Belgrade Tower ( Serbian : Кула Београд , romanized : Kula Beograd ), officially known as Kula Belgrade , is a 42-floor, 168-meter (551 ft) tall skyscraper as part of the Belgrade Waterfront project in Belgrade , Serbia .
181-637: Upon the completion of the outer structure in 2022, it became the tallest building in Belgrade and the Western Balkans , and has been promoted as "the beacon of the entire master-planned community." Outside of Turkey , it remained the tallest building in the Balkans for a year before being surpassed by the 202-metre (663 ft) Sky Fort in Sofia , Bulgaria in 2023. It remains the tallest building in
362-678: A "white town" or a "white fortress", was first mentioned in AD 878 by Bulgarians. The fortress kept changing its masters: Bulgaria during three centuries, and then the Byzantines and then again Bulgarians. The fortress remained a Byzantine stronghold until the 12th century when it fell in the hands of the newly emerging Serbian state. It became a border city of the Serbian Kingdom, later Empire with Hungary. The Hungarian king Béla I gave
543-523: A high of 8 million in the late 16th-century to only 3 million by the mid-eighteenth. This estimate is based on Ottoman documentary evidence." Most of the Balkan nation-states emerged during the 19th and early 20th centuries as they gained independence from the Ottoman or Habsburg empires: Greece in 1821, Serbia, and Montenegro in 1878, Romania in 1881, Bulgaria in 1908 and Albania in 1912. In 1912–1913,
724-519: A large dome. As Belgrade was generally neglected in the second half of the 14th century, the church also deteriorated a lot. When the Hungarians handed over the city to Serbian despot Stefan Lazarević, he began massive reconstruction of the fortress, including the church, which was restored and expanded. Chronicler Constantine the Philosopher described the church, including the famed icon of
905-564: A lot of people. During the course of only two weeks, just the Jesuits buried 220 people and themselves lost 3 missionaries. The extremely massive plague outbreak hit the city in October 1738. As the Austrian army retreated in front of the advancing Turks, numerous civilians fled to the fortress, many of them being contagious. Having so many people in a cramped space, triage was not possible so
1086-640: A member of the Axis, Germany, with Bulgaria, invaded both Greece and Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia immediately disintegrated when those loyal to the Serbian King and the Croatian units mutinied. Greece resisted, but, after two months of fighting, collapsed and was occupied. The two countries were partitioned between the three Axis allies, Bulgaria, Germany and Italy, and the Independent State of Croatia ,
1267-457: A puppet state of Italy and Germany. During the occupation, the population suffered considerable hardship due to repression and starvation, to which the population reacted by creating a mass resistance movement. Together with the early and extremely heavy winter of that year (which caused hundreds of thousands of deaths among the poorly fed population), the German invasion had disastrous effects in
1448-641: A revolutionary organization with predominantly Serb and pro-Yugoslav members, assassinated the Austro-Hungarian heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital, Sarajevo . That caused a war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, which—through the existing chains of alliances —led to the World War I. The Ottoman Empire soon joined the Central Powers becoming one of
1629-599: A view of the entire capital, rivers and landmarks such as the Belgrade Fortress , the Temple of Saint Sava and the Avala Tower . Visitors will reach this 360-degree viewpoint by high-speed elevators. Kula Belgrade has 15 elevators, and it takes 25 seconds to get to the restaurant and the observation deck from the ground floor. Since the beginning of 2022, important dates and events have been regularly marked on
1810-639: A whole and southern parts of Slovenia. The Province of Trieste in Italy, although by some definitions on the peninsula, is generally excluded from the Balkans. Hungary and Moldova are occasionally included in discussions of the Balkans due to cultural and historical affiliation, but are generally excluded. The term Southeast Europe is also used for the region, with various definitions. Individual Balkan states can also be considered part of other regions, including Southern Europe , Eastern Europe , and Central Europe . Turkey, including its European territory,
1991-739: Is "trimmed", the trees in the park are battered, the ancient ramparts of Singidunum crushed, all being hit by the heavy, modern artillery, from precisely measured distance and even more precisely unmeasured hatred". Heavy fighting occurred in the Lower Town in 1915, when Serbian forces, led by major Dragutin Gavrilović , persistently but ultimately unsuccessfully, fought the invading Austro-Hungarian army. Before full occupation, Austro-Hungarian army temporarily entered Belgrade, from 3 to 14 December 1914. Already on 4 December they erected gallows in fortress' Upper Town, and on several other locations around
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#17327913559902172-514: Is connected to the Galerija shopping center by a pedestrian bridge, from where you can take an elevator directly to the observation deck. The building also has an underground garage on two levels with 305 parking spaces, while the second underground floor is planned for residential storerooms and accompanying technical rooms. Kula Belgrade is the first building in Serbia with no 13th floor. Instead,
2353-540: Is generally divided into four sections. The four sections, two of which make the fortress itself (Donji and Gornji Grad) and two make Kalemegdan park today, were divided by the Tsarigrad Road , on the location of modern pedestrian path next to the Cvijeta Zuzorić Art Pavilion. Donji Grad (Доњи Град); occupies the slope towards the riversides, from the top spot (ridge where "The Victor" is). Between
2534-548: Is generally encompassed in the region known as Southeast Europe . Italy currently holds a small area around Trieste that is by some older definitions considered a part of the Balkan Peninsula. However, the regions of Trieste and Istria are not usually considered part of the Balkans by Italian geographers, due to their definition of the Balkans that limits its western border to the Kupa River. The borders of
2715-736: Is generally included in Western Asia or the Middle East . The Western Balkans is a political neologism coined to refer to Albania and the territory of the former Yugoslavia, except Slovenia , since the early 1990s. The region of the Western Balkans, a coinage exclusively used in pan-European parlance, roughly corresponds to the Dinaric Alps territory. The institutions of the European Union have generally used
2896-459: Is in wide use, from over 1,000 dams. The often relentless bora wind is also being harnessed for power generation. Metal ores are more usual than other raw materials. Iron ore is rare, but in some countries there is a considerable amount of copper, zinc, tin , chromite , manganese , magnesite and bauxite . Some metals are exported. The Balkan region was the first area in Europe to experience
3077-679: Is mostly unsuccessful because of the mountains, hot summers and poor soils, although certain cultures such as olive and grape flourish. Resources of energy are scarce, except in Kosovo , where considerable coal , lead , zinc , chromium and silver deposits are located. Other deposits of coal , especially in Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia, also exist. Lignite deposits are widespread in Greece. Petroleum scarce reserves exist in Greece, Serbia and Albania. Natural gas deposits are scarce. Hydropower
3258-785: Is no longer Balkan proper, but the cradle of our Western civilization. Most of the area is covered by mountain ranges running from the northwest to southeast. The main ranges are the Balkan Mountains (Stara Planina in Bulgarian language ), running from the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria to the border with Serbia , the Rila - Rhodope massif in southern Bulgaria, the Dinaric Alps in Bosnia and Herzegovina , Croatia and Montenegro ,
3439-642: Is no set time frame for the project. Already in April 1941, professor and major Johann von Reiswitz [ sr ] was appointed to the Referat for the Protection of the Cultural Values in Serbia. He saved numerous cultural objects in Serbia, which won him praise even from some Serbian historians after the war. On 20 October 1941 the Lower Town was fenced on his orders of keeping and protecting
3620-530: Is over 2 million yearly. Belgrade Fortress is located on top of the 125.5 metres (412 ft) high ending ridge of the Šumadija geological bar. The sandbank stretches at least from the city's Tašmajdan section, originating from the Miocene period, and the oldest stages of the ancient Pannonian Sea . The cliff-like ridge overlooks the Great War Island ( Serbian : Veliko ratno ostrvo ) and
3801-585: Is seen on the Adriatic coasts of Albania, Croatia and Montenegro, as well as the Ionian coasts of Albania and Greece, in addition to the Aegean coasts of Greece and Balkan Turkey (European Turkey) . Over the centuries, forests have been cut down and replaced with bush . In the southern part and on the coast there is evergreen vegetation. Inland there are woods typical of Central Europe ( oak and beech , and in
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#17327913559903982-554: Is that "Haemus" ( Αἵμος ) derives from the Greek word haima ( αἷμα ) meaning 'blood'. The myth relates to a fight between Zeus and the monster/titan Typhon . Zeus injured Typhon with a thunder bolt and Typhon's blood fell on the mountains, giving them their name. The earliest mention of the name appears in an early 14th-century Arab map, in which the Haemus Mountains are referred to as Balkan . The first attested time
