Banja Luka
Banja Luka is located in northeastern Bosnia-Herzegovina, on the Vrbas River. It is the second largest town in the country and is considered the regional capital of Republika Srpska (the Serbian Republic within Bosnia-Herzegovina).
Like elsewhere in the region, many people laid claim to Banja Luka, most notably the Romans, the Ottomans, and Austria-Hungary. For a time in the 16th and early 17th century, it was the seat for Bosnian pashas under the Ottoman Empire. In the 18th century, it went to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Although Banja Luka was a multi-national city before the war, it was controlled by Bosnian Serbs in the 1990s. It has become another representative of the ethnic cleansing which took place throughout former Yugoslavia. The current population is made up primarily of Bosnian Serbs and Croatian-Serb refugees from Krajina. Vestiges of its heritage include Roman ruins, a 16th century mosque, and the St. Cyril and Methodius Orthodox Church (shown below).
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