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Semlin

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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(Hungarian, Zimony; Servian, Zemun), a town of Croatia-Slavonia, in the county of Syrmia, situated beside the south bank of the Danube, on a tongue of land between that river and the Save. Pop. (1900) about 15,079; the majority being Serbs, the remainder Croats, Jews, Germans, Magyars and Gipsies. Semlin is the seat of an Orthodox archbishop; but most of the inhabitants are Roman Catholic. Apart from numerous churches, its chief buildings are the law-courts, prison, theatre, synagogue, a higher grade school or real-gymnasium, and two technical schools, one being for girls. Much of the town is modern, but its suburb Franzenthal near the Danube consists partly of mud huts thatched with reeds. Standing at the confluence of two navigable rivers, and on the main line from Buda-Pest to Constantinople and Salonica, Semlin is the principal customs and quarantine station for travellers between AustriaHungary and the Balkan states. It communicates with Vienna and the Black Sea, by the Danube; with Sissek, by the Save; and with Belgrade by a steam-ferry and a bridge over the Save. There are a few factories, but far more important is the transit trade in grain, fruit, livestock and timber.

Various Roman remains have been discovered near Semlin. On the top of Zigeunerberg, a hill overlooking the Danube, are the ruins of the castle of Hunyadi Janos, who died here in 1456. Until 1881 the town belonged to the Military frontier.