4163-562: Is the Belgrade Planetarium . The modern church of Sveta Petka was projected by architect Momir Korunović . Construction began in the first half of the 1930s, on the location of an old chapel. It was consecrated on 27 October 1937, the feast day of Parascheva of the Balkans , called Petka in Serbian. During the tenure of mayor Dragan Đilas (2008–13), the idea of expanding the zoo to Donji Grad, which it occupied prior to
4344-561: Is the core and the oldest section of the urban area of Belgrade. For centuries, the city population was concentrated only within the walls of the fortress, and thus the history of the fortress, until most recent times, reflects the history of Belgrade itself (see: Timeline of Belgrade history ). The first mention of the city is when it was founded in the 3rd century BC as " Singidunum " by the Celtic tribe of Scordisci , who had defeated Thracian and Dacian tribes that previously lived in and around
4525-495: Is ultimately the whole of continental Europe itself that functions as a kind of Balkan Turkish global empire with Brussels as the new Constantinople, the capricious despotic center threatening English freedom and sovereignty. So Balkan is always the Other: it lies somewhere else, always a little bit more to the southeast, with the paradox that, when we reach the very bottom of the Balkan peninsula, we again magically escape Balkan. Greece
4706-616: The Balkan Daglary (Balkan Mountains) and the Balkan Region of Turkmenistan . The English traveler John Bacon Sawrey Morritt introduced this term into English literature at the end of the 18th century, and other authors started applying the name to the wider area between the Adriatic and the Black Sea. The concept of the "Balkans" was created by the German geographer August Zeune in 1808, who mistakenly considered it as
4887-674: The Balkan Mountains (Haemus Mountains) that stretch throughout the whole of Bulgaria . The Balkan Peninsula is bordered by the Adriatic Sea in the northwest, the Ionian Sea in the southwest, the Aegean Sea in the south, the Turkish straits in the east, and the Black Sea in the northeast. The northern border of the peninsula is variously defined. The highest point of the Balkans is Musala , 2,925 metres (9,596 ft), in
5068-849: The Baltic Sea are closer to Trieste than Odesa yet it is not considered as another European peninsula. Since the late 19th and early 20th century no exact northern border has been clear, with an issue, whether the rivers are usable for its definition. In studies the Balkans' natural borders, especially the northern border, are often avoided to be addressed, considered as a problème fastidieux (delicate problem) by André Blanc in Géographie des Balkans (1965), while John Lampe and Marvin Jackman in Balkan Economic History (1971) noted that "modern geographers seem agreed in rejecting
5249-584: The First Balkan War broke out when the nation-states of Bulgaria , Serbia , Greece and Montenegro united in an alliance against the Ottoman Empire . As a result of the war, almost all remaining European territories of the Ottoman Empire were captured and partitioned among the allies. Ensuing events also led to the creation of an independent Albanian state. Bulgaria insisted on its status quo territorial integrity, divided and shared by
5430-670: The Korab - Šar mountains which spreads from Kosovo to Albania and North Macedonia , and the Pindus range, spanning from southern Albania into central Greece and the Albanian Alps , and the Alps at the northwestern border. The highest mountain of the region is Rila in Bulgaria, with Musala at 2,925 m, second being Mount Olympus in Greece, with Mytikas at 2,917 m, and Pirin mountain with Vihren , also in Bulgaria, being
5611-605: The Middle Ages , the Balkan Mountains were called by the local Thracian name Haemus . According to Greek mythology, the Thracian king Haemus was turned into a mountain by Zeus as a punishment and the mountain has remained with his name. A reverse name scheme has also been suggested. D. Dechev considers that Haemus (Αἷμος) is derived from a Thracian word *saimon , 'mountain ridge'. A third possibility
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5792-480: The Ottoman Empire at the time. It had a geopolitical rather than a geographical definition, which was further promoted during the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the early 20th century. The definition of the Balkan Peninsula's natural borders does not coincide with the technical definition of a peninsula; hence modern geographers reject the idea of a Balkan Peninsula, while historical scholars usually discuss
5973-657: The Ottomans several decades later. Ottoman expansion in the region began in the second half of the 14th century, as the Byzantine Empire continued to lose its grip on the region after several defeats to the Ottomans. In 1362, the Ottoman Turks conquered Adrianople (now Edirne , Turkey). This was the start of their conquest of the Balkan Peninsula, which lasted for more than a century. Other states in
6154-770: The Rhodope Mountains to be the northern limit of the Peninsula of Haemus and the same limit applied approximately to the border between Greek and Latin use in the region (later called the Jireček Line ). However large spaces south of Jireček Line were and are inhabited by Vlachs ( Aromanians ), the Romance-speaking heirs of Roman Empire. The Bulgars and Slavs arrived in the sixth-century and began assimilating and displacing already-assimilated (through Romanization and Hellenization) older inhabitants of
6335-462: The Rila mountain range, Bulgaria. The concept of the Balkan Peninsula was created by the German geographer August Zeune in 1808, who mistakenly considered the Balkan Mountains the dominant mountain system of Southeast Europe spanning from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea. The term Balkan Peninsula was a synonym for Rumelia in the 19th century, the parts of Europe that were provinces of
6516-484: The Romanian coast , most of Serbia and large parts of Croatia . The term sometimes includes all of Romania , Serbia and Croatia, and southern parts of Slovenia . The Province of Trieste in northeastern Italy , although by some definitions considered part of the peninsula, is generally excluded. Although they have no territory on the peninsula, Hungary and Moldova are occasionally incorporated into discussions of
6697-523: The "Exhibition of the new German architecture" in the German pavilion at the Belgrade Fair . In the early 1940, March began the preparatory works, as he also planned the partial remodeling of the fortress outside of the sports complex, too. He incited archaeological survey and invited German architectural historian Daniel Krencker to study the excavations. Within the scopes of the Nazi expansion of
6878-454: The "Signature" collection, from the 20th to the 37th floor by 170 apartments from the "Grand" collection, and from the 37th to the 40th floor by 18 apartments from the "Sky" collection. There are 220 apartments in the building. The sale of apartments in the building began in May 2019. As the tallest building in Serbia, Kula Belgrade will have an observation deck at the top, on the 41st floor, with
7059-516: The "permit on monopoly" to Ahnenerbe's Secretary General Wolfram Sievers in February 1942. Austrian prehistorian Friedrich Holste [ de ] was selected to conduct the survey, but he was killed in May 1942 near Kharkiv , Ukraine , before reaching Belgrade. He was replaced with Wilhelm Unverzagt , director of the Berlin's Museum for Prehistory and Early History . Joined by Sievers and Herbert Jankuhn , Heinrich Himmler 's close associate, Unverzagt began targeted digging, searching for
7240-413: The "political decision was made to handle this", and, if everything goes by the plan, the relocation might be finished in three years. Public and experts' backlash against the project was massive, mostly regarding hastiness, arbitration, irrelevance, legality and selected location. Public speculated that the residents of the newly built affluent K-Distrikt residential complex across the zoo are bothered by
7421-432: The 12th floor will have a double level. The number 13 is not on the control panel of any of the 15 elevators in the building. In April 2016, it was announced that the Marriott hotel chain had chosen Kula Belgrade as the home of its luxury hotel franchise St. Regis . The Belgrade hotel is 6th in Europe and 61st in the world. In 2017, was announced that the building would also host "The Residences at The St. Regis Belgrade",
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7602-422: The 1739 Treaty of Belgrade stated that Austria had to demolish all the fortifications and military and civilian building it had constructed during the occupation. Many Baroque buildings were demolished within the fortress. However, Austria didn't demolish the buildings outside of the fortress walls. That way, the House at 10 Cara Dušana Street , built 1724–1727, in the neighborhood of Dorćol survived, being today
7783-426: The 21st century. Funiculars were also planned, to connect the Upper and the Lower Town. The entire Lower town was planned for demolition, with the plans including large amusement park , museums, artificial lake, zoo, and stadiums instead of the existing military barracks. Instead of everything, the railway was conducted around the foothills of the fortress, encircling it completely, and effectively cutting it off from
7964-423: The Austrians that the fortress has its values and importance, and that it can't be destroyed in a day (despite all the shelling, only 15 m (49 ft) of rampart was destroyed); or he simply did it to spite the Austrians. The shelling also disturbed the citizens of Zemun , across the Sava, which was part of Austro-Hungary at the time, and some of the grenades which missed the target hit Austro-Hungarian soil, so
8145-413: The Austrians, the Popular Observatory (since 1963) in the Despot Stefan Tower , the türbe (tomb) of Damad Ali Pasha , Mehmed Paša Sokolović's Fountain , tennis and basketball courts, etc. Also adapted for visits is the Great Austrian gunpowder magazine , built during the Austrian occupation of Belgrade 1718–39, after they destroyed the old one during the 1717 Siege of Belgrade . They directly hit
