Nis Tourist Information - Welcome to Tourist Organization of Nis

4000 - 3000 BC	Archaeological findings from the prehistoric sites of Bubanj and Humska Čuka testify that Niš was inhabited as early as in the New Stone Age (Neolithic) and the Early Bronze Age.
2000 BC	Several Archaeological sites in the immediate vicinity of Niš reveal prehistoric settlements on Bubanj, in Hum, Gornja and Donja Vrežina, Trupale and Gornja Toponica.
8th century BC	Niš area represented the border-zone between the Illyrians and the Thracians.
3rd century BC	The Illyrians were defeated by the Celts, who conquered the whole region, and gave Niš its first recorded name: Naissus (The City of Fairies).
75 BC	The Niš area was conquered by the Romans during the Dardanian war.
161 AD	The first surviving records, by Claudius Ptolomei, in which Niš was mentioned as one of the four biggest cities of Dardania.
2nd century	Naissus was an important Roman military centre - a Municipium.
274	Constantine Flavius Valerius was born in Niš.
306	Constantine Flavius Valerius was proclaimed Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.
4th century	Ancient Niš, with Constantine's residence at Mediana, flourished in prosperity, as a military and administrative centre of the Roman Empire.
441	Niš was devastated by the Huns, as were many other cities in the Balkans.
1185	Serbian Župan Stefan Nemanja took over the city of Niš.
1189	In Niš, Stefan Nemanja met Frederick I Barbarossa, the leader of the Crusaders, to discuss the strategy against the Byzantium.
1385	Niš was seized by the Turks for the first time. The siege lasted for 25 days.
1443	In the so-called Long Campaign, Christian armies, led by the Hungarian military leader Janos Hunyadi (known as Sibinjanin Janko in Serbian folk poetry) together with Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković, defeated the Turks and repelled them to Sofia. An important battle was fought near Niš, which remained a free city for a whole year after that.
1570	The Dubrovnik colony in Niš was mentioned by German diplomat Rime in his travelogues.
1723	The Niš Fortress was built. It is one of the best-preserved and the most beautiful edifices in the Balkans erected during the Turkish rule.
1737	Austrian armies seized Niš for the second time and held it for 85 days.
1766	Metropolitan Gavrilo published 'Sinđelija', the first book published here.
1809	The beginning of the Serbian campaign against the Turks. The first battles were fought near Niš.
May 31st 1809	Stevan Sinđelic, Karađorđe's voivoda, led the Niš Campaign army which fought the Turks at Čegar Hill near Niš, and was eventually defeated.
January 11th 1878.	Niš was liberated from the Turks.
1878	"Project for the Regulation of Niš", designed by Winter started being applied in Niš town planning. The first Grammar School (Gimnazija) was founded.
1881	1881 The first bank was opened in Niš.
1882	1881 The Teachers' Training College was founded in Niš.
1884	The Niš - Belgrade railway line was opened to traffic. The first issue of the local newspapers "Niški vjesnik" was published.
1885	1884 The first hardware workshop was founded. It later grew into the first and the biggest enterprise in the town.
1886	In Niš, the law was passed by which the Serbian Royal Academy was constituted.
1887	"Sinđelic", the first local theatre, was founded in Niš.
1889	The Public Library was opened; The building of the County Administration (Banovina) was erected.
1894	The Girls' College was founded in Niš.
1897	The citizens of Niš saw the first movie.
1900	1900 The first issue of "Gradina", local literary magazine, was published.
1903	1903 The first Workers' Culture Club was founded.
1905	Nadežda Petrović, well known Serbian paintress, founded the Fine Arts Colony in Sićevo, in the vicinity of Niš.
1906	The first full-time cinema was opened in a pavilion in Sinđelićev Trg (Sinđelic Square).
1908	The Sićevo hydro-electric power plant was built on the Nišava River near Niš.
1914	At the beginning of World War I, Niš became the war seat of the Serbian Government and the National Assembly.
December 7th, 1914	The Niš Declaration: the National Assembly issued a declaration, explaining the aims of the liberation war and announcing the constitution of a new state, in which all the South-Slav peoples would be united.
1915-1918	During World War I, Niš was occupied by the German and Bulgarian armies.
October 12th, 1918	Niš was liberated from the Germans.
1941	World War II. Niš was occupied by the Germans, who set up the Red Cross Concentration Camp in a Niš suburb. More than 12 000 prisoners were killed during the war, most of them shot on Bubanj Hill near Niš.
February 12th 1942.	A successful escape from the Red Cross Concentration Camp was organized.
October 14th 1944	Niš was liberated from the Germans.
1965	1965 The University of Niš was founded.
1966	An important cultural festival established in Niš: Yugoslav Film Festival of Actors' Achievements.
1969	1969 Another cultural event established in Niš: Yugoslav Choral Festival (YCF), the International Festival of Amateur Choirs.
1971	"Narodne novine", the first modern local newspaper founded.
1975	Niš became the administrative centre of Niš Region.
1992	Niš became the centre of the Nišava Administrative District.
1996	After the local elections, and the attempted fraud by the supporters of the ruling party, the citizens of Niš stood up in peaceful protest. It took the citizens 100 days of protest rallies to force the regime to accept the election results.
1998	The Consulate of the Hellenic Republic was officially opened in Niš. This was the first time in Serbian history that a diplomatic office was opened in a Serbian city other than the capital.