Trstenik, Serbia

Trstenik (Serbian Cyrillic: Трстеник, pronounced [tr̩stěniːk]) is a town and municipality located in the Rasina District of central Serbia. As of 2022 census, the town has 13,476, while the municipality has 35,875 inhabitants. It lies on the West Morava river.

In the Early and Middle Iron Age, the tribe of Triballi inhabited the West Morava. Romans conquered the area in the 1st century AD. Roman sites include the Stražbe castrum on the right bank of the river, as well as sites in Bučje and Donji Dubić, and others still unexplored. The Romans introduced the Vitis vinifera (Common Grape Vine) to the region, which still today is processed in Serbian wineyards (It is one of the main incomes in the municipality).

In the Middle Ages, Trstenik belonged to the West Morava oblast (province). The first written record of Trstenik is from Prince Lazar's Ravanica charter dated 1381, in which he donated Trstenik to the Ravanica monastery. Ljubostinja monastery, founded by Princess Milica, was built from 1388 to 1405.

In 1427, the Ottoman Empire conquered the areas of Kruševac and Trstenik. In the Western Morava valley, the Ottomans built the Grabovac fortress. After the final fall of the Serbian Despotate in 1459, Trstenik became an important Ottoman caravan stop. In an Austrian report dated 1784, Trstenik had 47 Muslim and 17 Christian houses, stone mosques, two inns and a few craft shops. At that time Trstenik was located 2 km west of the present town, near the village of Osaonica.

After receiving autonomy of the Principality of Serbia, Miloš Obrenović ordered the construction of a new settlement on the right bank of the Western Morava in the period 1832–1838. In the 1870s, Trstenik got a primary school, a post office, a pharmacy, a bank and the first steam mill. In 1899, west across the river, a steel bridge was built, and the following year the Church of the Holy Trinity was built. Stalać-Kraljevo railroad opened in 1910.

From 1929 to 1941, Trstenik was part of the Morava Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

After World War II new facilities were built and a large part of the old quarters dates from this period. After World War II, Trstenik went through a significant industrial development with the establishment of the factory of hydraulic and pneumatic systems Prva petoletka. During the period of sanctions in the 1990s, the city stagnated.

According to the 2011 census results, the municipality of Trstenik had a population of 42,966 inhabitants.