8326-439: The Balkans after the Indo-European migrations in the region. In pre-classical and classical antiquity , this region was home to Greeks , Illyrians , Paeonians , Thracians , Dacians , and other ancient groups. The Achaemenid Persian Empire incorporated parts of the Balkans comprising Macedonia , Thrace (parts of present-day eastern Bulgaria ), and the Black Sea coastal region of Romania beginning in 512 BC. Following
8507-419: The Balkans and eventual creation of a joint military staff for the three countries. When the pact was signed, Turkey and Greece were members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), while Yugoslavia was a non-aligned communist state. With the Pact, Yugoslavia was able to indirectly associate itself with NATO. Though, it was planned for the pact to remain in force for 20 years, it dissolved in 1960. As
8688-403: The Balkans are due to many contrasting definitions disputed. There exists no universal agreement on the region's components. The term by most definitions fully encompasses Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Greece , Kosovo , Montenegro , North Macedonia , European Turkey , Romanian coast , most of Serbia and large parts of Croatia . Sometimes the term also includes Romania as
8869-505: The Balkans as a region. The term has acquired a stigmatized and pejorative meaning related to the process of Balkanization . The alternative term used for the region is Southeast Europe . The borders of the Balkans are, due to many contrasting definitions, disputed. There exists no universal agreement on the region's components. The term by most definitions fully encompasses Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Greece , Kosovo , Montenegro , North Macedonia , European Turkey ,
9050-428: The Balkans by using its protectorate Albania to invade Greece . After repelling the attack, the Greeks counterattacked, invading Italy-held Albania and causing Nazi Germany's intervention in the Balkans to help its ally. Days before the German invasion, a successful coup d'état in Belgrade by neutral military personnel seized power. Although the new government reaffirmed its intentions to fulfill its obligations as
9231-532: The Balkans due to cultural and historical affiliations. The origin of the word Balkan is obscure; it may be related to Turkish bālk 'mud' (from Proto-Turkic * bal 'mud, clay; thick or gluey substance', cf. also Turkic bal 'honey'), and the Turkish suffix -an 'swampy forest' or Persian bālā-khāna 'big high house'. It was used mainly during the time of the Ottoman Empire . In both Ottoman Turkish and modern Turkish , balkan means 'chain of wooded mountains'. From classical antiquity through
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#17327913559909412-410: The Balkans inhabitants who were pagan beforehand. Initially, it was adopted by the Bulgarians and Serbs, with the Romanians joining a bit later. The Albanians , on the other hand due to their isolation in their mountain settlements, were not immediately affected by the spread of Christianity. The emergence of the First Bulgarian Empire and the constant conflicts between the Byzantine Empire and
9593-480: The Balkans is dominated by its geographical position; historically the area was known as a crossroads of cultures. It has been a juncture between the Latin and Greek bodies of the Roman Empire , the destination of a massive influx of pagan Bulgars and Slavs , an area where Orthodox and Catholic Christianity met, as well as the meeting point between Islam and Christianity. Albanic , Hellenic , and other Palaeo-Balkan languages , had their formative core in
9774-483: The Balkans place their greatest folk heroes in the era of either the onslaught or the retreat of the Ottoman Empire. As examples, for Greeks, Constantine XI Palaiologos and Kolokotronis ; and for Serbs, Miloš Obilić , Tsar Lazar and Karadjordje ; for Albanians, George Kastrioti Skanderbeg; for ethnic Macedonians , Nikola Karev and Goce Delčev ; for Bulgarians, Vasil Levski , Georgi Sava Rakovski and Hristo Botev and for Croats , Nikola Šubić Zrinjski . In
9955-400: The Battle of Kosovo, the fortress, like most parts of the Serbian state, was conquered by the Turks and remained (with short periods of the Austrian and Serbian occupation), under the rule of the Ottoman Empire until the year 1867, when the Turks withdrew from Belgrade and Serbia. During the short period of Austrian rule (1718–1738), the fortress was largely rebuilt and modernized. It witnessed
10136-490: The Belgrade Fortress. In April 2019 it was announced that the park will stretch for 4.7 km (2.9 mi), covering an area of 47 ha (120 acres). In August 2021, city expanded the project to 66 ha (160 acres), but only 22.8 ha (56 acres) will actually make the green corridor, while the rest will be privately owned residential buildings, commercial venues and sports fields. This caused negative comments from experts. New design would actually push people away from
10317-430: The Berlin stadium, to visit Belgrade and design objects for the games. March came to Belgrade in May 1938 and suggested the Fortress' Lower Town as the location for the Olympic complex. Without architectural design competition or bidding, Stojadinović's government accepted his idea and gave him carte blanche regarding the design. The project was finished in 1939 and the architectural model was exhibited in October 1940 at
10498-411: The Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, which also served as the cathedral church , was built sometimes in the 12th century, during the restored Byzantine rule. The church contained a miraculous icon of the Mother of God. It is recorded that the Byzantine princess and Serbian queen Simonida worshiped the icon in 1315 when she visited Belgrade. The structure itself was a large, three-nave church with
10679-410: The First Bulgarian Empire significantly weakened the Byzantine control over the Balkans by the end of the 10th century. The Byzantines further lost power in the Balkans after the resurgence of the Bulgarians in the late 12th century, with the forming of their Second Bulgarian Empire . After the collapse of the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Byzantine's Empire grip on power was prolonged by the inability of
10860-437: The Great Powers next to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) in other boundaries and on the pre-war Bulgarian-Serbian agreement. Bulgaria was provoked by the backstage deals between its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on the allocation of the spoils at the end of the First Balkan War. At the time, Bulgaria was fighting at the main Thracian Front. Bulgaria marks the beginning of Second Balkan War when it attacked them. The Serbs and
11041-575: The Great Serbian Migration in the 17th century and two Serbian Uprisings in the 19th century, during the Turkish Period. During the Austrian occupation of northern Serbia 1717–39 , several hospitals were established in Belgrade. The City hospital of Saint John was built within the fortress walls, but its exact location is not known. Emperor Charles VI signed the Belgrade City Statute in 1724 ("Proclamation on organizing German Belgrade"), which mentions city hospital, city pharmacy, medics and midwives. The German municipality had low incomes so it had to ask
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#173279135599011222-399: The Greeks repulsed single attacks, but when the Greek army invaded Bulgaria together with an unprovoked Romanian intervention in the back, Bulgaria collapsed. The Ottoman Empire used the opportunity to recapture Eastern Thrace , establishing its new western borders that still stand today as part of modern Turkey. World War I was sparked in the Balkans in 1914 when members of Young Bosnia ,
11403-426: The Kalemegdan Park. After the Third Hatt-i sharif of 1833, issued by the Ottoman sultan Mahmud II , number of Turks remaining to live in Belgrade was limited to 6,000, including women and children, and a strong Turkish garrison. Only Turks were allowed to live in the Upper Town, while both Turks and Serbs were allowed to live in the Lower Town. The gates were guarded by the Turkish sentries, except when prince Miloš
11584-431: The Magnificent observed the main Islamic Friday prayer, the jumu'ah namaz , in the former church. When Suleiman resettled Belgrade Christians to Constantinople, they took with them the icon of the Mother of God and relics of Saint Petka and Saint Theophano. Part of them were settled in the Istanbul 's neighborhood today known as Belgradkapı , or Belgrade Gate, where they built the Church of Theotokos , and presumably kept
11765-413: The Middle East. Some surviving documents show that they discovered remains of Celtic and Gothic settlements, a trench from the Roman period and relics from the Austrian rule after the conquest of Eugene of Savoy. Some sources claim that after the bombing started, documentation and part of the artifacts were transported to Lebus , in Germany and are considered to be lost. Others claim that the entire material
11946-407: The Mother of God, relics of Saint Petka and Saint Empress Theophano (relocated to Belgrade after the fall of Bulgaria to the Ottomans), icons of the Twelve apostles (six on both sides), and the reliquary containing a hand. Despot added the choirs and the monastery complex around it. The church became the seat of the Metropolitan of Belgrade , this time of the Serbian Orthodox Church , and he
12127-399: The Ottoman occupied parts of Europe), while Yugoslavian maps also included Croatia and Bosnia. The term Balkan Peninsula was a synonym for European Turkey, the political borders of former Ottoman Empire provinces. The usage of the term changed in the very end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, when it was embraced by Serbian geographers, most prominently by Jovan Cvijić . It
