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Belgrade Београд Beograd
City of Belgrade
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Belgrade within Serbia
Coordinates: 44°49′14″N 20°27′44″E / 44.82056, 20.46222
Country	Serbia
District	City of Belgrade
Municipalities	17
Founded	269 B.C.
City rights	150 A.D.
Government
- Mayor	Speaker Zoran Alimpić (acting) (DS)
- Ruling parties	DS/DSS/G17+
Area
- City	3,222.68 km² (1,244.3 sq mi)
- Urban	359.96 km² (139 sq mi)
Elevation [2]	117 m (384 ft)
Population (2002)[1]
- City	1 576 124
- Density	488/km² (1,263.9/sq mi)
- Urban	1 281 801
- Urban Density	3,561/km² (9,222.9/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	11000
Area code(s)	(+381) 11
Car plates	BG
Website: www.beograd.org.yu

Belgrade (Serbian: Београд, Beograd listen (help·info)) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city lies at the confluence of the Sava and Danube Rivers in north central Serbia, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkan Peninsula. With a population of 1,576,124 (2002),^[1] Belgrade is the largest city on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, and the fourth largest in Southeastern Europe, behind Istanbul, Athens and Bucharest.

The wider city area was the birthplace of the largest prehistoric culture of Europe, the Vinča culture.^[3] The foundation of the city itself dates back to Celtic and later, Roman periods, followed by the settlement of Slavs around the 7th century. In the medieval times, it was in possession of Byzantine, Frankish, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Serbian rulers, until it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1521 and became the seat of the Pashaluk of Belgrade. It became the capital of an independent Serbian state for the first time in 1403 (up to 1427), the status that it would regain only in 1841, after the liberation from the Ottomans. In the 20th century, it was also the capital of several incarnations of Yugoslavia, up to 2006, when Serbia became an independent state again.

Belgrade has the status of a separate territorial unit in Serbia, with its own autonomous city government.^[4] Its territory is divided into 17 municipalities, each having its own local council.^[5] It covers 3.6% of the territory of Serbia, and 21% of the Serbian population (excluding that of the Kosovo province) lives in the city.^[6] Belgrade is the central economic hub of Serbia, and the capital of Serbian culture, education and science.

Contents 1 Geography 1.1 Climate 2 History 2.1 Ancient city 2.2 Middle Ages 2.3 Turkish conquest 2.4 Serbian capital 2.5 World War I/Unified city 2.6 World War II 2.7 Post-communist history 2.8 Names through history 3 Government and politics 3.1 Municipalities 4 Demographics 5 Economy 6 Culture 6.1 Museums 6.2 Architecture 6.3 Tourism 6.4 Nightlife 6.5 Sport 7 Media 8 Education 9 Transportation 10 International cooperation and honours 11 See also 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External links

[edit] Geography

Belgrade lies 116.75 metres (383 ft) above sea level and is located at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers, at coordinates 44°49'14" North, 20°27'44" East. The historical core of Belgrade (today's Kalemegdan) is on the right bank of the rivers. From the 19th century, the city has been expanding to the south and east, and after World War II, New Belgrade was built on the Sava's left bank, merging Belgrade with Zemun. Smaller, chiefly residential communities across the Danube, like Krnjača and Ovča, also merged with the city. The city has an urban area of 360 square kilometres (139 sq mi), while together with its metropolitan area it covers 3,223 km² (1,244.4 sq mi). Throughout history, Belgrade has been a major crossroad between the West and the Orient.^[7]

On the right bank of the Sava, central Belgrade has hilly terrain, while the highest point of Belgrade proper is Torlak hill at 303 m (994 ft). The mountains of Avala (511 m (1,677 ft)) and Kosmaj (628 m (2,060 ft)) lie south of the city.^[8] Across the Sava and Danube, the land is mostly flat, consisting of alluvial plains and loessial plateaus.

[edit] Climate

Climate chart for Belgrade
J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
49   4 -2	44   6 0	50   12 3	59   18 8	71   23 12	90   25 15	66   27 16	51   27 16	51   24 13	40   18 8	54   11 4	58   5 0
temperatures in °C • precipitation totals in mm source: Climate-Charts.com

Belgrade has a moderate continental climate. The year-round average temperature is +11.7 °C (53.1 °F), while the hottest month is July, with an average temperature of +22.1 °C (71.8 °F). There are, on average, 31 days a year when the temperature is above 30 °C, and 95 days when the temperature is above 25 °C. Belgrade receives about 700 millimetres (27.56 in) of precipitation a year. The average annual number of sunny hours is 2,096. The sunniest months are July and August, with an average of about 10 sunny hours a day, while December and January are the gloomiest, with an average of 2–2.3 sunny hours a day.^[9] The highest ever recorded temperature in Belgrade was +43,1°C,^[10] while on the other end, the lowest temperature was -21 °C.^[11]

