Bjelovar

Bjelovar
City
Grad Bjelovar City of Bjelovar
Top: Preradović Street; Center left: Bjelovar Town Hall; Center right: Cathedral and city park; Bottom left: Stjepan Radić Square; Bottom right: Borik memorial park
Flag Coat of arms
Bjelovar Location of Bjelovar in Croatia
Coordinates: 45°54′N 16°50′E / 45.900°N 16.833°E / 45.900; 16.833Coordinates: 45°54′N 16°50′E / 45.900°N 16.833°E / 45.900; 16.833
Country	Croatia
County	Bjelovar-Bilogora
Government
• Mayor	Antun Korušec (Ind.)
Area
• Total	191.9 km2 (74.1 sq mi)
Elevation	135 m (443 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	40,276
• Density	210/km2 (540/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	43000
Area code(s)	043
Vehicle registration	BJ
Website	bjelovar.hr

Bjelovar (Hungarian: Belovár, German: Bellowar, Kajkavian: Belovar) is a city in central Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Bjelovar-Bilogora County. At the 2011 census, there were 40,276 inhabitants, of whom 91.25% were Croats.

Bjelovar was first mentioned in 1413 and only gained importance when a new fort was built there in 1756, at the command of the Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa. The initial role of the city was to defend central Croatia against the Ottoman invasions. The town had to wait until the end of these wars to be pronounced a free royal town by ban Ivan Mažuranić in 1874.

The oldest Neolithic location in this area is in Ždralovi, a suburb of Bjelovar, where, while building a basement for the house of Josip Horvatić, a dugout was found and identified as belonging to the Starčevo culture (5000 – 4300 BC). Finds from Ždralovi belong to a regional subtype of a late variant of the Neolithic culture. It is designated the Ždralovi facies of the Starčevo culture, or the final-stage Starčevo. There are also relics of the Korenovo culture, Sopot culture, Lasinja culture, and the Vučedol culture.

After the drop of the Ottoman Empire domination, Bjelovar (named BELLOWAR before 1850 ) was part of the Austrian monarchy (Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia after the compromise of 1867), in the Croatian Military Frontier, WARASDIN-KREUTZER Regiment N°V until 1881.