12308-435: The Ottomans for a time (1443–1468) by using guerilla warfare . Skanderbeg's achievements, in particular the Battle of Albulena and the First Siege of Krujë won him fame across Europe. The Ottomans eventually conquered the near entirety of the Balkans and reached central Europe by the early 16th century. Some smaller countries, such as Montenegro managed to retain some autonomy by managing their own internal affairs, since
12489-456: The Ottomans left in April 1867, was to rebuild the Ružica Church . After the Ottoman withdrawal, newspapers in Austro-Hungary continuously published stories, backed by the military experts, that the fortress became strategically obsolete and that, having no value of any kind, Austrian army could destroy it in 24 hours. In the autumn of 1867 citizens were awaken by the heavy artillery fire. Ruling prince Mihailo Obrenović sent two batteries to
12670-556: The Persian defeat in the Greco-Persian Wars in 479 BC, they abandoned all of their European territories, which regained their independence. During the reign of Philip II of Macedon (359-336 BC), Macedonia rose to become the most powerful state in the Balkans . In the second century BC, the Roman Empire conquered the region and spread Roman culture and the Latin language, but significant parts still remained under classical Greek influence. The only Paleo-Balkan languages that survived are Albanian and Greek . The Romans considered
12851-400: The Pobednik monument". Serbian Environmental Agency drafted a study on the area and submitted it to the government in 2017. In February 2021, the government joined two previously protected area and expanded the protected area to 14.07 ha (34.8 acres), establishing a natural monument of Kalemegdan Sandbank. The area is a unique geological feature in Serbia, as the remains of the sea ridge of
13032-700: The Reich Ministry of the Interior Wilhelm Stuckart sent memo, asking for Belgrade to be transformed into the "Reich's Fortress". It was to be connected military with the copper and gold Bor mines and the Danube's Iron Gates gorge, to create the Banat area protection zone. This zone was intended to become Eugenia, or Prinz Eugen's District, where Danube Swabians were to settle and expand. The digging lasted through 1942 and 1943, when it
13213-618: The Sava river, which wasn't universally accepted among the architects and urbanists of the day. During his visit to the 1936 Berlin Olympics , Yugoslav prime minister Milan Stojadinović was fascinated by the objects built for the games, especially by the grandiose Olympic Stadium . He instigated the Yugoslav Olympic Committee to nominate Belgrade as the host of the 1948 Olympics and invited Werner March , architect of
13394-555: The Sava, connecting Singidunum with Taurunum. Rectangular castrum covered what is today the Upper Town and the Kalemegdan Park . The castrum had tall walls, built from the white Tašmajdan limestone and spread over the area of 16 ha (40 acres) to 20 ha (49 acres), being shaped as an irregular rectangle (approximately 570 by 330 m (1,870 by 1,080 ft)). The Byzantine Emperor Justinian I rebuilt
13575-516: The Serbian language, Vuk Karadžić . In the same month, a message of support was sent to Serbian football players before the World Cup in Qatar 2022. In February 2023, several dozens of love messages were broadcast to mark Valentine's Day. In June 2023, the facade commemorated the success of Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic , who won a record 23rd Grand Slam title. In June 2023, a special animation
13756-526: The Slavs to unite, which was caused by frequent infighting amongst themselves. Bulgaria in the first half of the 14th century was then overshadowed by the new rising regional power of Serbia, which was a result of Stefan Dušan rising up and conquering much of the Balkans to create the Serbian Empire . The Serbian and Byzantine empires continued to be the dominant forces in the region until the arrival of
13937-649: The West, later even spearheaded, together with India and Egypt the Non-Aligned Movement . Albania on the other hand gravitated toward Communist China , later adopting an isolationist position. On 28 February 1953, Greece , Turkey and Yugoslavia signed the treaty of Agreement of Friendship and Cooperation in Ankara to form the Balkan Pact of 1953 . The treaty's aim was to deter Soviet expansion in
14118-499: The Western Balkans, joined the EU in July 2013. The term is criticized for having a geopolitical, rather than a geographical meaning and definition, as a multiethnic and political area in the southeastern part of Europe. The geographical term of a peninsula defines that the sea border must be longer than the land border, with the land side being the shortest in the triangle, but that is not
14299-520: The World War II, resurfaced, but the experts were against it. The urban plan for the fortress from 1965 already projected the complete relocation of the zoo outside of the fortress, to some suburban locations, which in later plans included Veliko Blato , Stepin Lug or Jelezovac . The expansion of the zoo would cut the pedestrian communication between the Danube's and Sava's parts of the fortress, which
14480-782: The apartments will have access to a swimming pool, gym, a relaxation lounge and an observation deck at the top of the tower. Kula Belgrade was designed by the internationally recognized firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill . Their famous works include the 345 California Center building in San Francisco , the Hancock Building and the Willis Tower in Chicago. Their most famous building is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai ,
14661-407: The archaeological surveys on the locations where the church may have been built, in hope that at least the foundations of the church are preserved being buried underground. Gornji Grad (Горњи Град), the upper section of fortress, turned into a park, with beautiful promenades and the statue of "The Victor" (Serbian: Pobednik ), the so-called "Roman well" (Serbian: Rimski bunar ), actually built by
14842-612: The area starting falling like Serbia after the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, Bulgaria in 1396, Constantinople in 1453, Bosnia in 1463, Herzegovina in 1482, and Montenegro in 1499. The conquest was made easier for the Ottomans due to existing divisions among the Orthodox peoples and by the even deeper rift that had existed at the time between the Eastern and Western Christians of Europe. The Albanians under Skanderbeg's leadership resisted
15023-664: The arrival of farming cultures in the Neolithic era. The Balkans have been inhabited since the Paleolithic and are the route by which farming from the Middle East spread to Europe during the Neolithic (7th millennium BC). The practices of growing grain and raising livestock arrived in the Balkans from the Fertile Crescent by way of Anatolia and spread west and north into Central Europe, particularly through Pannonia . Two early culture-complexes have developed in
15204-399: The banks of the Danube was the main urban center with a new built Orthodox cathedral. The upper town with its castle was defending the city from inland. Becoming a major trade and cultural center, Belgrade became a significant immigration town, with immigrants settling from other parts of Serbia, Dubrovnik, Bulgaria, Hungary, Germany, Italy and Venetia. Population blossomed, so the lower city of
15385-796: The bastion on the Sava slope, the gates of King, Sava, Dark and Karađorđe, the Great Ravelin , etc. During the 2017 reconstruction of the Mehmed Paša Sokolović's Fountain , next to Defterdar's Gate in the Gornji Grad, several archaeological discoveries were made. Remnants of the Roman castrum, two urns from the Bronze Age and remains of the Neolithic object were discovered. The findings were conserved and reburied. Belgrade Fortress
15566-525: The broad geographical, social-political and historical context of the Balkans, while the neologism Western Balkans is perceived as a humiliation of Croatia by the European political powers. According to M. S. Altić, the term has two different meanings, "geographical, ultimately undefined, and cultural, extremely negative, and recently strongly motivated by the contemporary political context". In 2018, President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović stated that
15747-428: The case for the Balkan Peninsula. Both the eastern and western sea catheti from Odesa to Cape Matapan ( c. 1230 –1350 km) and from Trieste to Cape Matapan ( c. 1270 –1285 km) are shorter than the land cathetus from Trieste to Odesa ( c. 1330 –1365 km). The land has too long a land border to qualify as a peninsula – Szczecin (920 km) and Rostock (950 km) at
15928-492: The church are remains of the marble lintel with the incomplete ktetor 's inscription by despot Stefan Lazarević: В Христа Бога благоверни деспот Стеф...Београдске обнових место сие и призидах певнице и...придржеш... It was accidentally discovered in 1967. Larger remains of the Metropolitan's Seat were discovered in 1977. They include arched open walls of the former porch. In February 2021, city announced it will finance
16109-547: The church. During their massive reconstruction of the fortress, and construction of the Baroque Belgrade which ensued in 1720–1739, the Austrians never reconstructed the church. Furthermore, in order to level the terrain in the Lower Town, they completely demolished the church ruins. Today, it is not known for neither where the church was exactly located, nor what its exterior looked like. The only surviving part of
16290-503: The confluence of the Sava river into the Danube , and makes one of the most beautiful natural lookouts in Belgrade. It borders the neighborhoods of Dorćol (north and north-east), Stari Grad (east) and Kosančićev Venac ( Savamala ; south). It is bounded by 3 streets: Boulevard of Vojvoda Bojović , Tadeuša Košćuška , Pariska , plus the railway along the riverside. Belgrade Fortress