[edit] History

See also: Timeline of Belgrade history

[edit] Ancient city

The Neolithic Starčevo and Vinča cultures existed in or near Belgrade and dominated the Balkans (as well as parts of Central Europe and Asia Minor) about 7,000 years ago.^[12][13] Settled in the third century BC by a Celtic tribe, the Scordisci, the city's first recorded name was Singidūn, before becoming the Roman settlement of Singidunum in the first century AD. In the mid 2nd century, the city was proclaimed a municipium by the Roman authorities, evolving into a full fledged colonia (highest class Roman city) by the end of the century. Two earliest Christian Emperors of Rome were born in modern Serbia: Constantine I (Naissus, 280 A.D.^[14]) and Flavius Iovianus (Singidunum, 332 A.D.^[15]) In 395 AD, the site passed to the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire.^[13] Across the Sava from Singidunum there was a Celtic city of Taurunum (Zemun), that through Roman and Byzantine times shared fate with its "twin brother" (the two cities were connected by a bridge).^[13] However, for the most part of the succeeding period (from the 6th until the early 20th century), the two cities have grown apart from each other, belonging to different states.^[16]

[edit] Middle Ages

Singidunum was occupied and often ravaged by successive invasions of Huns, Sarmatians, Ostrogoths and Avars before the arrival of the Slavs around 630 AD. The Avars were finally destroyed in the 9th century by the Frankish Kingdom, which has incorporated the former Taurunum into its territory (renaming it to Malevilla).^[16] At the same time (around 878.), the first record of the Slavic name Beligrad has appeared, during the rule of the First Bulgarian Empire. For about four centuries, the city remained a battleground between the Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary and the First Bulgarian Empire.^[16] While passing through in 1189, Frederick Barbarossa and his 150,000 crusaders saw Belgrade in ruins.^[17] It passed to Serbian rule in 1284, as part of the Kingdom of Syrmia. The first Serbian king to rule over Belgrade was Dragutin (1276–1282), the ruler of the Kingdom of Syrmia, who received it as a gift from his father-in-law, the Hungarian king Ladislav IV.^[18]

"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 Lazarević on Belgrade in 1420

Following the Battle of Maritsa in 1371, and the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, the Serbian Empire began to crumble as the Ottoman Empire conquered its southern territory.^[19][20] The north, however, resisted through the Serbian Despotate, which had Belgrade as its capital. The city flourished under despot Stefan Lazarević, son of the famous Serbian ruler Lazar Hrebeljanović. Lazarević built a castle with a citadel and towers, of which only the Despot's tower and the west wall remain. He also refortified the city's ancient walls, allowing the Despotate to resist the Ottomans for almost 70 years. During this time, Belgrade was a haven for the many Balkan peoples fleeing from Ottoman rule, and is thought to have had a population of some 40–50,000.^[18]

In 1427, Stefan's successor Đurađ Branković had to return Belgrade to the Hungarians, and the capital was moved to Smederevo. During his reign, the Ottomans captured most of the Serbian Despotate, reaching Belgrade in 1456.^[21] As it presented an obstacle to their further advance into Central Europe, over 100,000 Ottoman solders^[22] have launched the famous Siege of Belgrade, where the Christian army under John Hunyadi successfully defended the city from the Ottomans.^[23] This battle "decided the fate of Christendom";^[24] the noon bell ordered by Pope Callixtus III commemorates the victory throughout the Christian world to this day.^[25]

[edit] Turkish conquest

It wasn't until 28 August 1521 (7 decades after the first siege), that the fort was finally captured by Suleyman the Magnificent, ruler of the Ottoman Empire, who subsequently razed most of the city to the ground. Belgrade was made the seat of the district (Sanjak), attracting new inhabitants—Turks, Armenians, Greeks, Ragusan traders, and others, and there was peace for the next 150 years. The city became the second largest Ottoman town in Europe at over 100,000 people, surpassed only by Constantinople.^[26] Turkish rule also introduced Ottoman architecture to Belgrade and many mosques were built, increasing the city's Oriental influences.^[27] In 1594, a major Serb rebellion was crushed by the Turks, who burned churches and the relics of Saint Sava on the Vračar plateau; more recently, the Temple of Saint Sava was built to commemorate this event.^[28]

Occupied by Austria three times (1688–1690, 1717–1739, 1789–1791), Belgrade was quickly recaptured and substantially razed each time by the Ottomans.^[27] During this period, the city was affected by the two Great Serbian Migrations, in which hundreds of thousands of Serbs, led by their patriarchs, retreated together with the Austrians into the Habsburg Empire, settling in today's Vojvodina and Slavonia.^[29]

[edit] Serbian capital

During the First Serbian Uprising, the Serbian revolutionaries held the city from 8 January 1806 until 1813, when it was retaken by the Ottomans.^[30] After the Second Serbian Uprising in 1817, Serbia reached semi-independence, which was formally recognized by the Porte in 1830.^[31] In 1841, Prince Mihailo Obrenović moved the capital from Kragujevac to Belgrade.^[32][33]

