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For other uses, see Belgrade (disambiguation).

Template:Infobox SerbiaBelgrade listenⓘ), is the capital of Serbia and Montenegro (2003–Present). It has been the capital of Serbia since 1404, and of Yugoslavia from 1918 until 2003. The city lies on the outfall of the Sava river to the Danube river in north central Serbia, at 44.83° N 20.50° E. The population of the Belgrade region is 1,711,800 (2002 census).

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 Slavs 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.

Belgrade 1789

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.

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.

Church Ruzica at the Kalemegdan fortress

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.

File:Terazije 1928.jpg
Terazije square 1928

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 the sites bombed 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" - Eastern Europe's largest maternity ward - 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 situated in South-Eastern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. It lies at the point where the river Sava merges into the Danube, on the slope between two alluvial planes. The river waters surround it from three sides, and that is why since ancient times it has been the guardian of river passages. Because of its position it was properly called "the gate" of the Balkans, and "the door" to Central Europe. Along the ridge of the slope, from Kalemegdan, along the Knez Mihailova street, across Terazije to Slavija, stretches the main city traffic artery.

At Knez Mihailova street, the coordinates of Belgrade are marked:

  • 44°49'14" of northern latitude
  • 20°27'44" of eastern longitude
  • altitude 116,75 m.
File:Beograd Sat.png.
Sat picture of Belgrade

Belgrade is the intersection of the roads of Eastern and Western Europe which leads from the Morava-Vardar valley and the Nišava-Marica valley, to the shores of the Aegean Sea, Asia Minor and to the Middle East. The city lies on the Danube river, the sailing route, which connects the Western and Central European countries with the countries of South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. By the construction of the artificial lake and the Đerdap power station, Belgrade became a river and sea port. The ships from the Black Sea sail to its docks, and with opening of the Rhine-Main-Danube canal, Belgrade came to the center of the most important sailing route in Europe: The North Sea - Atlantic - Black Sea route.

Climate

Belgrade has a moderate continental climate, with four seasons. Autumn is longer than spring, with longer sunny and warm periods - the so-called Indian summer. Winter is not so severe, with an average of 21 days of sub-zero temperature. January is the coldest month, with an average temperature of 0.4°C. Spring is short and rainy. Summer arrives abruptly.

The average annual air temperature, for the period from 1961 to 1990 was 11.9°C. The hottest months are July (21.7°C) and August (21.3°C). The lowest temperature in Belgrade was recorded on January 10, 1893 (-26.2°C), and the highest on August 12, 1921 and on September 9, 1946 (41.8°C). The average annual number of days with temperatures higher than 30°C - the so-called tropical days - is 31 and that of summer days with temperature higher than 25°C is 95.

The characteristic of Belgrade climate is also Košava - the southeast-east wind, which brings clear and dry weather. It mostly blows in autumn and winter, in 2-3 days intervals. The average speed of Košava is 25-43 km/h but certain strokes can reach up to 130 kmh. Košava is the strongest air cleaner of Belgrade.

The average annual rainfall on Belgrade and its surroundings is 685 mm. The rainiest months are May and June. The average annual insolation is 2.096 hours. The highest insolation of about 10 hours a day is in July and August, while December and January are the cloudiest, with insolation of 2 to 2.3 hours per day. The average number of snowy days is 27, snow cover lasts from 30 to 44 days, and its average thickness is 14 to 25 cm.

Tourism

Since 2001, in line with Yugoslavia's revival of diplomatic relations with Western Europe and the USA, the republic of Serbia (although landlocked) is seeing a return of foreign holiday makers absent since the internal wars from 1992. Belgrade is again becoming a choice for weekend breaks and more and more foreign tourists are to be found walking the streets of Belgrade having included the city as a part of their wider European adventure.

Though Belgrade could have been deemed to be safe even during the hostilities of the 90s, two obstacles prevented more visitors to the city; firstly, bad political coverage and a history of being a capital of a communist country created uncomplimentry connotations. But just as the latter never stopped visitors flooding into Budapest and Prague, Belgrade also houses many young modern people who suffer in the name of self-hatred and prefer outsiders to see Belgrade as a great East London-style council estate based on the slums of New York with the poverty of Calcutta, dismissing buildings of being communist in style and very ugly. No city has escaped this 20th century effect, particularly those considered to be beautiful.