16471-582: The confluence of the Sava into the Danube, where the fortress still stands today. Celts also lived in small, open and fortified settlements around the fort, called oppida . Since it is not known for sure where the Celtic fort was; some historians suggest that it was rather close to the necropolises in Karaburma and Rospi Ćuprija. Celtic settlements belonged to the La Tène culture . The original military camp
16652-515: The cultural monument, parts of the Lower Town, and the slope which separates it from the Upper Town are protected as a natural monument . The area was included in the first protection of the fortress in 1946. In 1968 two areas were separately protected: "Maritime Neogenic Ridge - profile under the Pobednik monument in Kalemegdan" and "Geological-geographical layers at Kalemegdan locality, at
16833-784: The dissolution of the union as unconstitutional and the Yugoslav People's Army unsuccessfully tried to maintain the status quo. Slovenia and Croatia declared independence on 25 June 1991, which prompted the Croatian War of Independence in Croatia and the Ten-Day War in Slovenia. The Yugoslav forces eventually withdrew from Slovenia in 1991 while the war in Croatia continued until late 1995 . The two were followed by Macedonia and later Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Bosnia being
17014-457: The dominant central mountain system of Southeast Europe spanning from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea. During the 1820s, "Balkan became the preferred although not yet exclusive term alongside Haemus among British travelers... Among Russian travelers not so burdened by classical toponymy, Balkan was the preferred term". In European books printed until late 1800s it was also known as Illyrian Peninsula or Illyrische Halbinsel in German. The term
17195-568: The end of World War I, the Balkan Pact , or Balkan Entente, was formed by a treaty between Greece , Romania , Turkey and Yugoslavia on 9 February 1934 in Athens . With the start of the World War II , all Balkan countries, with the exception of Greece, were allies of Nazi Germany , having bilateral military agreements or being part of the Axis Pact . Fascist Italy expanded the war in
17376-413: The excavation. The medieval cobblestone was uncovered, so as the old ramparts and gates. In the process, the Lower Town was made more accessible to the visitors, including the new stairway and reconstruction of the part of the medieval rampart. In the Upper Town, four large, massive pillars from the period of despot Stefan Lazarević (15th century) were discovered. They are remains of the medieval bridge which
17557-417: The findings so far, it is estimated that during the rule of despot Stefan Lazarević in the first half of the 15th century, when Belgrade became capital of Serbia, the city within the fortress had 5,600 to 12,000 inhabitants. Archaeological examinations were done on the following locations: In September 1969 major discoveries were announced. The appearance of the Lower Town was almost completely changed after
17738-528: The first battleground of the emerging Cold War. The Truman Doctrine was the US response to the civil war , which raged from 1944 to 1949. This civil war, unleashed by the Communist Party of Greece , backed by communist volunteers from neighboring countries (Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia), led to massive American assistance for the non-communist Greek government. With this backing, Greece managed to defeat
17919-627: The first branded St. Regis apartments in Europe. Hotel St. Regis Belgrade occupies the first 11 floors of the building, offers 119 rooms and suites with a view of the city or the Sava River, and has a well-known St. Regis bar. The second floor has a swimming pool, spa, gym and meeting rooms. It was announced that the St. Regis hotel in Belgrade would bring the recognizable St. Regis butler service to Serbia, setting new standards for luxury hotel accommodation in Serbia. The Astor Ballroom will be located on
18100-459: The first officially declared cultural monuments in Serbia. The fortress was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and is protected by the Republic of Serbia. It is the most visited tourist attraction in Belgrade, with Skadarlija being the second. Since the admission is free, it is estimated that the total number of visitors (foreign, domestic, citizens of Belgrade)
18281-575: The focus of the Germans to the archaeological exploration of the fortress during the war. The fortress suffered further damage during World War II. Military Museum was damaged in the April 1941 bombing, and subsequently looted. It was immediately placed under the authority of the German Military Museums Chief, repaired, and reopened for public in July 1941. After almost two millennia of continuous sieges, battles and conquests,
18462-553: The former Yugoslavia . Situated in a prime location at the bank of the Sava River , the Belgrade Tower will offer a waterfront lifestyle. Intended as a "new symbol of the Serbian capital," the developers aimed to integrate Belgrade's traditional architecture in a modern development. The tower will have a direct approach to a waterfront promenade, located in close proximity to Belgrade Fortress . It will be connected with
18643-537: The fort. The city-fortress was later conquered by the Romans, was known as Singidunum and became a part of "the military frontier", where the Roman Empire bordered "barbarian Central Europe". Singidunum was defended by the Roman legion IV Flaviae, which built a fortified camp on a hill at the confluence of the Danube and the Sava rivers. In the period between 378 AD and 441 the Roman camp was repeatedly destroyed in
18824-411: The fortress (where modern Monument of Gratitude to France is) and ordered them to fire at the fortress wall where the old wooden bridge was located. A barrage fire of 300 salvos from De Bange cannons shelled the fortress during the entire day. It remained unclear why the prince ordered this: he decided to demolish the fortress completely, as such stories spread among the citizens; he wanted to show to
19005-510: The fortress and that surrounding green area will be named the Edvard Rusjan Park. The fortress and the park were damaged during World War I . Serbian army had no proper weaponry to fight the Austro-Hungarian gunboats , so they freely fired at the city from the Sava. The city was especially damaged during the heavy bombardment in 1914–1915. Diplomat and author Radoje Janković [ sr ] described it in 1914: "Kalemegdan
19186-622: The fortress around 535. In the following centuries the fortress suffered continuous destruction under the Avar sieges. The Slavs ( Serbs ) and Avars had their "state union" north of Belgrade with the Serbs and other Slavic tribes finally settling in the Belgrade area as well as the regions west and south of Belgrade in the beginning of the 7th century. The name Belgrade (or Beograd in Serbian), which, not just in Serbian but in most Slavic languages, means
19367-502: The fortress is today known as the Belgrade Fortress. The present name of Kalemegdan Park derives from two Turkish words, kale (fortress) and meydan (field), literally meaning "fortress field". After World War II, before skiing facilities were built on the mountains further from Belgrade, the slopes of Kalemegdan (so as of Banovo Brdo , Košutnjak and Avala ), were used by Belgraders for skiing. Also, immediately after
19548-425: The fortress to Serbia in the 11th century as a wedding gift (his son married the Serbian princess Jelena), but it remained effectively part of Hungary, except for the period 1282–1319. After the Serbian state collapsed following the Battle of Kosovo , Belgrade was chosen as the capital of Despot Stefan Lazarević in 1402. Major work was done to the ramparts which were encircling a big thriving town. The lower town at
19729-453: The fortress, initially hiding and denying the disease, but the fortress Ottomans were reluctant to start military skirmish in this condition. The besieging was successful as the plague never spread to Belgrade. Four outer city gates, with the adjoining walls and ramparts were demolished from 1862 (Sava, Vidin and Varoš gates) to 1866 ( Stambol Gate ). After the Ottomans fully evacuated the inner fortress in 1867, Serbian troops took over, but as
19910-556: The fortress, which was the busiest part of the city, had to be significantly expanded. Belgrade remained in Serbian hands for almost a century. After the Despot's death in 1427, it had to be returned to Hungary. An attempt by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1456 to conquer the fortress was prevented by Janos Hunyadi ( Siege of Belgrade ), saving Hungary from Ottoman dominion for 70 years. In 1521, 132 years after
20091-685: The fortress. He also began archaeological digging. However, the right to dig in the fortress was asked from both the pseudo-scientific organization Ahnenerbe and the Main Work Group Southeast of the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce . Pressured financially and politically, von Reiswitz felt he must side with one of them, so he arranged the participation of Ahnenerbe with organization's head Walther Wüst in October 1941. Based on this, collaborationist Minister for Education and Religion Velibor Jonić issued
20272-402: The ground floor of the building as a place for exclusive events and special celebrations. The so-called "The Residences at The St. Regis Belgrade" - branded St. Regis apartments - offer a privileged residential experience to everyone looking for the ultimate comfort and the most prestigious place to live. The space from the 14th to the 19th floor of Kula Belgrade is occupied by 32 apartments from
20453-564: The historical and political connotations of the term Balkans , especially since the military conflicts of the 1990s in Yugoslavia in the western half of the region, the term Southeast Europe is becoming increasingly popular. A European Union initiative of 1999 is called the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe . The online newspaper Balkan Times renamed itself Southeast European Times in 2003. In other languages of