With the Principality's full independence in 1878, and its transformation into the Kingdom of Serbia in 1882, Belgrade once again became a key city in the Balkans, and developed rapidly.^[30][34] Nevertheless, conditions in Serbia as a whole remained those of an overwhelmingly agrarian country, even with the opening of a railway to Niš, Serbia's second city, and in 1900 the capital had only 69,100 inhabitants.^[35] Yet by 1905 the population had grown to more than 80,000, and by the outbreak of World War I in 1914, it had surpassed the 100,000 mark, not counting Zemun which then belonged to Austria-Hungary.^[36]

The first-ever projection of motion pictures in the Balkans and Central Europe was held in Belgrade in June 1896 by Andre Carr, a representative of the Lumière brothers. He shot the first motion pictures of Belgrade in the next year; however, they have not been preserved.^[37]

[edit] World War I/Unified city

Gavrilo Princip's assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 triggered World War I. Most of the subsequent Balkan offensives occurred near Belgrade. Austro-Hungarian monitors shelled Belgrade on 29 July 1914, and it was taken by the Austro-Hungarian Army under General Oskar Potiorek on 30 November. On 15 December, it was re-taken by Serbian troops under Marshal Radomir Putnik. After a prolonged battle which destroyed much of the city, between 6 October and 9 October 1915, Belgrade fell to German and Austro-Hungarian troops commanded by Field Marshal August von Mackensen on 9 October 1915. The city was liberated by Serbian and French troops on 5 November 1918, under the command of Marshal Louis Franchet d'Espérey of France and Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia. Decimated as the front-line city, for a while it was Subotica^[38] that was the largest city in the Kingdom; still, Belgrade grew rapidly, retrieving its position by the early 1920s.

After the war, Belgrade became the capital of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. The Kingdom was split into banovinas, and Belgrade, together with Zemun and Pančevo, formed a separate administrative unit.^[39]

During this period, the city experienced faster growth and significant modernisation. Belgrade's population grew to 239,000 by 1931 (incorporating the town of Zemun, formerly in Austria-Hungary), and 320,000 by 1940. The population growth rate between 1921 and 1948 averaged 4.08% a year.^[40] In 1927, Belgrade's first airport opened, and in 1929, its first radio station began broadcasting. The Pančevo Bridge, which crosses the Danube, was opened in 1935.^[41]

[edit] World War II

On 25 March 1941, the government of regent Crown Prince Paul signed the Tripartite Pact, joining the Axis powers in an effort to stay out of the Second World War. This was immediately followed by mass protests in Belgrade and a military coup d'état led by Air Force commander General Dušan Simović, who proclaimed King Peter II to be of age to rule the realm. Consequently, the city was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe on 6 April 1941, and up to 17,000 citizens were killed.^[42] Yugoslavia was then invaded by German, Italian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian forces, and suburbs as far east as Zemun, in the Belgrade metropolitan area, were incorporated into a Nazi puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia. Belgrade became the seat of another puppet government, headed by General Milan Nedić.

During the summer and fall of 1941, in reprisal for guerrilla attacks, Germans carried out several massacres of Belgrade citizens; in particular, members of the Jewish community were subject to mass shootings at the order of General Franz Böhme, the German Military Governor of Serbia. Böhme rigorously enforced the rule that for every German killed, 100 Serbs or Jews would be shot.^[43]

Belgrade was bombed by the Allies on 16 April 1944, killing about 1,600 people. Both this and the earlier Luftwaffe bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter. Most of the city remained under German occupation until 20 October 1944, when it was liberated by Communist Yugoslav Partisans and the Red Army. On 29 November 1945, Marshal Josip Broz Tito proclaimed the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in Belgrade (later to be renamed to Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on 7 April 1963).

During the post-war period, Belgrade grew rapidly as the capital of the renewed Yugoslavia, developing as a major industrial centre.^[34] In 1958, Belgrade's first television station began broadcasting. In 1961, the conference of Non-Aligned Countries was held in Belgrade under Tito's chairmanship. In 1968, major student protests against Tito led to several street clashes between students and the police, ending with Tito's famous saying, "Students are right!". In March 1972, Belgrade was at the centre of the last major outbreak of smallpox in Europe, which, through enforced quarantine and mass vaccination, was contained by late May.^[44]

[edit] Post-communist history

On 9 March 1991, massive demonstrations led by Vuk Drašković were held in the city against Slobodan Milošević.^[45] According to various media outlets, there were between 100,000 and 150,000 people on the streets.^[46] Two people were killed, 203 injured and 108 arrested during the protests, and later that day tanks were deployed onto the streets to restore order.^[47] Further protests were held in Belgrade from November 1996 to February 1997 against the same government after alleged electoral fraud at local elections.^[48] These protests brought Zoran Đinđić to power, the first mayor of Belgrade since World War II who did not belong to the League of Communists of Yugoslavia or its later offshoot, the Socialist Party of Serbia.^[49]

The NATO bombing during the Kosovo War in 1999 caused substantial damage to the city. Among the sites bombed were the buildings of several ministries, the RTS building, which killed 16 technicians, several hospitals, the Jugoslavija Hotel, the Central Committee building, the Avala TV Tower, and the Chinese embassy.^[50]

