Grude

Grude
Grude
	Municipality and town
	; Flag
	; Flag
	; Location of Grude in Bosnia and Herzegovina
	Grude Location of Grude in Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Country	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Entity	Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Canton	West Herzegovina
Government
• Mayor	Ljubo Grizelj (HDZ BiH)
Area
• Total	220.8 km2 (85.3 sq mi)
• Land	220.8 km2 (85.3 sq mi)
• Water	0 km2 (0 sq mi)
Population (2013)
• Total	17,865
• Density	81/km2 (210/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Post code	88340
Area code	+387 049
Website	www.grude.info

Grude (<phonos file="hr-Grude.ogg">pronunciation</phonos>) is a town and municipality in West Herzegovina. It is located in West Herzegovina Canton in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Geography

Grude is 49 kilometers ^[1] from Mostar,19 kilometers ^[2] from Imotski, and 100 km ^[3] from Split. Grude is rich in natural beauties as well- from the numerous caves and caverns characteristic of this stone, the karst landscape through - which is unusual this area - a number of sources and water resources (Lake Krenica, River Vrlika).

History

Pre-history and ancient times

Testimony about life in these regions are still present in prehistoric times. In place of Ravlić cave, which is located in Drinovci, were found traces of life dating from the later Neolithic period.The life in these regions has been flowing continuously - the peoples, cultures and civilizations have been changing. In later, but historical times, this soil had very living presence of the Romans, whose commercial road, connecting the two great ancient trading center - Salon and Narona, was passing through the region. Recent archaeological excavations at the site in Gorica confirm that on this soil in ancient times there was a significant Roman settlement. Middle Ages is a time of tombstones - stećak and in municipality of Grude can be found practically everywhere - which proves that at that time was quite a big life. Undoubtedly it is a merit favorable geographical position of this region, as well as the relatively mild climate, together with rich natural resources. Rarely can see where this unusual combination of brutality and tameness of nature that we find in the region Imotski-bekijsko fields - arable land is relatively rich in water in contrast to the fierce and rocky, which is surrounded by.

Middle ages

End of the Middle Ages was marked by the Ottoman expansion and conquest.

Church of St. Catherine in city of Grude

Modern times

After the Turks, Austria-Hungary arrived. This is a short transitional period in which were built numerous schools and infrastructure needed for the functioning of a modern European state, but this is somehow persistently ignored in the overall modernization. Like most of the West Herzegovina cities, Grude was labeled as pro-Ustaše region. Therefore it has been demonized by the officials of SFRY. The investements were very poor in it. That caused huge poverty and lot of people emigrated to Zagreb and Dalmatia, as well as to Germany as gastarbeiter. Today the municipality is among the most developed in Bosnia-Herzegovina, with numerous medium and small business corporations, Violeta paper factory being the biggest brand. In Grude were founded Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna and the Croatian Defense Council (HVO).

Settlements

Population/Demographics

1971

19,203 total

Croats - 19,111 (99.52%)
Serbs - 32 (0.16%)
Muslims - 4 (0.03%)
Yugoslavs - 5 (0.02%)
others - 55 (0.30%)

1991

In the 1991 census, the municipality of Grude had a population of 16,358 residents:

16,210 Croats (99.09%)^[4]
9 Serbs (0.05%)
4 Muslims (0.02%)
5 Yugoslavs (0.03%)
130 others (0.79%)

The town of Grude had 3,528 residents: nearly completely composed of ethnic Croats.

Grude council building

Economy

During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Grude was one of the bastions of the "rebellion" against the aggression of the Yugoslav Army. The late 1990s and early 2000s were marked by recent war and the struggle for survival, whereas today Grude is experiencing cultural and economic renaissance.

Traffic and road connections

Grude is placed on the crossroads of two big roads:Slavonski Brod-Ploče and Mostar-Split. Through grude also goes master road M-6 Grude - Ljubuški - Čapljina - Metković. Besides that there are also 3 regional roads :

R 420 Grude - Privalj - Široki Brijeg - Mostar
R 421 Sovići-Klobuk
regional road Grude-Posušje ( outside category)

Sports

The town is home to the football club HNK Grude. NK Drinovci is also based nearby in the town of Drinovci (located in the same municipality). De Boules clubs Grude, Sv. Stipan, Sovići. Grude was host for De Boules World Cup 2007. There is also a male basketball club HKK Grude as well as the female one ŽKK Grude.

Twin-cities

Notable people

Grude was the birthplace of Andrijica Šimić, the hajduk and Antun Branko Šimić, the poet, Milan Bandić the politician, mayor capital of Croatia - Zagreb.