The City in brief
The City of Prijedor is located in the northern western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entity of Republic of Srpska, on the bank of the Sana and Gomjenica rivers and on slopes of the Kozara mountain. Prijedor has become an important business and merchant centre thanks to the Roman roads and navigation of the Sana river as well as the first railroad built in 1873. Historic buildings and infrastructure from the Ottoman and Austro - Hungarian period are the characteristic of urban landscape.
Nowadays, Prijedor is a developed urban, merchant and industrial centre and in the same time, a good host to some of the famous worlds and BiH companies. According to the last census in 2013, in the area of the City of Prijedor were registered 97.588 of inhabitants, who live in 71 settlements (organized in 49 local communities), of which the half makes the rural population. Prijedor is the third biggest local community in Republic of Srpska, after Banja Luka and Bijeljina, and the seventh biggest local community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In total, urban area is 834 square kilometres.
Prijedor is traditionally an industrial environment that based its economic development on exploitation of natural resources such as iron ore, gypsum, limestone, clay, quartz sand and wood.
Prijedor is recognizable by "Mira" buiscuits and waffle factory, "LJubija" iron ore pit and a company "Arcelor Mittal, "Prijedorčanka" - a fruit processing factory.
A network of roads makes 70 km of the main roads, 47 km of regional roads, 196 km of local roads, 139 km of non-categorized roads and about 300 streets of the total length over 60 km.
Prijedor has 12 elementary and 6 high schools, music elementary and high school, Centre "Sunce" for disabled children, School of Applied Health Sciences, Faculty of Mining and Geology and School of Economics and IT.
Thanks to long paintings tradition, Prijedor is considered by many a city of painters due to a great number of educated painters of all generations and a rich artistic collection of painting works.
The City of Prijedor has a great touristic potential thanks to significant natural richness of which here is important to emphasize the Kozara mountain and the Sana river, many excursion sites and spaces arranged for tourists stay which enable the opportunities for active holiday. Walking, mountaineering, riding a bike, hunting, fishing, swimming, camping as well as enjoying the untouched nature is just one small part of what Prijedor has to offer to visitors.
Kozara, Dinaric mountain is 75 km long, is located between the flows of the Sava river on north and Vrbas river on east, Sana river on south and Una on west. It belongs to low mountains of dynamic relief whose peaks do not reach 1000 meters of sea level.
A moderate continental climate, lots of sunny days and gentle mountains peaks give a special value to this mountain . It is emphasized in its preserved forest with diverse flora and fauna, a special quality to experiencing Kozara are clean mountains springs and areas of thick coniferous forest.
In the central part of the Kozara mountain is placed Kozara National Park which presents an ideal destination for those who like nature. The central part of the National Park and the Kozara mountain is the area of Mrakovica where was placed the memorial site to the fallen fighters in the World War II. The National Park "Kozara" is a member of the EUROPARC -Federation of Nature and National Parks of Europe and as such, is one of the jewels of touristic offer of Republic of Srpska. Within the Kozara National Park there are several walking trails designed for fans of nature as well as skiing trails suitable for skiers of all ages.
A basic hydrographic characteristic of the City of Prijedor is the river Sana with its tributaries. The Sana river comes out near Medna in Ribnik municipality and instils in Una river near Novi Grad and runs through Ribnik, Ključ, Sanski Most, Oštru Luku, Prijedor and Novi Grad. A legend says that old Romans named the river after its sanative effect ( in Latin "sana" means healthy ).
On the territory of the City of Prijedor, the length of the Sana river is 40 km and along the banks here are lots of swimming sites and enjoyment in beauties of this river.
Prijedor is a city of diverse and rich cultural and artistic life. From classic to alternative, from amateur to professional, lots of artistic voices present the conscience of citizens. The carriers of development of culture in the City are Museum Kozara, People Library "Ćirilo i Metodije", City Theatre, "Gallery 96", Memorial House of Stojanović family and many cultural artistic societies in the area of the City of Prijedor.