Belgrade

From Freepedia

For other uses, see Belgrade (disambiguation).

Belgrade (Serbian, Београд, Beograd listen ▶(?)), is the capital of Serbia since 1404, Serbia and Montenegro (2003–Present) and Yugoslavia (1918–2003). The city lies on the outfall of the Sava river to the Danube river in northern central Serbia, at 44.83° N 20.50° E. The population of the Belgrade region 1,711,800 (2002 census.)

Belgrade
Image:1209 zastava.gif Image:Beograd-vel-grb.jpg
(Flag) (Coat of Arms)
Image:Beograd Map.jpg
Mayor Nenad Bogdanović
Area 359.96 km²
Population
 - city
 - urban
 - density
1,273,651
1,576,124
3538(4378)/km²
Time zone UTC+1
founded
became capital
last independence 		878
1403
1867
Latitude
Longitude 		44°83' N
20°50' E
Area code +381 11
Car plates BG
Official Website


Contents

History

For a quick overview of its history see Timeline of Belgrade

Being located where the Vinča culture existed and dominated the Balkans about 8,000 years ago, Belgrade is one of the oldest cities in Europe and maybe the world. Settled in the 3rd century BC by the Celts before becoming the Roman settlement of Singidunum, the site passed to the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire.

Singidunum experienced occupation by successive invaders of the region — Huns, Sarmatians, Ostrogoths and Avars — before the arrival of the Serbs around 630 AD. In 878 the city was renamed Beligrad ("white fortress" or "white town") under the rule of the Bulgarian kingdom. (Belgrade could also mean "East Town" because the Slavic word "beli" means "east" too.) For approximately 400 years, it remained a Bulgarian frontier town, often known as the region of "Belgrade and Branichevo". During that period, however, the city was also a subject to Byzantine rivalry and rule, before it finally emerged as a stronghold of the medieval Serbian kingdom.

The first Serbian king to rule Belgrade was Dragutin (1276–1282), who received it as a present from the Hungarian king.

Image:Belgrade 1789.jpg

Belgrade was subsequently occupied by the Kingdom of Hungary, whose forces under Jan Hunyadi defended it in the siege of Nándorfehérvár of 1456. In 1521, the fort was captured by the Ottoman Turks, and Belgrade remained under Ottoman rule for nearly three centuries. Thrice occupied by Austria (1688–1690, 1717–1739, 1789–1791), the city was briefly held (1806–1813) by Serbian forces during the first national uprising against Ottoman rule, and in 1817 became the capital of an autonomous principality of Serbia (except in the period from 1818–1839, when Kragujevac was the country's capital city).

With the departure of its Turkish garrison (1867) and Serbia's full independence (1878) and elevation to a kingdom (1882), Belgrade became a key city of the Balkans. But despite the opening of a railway to Niš, Serbia's second city, conditions in Serbia as a whole remained those of an overwhelmingly agrarian country, and in 1900 the capital had only 69,000 inhabitants.

Image:Terazije 1928.jpg

After occupation by Austro-Hungarian and German troops in 1915-1918 during World War I, Belgrade experienced faster growth and significant modernisation as the capital of the new Kingdom of Yugoslavia during the 1920s and 1930s, growing in population to 239,000 by 1931 with the incorporation of the northern suburb of Zemun, formerly on the Austro-Hungarian bank of the river.

On April 6, 1941, Belgrade was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe (killing thousands of people) and Yugoslavia was invaded by German, Italian, Hungarian and Bulgarian forces. The city remained under German occupation until October 20, 1944, when it was liberated by Yugoslav Partisan forces and the Red Army. In the post-war period Belgrade grew rapidly as the capital of the renewed Yugoslavia, developing as a major industrial centre. Sarajevo was considered as a candidate for the capital for a short period of time.

Image:Kalemegdan.jpg

In March 1972, Belgrade was at the centre of the last major outbreak of smallpox in Europe. The epidemic, which was contained with enforced quarantine and mass vaccination, was over by late May. See: 1972 outbreak of smallpox in Yugoslavia.

On March 9, 1991 massive demonstrations were held against Slobodan Milošević in the city. Two people were killed and tanks were deployed in the streets in order to restore order. One of them, Branivoje Milinović (1973–1991), was a 17 year old Serb high school student. According to his parents he was actually just going into the centre to buy some cassettes when he was killed. Milinović is considered by many to be the first victim of the Yugoslav breakup.

Image:Belgrade NATO bombardment damage1.JPG

After elections in 2000 Belgrade was the site of major demonstrations which caused the ousting of president Milošević.

Belgrade was bombed by NATO aviation during the Kosovo War in 1999 which caused substantial damage. Among bombed sites were the ministeries of defense, interior and finance, the presidential residency, a few television and radio broadcasting stations ("Pink", "Kosava", "Radio S", "ELMAG") including RTS (Radio Television of Serbia) killing 17 technicians, the hospital "Dragisa Misovic", private houses in "Zvezdara" community, the Socialist Party of Serbia headquarters, Hotel "Jugoslavija" and the Chinese embassy. The NATO officials claimed that the latter was bombed because NATO planners used outdated maps, although no building had ever existed on the site prior to the Chinese Embassy being built.

Belgrade has come under some form of attack some 54 times since AD 1, or every 37 years on average. This means that, statistically, every citizen of Belgrade has seen two attacks on the city in his/her life. Zoran Đinđić was the first elected mayor of Belgrade. The current mayor is Nenad Bogdanović.

