Ritopek is a suburban settlement of Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

, the capital of Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

. It is located in the Belgrade's municipality of Grocka

Grocka

Grocka is a suburban neighborhood and one of 17 municipalities which constitute the City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.- Location :...

, 20 km east of Belgrade and 19 km west of the municipal seat, on the right bank of the Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

, across the village of Ivanovo

Ivanovo (Serbia)

Ivanovo is a village located in the Pančevo municipality, in the South Banat District of Serbia.It is situated in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.- Geography :...

 in Banat

Banat

The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...

 region of the Vojvodina

Vojvodina

Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...

 province.

History

In Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 times, Ritopek was called Tricornium (Latin for three-horned fortification) and had an important military camp Castra Tricornia. Its name originated from three distinctive hills dominating the landscape, one of which sank or was simply washed away into the Danube. The settlement gave name to the Romanized Thracio

Thracians

The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas including Thrace in Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...

-Celtic

Scordisci

The Scordisci were an Iron Age tribe centered in the territory of present-day Serbia, at the confluence of the Savus , Dravus and Danube rivers. They were historically notable from the beginning of the third century BC until the turn of the common era...

 tribe of Tricornenses

Tricornenses

Tricornenses of Tricornum were a Romanized Thracio-Celtic artificially created community by the Romans that replaced the Celtic Celegeri. The inhabitants of Tricornum were Celtic and Thracian, attested by epigraphic sources. After 6 AD, the Tricornense were one of the four units of Upper Moesia...

. A 258AD ceremonial breast plate with stylistic illustrations belonging to Legio VII Claudia

Legio VII Claudia

Legio septima Claudia Pia Fidelis was a Roman legion. Its emblem, like that of all Caesar's legions, was the bull, together with the lion....

 soldier Aurelius Herculanus has been found and many other artifacts of the Roman period

Roman Serbia

The territory of what is today the Republic of Serbia was under Roman rule for about 600 years, from the 1st century BC until the Slavic invasions of the 6th century....

 such as silver coins that were washed ashore once the Đerdap Dam was constructed. Ritopek is damaged practically every time the Danube spills over (like the floods in April 2006

2006 European floods

From February to April 2006 many rivers across Europe, especially the Elbe and Danube, swelled due to heavy rain and melting snow and rose to record levels...

).

The elementary school in Ritopek was one of the first schools in Serbia, established in 1838. Together with the school, the villagers built the first church which finally took shape in 1868 and is dedicated to the Holy Trinity.

Economy

Economy is almost entirely based on the agriculture, especially the intensive fruit growing with vast orchards around the village. The villagers mainly live off growing cherries, apricots and apples, and there are some remnants of vineyards. A summer festival, Dani trešnje (Days of cherry) is held in the village. As the village is stretched almost 5 km along the road, new section on the road of Smederevski put is modern, commercially oriented (gas stations, restaurants, work shops, parking lots, etc), and connects urbanistically Ritopek with Boleč

Bolec

Boleč is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in the municipality of Grocka.- Location :...

 and Vinča

Vinca

Vinca is a genus of six species in the family Apocynaceae, native to Europe, northwest Africa and southwest Asia. The English name periwinkle is shared with the related genus Catharanthus .-Description:Vinca plants are subshrubs or herbaceous, and have slender trailing stems 1–2 m long...

, thus being the easternmost part of the continuous built-up area of Belgrade.

Population

Ritopek is statistically classified as a rural settlement (village). Historical population of Ritopek according to the official censa of population:

• 1921 - 1,540
• 1948 - 1,892
• 1953 - 1,980
• 1961 - 1,956
• 1971 - 1,886
• 1981 - 2,002
• 1991 - 2,163 (de jure)
• 1991 - 2,045 (de facto)
• 2002 - 2,349 (de jure)
• 2002 - 2,284 (de facto)