In fact, those who have escaped the influences of the trendy defiant students tend to see Belgrade with the eyes that one develops for Paris and London. With Belgrade's sites and activities for visitors, the city far surpasses its neighbouring capitals of Budapest and Prague. Few Belgraders know exactly how many museums and galleries the city houses, and fewer still bother to visit them.

The city has suffered carnage on at least one occasion in the life of every resident on average since Slavic arrival. Even this has done nothing to disturb the beauties of such areas as Belgrade's fine old city, chiefly Skadarlija, the national muzeum and adjacent national theatre, Zemun, Nikola Pašić Square, Terazije, Students' Square, Kalemegdan Fortress, and Knez Mihajlova. The Federal Parliament and the Old Palace buildings are masterpieces and the city boasts a number of objects not only attributed to the local Serbian/Slavic ancestors, but many outside influences, such as Venetians, Magyars, Ottomans and Austrians. On top of this, there are many parks, monuments, cafes, restaurants and hotels, shops with some lovely nature walks for all year round; both sides of the river Sava, not to mention a fantastic view of the city from the Avala monument, situated at a hilltop overlooking the city, a fine spot for young romantics and those picnicking.

Municipalities

An urban municipality is a part of the territory of the City of Belgrade, in which certain operations of local self-government laid down by the City Charter are run. Pursuant to the Constitution, legislation, present Charter and bylaws of the urban municipality, the citizens participate in conducting operations of the urban municipality through the councilors elected to the City municipal assembly, civil initiative, local citizens’ meeting and referendum.

The bodies of the urban municipality are:

  • Municipal Assembly
  • District Council Chairman
  • Municipal Council

The number of councilors in the Municipal Assembly ranges from 19 to 75 councilors.

The District Council Chairman presides over the Municipal Assembly, and he/she is a chairperson of the Municipal Council. The Municipal Assembly elects the District Council Chairman among the municipal councilors.

The Municipal Council is composed of the District Council Chairman, Deputy District Council Chairman and at the most 7 members. The Municipal Council members are elected by the Municipal Assembly among both councilors and citizens further to the proposal by the District Council Chairman.

The urban municipalities are conditionally divided (in relation to their geographical position and powers) in 10 urban and 7 suburban municipalities:

  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:

Temple of Saint Sava
File:Trgrepublike.jpg
Republic Square

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 including foreign art master pieces. Established in 1844. Currently closed for restoration works.
  • 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

File:Kralja Milana Street.jpg
Kralja Milana street

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 name
  • Dar Ul Jihad (The House of War) — Turkish name
  • Veligrada — Ottoman name
  • Belogrados poleos

Education

The educational system is within the competence of the Republic of Serbia - Ministry of Education and Sport, while a minor part of activities is within the competence of the Secretariat for Education. Belgrade, as a university center, has 2 state universities, and the private institutions for high education are being established, too. There are 280 elementary and secondary schools in Belgrade. There are 195 elementary schools - 162 regular, 14 special, 15 art schools and 4 schools for elementary education of adults. There are also 85 secondary schools - 51 vocational, 21 gymnasia, 8 art schools, and 5 special secondary schools. The educational system covers 230,000 pupils, and 22,000 employees in over 500 school buildings, covering about 1,100,000 sqm. Belgrade is the seat of the highest scientific and research institutions in all fields.

Universities located in Belgrade are:

  • University in Belgrade
  • University of Arts
  • Braća Karić university
  • European University
  • Megatrend University of Applied Sciences
  • Police Academy
  • Military Academy

Sport and recreation

File:Kneza Milosa.jpg
Kneza Milosa street

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

From Sava river at night

Many clubs and discoteques can be found throughout the city that are open until dawn. The most recognizable nightlife feature of Belgrade are the barges (called "splavs") that spread along the banks of the Sava and Danube rivers. These restaurants and discoteques float on water and offer an exciting scene for summer fun. Some of the most visited "splavs" are Ambis, Sound, Sargon and Amsterdam. There are other well known "non-splavic" popular clubs are Andergound, Plastic, Zvezda and the latest hotspot - Apartman.

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

File:Ruski car.jpg
Knez Mihailova street

Events

Tourist information

Belgrade live-cams

Photo galleries

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Beograd.

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