20634-459: The icons and relics. Interiors and all the relics in this church were destroyed during the 1955 Istanbul pogrom . Close to the church, the Ottomans dug into the ground a large gunpowder magazine. During the Austrian attack under the Eugene of Savoy, the Austrian army directly hit the magazine on 17 August 1717 causing an explosion which demolished almost all structures in the Lower Town, including
20815-412: The imperial government sent an official diplomatic note to Serbia, protesting the shelling and reminding the prince he is only a "caretaker" of the fortress. After the takeover of the fortress, Serbian forces kept finding parts of the gallows, chains, gibbets and impalement stakes in the dungeons, used previously by the Ottomans to torture the prisoners. Official reports by the Serbian army hold claims by
20996-640: The invasions by the Goths and the Huns . Legend says that Attila 's grave lies at the confluence of the Sava and the Danube (under the fortress). In 476 Belgrade again became the border between the empires: the Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire ( Byzantine Empire ), and the Slav - Avar State in the north. The Celtic fortification was a primitive one, located on top of Terazije ridge, above
21177-589: The last outpost of the peaceful Mitteleuropa. For Italians and Austrians, it begins with Slovenia, where the reign of the Slavic hordes starts. For Germans, Austria itself, on account of its historic connections, is already tainted by Balkanic corruption and inefficiency. For some arrogant Frenchmen, Germany is associated with the Balkanian Eastern savagery—up to the extreme case of some conservative anti-European-Union Englishmen for whom, in an implicit way, it
21358-470: The late 19th century to the creation of post– World War I Yugoslavia (initially the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918). After the dissolution of Yugoslavia beginning in June 1991, the term Balkans acquired a negative political meaning, especially in Croatia and Slovenia, as well in worldwide casual usage for war conflicts and fragmentation of territory (see Balkanization ). In part due to
21539-642: The lowest section and the Danube is Kula Nebojša ("Impregnable, Fearless, or Daredevil Tower"), which has been turned into a museum of the Greek revolutionary Rigas Feraios , who was strangled by the Turks in this tower and his corpse thrown into the Danube. Donji Grad, like the neighboring Savamala, frequently suffers from flooding, and Kula Nebojša suffered extensive damage during the major floods of 2006 . The Orthodox churches of Ružica (former Austrian gun depot) and Sveta Petka are also located in this area, as
21720-476: The magazine with a cannonball and the explosion which followed allowed the Austrians to capture the city. The object is located below the 7 m (23 ft) tall rampart. The magazine is today embellished with the artifacts from the Roman period which were discovered in or around the fortress: tombstone stelae , monuments, altars and the Sarcophagus of Jonah , which originates from the 3rd century AD. It
21901-554: The material proof to confirm the German idea of transforming Belgrade into Prinzeugenstadt . He specifically searched for the monumental gate at the entry into the Lower Town, built during the Nicolas Doxat's rebuilding of Belgrade under the orders of Prince Eugene of Savoy in the 1720s and 1730s. The gate was named after the Holy Roman Emperor from that period, Charlies VI . Already on 15 July 1941, secretary in
22082-648: The media facade of Kula Belgrade. In January 2022, Orthodox New Year was celebrated with a three-and-a-half-minute light show and the colors of the Serbian flag. The projection of the message "Long live Serbia" marked the Sretenje holiday and Statehood Day of the Republic of Serbia in February 2022. In November 2022, the Kula Belgrade facade displayed an animation in honor of the Cyrillic alphabet and reformer of
22263-415: The megaprojects, and augmentation of the German historic role and importance in this region, Krencker praised March's project as the "artistic dream, which represents rare and major German cultural act which will contribute to the old German glory of Belgrade". Just few days after German scientists left the fortress, Germany attacked Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941 . The Olympic complex was pushed aside, shifting
22444-478: The most affected by the fighting. The wars prompted the United Nations' intervention and NATO ground and air forces took action against Serb forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina and FR Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro). Belgrade Fortress The Belgrade Fortress ( Serbian Cyrillic : Београдска тврђава , romanized : Beogradska tvrđava , Hungarian: Nándorfehérvár), consists of
22625-491: The mountains, spruce , fir and pine ). The tree line in the mountains lies at the height of 1,800–2,300 m. The land provides habitats for numerous endemic species, including extraordinarily abundant insects and reptiles that serve as food for a variety of birds of prey and rare vultures . The soils are generally poor, except on the plains , where areas with natural grass, fertile soils and warm summers provide an opportunity for tillage. Elsewhere, land cultivation
22806-428: The name "Balkan" was used in the West for the mountain range in Bulgaria was in a letter sent in 1490 to Pope Innocent VIII by Buonaccorsi Callimaco , an Italian humanist, writer and diplomat. The Ottomans first mention it in a document dated from 1565. There has been no other documented usage of the word to refer to the region before that, although other Turkic tribes had already settled in or were passing through
22987-604: The neighborhood of Banjica from 1910. A field in the Donji Grad was adapted for planes in January 1911. It was situated along the bank of the Sava river, from the old Turkish bath (modern Planetarium) to the mouth of the Sava into the Danube. One of the flight pioneers, Edvard Rusjan , died in an airplane crash after taking off from this field and being hit by the gust of košava on 9 January 1911. Remains of Rusjan's plane were originally exhibited in Donji Grad and his funeral
23168-545: The northern and central Balkans. This migration brought about the formation of distinct ethnic groups amongst the South Slavs, which included the Bulgarians , Croats and Serbs and Slovenes . Prior to the Slavic landing, parts of the western peninsula have been home to the Proto-Albanians . Including cities like Nish , Shtip . This can be proven through the development of the names, for example Naissos > Nish and Astibos > Shtip follow Albanian phonetic sound rules and have entered Slavic, indicating that Proto-Albanian
23349-452: The old citadel (Upper and Lower Town) and Kalemegdan Park (Large and Little Kalemegdan) on the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, in an urban area of modern Belgrade , Serbia . Located in Belgrade's municipality of Stari Grad , the fortress constitutes the specific historical core of the city. As one of the most important representatives of Belgrade's cultural heritage, it was originally protected right after World War II, among
23530-425: The old city through a public plaza. The architects were inspired by the nearby river when planning the exterior appearance. Aside from the Avala telecommunications tower, this will be the tallest structure in Belgrade, including a 190-room St. Regis hotel occupying the first nine floors, and 220 luxury St. Regis-branded and serviced apartments on floors 14 through 39. Guests of the St. Regis Belgrade and residents of
23711-535: The old idea of a Balkan Peninsula". Another issue is the name: the Balkan Mountains , mostly in Northern Bulgaria, do not dominate the region by length and area as do the Dinaric Alps . An eventual Balkan peninsula can be considered a territory south of the Balkan Mountains, with a possible name "Greek-Albanian Peninsula." The term influenced the meaning of Southeast Europe which again is not properly defined by geographical factors. Croatian geographers and academics are highly critical of inclusion of Croatia within
23892-416: The oldest house in Belgrade. The 1837 plague outbreak almost brought to the war between the ruling prince Miloš Obrenović and the Ottomans in the fortress. The outbreak began in Ottoman Empire in 1836, which had no medical protocols of any kind at the time, and prince Miloš blocked the borders immediately imposing the mandatory quarantine. A group of plague infected Ottoman nizams on the way to Belgrade
24073-399: The oldest stage in the history of the Pannonian Sea. Those include sediments originating from the middle, Badenian stage of the Miocene period. The cliffs are thought to have a historical importance also - the Slavic name of Belgrade, white town, according to one of the theories, originates from the exposed white layers of Miocene limestone on top of which the city was built. The Church of
24254-518: The only non-communist countries, Greece and Turkey were (and still are) part of NATO composing the southeastern wing of the alliance. In the 1990s, the transition of the regions' ex-Eastern bloc countries towards democratic free-market societies went peacefully. While in the non-aligned Yugoslavia , Wars between the former Yugoslav republics broke out after Slovenia and Croatia held free elections and their people voted for independence on their respective countries' referendums. Serbia, in turn, declared
24435-403: The partisans and, ultimately, remained one of the two only non-communist countries in the region with Turkey. However, despite being under communist governments, Yugoslavia (1948) and Albania (1961) fell out with the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia, led by Marshal Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980), first propped up then rejected the idea of merging with Bulgaria and instead sought closer relations with