After the elections in 2000, Belgrade was the site of more major demonstrations, with over half a million people on the streets (800,000 by police estimates, over 1,000,000 according to Misha Glenny). These demonstrations resulted in the ousting of president Milošević.^[51][52]

[edit] Names through history

Name	Notes
Singidūn(on)	Named by the Celtic tribe of the Scordisci; dūn(on) means 'lodgment, enclosure, fort'; 279 BC[53]
Singidūnum	Romans conquered the city and Romanised the Celtic name
Beograd, Београд	Slavic name first mentioned in 878 as Beligrad in the letter of Pope John VIII to Boris of Bulgaria which means "White city / white fortress".[54]
Alba Graeca, "Alba" may be derived from the Latin word for "white"	Latin
Alba Bulgarica	Latin name during the period of Bulgarian rule over the city[54]
Nándorfehérvár	Hungarian translation
Weißenburg and Griechisch Weißenburg	German translation. Modern German is Belgrad.[54]
Castelbianco	Italian translation[54]
Nandoralba	In medieval Hungary up to the 14th century[54]
Nándorfehérvár, Landorfehérvár	In medieval Hungary. Modern Hungarian is Belgrád.[54]
Veligrad(i)on or Velegrada/Βελέγραδα	Byzantine name. Modern Greek is Veligradi (Βελιγράδι), from Slavic meaning veli great and grad meaning city or forttress
Darülcihad	Ottoman name, meaning House of the Holy War.[55] Modern Turkish is Belgrat.

[edit] Government and politics

Belgrade is a separate territorial unit in Serbia, with its own autonomous city government.^[4] The post of mayor was held by the Democratic Party member Nenad Bogdanović from 2004 and until his death on 27 September 2007. The first mayor to be democratically elected after World War II was Dr. Zoran Đinđić, in 1996. Mayors were also elected democratically prior to the war.

The Civic Assembly of Belgrade has 90 councilors who are elected for four-year terms. The current majority parties are the same as in the Parliament of Serbia (Democratic Party, Democratic Party of Serbia and G17 Plus), and in similar proportions, with the Serbian Radical Party, the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Serbian Strength Movement in opposition.^[56]

[edit] Municipalities

See also: Subdivisions of Belgrade, List of Belgrade neighborhoods and suburbs, and List of former and proposed municipalities of Belgrade

The city is divided into 17 municipalities, ten with "urban" status, and seven with "suburban" status. While each has its own local council, the suburban municipalities have slightly expanded municipal powers, mainly with regard to construction, town planning and public utility provision.^[5]

Most of the municipalities are situated on the southern side of the Danube and Sava rivers, in the Šumadija region. Three municipalities (Zemun, Novi Beograd, and Surčin) are on the northern bank of the Sava, in the Syrmia region, and the municipality of Palilula, spanning the Danube, is in both the Šumadija and Banat regions.

Name	Area (km²)	Population (1991)	Population (2002)	Urban/Suburban
Barajevo	213	20,846	24,641	Suburban
Čukarica	156	150,257	168,508	Urban
Grocka	289	65,735	75,466	Suburban
Lazarevac	384	57,848	58,511	Suburban
Mladenovac	339	54,517	52,490	Suburban
Novi Beograd	41	218,633	217,773	Urban
Obrenovac	411	67,654	70,975	Suburban
Palilula	451	150,208	155,902	Urban
Rakovica	31	96,300	99,000	Urban
Savski Venac	14	45,961	42,505	Urban
Sopot	271	19,977	20,390	Suburban
Stari Grad	5	68,552	55,543	Urban
Surčin	285	Part of Zemun municipality until 2004.	55,000 (est.)	Suburban
Voždovac	148	156,373	151,768	Urban
Vračar	3	67,438	58,386	Urban
Zemun	154	176,158	136,645	Urban
Zvezdara	32	135,694	132,621	Urban
TOTAL	3227	1,552,151	1,576,124
Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia[6]

[edit] Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Belgrade

See also: Historical population of Belgrade

Belgrade has a population of 1,576,124 as recorded in the 2002 Serbian census. The main ethnic groups are Serbs (1,417,187), Yugoslavs (22,161), Montenegrins (21,190), Roma (19,191), Croats (10,381), Macedonians (8,372), and Muslims by nationality (4,617).^[57] Recent polls (2007) show that Belgrade's population has increased by 400,000 in just 5 years since the last official Census was undertaken. ^[58] As of December 15th 2007, the city's Institute for Informatics and Statistics has registered 1,531,741 eligible voters, which confirms that Belgrade's population has risen dramatically since the 2002 Census, as the number of the registered voters has almost surpassed the entire population of the city 6 years before.^[59]

