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Ferizaj or Uroševac, is a city and a municipality in Kosovo. It is the third largest city in Kosovo by population and also the seat of Ferizaj Municipality and the Ferizaj District. According to the last census of 2024, the municipality of Ferizaj has 109,255 inhabitants.
Ferizaj has been populated since the prehistoric era by the Starčevo, Vinča and Baden culture. During the Ottoman Kosovo, Ferizaj served as a trading center on the route between Belgrade and Thessaloniki. Ferizaj has always been considered as a city where tolerance and coexistence in terms of religion and culture has been part of the society in the last centuries. During and after the Kosovo War in 1999, the US Army base Camp Bondsteel was established outside of the city, now being used by forces belonging to Kosovo Force. It is the largest and the most expensive foreign military base built by the Americans in South Eastern Europe, since the Vietnam War.
Ferizaj is located in the south-eastern part of Kosovo, about halfway between the cities of Pristina and Skopje. It is some 230 kilometres north-east of Tirana, 55 kilometres north of Skopje, 300 kilometres west of Sofia, 35 kilometres south of Pristina and 300 kilometres east of Podgorica. Ferizaj is also known for a geographic phenomenon known as river bifurcation. The Nerodime River river is divided into two branches and both flow into two different seas. This phenomenon is exclusively seen in nature in this example, and that of the river Casiquiare, Brazil.
Since 2016, the MuralFest festival has been organised annually by the organisation with the same name MuralFest Kosova by painting in public spaces, it eventually spread to other cities in Kosovo, the festival has been attracting the attention of international media since last year, it is attended by famous mural artists around the world.
In the next archaeological period, the Vinča culture developed in some parts of Kosovo. These population shifts were made around 4300 BC. The newcomers also built their habitats near rivers. These habitats were unfortified, with dense rows of willows and mud houses. Remnants of their material culture, mostly different forms of ceramic vessels and large numbers of baked clay figures, testify on a higher cultural level.
Following the previously mentioned, Starčevo and Vinča, the Bubanj-Hum culture arrived in Kosovo. This cultural group expanded from the east, from the territory of today's Bulgaria. When carriers of this ethno-cultural group reached the region before the end of the 6th millennium BC, they destroyed Vinča habitats. Remnants of their material culture have not survived.
After Bubanj-Hum, the Baden culture arrived from the Danube, representing its southernmost influence in Kosovo. Baden culture ended before the end of the 3rd millennium BC.
Starting from the 8th century BC and then during the next centuries, until the Roman Empire conquest, can transmit continuously development of a new culture in the region, the Dardanian tribe. The Dardanian burned their dead and bury their remnants in tumulus tombs. In the city, two necropoleis have been found, one in the locality of Kuline near the railway station in Gërlicë, the other in region of Mollopolc, along the Ferizaj-Shtime road.
Around 280 BC some episodes from the life of Dardania reaches historical records as a political community ruled by a king.
Most of the information on the Dardanians is about their wars against the Macedons. The first contact between the Dardania and the Romans came in 200 BC when they offered military assistance in the fight against Macedonia. In 96 BC the Roman Emperor Sulla subdued the Dardani. Numerous Roman Empire settlements were established across the valley, on the old lake terraces. These settlements also accompanied a road network; connecting cities such as Ulpiana and Skopje, which was part of the important road connecting Macedonia to Dalmatia, passing across Ferizaj and the gorge of Kaçanik. A part of the road was discovered on the river bed of the Lepenac, one near the village of Doganaj, the other near the village of Reka.
During the Ottoman–Habsburg wars of the late 17th century and the first half of the 18th century, the major ethnic changes occurred and the rapid Islamization from Ottoman Empire began. According to Ottoman Turks sources until the construction of the Mitrovica–Skopje railway was finished there was no evidence found of a city called Feriz-Bey. At the beginning it was called "Tasjon" by surrounding villagers; this came as a result of the French word station mispronounced by the local residents.
