Serbs in Romania, by Denisa Baba

Serbs in Romania
On the present territory of Romania, some of the ancestors of the Serbs probably
settled since the period of Slavic migration to the Balkan Peninsula (7th - 8th centuries).
Although there were many Serbs who passed into the kingdom of Hungary since the Middle
Ages, after the Ottoman Empire was conquered by Serbia, most Serbs came to the present
territory of Romania during the great Serb migration of 1690. A large number of them became
guards in the service of the Habsburg Empire and settled on the northern shore of the Mures
River, which formed between 1699 and 1718 the border between this state and the Ottoman
Empire. After the Austrians conquered Banat and moved the border to the south, some of the
former border guards from Mures left for Russia, while others settled in Banat, near the new
border.
As Orthodox Christians, the Serbs immediately raised several churches and
monasteries on the current territory of Romania, including the Serbian Church in Arad, with
the dedication to the Apostles Peter and Paul (1698-1702). Some monasteries were also
erected, considered not only religious centers, but also important works of art, such as the
Bezdin monastery in Arad county, whose present church dates from after 1690.
Most Serbs in Romania are in Banat. This province, which became part of the
Kingdom of Hungary within the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy in 1867, was until 1918 a
multi-ethnic area, with important communities of Romanians, Germans (Swabians), Serbs,
Hungarians, Jews and other ethnicities. None of them had an absolute majority in the
population of the province. At the end of the First World War, Banat was claimed by both
Romanians and Serbs, and through the Trianon peace treaty its division was established
between Romania, which received two thirds of its surface, and the Serb-Croatian Kingdom
Slovenian (later Yugoslavia), which received one third.
Today, according to the 2011 census data, there are still about 18,076 Serbs living in
Romania, out of whom 849 in Arad county.
The Serbs in Romania have given a number of important personalities, both for Arad
and Romania, as well as for Serbia. Among them we mention:
- Jovan Popović Tekelija (ca. 1660-1722), appointed captain of Arad by the Habsburg
authorities, for his military merits, also became founder of the Serbian Church in the city;
- Dimitrije "Dositej" Obradović (1739-1811), a great Enlightenment thinker and writer
who inaugurated modern Serbian literature and Serbia's first minister of education;
- Sava Tekelija (1761-1842), was the first Serbian doctor of law and a great
philanthropist, who donated a large sum of money and set up a foundation, "Tekelijanum", to
support the oldest Serbian cultural institution, "Matica Srpska", whose president he was;
- Emilian Tabaković (Milan Tabacovici) (1860-1946) was a great architect who
designed many important buildings, both in Arad, where he was born, and in Kikinda, Novi
Sad and other localities;
Among the buildings designed by him are: Roman Catholic Church "St. Anton of
Padua", Serbian Palace, Neumann Palace, Cenad Palace, Masonic Temple, all from Arad and
others;
- Miodrag Belodedici (b. 1964) was a great footballer who played especially as a

freeman, the first player to win the European Champions Cup with two different teams:
Steaua București and Steaua Roșie Belgrad;
- Lavinia Miloșovici (b. 1976) was a gymnast, multiple Olympic and World
Champion, active in the 1990s.