Belgrade is home to many ethnicities from all over the former Yugoslavia, largely because it was the capital.^[1] Many people came seeking a better life, or fled as refugees from war and ethnic cleansing.^[60] Several thousand Chinese are estimated to live in Belgrade; they began immigrating in the mid-1990s. Blok 70 in New Belgrade is known locally as the Chinese quarter.^[61][62] Many Middle Easterners, mainly from Syria, Iran, Jordan and Iraq, arrived in order to pursue their studies during the 1970s and 1980s, and have remained and started families in the city.^[63][64] Afghani and Iraqi Kurdish refugees are among some of the recent arrivals from the Middle East. ^[65]

Although there are several historic religious communities in Belgrade, the religious makeup of the city is relatively homogenous. The Serbian Orthodox community is by far the largest, with 1,429,170 adherents. There are also 20,366 Muslims, 16,305 Roman Catholics, and 3,796 Protestants. There used to be a significant Jewish community, but following the Nazi occupation, and many Jews' subsequent emigration to Israel, their numbers have fallen to a mere 415.^[1]

[edit] Economy

Main article: Economy of Belgrade

Belgrade is the most economically developed part of Serbia, and is home to the country's National Bank. Many notable companies are based in Belgrade, including Jat Airways, Telekom Srbija, Telenor Serbia, Delta Holding,regional centers for Société Générale, Intel[1], Motorola, Microsoft, Japan Tobacco and many others.^[66][67]

During the 1990s, Belgrade, like the rest of Serbia, was severely affected by an internationally imposed trade embargo. The hyperinflation of the Yugoslav dinar, the highest inflation ever recorded in the world,^[68][69] decimated the city's economy. It has been growing strongly since 2000 and now over 30% of Serbia's GDP is generated by the city, which also has over 30% of Serbia's employed population.^[70]

As of July 2007, the average bruto salary per month was 49,709 Serbian dinars (about 610 €)^[71], while net monthly salary in Belgrade amounted to 34 719 Serbian dinars (about € 435 or US$ 590), which is the highest average net salary of any district in Serbia.^[72] In terms of Purchasing power parity, Belgrade again holds the highest per capita income in Serbia, with $15 785. The Belgrade city budget for 2007 is approximately 64.4 billion dinars (over US$1 billion).^[73]

According to the Eurostat methodology, 45,4% of the city's households own a computer (surpassing all of the regional capitals), which is just below the European Union average which stands at 49%.^[74] According to the same survey, 39,1% of Belgrade's households have an internet connection; these figures are above those of the regional capitals such as Sofia, Bucharest and Athens.

[edit] Culture

Main article: Culture of Belgrade

Belgrade hosts many annual cultural events, including FEST (Belgrade Film Festival), BITEF (Belgrade Theatre Festival), BELEF (Belgrade Summer Festival), BEMUS (Belgrade Music Festival), Belgrade Book Fair, and the Belgrade Beer Festival.^[75] The Nobel prize winning author Ivo Andrić wrote his most famous work, The Bridge on the Drina, in Belgrade.^[76] Other prominent Belgrade authors include Branislav Nušić, Miloš Crnjanski, Borislav Pekić, Milorad Pavić and Meša Selimović.^[77][78][79] Most of Serbia's film industry is based in Belgrade; the 1995 Palme d'Or winning Underground, directed by Emir Kusturica, was produced in the city.

The city was one of the main centres of the Yugoslav New Wave in the 1980s: VIS Idoli, Ekatarina Velika and Šarlo Akrobata were all from Belgrade. Other notable Belgrade rock acts include Riblja Čorba, Bajaga i Instruktori and others.^[80] The city was the main centre former Yugoslavia of a musical style known as turbofolk, one of whose most famous stars is Ceca Ražnatović. Today, it is the centre of the Serbian hip hop scene, with acts such as Beogradski Sindikat, Škabo, Marčelo, and most of the Bassivity Music stable hailing from or living in the city.^[81][82] There are numerous theatres, the most prominent of which are National Theatre, Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Zvezdara Theatre, and Atelier 212. The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is also based in Belgrade, as well as the National Library of Serbia. Belgrade's two opera houses are: National Theatre and Madlenijanum Opera House.

There are many foreign cultural institutions in Belgrade, including Instituto Cervantes, Goethe-Institut and the Centre Culturel Français, which are all located on Prince Michael Street. Other cultural centres in Belgrade are American Corner, the Austrian Cultural Forum (Österreichischen Kulturforums), the British Council, and Russian Center for Science and Culture (Российский центр науки и культуры), the Confucius Institute, the Canadian Cultural Center, the Italian Cultural Institute (Istituto Italiano di Cultura), and the Culture Center of Islamic Republic of Iran.

