Travel Guide Bosanski Petrovac

Bosanski Petrovac/Босански Петровац (pronounced "bosanski petrovats") has a population of about 3,400, of which 54% are Bosnian-Serbs and 43% are Bosniaks. It is the capital of the municipality of Bosanski Petrovac (population 7,000), which is part of the canton of Una-Sana (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina). The town is located 50 km southwest of Sanski Most and 55 km southwest of Bihać. Bus connections: see bus station.Dominated on the west by the Osječanica massif, which rises to 1,798 m, Bosanski Petrovac is located at 664 m above sea level, very close to the village of Petrovac (Bosnian Serb Republic) and in the Petrovac polje. Once inhabited by the Illyrian tribe of Deuri, this 200 km2 karst plain stretches from the Grmeč massif to the outskirts of Bihać. Founded by the Ottomans in 1699, the city is today one of the few examples in the country of successful cohabitation between communities since the end of the last war. Bosnians and Bosnian-Serbs were however all expelled, in 1992 for the first, in 1995 for the second. Despite the destruction of the mosques and most of the houses in 1992, life seems to have resumed an almost normal course. This is due to a dense network of associations and a certain economic dynamism. But Bosanski Petrovac also remains marked by the ideals of socialist Yugoslavia: during the Second World War, it was a stronghold of the partisans with the headquarters of Tito located in the Osječanica massif.