BELGRADE (14 page)

While the names of individual streets have been reclassified over the generations, it is not so easy to control in the same way the names of larger districts. The area of a city quarter may expand or contract with time, but their markers are longer lasting. The names of places in and around Belgrade often refer to events long since forgotten or which have lost their relevance. Reference has already been made to the Turkish etymology for Kalemegdan. Tašmajdan comes from the same language for
taš
(stone) and
majdan
(a mine or digging place), since from early times stone has been quarried from here to be used as building material.

Dorćol is the general name applied to the area of central Belgrade on the slope leading down to the Danube and also has a Turkish origin in
dort-jol
(four ways or crossroads). It was first given to the point where King Peter I Street meets Tsar Dušan Street when, in Ottoman Belgrade, it was unusual to have such a clearly defined and rectangular crossing. It is thought that this intersection first emerged during the time of Roman Singidunum. Topčider, or Topčidersko brdo (Topčider Hill), is now a favoured parkland area for short excursions just beyond the smart part of town where many embassies have their residences. Its name is derived from the word
top
(cannon) and refers to the fact that during their siege of the city in 1521 the invading Ottoman army used this place to cast heavy guns because it lies at a safe distance from the city and has a supply of fuel and water.

Ada Ciganlija is another popular place for recreation close to the city on the River Sava. An
ada
is an island in the river,
ciganin
in Serbian means a Romany, and a Romany community used to live on the marshy land opposite the island at a place called Ciganska Bara. The district of Palilula, on the other hand, has two competing derivations. The name comes from the Serbian phrase
paliti lulu
—to light a pipe. One possible origin is that an artisan famed for his clay pipes lived and worked in this area. The other is that this area was situated just outside the city precinct of Ottoman Belgrade in which smoking on the streets was prohibited because of the large amount of wood used as building material and the consequent danger of fire. So, as people came out of town this was the first place where a man could light his pipe.

There are not many buildings in the centre of the old town dating further back than 1867. The first wave of demolition came with the Belgrade town plan proposed by Emilijan Josimović in that year, when the Turks left the city. Architects and the Serbian government wanted to create a modern town with monumental buildings to announce that the new state had finally arrived and that it was European in its cultural and political orientation. Their practical aim was to produce an urban environment to satisfy contemporary demands for housing with a speedy and efficient transport system. Ottoman Belgrade may have had many pretty gardens, but its houses were mainly constructed of wood and other lightweight materials that did not allow for buildings of more than one storey. It was dusty in summer, muddy when it rained, and without proper drainage and sewerage. Roads were narrow and unsurfaced with no street lighting to allow movement at night.

This haphazard collection of houses and pathways was replaced by public buildings and a network of streets laid out in a geometric pattern to ease the flow of people, vehicles and goods. Some of the more recent buildings were spared and remained as a base on which to construct the vision of the future. Knez Mihailo Street was intended as the spine of the old town on Josimović’s plan of 1867. It has been known by that name since 1870 and is one of the few to have kept its original form untouched through all these years.

The street runs along the ridge separating the two slopes of the old town. Excavations have revealed that the same route provided the central road from the time of the Roman civilian settlement at Singidunum leading to the military base overlooking the rivers. The Belgrade City Library is at the head of the street, opposite the entrance to Kalemegdan. It was originally built as the first European hotel in Belgrade, the Hotel at the Serbian Crown (Gostionica kod srpske krune), opening in 1870 and constructed with a central courtyard following the basic design of a traditional Turkish
han
or inn, but with grand contemporary façades. After the Second World War the building was used as a substitute for the National Library on Kosančić Crescent, which burnt down in 1941. The Faculty of Fine Arts (Fakultet likovnih umetnosti) stands across the road and a little way down the street away from the park. It housed the Austrian Consulate at the beginning of the twentieth century before adopting its present occupation in 1937. Further down the street is the restaurant called the Greek Queen (Grčka kraljica), the oldest building on Knez Mihailo Street. It was constructed sometime before 1867 with elements combining the traditional Balkan style and more modern features. It first went by the name of the Despot’s Inn (Despotov han), a reference to the Serbian lords who ruled from Belgrade in the Middle Ages, until the communists changed it to the more acceptable Blue Adriatic (Plavi Jadran).

Across from the Greek Queen at no. 52 is a building from 1878 constructed in the classical style. The central balcony facing the street is supported by figures of Atlas, leader of the Titans in Greek mythology, condemned to hold the sky on his shoulders after an unsuccessful revolt against Zeus. Many buildings here reveal the abrupt change in architectural taste that swept through Belgrade during the 1860s. The European design and highly ornate balconies on the upper storeys of many of the houses represent a complete contrast to the older Balkan style.

The house at no. 48 is from 1869 and was built by the brothers Krstić as a restaurant and hotel known as Krsta’s Inn (Krstina mehana). This building was also used by the Serbian Assembly to meet on the first floor until its own premises were ready in 1882. Next door, no. 46, was built by Veljko Savić and had commercial premises at street level with living accommodation above; it is now the popular Kolarac kafana.

