Banja, Skenderaj

For other places with the same name, see Banja.

Banja (Serbian Cyrillic: Бања, Albanian: Bajë) or Banja Rudnička (Бања Рудничка) is a settlement in the Skenderaj (or Srbica) municipality in the disputed region of Kosovo. The rural settlement lies on a cadastral area with the same name, of 1033 hectares. The village has a Serbian majority; in the 1991 census, it had 274 inhabitants.

History

It is mentioned for the first time in a charter of Serbian King Stephen Uroš I (r. 1243–1276), dating to the mid-13th century, which was granted (metochion) to the Gračanica monastery. The village church, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, was founded by vlastelin Rodop, a nobleman at the court of Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković (r. 1427–1456), who was buried here in 1436. Two bells found in its ruins are preserved in the Monastery of the Patriarchate of Peć and National Museum in Belgrade. Between 1936–41 the church was renovated, but destroyed during World War II by Albanian fascists. In 1971 the church was reconstructed.

On the night of May 21, 1998, a large number of Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army members of Drenica attacked the villages of Banja and Suvo Grlo (which are inhabited by Serbs) and a military station in Rudnik, above Skenderaj. Serbs and Serbian police answered the fire, no deaths or injuries were reported by them.

Demographic history

Ethnic group	1948	1953	1961	1971	1981	1991
Serbs					338
Albanians					32
Total	552	595	636	513	371	274

Sources

• "Црква Св. Николе". Spomenici kulture.
• "Čudesno selo Banje: U srcu Drenice, Srbija u srcu". KoSSev.