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In the Banat Gorge, one of the main arteries of European civilization, Serbs have lived since the early Middle Ages. The monasteries of Bazjas and Zlatica, endowments of Saint Sava, from the beginning of the 13th century, today bear witness to the centuries-old presence of Serbs in that part of Romania. In the town of Svinica, which guards the Iron Gates of the Banat Gorge, or Đerdap Gorge, as it is called in Serbia, Serbs have lived since 1020. They settled there from southern and Old Serbia and have preserved their archaic speech to this day. The largest number of Serbs arrived in the Banat Gorge in the 15th and 17th centuries in the great migration under Arsenije Čarnojević. The Hungarian king Matthias Kovran, in his letter to the Pope in May 1483, says that about 200,000 Rascians had moved to his kingdom in the last four years. This is how the Hungarians called the Serbs, and in many documents from the mid-16th century, the Hungarians call Banat Raška. The Serbs from the Banat Gorge were for a long time border guards in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and were the greatest barrier to Christianity from the Ottomans. Wars, persecutions, migrations and divisions have accompanied the Serbs from that area for centuries. Despite everything, they have survived in the Banat Gorge to this day. In the municipalities of Sokolovac, Belobreška and Svinica, they are still the majority population. Serbs still live in the places: Stara Moldava, Srpska Požežena, Ljupkova, Radimna, Prnjavor, and Mačević. Of the total number of Serbs living in Romania today, a quarter of them live in the Banat Gorge. That region has also given birth to several prominent Serbs who have left their mark on our history. One of them is Emilijan Josimović, the first professor of architecture in Serbia and the first Serbian urban planner who, back in 1867, drew up the first urban plan of the old core of Belgrade from Kalemegdan to Slavija. Josimović was born in Old Moldavia, and in the town of Leskovica was born Radenko Stanković, founder and professor of the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade, senator and minister of education, and during the reign of King Alexander I and royal regent of the minor King Peter I Karađorđević. Editor: Branko Stanković Cameraman: Darko Bursać Editing: Marija Baronijan Šašić Editor of the show Branko Stanković is the author of 18 documentary films and two dramas that have been screened on RTS, as well as many documentary shows that, like the films, have been awarded at domestic and international festivals. Label and copyright: Radio-Television of Serbia Any copying of video and/or audio recordings and posting on other channels is prohibited! #kvadraturakruga #rts