Ferizaj

Ferizaj or Uroševac is the sixth largest city in Kosovo by population and seat of Ferizaj Municipality and Ferizaj District. Ferizaj has been populated since the prehistoric era by the Starčevo, Vinča and Baden culture. During the Ottoman period, 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 KFOR. 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 Nerodimka 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 murals 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. History of Ferizaj Starčevo cultureVinča culture and Baden culture The most ancient group of people that inhabited the territory of Kosovo, in the 6th and 5th millenniums BC was the Starčevo culture. Members of this group built homes near rivers and river terraces. They made their homes of willows and mud, while their main profession was plowing and farming.