24616-447: The past several centuries, because of the frequent Ottoman wars in Europe fought in and around the Balkans and the comparative Ottoman isolation from the mainstream of economic advance (reflecting the shift of Europe's commercial and political centre of gravity towards the Atlantic ), the Balkans have been the least developed part of Europe. According to Halil İnalcık , "The population of the Balkans, according to one estimate, fell from
24797-401: The plague spread quickly. There are reports of the dead lying in the streets for days as there was no one to bury them. The Austrian garrison was decimated and the corpses of the soldiers who died of plague were burned with their personal properties. After Austria lost the Austro-Turkish War of 1737–1739 , northern Serbia, including Belgrade, was returned to the Turks. One of the provisions of
24978-448: The problem both for the expansion of the park but even more for the further exploration of the fortress' underground. Best example is the Lower Town where neither the park fully developed nor the remains of the former port, which was located there, are visible. The area of the fortress is 66 ha (160 acres). By 2000, only 5% of that area was archaeologically surveyed, and by 2010 that number rose to 12% or 8 ha (20 acres). Based on
25159-671: The real estate prices. In 2022, new city administration headed by mayor Aleksandar Šapić included in the city's urban plan relocation of the Belgrade Zoo out of the fortress. In February 2023, Šapić announced relocation to the Ada Safari section of Ada Ciganlija island. City manager, Miroslav Čučković, explained the relocation: "Since the foundation of the new city administration...we made decisions which are connected to our dedication to spaces to which Belgraders were coming close to in all of these previous years. Those are spaces for which we think should have some new type of content and possibility to directly invest into them". Šapić added that
25340-431: The region, Starčevo culture and Vinča culture . The Balkans are also the location of the first advanced civilizations. Vinča culture developed a form of proto-writing before the Sumerians and Minoans , known as the Old European script , while the bulk of the symbols had been created in the period between 4500 and 4000 BC, with the ones on the Tărtăria clay tablets even dating back to around 5300 BC. The identity of
25521-461: The region, the region is known as: The Balkan Peninsula is bounded by the Adriatic Sea to the west, the Mediterranean Sea (including the Ionian and Aegean seas) and the Sea of Marmara to the south and the Black Sea to the east. Its northern boundary is often given as the Danube , Sava and Kupa Rivers. The Balkan Peninsula has a combined area of about 470,000 km (181,000 sq mi) (slightly smaller than Spain). The peninsula
25702-407: The region. There is also a claim about an earlier Bulgar Turkic origin of the word popular in Bulgaria, however it is only an unscholarly assertion. The word was used by the Ottomans in Rumelia in its general meaning of mountain, as in Kod̲j̲a-Balkan , Čatal-Balkan , and Ungurus-Balkani̊ , but it was especially applied to the Haemus mountain. The name is still preserved in Central Asia with
25883-479: The river's reflection and the city's panorama will be seen, giving the impression of fluidity. The facade is composed of nearly 14,000 glass panels. Up to the ninth floor, the front also has a special "birds first" glass with lines visible only to birds, which helps them not to "collide" with the building. Another distinct feature of front glasses is that they are spectrally selective, i.e. they let in as much light as possible while reducing energy loss. The skyscraper
26064-406: The river, to walk along the present boulevard which encircles the fortress. The fortress itself will end up being additionally degraded and devalued, so architects and archaeologists suggested surveys, explorations and conservation of the fortress' foothills instead. The park project was described as a smokescreen, with the actual purpose of selling the riverbanks to the private investors and elevating
26245-440: The rivers of Danube and Sava and the streets of Tadeuša Košćuškog and Pariska. In 1962, Belgrade's Institute for the cultural monuments protection expanded the zone to several blocks across the streets. Detailed plan on Kalemegdan from 1965 provided that, despite the immense archaeological value that lies beneath the fortress ground, basically only what was discovered by that time can be explored, restored or protected. That caused
26426-450: The same territory, used the term Südosteuropäische Halbinsel ('southeastern European peninsula'). Another reason it was not commonly accepted as the definition of then European Turkey had a similar land extent. However, after the Congress of Berlin (1878) there was a political need for a new term and gradually "the Balkans" was revitalized, but in the maps, the northern border was in Serbia and Montenegro without Greece (it only depicted
26607-450: The smell, or that some more lucrative structures might be built instead of the zoo on such exceptional location, since "direct investments" were given as one of the reasons. Šapić then retreated a bit, stating this is just a "political idea" which is not hastily made, that only now analyses and surveys will be done to check the viability, that nothing will be built instead of the zoo but the fortress will be conserved instead, and that there
26788-428: The soldiers of the "ghoulish, headless and limbless wraiths" and other abominations roaming the fortress. The army issued an order that, despite there was no enemy anymore, all guards must keep watch "at least in pairs". Mihailo's successor, prince and later king Milan Obrenović , ordered the leveling of the terrain in the eastern sections of the fortress and planting of the greenery and trees, which in time developed into
26969-440: The southern part, winters are milder. The humid continental climate is predominant in Bosnia and Herzegovina, northern Croatia, Bulgaria, Kosovo , northern Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, and the interior of Albania and Serbia . Meanwhile, the other less common climates, the humid subtropical and oceanic climates, are seen on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria and Balkan Turkey (European Turkey) . The Mediterranean climate
27150-416: The state for help and beneficence. The hospital is mentioned in the 1728 Census. It was a hospital already in 1719, later becoming the residence of Thomas Berger, the head of the hospital. After his death, his daughter continued to reside in the building. The hospital ( Stattspital ) was moved to another location, into the newly constructed building in 1724. A small church was built next to it. This new hospital
27331-410: The state was still only autonomous (full independence was achieved in 1878), Serbia was only to "manage it" and was not acknowledged as the proprietor of the fortress by the neighboring Austria-Hungary . First squad of Serbian soldiers, under the command of colonel Svetozar Garašanin, ceremonially replaced the Ottoman guardsmen on 18 April 1867. First action by the Serbian authorities, just 5 days after
27512-409: The tallest building in the world. The building has an unusual design that changes shape at the height of the 14th floor, where the building "twists". It is one of the few buildings of this type that achieves a rotation of 90 degrees through only ten floors. The rotation of the building symbolizes what makes Belgrade recognizable - the confluence of the Sava and the Danube. On the facade of glass panels,
27693-453: The term Western Balkans to mean the Balkan area that includes countries that are not members of the European Union, while others refer to the geographical aspects. Each of these countries aims to be part of the future enlargement of the European Union and reach democracy and transmission scores but, until then, they will be strongly connected with the pre-EU waiting program Central European Free Trade Agreement . Croatia, considered part of
27874-404: The territory was too mountainous to completely subdue. Another small country that retained its independence, both de facto and de jure in this case, was the Adriatic trading hub of Ragusa (now Dubrovnik , Croatia). By the end of the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire had become the controlling force in the region after expanding from Anatolia through Thrace to the Balkans. Many people in
28055-402: The third at 2915 m. The karst field or polje is a common feature of the landscape. On the Adriatic and Aegean coasts, the climate is Mediterranean , on the Black Sea coast the climate is humid subtropical and oceanic , and inland it is humid continental . In the northern part of the peninsula and on the mountains, winters are frosty and snowy, while summers are hot and dry. In
28236-422: The three empires participating in that alliance. The next year Bulgaria joined the Central Powers attacking Serbia, which was successfully fighting Austro-Hungary to the north for a year. That led to Serbia's defeat and the intervention of the Entente in the Balkans which sent an expeditionary force to establish a new front , the third one of that war, which soon also became static. The participation of Greece in
28417-445: The timetable of the planned invasion in Russia causing a significant delay, which had major consequences during the course of the war. Finally, at the end of 1944, the Soviets entered Romania and Bulgaria forcing the Germans out of the Balkans. They left behind a region largely ruined as a result of wartime exploitation. During the Cold War , most of the countries on the Balkans were governed by communist governments. Greece became
28598-411: The town, for hanging civilians. In 1928, building company "Šumadija" proposed the construction of the cable car , which they called "air tram". The project was planned to connect Zemun to Belgrade Fortress, via Great War Island. The interval of the cabins was set at 2 minutes and the entire route was supposed to last 5 minutes. The project was never realized, but the idea of the cable car was revived in
