Novi Pazar

Novi Pazar is a city located in southwest Serbia. It is a multicultural area of Muslims and Orthodox Christians and many monuments of both religions, like the Altun-Alem Mosque and the Church of St. Apostles Peter and Paul, are found in the region. It is a cultural centre of the Bosniaks in Serbia and the historical region of Sandžak.

The name Novi Pazar means new marketplace, It is derived from Serbian place name Novo Trgovište, via Turkish place name Yeni Pazar (meaning new market)

According to the last official census done in 2011, the Municipality of Novi Pazar has 100,410 inhabitants, while the city itself has 68,749 inhabitants. Most of Novi Pazar’s population are Bosniaks while 68.47% of the municipality’s population is urban. 

The total area of the municipality is 742 km². It contains over 100 settlements, mostly small and spread over hills and mountains surrounding the city. The largest surrounding village is Mur with over 3000 residents.

One of the oldest monuments of the area is the Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul first built in the Roman era. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the next centuries, the region of modern Novi Pazar served as the principal province of the Serbian realm.

Novi Pazar was formally founded as a city in its own right in 1461 by Ottoman general Isa-Beg Isaković, the Bosnian governor of the district and founder of Sarajevo.  Isa-Beg Isaković decided to establish a new town on the area as an urban centre. First he built a mosque, a public bath, a marketplace, a hostel, and a compound.