The rapid development of the town started with the construction of the railway station, and within a short period of time, the city became home to different inns, warehouses, and permanent markets. Traders of Kosovo from Prizren to Shkodër, which at that time was by caravan, were mainly diverted towards Thessaloniki. Exporting raw materials especially that of cereals went through Ferizaj and through aligned foreign goods turnover came from Thessaloniki and Skopje. This was the reason that Ferizaj for a period of thirty years became a city with about 400 houses and 200 shops. Most of the population worked in crafts and other activities related to trade. During this period, the opening of the colonial shops, craft workshops accelerated the development of the city.
The Treaty of London in 1913 turned Ferizovik into a part of the Kingdom of Serbia, and the name was changed to Uroševac, after Stefan Uroš V of Serbia. This was part of the Serbianisation efforts of the early twentieth century in which inhabited places within Kosovo were named after heroes from Serbian epic poetry.
In 1941, the Communist Party's leading bodies of Ferizaj implored more residents to join the National Liberation Movement. By the end of this year, previously established groups of illegal arms were conducting business in the city. With the capitulation of Italy, the country was occupied by Germany, and the behavior of the German occupation was more favorable to the Albanian population than that of the Italians. On 11–12 September 1943, 60 Serbs were killed by Albanians in the area of Ferizaj. After the German invasion, the National Liberation Movement was strengthened even further until 1943 when the arrest and deportation of all participants began. This movement eventually resulted in the liberation of the city on 2 December 1944, and later, in the liberation of the country. After the liberation of Ferizaj, two tasks stood afront the National Liberation Movement: release and protect territory, and rebuild the economy of the country.
Camp Bondsteel, the main base of the United States Army detachment to the Kosovo Force peacekeeping force in Kosovo, is located nearby. The camp was established immediately after the war. The camp is one of the largest in the area, being formed by 955 acres or 360,000 square meters. Bondsteel is located on hills and farmland near the city of Ferizaj.
By ethnicity, Kosovo Albanians form the largest ethnic group in Ferizaj Municipality at 104,152, followed by Ashkalis (3,629 inhabitants) and Romani people (204 inhabitants). Other ethnicities include Bosniaks, Egyptians, Gorani people, Kosovo Serbs and Turks. By language, 107,926 spoke Albanian as a first language. Other spoken languages were Bosnian language, Serbian language and Turkish language. By religion, there were 107,121 Islam, 413 Roman Catholics, 45 Orthodox, 64 of other religions and 41 irreligious.
The composer Lorenc Antoni lived in Ferizaj in the early 1940s, and the composer Venqenc Gjini from Ferizaj have also made notable contributions to culture and are respected throughout Kosovo, especially for their creative idioms inspired by the central fountain in front of the mosque.Grup autoresh Ferizaj dhe rrethina, Beograd, 1975, page 262
Ferizaj is also famous for its Ensemble of Song and Dance "Kastriotët", which was created in 1967.
It also yearly hosts MuralFest, a festival of murals hosted every June in Ferizaj, where artists from around the world who specialise in the art of murals, come and show their talent by transforming public spaces into lively areas of the city, thus earning the name city of murals over the years, the festival also does mural art in other cities in Kosovo too, like Pristina, Gjilan, Gjakova, Vitia and Kaçanik.
The city has one public university known as University of Applied Sciences in Ferizaj and one public library, where students also have internet access. Membership prices apply.
A Neolithic site is located 2 km from Ferizaj, in the Varosh village. It includes ceramic fragments, the majority of which belonged to the Starčevo and Vinča cultures. It is believed that the site was a settlement in the Roman era. In 2008, another Neolithic site was discovered in the Zllatar village. There are indications it was used in the Mesolithic age, as well as more recent periods. It displays flint, stone tools, and ceramics.
Ruins of a Roman-era church were discovered at Komogllava. It is believed to have been built in the 1st century BC, then rebuilt in the Byzantine era. The locality includes remnants of ancient urbanized streets, sewage, and other infrastructure. Vases, ceramic pots, coins, jewellery, items of iron and other carbonaceous substances, but also characteristic stone, believed to have been moved from coastal areas to build the sarcophagus and other items.
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