Geography

Belgrade is in northern central Serbia, on the outfall of the Sava river to the Danube, surrounded from three sides by the autonomous province of Vojvodina. Old part of city with the Kalemegdan fortress is on a rock ridge between Sava and Danube, directly at the outfall and was thereby protected by three sides. The center of Belgrade lies on the right bank of Danube, and on the left bank begins Banat plain with not too dense inhabited suburbs. Between Danube and Sava is the new city Novi Beograd and a bit upstream of Danube lies Zemun, in the times of the Turkish wars a Habsburg outpost and today a part of Belgrade.

Climate

The climate of Belgrade is very varied. In the winter, a very cold wind, the Kosava, blows from the northeast. The summers are usually very hot, with temperatures sometimes over 40° Celsius. The most pleasant months are May, September and October.

Municipalities

There are 17 municipalities, 10 urban and 7 suburban.


  1. Barajevo
  2. Voždovac
  3. Vračar
  4. Grocka
  5. Zvezdara
  6. Zemun
  7. Lazarevac
  8. Mladenovac
  9. Novi Beograd
  10. Obrenovac
  11. Palilula
  12. Rakovica
  13. Savski Venac
  14. Sopot
  15. Stari Grad
  16. Surčin
  17. Čukarica

Urban municipalities:
Čukarica, Novi Beograd, Palilula, Rakovica, Savski Venac, Stari Grad, Voždovac, Vračar, Zemun, Zvezdara,
Suburban municipalities:
Barajevo, Grocka, Lazarevac, Mladenovac, Obrenovac, Sopot, Surčin,

Architecture

Various parts of Belgrade have wildly varying architecture, from the center of Zemun, which is a typical one for a Vojvodina town, via still remaining Turkish-styled buildings and street layout of the centre of Belgrade, to modern architecture and layout of Novi Beograd.

Some distinctive buildings in Belgrade are:

Image:Hram sv sava.jpg

Image:Trgrepublike.jpg Some notable streets and squares are:

Famous tourist and historical sites from Belgrade include the Avala mountain, the Kalemegdan, the Dedinje ward and the Tito's mausoleum, called Kuća cveća (The House of Flowers).

Museums

See also: List of museums in Belgrade

Some of the more prominent museums in Belgrade are:

  • Etnographic Museum of Serbia (Studentski Trg 13) - museum contains more than 160,000 items presenting rural and urban culture of the Balkans. Established in 1901.
  • Museum of Contemporary Art (Usce bb) - Includes works of art produced in Yugoslavia since 1900, around 8,540 objects.
  • Museum of Natural History - includes more than 900,000 items related to nature.
  • National Museum (Trg Republike 1a) - an art museum with a collection of over 300,000 objects. Established in 1844. Closed for restoration at the moment (August 2005)
  • Nikola Tesla Museum (Krunska 52) - museum preserves personal items of Nikola Tesla. Includes around 160,000 original documents and around 5,700 other items. Established in 1952.

Names

Image:Kralja Milana Street.jpg

The following is a list of names of Belgrade through history:

  • Singidūn(on) — Named by the Celtic tribe of the Scordisci; dūn(on) means 'lodgement, enclosure', Singi is still unexplained but there are some theories; 279 BC
  • Singidūnum — Romans conquered the city and romanized the Celtic name
  • Beograd — Slavic name first mentioning in 878 in the letter of Pope John VIII to Boris of Bulgaria
  • Alba Graeca — translation in Latin
  • Fehérvár — Hungarian translation
  • Weißenburg — German translation
  • Castelbianco — Italian translation
  • Nandoralba — In medieval Hungary up to the 14th century
  • Nandorfehérvár — In medieval Hungary
  • Landorfehérvár — In medieval Hungary
  • Veligradon — Byzantine name
  • Veligradi, Βελιγράδι — Greek translation
  • Dar Ul Jihad (The House of War) — Turkish translation
  • Veligrada — Ottoman name
  • Belogrados poleos

Sport and recreation

Image:Kneza Milosa.jpg

There are around a thousand sports facilities in Belgrade, many of which are capable of serving all levels of sporting events. Belgrade was a host of many great sport events in its history, including World and European championships in many sports categories.

Also, Belgrade will be the host city of the 2009 Summer Universiade.

Sporting arenas include:

Ada Ciganlija is an island on the Sava river, and Belgrade's biggest sports and recreational complex. It is the most popular Belgraders' destination during hot summers. There are 10 kilometres of long beaches and sports facilities for various sports including golf, rugby, football, basketball, volleyball and tennis. Extreme sports are included, like bungee jumping, water skiing, and there is even a paintball club. There are numerous tracks on the island, where it is possible to ride a bike, take a relaxing walk or jog. Many other recreational facilities are available, including fishing.

Night life

Image:Kalemegdan spomenik.jpg

Many clubs and discoteques can be found throughout the city that are open until dawn. The most recognizable nightlife feature of Belgrade are rafts, spreading over banks of Sava and Danube rivers, restaurants and discoteques on water. Some of the more popular clubs are Andergound, Club 54, BlayWatch and Cabaret Rose.

Received decorations

Belgrade received domestic and international decorations.

Twin cities

Belgrade is twinned with the following cities (unfinished list):

Miscellaneous articles

Quotations

  • I cometh and found the noblest burgh from ancient times, the grand town of Belgrade, by sorry fate destroyed and nearly void. Having rebuilt it, I consecrated it to the Holy Mother of God. — despot Stefan Lazarevic
  • Soldiers! Heroes! The supreme command has erased our regiment from its records. Our regiment is sacrificed for King and Fatherland. You no longer have to worry for your lives which do not exist. So, forward to glory! Long live the king! Long live Belgrade! — major Dragutin Gavrilovic, to defenders of Belgrade in First World War

See also

External links

Image:Ruski car.jpg

Events

Tourist information

Belgrade live-cams

(Courtesy of Informatika)

Photo galleries


 
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City of Belgrade

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