, wreaths, spirals etc. The history of bygone days weaves a story at every step in the old core of this small town in Srem.