Bela Crkva

The city of Bela Tsrkva was founded in 1717 . Its foundation is attributed to Count Mercius, the first governor of Banat , after the expulsion of the Turks. By order of the count, the colonization of these places began. Over time, the city became the cultural, economic and political center of the district. Here, viticulture began to develop and the production of wine , brandy , liquor , cognac , which was exported to many European countries, increased. According to Karl Marx , during the years of the Hungarian War of 1849, clashes between Serbs and Germans took place here (in Weisskirchen) ^[1] . In 1876, there were already five silk factories in the city, factories for the production of bricks, tiles, leather and other enterprises worked successfully. Floriculture developed.

In the early 1920s Bela Crkva was a multinational city. The German population predominated (more than 5,000 people), Serbs (about 3,000), Romanians (about 700), and Hungarians (about 300) also lived. In the early 1920s the population was replenished at the expense of Russian emigrants, who made up the third largest colony after Germans and Serbs - about 2000 people. Accordingly, in the everyday life there were several names of the city: German (Weiskirchen), Serbian (Bela-Tsrkva), Russian (Bila Tserkva), Romanian (Bizeritsa Alba), Hungarian (Fehertemplem).

Since October 1922, the Crimean Cadet Corps was based in the city, and from October 1929, the First Russian Cadet Corps . Until April 1942, he occupied the building on the outskirts of the city, then was evicted from it by Nazi occupiers and moved to the building of the Don Mariinsky Institute, where it functioned until October 1944. Since 2010, one of the squares of the city has been called the Russian Cadet Square. In May 2014, the cadet ceremony was held for the first time in 70 years in the building of the former cadet corps - the consecration and transfer of the banner of the Polotsk Cadet Corps to the Belarusian delegation.

The city is located near the border with Romania , on the plain of the Belatskrvan Basin, limited from the north by the Vrsack Mountains and from the east by the Carpathians . Near the city flows the Nera River , which flows south into the Danube .

The city is located in a temperate continental climate, which is characterized by long and warm summers, sometimes cold and snowy winters, short spring and warm autumn. The koshava east wind gives a particular specificity to the climate of this region - a strong and dry wind that blows up to three consecutive weeks from the southeast to northwest. In addition to koshava, quite often Severats (cold wind, usually in winter) and north-west winds that bring rains also blow.

There are six artificial lakes of various sizes and depths formed as a result of gravel mining in the Bela Tsrkvi district. In the city itself is located the City Lake, on which the beach, restaurant, bungalows are built.

The population is 10 675 people. (census 2002 ).

The ethnic composition of the city’s population is complex. The majority of the population are Serbs (77%). Czechs also live (5%), Yugoslavs (3%), Gypsies (2%), Romanians (2%), Hungarians (2%), Montenegrins (1%), Macedonians (1%), Croats (1%) and others.

The number of adults in the city is 8,500, the average age of the population is 39.1 years (men - 36.9, women - 41.0). The city has 3899 households, the average number of people in which is 2.71.