28779-417: The turn of the 2nd century AD as since the early 100s, Legio IV Flavia Felix became permanently stationed in Singidunum. At first, the fortress was set up as earthen bulwarks and wooden palisades, but soon after, it was fortified with stone as the first stone fort in Belgrade's history. The remains can be seen today near the northeastern corner of the acropolis. The legion also constructed a pontoon bridge over
28960-404: The use of the term "Western Balkans" should be avoided because it does not imply only a geographic area, but also negative connotations, and instead must be perceived as and called Southeast Europe because it is part of Europe. Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek said of the definition, This very alibi confronts us with the first of many paradoxes concerning Balkan: its geographic delimitation
29141-408: The war three years later, in 1918, on the part of the Entente finally altered the balance between the opponents leading to the collapse of the common German-Bulgarian front there, which caused the exit of Bulgaria from the war, and in turn, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ending the First World War. Between the two wars, in order to maintain the geopolitical status quo in the region after
29322-479: The war, some parts of the fortress were closed for public. In some parts the new, Yugoslav People's Army was stationed, while others were closed because of the ammunition left behind. In 2018 it was announced that the entire riverbanks section from the Branko's Bridge on the Sava, to the Pančevo Bridge on the Danube, will be transformed into the linear park , patterned after the High Line park in New York City and Zaryadye Park in Moscow . It would encircle
29503-399: Was adopted as part of the Serbian coat-of-arms after First Serbian Uprising in 1804, it was meant to show the incorporation of Serbia into the western empire. The gate was damaged already during the heavy Allied Easter bombing in April 1944 . It is not known whether Ahnenerbe was searching for something specifically or just wanted to falsify the route by which Aryans reached Germany from
29684-413: Was already cut in 1949 but was restored in 2009 with the reconstruction and opening of the Sava Gate. Also, it would prevent the exploration of Donji Grad, which is still largely unexplored and leave the Gate of Charles VI, a masterpiece of Balthasar Neumann, within the zoo itself. As of 2017, the zoo was not relocated but the idea of expansion was dropped, too. Apart from the protection of the fortress as
29865-406: Was arranged and opened for visitors in 2014. One of the Roman marble monuments, exhibited since 2012, was the so-called Herkulanka (after Herculaneum , where first such sculptures were discovered in the 18th century). They were usually honorary representations of important women. Estimated to be work of some local sculptor to represent one of the more important female residents of Singidunum, it
30046-515: Was designed by SWA Group. This article about a Serbian building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Western Balkans The Balkans ( / ˈ b ɔː l k ən z / BAWL -kənz , / ˈ b ɒ l k ən z / BOL -kənz ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula ( Peninsula of Haemus , Haemaic Peninsula ), is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from
30227-517: Was done with political reasoning as affirmation for Serbian nationalism on the whole territory of the South Slavs , and also included anthropological and ethnological studies of the South Slavs through which were claimed various nationalistic and racialist theories. Through such policies and Yugoslavian maps the term was elevated to the modern status of a geographical region. The term acquired political nationalistic connotations far from its initial geographic meaning, arising from political changes from
30408-442: Was halted at the border in Aleksinac and placed in the quarantine, but majority of them fled and continued to Belgrade, spreading the plague on its path ( Ražanj , Paraćin , Jagodina , Ćićevac ) and ultimately reaching the fortress in the spring of 1837. The prince ordered full and strong siege of the fortress by the Serbian guardsmen, cutting the fortress off completely for six weeks. The pasha complained and threatened from inside
30589-430: Was inhabited, the fortress formed one of the quarters in the administrative division of Belgrade. It was called Grad ("city") for administrative purposes and continued to be translated in the foreign languages as "fortress". According to the censuses, it had a population of 2,219 in 1890, 2,281 in 1895, 2,777 in 1900, 2,396 in 1905 and 454 in 1910. Kalemegdan was the location of the second airport in Serbia, after one in
30770-415: Was located in front of the main entry into the inner fort of the city. The fort was surrounded by the deep trench. It was previously known that an inner, bascule bridge existed within the fortress, which survived until the 17th century, but its exact location and type of construction were unknown. The explored sections after 2000 include the access downhill path to the Small Staircase in Kalemegdan Park ,
30951-441: Was never precise. It is as if one can never receive a definitive answer to the question, "Where does it begin?" For Serbs, it begins down there in Kosovo or Bosnia, and they defend the Christian civilization against this Europe's Other. For Croats, it begins with the Orthodox, despotic, Byzantine Serbia, against which Croatia defends the values of democratic Western civilization. For Slovenes, it begins with Croatia, and we Slovenes are
31132-476: Was not commonly used in geographical literature until the mid-19th century because, already then, scientists like Carl Ritter warned that only the part south of the Balkan Mountains could be considered as a peninsula and considered it to be renamed as "Greek peninsula". Other prominent geographers who did not agree with Zeune were Hermann Wagner , Theobald Fischer , Marion Newbigin , and Albrecht Penck , while Austrian diplomat Johann Georg von Hahn , in 1869, for
31313-399: Was one of the largest recorded in Belgrade. Surviving rib of this airplane became the first exhibit in the predecessor of the modern Aeronautical Museum Belgrade . Today, the area is used by the parachutists and paragliders and as the location of the air shows for sports and ultra-light aviation. In June 2021 it was announced that the memorial bench dedicated to Rusjan will be placed below
31494-415: Was probably occupied by the soldiers from the Legio VIII Augusta from 46 AD to 69. Early Singidunum reached its height with the arrival of Legio IV Flavia Felix which was transferred to the city in 86 AD and remained there until the mid 5th century. The presence of Legio IV prompted the construction of a square-shaped castrum (fort), which occupied Upper Town of today's fortress. Construction began at
31675-446: Was proclaimed the " exarch of all Serbian lands". Over two decades later, when Belgrade was returned to the Hungarians, the building of the Metropolitan's Seat was built next to it. On the very day the Ottomans conquered Belgrade, 29 August 1521, they turned the church into the mosque. The cross was removed from the top of the roof, the icons were painted over and the church bells were remelted. Already tomorrow, Ottoman sultan Suleiman
31856-471: Was quite small, with only 2 rooms, a kitchen and a basement, so it way not be the same city hospital. Lazaret or a quarantine hospital is not mentioned in the documents, but it is safe to presume that it had to be formed during the viral outbreaks, as was usual in the time. The procedure in case of outbreaks was probably analog to the existing procedure in Buda , the capital of Hungary . Today unidentified disease ravaged Belgrade in 1730. Viral epidemic killed
32037-412: Was shown in honor of Nikola Jokić , the Serbian basketball player who led his team to the first championship NBA title in history. The modernly designed plateau - Kula Plaza, located at the foot of the Kula Belgrade - will be the new place for city events and the most important cultural and artistic events, including concerts, festivals, various manifestations, performances and seasonal events. Kula Plaza
32218-409: Was spoken prior to the Slavic invasion of the Balkans. During the Early Middle Ages , The Byzantine Empire was the dominant state in the region, both military and culturally. Their cultural strength became particularly evident in the second half of the 9th century when the Byzantine missionaries Cyril and Methodius managed to spread the Byzantine variant of Christianity to the majority of
32399-450: Was stopped after the Allied bombing of Belgrade began. By 1943, the Germans completely rebuilt the Gate of Charles VI, in greatest detail. Reconstruction included the cartouche with the initials of the emperor on the capital from the outer side, and the supposed coat-of-arms of never-existing Tribalia , on the inner side (boar with an arrow pierced through the head). As the motif of this coat-of-arms appeared in medieval Serbian seals and
32580-408: Was stored in the Belgrade City Museum. What is known for sure is that during the "terrain cleaning" in 1941–1942, the Germans completely destroyed the foundations of the Austrian artillery barrack built in the 1723-1736 period. On 29 February 1952 the city adopted the "Decision on protection, adaptation and maintenance of the people's park of Kalemegdan" which set the borders of the protected areas as
32761-425: Was visiting the Lower Town, when they were replaced with Serbian policemen. There were two administrators, one Turkish and one Serbian. The Turkish administrator had jurisdiction only over the Turkish population, but in the Turkish-Serbian matters, Serbian judge was presiding. In the mid-1830s there were 3,000 houses in the Lower Town of which 2,500 were owned by the Turks who rented them to the Serbs. Later, while it
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