Further along on the other side of the street is the imposing Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti) at no. 35. Constructed in 1923–24, it was designed to front onto three streets with its highly decorated façades. The figure at the top of the building over the central doorway is a statue to the Greek goddess of Victory, Nike, attended on either side by allegories of industry and commerce, and then further out statues of women with children representing the future. The Academy Gallery is included within the complex on the ground floor and often has exhibitions of Serbian painters and foreign collections. In addition, the street offers another gallery space next door in the Gallery of the Society of Visual Artists of Serbia (Galerija Udruženja likovnih umetnika Srbije). The Delijska fountain stands in front of the Academy. The word
delija
refers to an Ottoman horse-soldier and the water here was intended for the sultan’s cavalry in Ottoman Belgrade. This is the third such fountain on this spot, erected in 1987 when the whole street was given its most recent face-lift. On the corner with Obilić Crescent is the restaurant and kafana the Russian Tsar (Ruski car) built just a couple of years after the Academy. The very ornate ground floor is topped with balconies on the first floor made to look as if from stone, while the ones higher up are of wrought iron. The buildings on the rest of the street down to the corner with Terazije are more modern and replaced a line of small shops and coffee houses.

The street contains many of Belgrade’s better stocked bookshops. At the corner with Terazije is a short and narrow street with a pedestrian exit to the Green Wreath Market and a bookshop over four floors called Mammoth (Mamut). The skeleton of a mammoth was discovered when the foundations for the Albania (Albanija) building at the end of Knez Mihailo Street were being excavated. Further down toward Kalemegdan is the bookshop belonging to the Prosveta publishing company. Geca Kon was the owner of these premises before the Second World War. Born in Vojvodina in 1873, he came to Belgrade to open his bookshop in 1901 and later developed his business interests to include publishing. He was very successful, giving encouragement to and printing the work of some of the most famous names in Serbian literature of the time. As a Jew, he and his family suffered like many of Belgrade’s Jews during the German occupation in the Second World War, meeting their end in a concentration camp. There is another bookshop on the ground floor of the building of the Serbian Academy, while further along the street others include Dereta, Narodna Knjiga and Plato. This last company has another bookshop in the same complex as the Faculty of Philosophy (Filozofski fakultet) overlooking Student Square. The publishing company Stubovi Kulture has its own bookshop also nearby on Republic Square. These last two bookshops also include internet cafés and are among the best for foreign books, including those useful to visitors to Belgrade.

Knez Mihailo Street has remained the main shopping street in Belgrade, offering the latest fashions and designs. Over the decades traffic has been restricted or banned and pavements widened until the decision to make it a completely pedestrian precinct in the late 1980s. It has always been the place to meet friends, have a coffee, chat, stroll on a little further, stop again and look in the shop windows. The following is a description of that walking habit, the Corso, as experienced in the early years of the twentieth century by a contemporary observer:

The Corso, the artery of Belgrade, was never more lively. It was an everyday spontaneous review of fashion and elegance. Twice daily, in the morning and evening, it was full of young people and the main meeting point for all Belgraders. Here everyone could meet or at least see everyone else. They did not only exchange pleasantries, but also opinions. For walking was not just an opportunity for flirtation, but also for debate and news, for analyzing in detail the latest political and cultural events.

Little has changed today, underlining the street’s social significance.

The central square is of symbolic importance in all cities, a fitting site for monumental buildings to reflect the growing confidence and prestige of the state. The statue to Knez Mihailo was placed in Belgrade’s Republic Square in 1882, with the names of the towns liberated from Ottoman garrisons in 1867 inscribed around the pediment. The prince is pointing south, in the direction of those parts of the country still under Turkish rule, an indication that the state was not going to rest until the final unification of Serbia. The square was formerly known as Theatre Square (Pozorišni trg), appropriately enough as the National Theatre is one of its dominant buildings. When the project to build a theatre for the city was first discussed in the middle of the nineteenth century, the Green Wreath marketplace was suggested for the site. Work on foundations began, but the ground proved too marshy to support the size of the edifice. Knez Mihailo gave his approval to the idea that the theatre be built on the new square just a few days before his death. It was opened the following year and since then has provided the main space for the production of plays, opera, ballet, and major musical events. The façade has been reconstructed a few times, not least because of bomb damage during the two major wars of the twentieth century.

The other large structure fronting the square, the National Museum, was originally built as a bank although it, too, is on a grand scale. It was erected on the site of one of Belgrade’s most popular kafanas, the Dardanelles (Dardaneli), demolished in 1901 to make way for the new look of the main square. The kafana was frequented by many of the actors from the nearby theatre, and the day before its demolition patrons gathered in front, some seventy or more of them, to have their photograph taken at the place they had spent so many of their happy hours. The photograph is a telling social document with people from different classes and callings, and in their midst the most famous actors of Belgrade theatre of the day: Milorad Gavrilović and Čiča Ilija Stanojević. The communists turned the bank building into the National Museum after the Second World War.

The square has become one of the focal points for city transport with seven roads intersecting, either by directly flowing into the square or running close by. It was dotted around with imposing stone façades but remained an open public space, the whole giving a sense of serenity rather than bustle. Since the Second World War it has also been a place for celebration. When the Partisans, supported by the Soviet Red Army, liberated Belgrade in October 1944 the square famously filled with people dancing the kind of folk dances favoured by the liberating troops, many of whom came from rural areas. A huge popular demonstration of support to celebrate the formation of the first post-war government gathered here on 27 March 1945, and on 29 November of the same year the name of the square was changed. In the early years the government orchestrated large meetings on the square for which the balcony on the front of the National Theatre provided a useful podium.