Following the victory of Serbia's representative Marija Šerifović at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, Belgrade will host the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.^[83]

[edit] Museums

See also: List of museums in Belgrade

The most prominent museum in Belgrade is the National Museum, founded in 1844; it houses a collection of more than 400,000 exhibits, including many foreign masterpieces and the famous Miroslavljevo Jevanđelje (Miroslav's Gospel).^[84] The Military Museum houses a wide range of more than 25,000 military exhibits dating as far back as to the Roman period, as well as parts of a F-117 stealth aircraft shot down by Yugoslav forces.^[85][86] The Museum of Aviation in Belgrade has more than 200 aircraft, of which about 50 are on display, and a few of which are the only surviving examples of their type, such as the Fiat G.50. This museum also displays parts of shot down US and NATO aircraft.^[87] The Ethnographic Museum, established in 1901, contains more than 150,000 items showcasing the rural and urban culture of the Balkans, particularly the countries of the former Yugoslavia.^[88] The Museum of Contemporary Art has a collection of around 8,540 works of art produced in Yugoslavia since 1900.^[89] The Nikola Tesla Museum, founded in 1952, preserves the personal items of Nikola Tesla, the inventor after whom the Tesla unit was named. It holds around 160,000 original documents and around 5,700 other items.^[90] The last of the major Belgrade museums is the Museum of Vuk and Dositej, which showcases the lives, work and legacy of Vuk Stefanović Karadžić and Dositej Obradović, the 19th century reformer of the Serbian literary language and the first Serbian Minister of Education, respectively.^[91] One of the more unusual museums in Belgrade is the Museum of African Art, founded in the days of socialist solidarity with the undeveloped nations of the Third World.^[92]

With around 95,000 copies of national and international films, the Yugoslav Film Archive is the largest in the region and amongst the 10 largest archives in the world.^[93] The institution also operates the Museum of Yugoslav Film Archive, with movie theatre and exhibition hall. The archive's long-standing storage problems were finally solved in 2007, when a new modern depository was opened.^[94]

[edit] Architecture

See also: List of notable buildings in Belgrade, List of notable streets and squares in Belgrade, Architectural projects under construction in Belgrade, Religious architecture in Belgrade, and Gates of Belgrade

Belgrade has wildly varying architecture, from the centre of Zemun, typical of a Central European town,^[95] to the more modern architecture and spacious layout of New Belgrade. In Belgrade proper, the oldest buildings date only from 19th century, due to its geographic position and frequent wars and destructions.^[96] The oldest public structure in Belgrade is a nondescript Turkish turbe, while the oldest house is a modest clay house on Dorćol, from late 18th century.^[97] Western influence began in the 19th century, when the city completely transformed from an oriental town to the contemporary architecture of the time, with influences from neoclassicism, romanticism and academic art. Serbian architects took over the development from the foreign builders in the late 19th century, producing the National Theatre, Old Palace, Cathedral Church and later, in the early 20th century, the National Assembly and National Museum, influenced by art nouveau.^[96] Elements of Neo-Byzantine architecture are present in buildings such as Vuk's Foundation, old Post Office in Kosovska street, and sacral architecture, such as St. Mark's Church (based on the Gračanica monastery), and the Temple of Saint Sava.^[96]

During the period of Communist rule, much housing was built quickly and cheaply to house the huge influx of people from the countryside following World War II, sometimes resulting in the brutalist architecture of the blokovi (blocks) of New Belgrade; a socrealism trend briefly ruled, resulting in buildings like the Trade Union Hall.^[96] However, in the mid-1950s, the modernist trends took over, and still dominate the Belgrade architecture.^[96]

[edit] Tourism

The historic areas and buildings of Belgrade are among the city's premier attractions. They include Skadarlija, the National Museum and adjacent National Theatre, Zemun, Nikola Pašić Square, Terazije, Students' Square, the Kalemegdan Fortress, Prince Michael Street, the Parliament, the Temple of Saint Sava, and the Old Palace. On top of this, there are many parks, monuments, museums, cafés, restaurants and shops on both sides of the river. The hilltop Avala Monument offers views over the city. Josip Broz Tito's mausoleum, called Kuća Cveća (The House of Flowers), and the nearby Topčider and Košutnjak parks are also popular, especially among visitors from the former Yugoslavia.

Ada Ciganlija is a former island on the Sava river, and Belgrade's biggest sports and recreational complex. Today it is connected with the shore, creating an artificial lake on the river. It is the most popular destination for Belgraders during the city's hot summers. There are 7 kilometres of long beaches and sports facilities for various sports including golf, football, basketball, volleyball, rugby union, baseball, and tennis.^[98] Extreme sports are available, like bungee jumping, water skiing and paintballing.^[99] There are numerous tracks on the island, where it is possible to ride a bike, go for a walk or go jogging.^[100][101] Apart from Ada, Belgrade has total of 16 islands^[102] on the rivers, many still unused; among them, the Great War Island on the very confluence of Sava stands out as an oasis of unshattered wildlife (especially birds).^[103] Its parts, along with nearby Small War Island, are protected by the city's government as a nature preserve.^[104]

[edit] Nightlife

Belgrade has a reputation for offering a vibrant nightlife, and many clubs that are open until dawn can be found throughout the city. The most recognizable nightlife features of Belgrade are the barges (splavovi) spread along the banks of the Sava and Danube Rivers.^{[105][106][107]}

