Novi Pazar

Novi Pazar, town, southwestern Serbia. It lies in the Raška River valley, in rough and hilly country near the site of Ras, which was the capital city of the medieval Serbian state in the 12th–14th century.

Roman baths are in the vicinity of the town, as is the Church of St. Peter (7th or 8th century), which is the oldest extant church in Serbia and an interesting example of early Slav architecture. A few miles west is the monastery of Sopoćani, built in 1260. Its vast frescoes, done before 1264–65 and painted in the Byzantine manner, portraying the Gospels, are considered by many to be the finest in Europe from this period. The monastery—along with a number of sites on the outskirts of the medieval city of Stari Ras—was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.

The town of Novi Pazar (“New Bazaar”) was rebuilt by the Ottoman Turks after their conquest of the Balkans in the 15th century. It became an important market town and was the administrative centre of a Turkish military district. The Altum Alem Mosque (16th century) dates from the Ottoman period, as does an 18th-century caravansary on the town’s main square. Novi Pazar began to decline in the 18th century and was burned three times by the Serbs in the 19th century. After the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, it was ceded to Serbia.

Agricultural trade is a leading economic activity. Industry is centred on the production of clothing and footwear. More than three-fourths of the inhabitants are Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims). Pop. (2002) 54,604; (2011) 66,527.