Kosančićev Venac

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Kosančićev Venac (Serbian Cyrillic: Косанчићев Венац) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Stari Grad.

[edit] Location

Kosančićev Venac is located along the elbow-shaped street of the same name, 700 meters west of downtown Belgrade (Terazije). It developed on the western ridge of the ending section of the ridge of Šumadija geological bar which extends from Terazijska Terasa to Kalemegdan, which is a continuation of Kosančićev Venac and overlooks the Sava port on the Sava river, the northernmost section of the neighborhood of Savamala. The local community comprising partially the area Kosančićev Venac had a population of 1,988 in 2002.

[edit] History

Kosančićev Venac is practically the oldest section of Belgrade outside the walls of the Kalemegdan fortress. From this point the new Serbian town, as opposed to the old Turkish one in the fortress, began expanding in the 1830s along the right bank of the Sava into Savamala. In 1971 Kosančićev Venac was officially named a monument of culture, with explanation: "it is the area of the oldest Serbian settlement, the first developed administrative, cultural, spiritual and economic center of the city with specific ambient qualities".

Several important early official buildings of Belgrade are located in the neighborhood:

• Countess Ljubica's Residence (built 1829-31; officially a museum, section of the Museum of Belgrade)
• Cathedral Church of St. Michael the Archangel (built 1837-40)
• Patriarchal See of the Serbian Orthodox Church

Kosančićev Venac was projected as the beginning and one of three sections of the urban settlement which will connect Terazije and Kalemegdan. All three section are called venac (in this case: round, cyclic street, literally it is Serbian for wreath) and named after three knights and heroes of the Battle of Kosovo: Kosančićev Venac, after Ivan Kosančić, Toplički Venac, after Milan Toplica and Obilićev Venac, after Miloš Obilić.

[edit] Future

In January 2007 city government announced ambitious plans for the revitalization of Kosančićev Venac and the neighboring riverside section of Savamala. The first concern is the stabilization of the ground as the entire western slope of the ridge descending to the Sava is a mass wasting area (the leaning of the Cathedral Church is already visible from a distance).

Kosančićev Venac is projected as the future cultural center of Belgrade. As it is not allowed to change the general shape of the neighborhood, Kosančićev Venac is declared a "zone of minor interventions" with several specific points of reconstruction:

• Memorial center of the National Library of Serbia; National library was located in Kosančićev Venac until it was destroyed in German bombing of Belgrade on April 6, 1941. A memorial center to commemorate the old location will be built but not as a monument but as a vigorous and modern cultural institution;

• Đumurkana; an old custom house (Turkish: gümrük), as the very first administrative building built in the newly autonomous Serbia from the Turks, it is was a symbol of the liberated country. Only the foundations survive today, but as it was also the location where the first theatre shows were organized in Belgrade, it is also projected that Đumurkana will be an object of culture.

• New representative cultural institution; will be build between the streets of Kosančićev Venac and Karađorđeva.

• A lookout point and a pedestrian pathway from downtown to the Sava's bank, as today Kosančićev Venac has no direct approach to the river even though it is right above it. The only existing connections are two step-streets (Velike Stepenice and Male Stepenice, "Big steps" and "Small steps", respectively).

• Existing Beton-Hala ("Concrete-Hall") in the port will be turned into a cultural and commercial center and a new green parking for tourist busses will be built too.