Many weekend visitors—particularly from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia—prefer Belgrade nightlife to that of their own capitals, due to a perceived friendly atmosphere, great clubs and bars, cheap drinks, the lack of language difficulties, and the lack of restrictive night life regulation.^[108][109]

Famous alternative clubs include Akademija and the famed KST (Klub studenata tehnike) located in the basement of the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Electrical Engineering.^{[110][111][112]} One of the most famous sites for alternative cultural happenings in the city is the SKC (Student Cultural Centre), located right across from Belgrade's highrise landmark, the Beograđanka. Concerts featuring famous local and foreign bands are often held at the centre. SKC is also the site of various art exhibitions, as well as public debates and discussions.^[113]

A more traditional Serbian nightlife experience, accompanied by traditional music known as Starogradska (roughly translated as Old Town Music), typical of northern Serbia's urban environments, is most prominent in Skadarlija, the city's old bohemian neighbourhood where the poets and artists of Belgrade gathered in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Skadar Street (the centre of Skadarlija) and the surrounding neighbourhood are lined with some of Belgrade's best and oldest traditional restaurants (called kafanas in Serbian), which date back to that period.^[114] At one end of the neighborhood stands Belgrade's oldest beer brewery, founded in the first half of the nineteenth century.^[115] One of the city's oldest kafanas is the Znak pitanja.^[116]

Belgrade also has a small gay scene. The city has three gay clubs, as well as a few gay and gay-friendly cafés, in the centre of the city.^[117] Intolerance towards sexual minorities is still common in Belgrade and Serbia as a whole.^[118]

[edit] Sport

See also: List of sporting events in Belgrade

There are around a thousand sports facilities in Belgrade, many of which are capable of serving all levels of sporting events.^[119] Belgrade has hosted several relatively major sporting events recently, including Eurobasket 2005, the 2005 European Volleyball Championship, and the 2006 European Waterpolo Championship. Belgrade will be the host city of the European Youth Olympic Festival 2007 and 2009 Summer Universiade, chosen over the cities of Monterrey and Poznań.^[120]

The city launched two unsuccessful candidate bids to organize the Summer Olympic Games: for the 1992 Summer Olympics Belgrade was eliminated in the third round of International Olympic Committee voting, with the games going to Barcelona. The 1996 Summer Olympics ultimately went to Atlanta.^[121][122]

The city is home to Serbia's two biggest and most successful football clubs, Red Star Belgrade and FK Partizan, as well as a few other first league clubs. The two major stadiums in Belgrade are the Marakana (Red Star Stadium) and the Partizan Stadium.^[123] Belgrade Arena is used for basketball matches, along with Pionir Hall.^[124][125] while the Tašmajdan Sports Centre is used for water polo matches.

[edit] Media

See also: List of media organisations in Belgrade

Belgrade is the most important media hub in Serbia. The city is home to the main headquarters of the national broadcaster Radio Television Serbia - RTS, which is currently in the process of being transformed into a public service broadcaster.^[126] The RTS record label, PGP RTS, is also based in Belgrade.^[127] The most popular commercial broadcaster is RTV Pink, a Serbian media multinational, known for its popular entertainment programs, which are considered by many to be sensationalist and of low quality. The most popular mainstream "alternative" broadcaster is B92, another media company, which has its own TV station, radio station, and music and book publishing arms, as well as the most popular website on the Serbian internet.^[128][129] Other TV stations broadcasting from Belgrade include Košava, Avala, and others which only cover the greater Belgrade municipal area, such as Studio B and TV Politika. Numerous specialised channels are also available: SOS channel (sport), Metropolis (music), Art TV (art), Cinemania (film), and Happy TV (children's programs).

High-circulation daily newspapers published in Belgrade include Politika, Večernje novosti, Blic, Glas javnosti, and Sportski žurnal. Other dailies published in the city are Press, Danas, and Kurir. A new free distribution daily, 24 sata, was founded in the autumn of 2006.

[edit] Education

See also: List of educational institutions in Belgrade

Belgrade has two state universities and several private institutions for higher education. The "Great School", founded in Belgrade in 1808, was the earliest location of higher education in Serbia.^[130] The Lyceum followed in 1841, when it was moved from Kragujevac to Belgrade. By 1905, it had evolved into the University of Belgrade,^[131] one of the oldest educational institutions in the country (the oldest higher education facility, the Teacher's College in Subotica, dates from 1689). More than 70,000 students study at the University.^[132]

There are also 195 primary (elementary) schools and 85 secondary schools. Of the primary schools, there are 162 regular, 14 special, 15 art and 4 adult schools. The secondary school system has 51 vocational schools, 21 gymnasiums, 8 art schools and 5 special schools. The 230,000 pupils are managed by 22,000 employees in over 500 buildings, covering around 1,100,000 m².^[133]

