Dorćol
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Dorćol (Serbian Cyrillic: Дорћол) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Stari Grad.
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[edit] Location
Dorćol begins already some 700 meters north of Terazije, the central square of Belgrade. It roughly can be divided in two sections, Gornji (or Upper) Dorćol, which covers the area from Studentski park to the Cara Dušana street, and Donji (or Lower) Dorćol which occupies the area between the Cara Dušana and Francuska streets and the right bank of the Danube. It borders (and largely overlaps) the neighborhood of Stari Grad (east and south) and the fortress of Kalemegdan (west), which is sometimes considered as part of Dorćol as well. The population of the neighboirhood in the widest sense was 22,707 in 2002.
[edit] History
The name of the neighborhood comes from Turkish words dört (four) and yol (road), literally meaning "four roads" or colloquially "intersection (of four roads)", "crossroads". There is a town in Anatolian section of modern Turkey with the same name (Dörtyol). During the Turkish occupation of Belgrade, Dorćol was a well known trading centre, with many markets and traders of different nationalities, among others it was a center of Belgrade's Jewish community, remnant of which is the modern Jevrejska ("Jewish") street in Dorćol. After Belgrade became a capital of independent Serbia, Dorćol kept its multinational character for a long time. Eventually the old low houses and narrow streets were changed into modern buildings. Still, some parts, though vanishing one by one, resemble the old look.
[edit] Economy
Western and northern sections of Dorćol are mainly residential, but eastern and riverside regions are heavily industrialized: depots and workshops of "GSP" (Belgrade City's transportation company), Belgrade City's Waterworks and Sewage company, heat plant "Dunav", Belgrade power station,"Žitomlin", "Jugošped", "Kopaonik", "Kompresor", numerous depots and hangars, etc. On the opposite, clothing company "Beko" is located in the westernmost section of Dorćol.
Traffic facilities include the railway which circles around the fortress of Kalemegdan, from the main railway station of Belgrade, through Dorćol, and over the Pančevački most further into Vojvodina. Small marina is projected to be in the future one of the most modern and expensive parts of the neighborhood. The western part of the Belgrade's port "Dunav" also belongs to Dorćol.
The area is known for its promenade on the Danube bank, which is well developed with a long bicycle path for recreation and many night clubs on water. The promenade is called Obala majora Gavrilovića ("the riverbank of major Gavrilović") after Dragutin Gavrilović, a Serbian officer who took part in defense of Belgrade in World War I from the Austrian army on this place.
Once very popular but today completely neglected sports and recreational complex of "Milan Gale Muškatirović" (formerly and better known as "25. maj") is also located on the riverside.
[edit] Miscellaneous
Dorćol rugby club won the 2005 Serbian Rugby League competition. (See Rugby league in Serbia).
Leading Serbian female novelist Svetlana Velmar-Janković wrote a book named "Dorćol", which is composed from short stories, each named after a street in Dorćol.
Belgrade's only mosque, Bajrakli Mosque, is located in the southernmost part of the neighborhood.
[edit] See also
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