[edit] Transportation

Main article: Transport in Belgrade

Belgrade has an extensive public transport system based on buses (118 urban lines and more than 300 suburban lines), trams (12 lines), and trolleybuses (8 lines).^[134] It is run by GSP Beograd and SP Lasta, in cooperation with private companies on various bus routes. Belgrade also has a commuter rail network, Beovoz, run by Serbian Railways.^[135] The main railway station connects Belgrade with other European capitals and many towns in Serbia. Travel by coach is also popular, and the capital is well-served with daily connections to every town in the country. The motorway system provides for easy access to Novi Sad and Budapest, the capital of Hungary, in the north; Niš to the south; and Slavonski Brod, to the west. Situated at the confluence of two major rivers, the Danube and the Sava, Belgrade has many bridges—the two main ones are Branko's bridge and Gazela, both of which connect the core of the city to New Belgrade. The Port of Belgrade is on the Danube, and allows the city to receive goods by river.^[136] The city is also served by Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport (IATA: BEG), 12 kilometres west of the city centre, near Surčin. At its peak in 1986, almost 3 million passengers travelled through the airport, though that number dwindled to a trickle in the 1990s.^[137] Following renewed growth in 2000, the number of passengers reached approximately 2 million in 2004 and 2005.^[138] In 2006, 2 million passengers passed through the airport by mid-November,^[139] which has been achieved by the beginning of October 2007, thus breaking the record from the previous year.^[140]

With the city's expansion and a substantial increase in the number of vehicles, congestion has become a major problem; this is expected to be alleviated by the construction of a bypass connecting the E70 and E75 highways.^[141] Further, an "inner magistral semi-ring" is planned, including a new bridge across the Sava river, which is expected ease commuting within the city and unload the Gazela and Branko's bridge.^[142]

[edit] International cooperation and honours

Belgrade is twinned with the following cities:^[143][144]

Chicago, Illinois, USA - sister city since June 2005 Coventry, United Kingdom - twin city since 1957 Lahore, Pakistan - twin city since 2007[145] Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel - sister city since 1990

Other similar forms of cooperation and city friendship:

Athens, Greece (Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation, November 1966) Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Agreement on Cooperation, 2005) Beijing, China (Agreement on Cooperation, October 1980) Berlin, Germany ( Agreement on Cooperation and Friendship, November 1978) Düsseldorf, Germany (Agreement on Cooperation, February 2004) Havana, Cuba (Agreement on fraternization, June 2007) [146] Kyiv, Ukraine (Agreement on Cooperation, May 2002) Madrid (Agreement on Cooperation, May 2001) Milan, Italy (Memorandum of Agreement, City to City Programme, November 2000) Moscow, Russia (Programme of Cooperation 2003/2004, December 2002) Rome, Italy (Agreement on Friendship and Cooperation, October 1971)

Letters of Intent signed with capital cities of former Yugoslavia:

Ljubljana, Slovenia (Letter of Intent, October 2003) (Signed together with Zagreb) Skopje, Republic of Macedonia (Letter of Intent, June 2006) Zagreb, Croatia (Letter of Intent, October 2003) (Signed together with Ljubljana) Podgorica, Montenegro (2006)

Other partnerships (under reserve):

Prnjavor, Bosnia and Herzegovina Belgrade, Belgium Tripoli, Libya Tunis, Tunisia

The City of Belgrade has received various domestic and international honours, including the French Légion d'honneur in 1920 (only four cities were awarded with this order), the Czechoslovak War Cross, the Serbian Karađorđe's Star with Swords and the former Yugoslavian Order of the National Hero (proclaimed on October 20, 1974, the anniversary of the overthrow of Nazi German occupation during World War II).^[147] In 2006, Financial Times' magazine Foreign Direct Investment awarded Belgrade the title of City of the Future of Southern Europe.^[148][149]

[edit] See also

• List of notable Belgraders

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Pavić, Milorad (2000). A Short History of Belgrade. Belgrade: Dereta. ISBN 86-7346-117-0. 
• Tešanović, Jasmina (2000). The Diary of a Political Idiot: Normal Life in Belgrade. Cleis Press. ISBN 1-57344-114-7. 
• Levinsohn, Florence Hamlish (1995). Belgrade : among the Serbs. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. ISBN 1-56663-061-4. 
• Paton, Andrew Archibald [1845] (2005-11-04). Servia, Youngest Member of the European Family: or, A Residence in Belgrade, and Travels in the Highlands and Woodlands of the Interior, during the years 1843 and 1844. (Reprint by Project Gutenberg/Project Rastko), London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans. 

[edit] External links

• City of Belgrade Official Website
• Tourist Organization of Belgrade
• Old photos of Belgrade
• Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities
• City of Belgrade Secretariat for Environmental Protection
• Architecture of Belgrade
• BeoBuild (Construction projects)
• Medieval Belgrade - belgradexv.com
• Environmental Atlas of Belgrade, Institute of Public Health of Belgrade
• Belgrade Travel Guide, Serbia
• Belgrade travel guide from Wikitravel

• Belgrade is at coordinates 44°48′58″N 20°28′54″E / 44.8162, 20.4816Coordinates: 44°48′58″N 20°28′54″E / 44.8162, 20.4816

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