Senjak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Senjak (pronounced: [ˈsɛ.ɲɑk], Serbian: Сењак) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Located in Belgrade's municipality of Savski Venac, it is an affluent and distinguished neighborhood, lavished with embassies and diplomatic residences.
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[edit] Location
Senjak is located 7-8 km south-west of downtown Belgrade, on top of the hilly cliff-like crest of the western slopes of Topčidersko Brdo, overlooking the Belgrade Fair right below and the Sava river (from which, at the closest point, Senjak is only 100 meters away). It borders the neighborhoods of Topčider and Careva Ćuprija (south), Mostar (north), Prokop and Dedinje (east). The triangularly shaped neighborhood has many smaller streets but it is bounded by two wide boulevards, named after Serbian army vojvodas from World War I: Vojvoda Mišić and Vojvoda Putnik. The population of Senjak (local community Topčidersko Brdo-Senjak) was 7,249 in 2002.
[edit] History
Before it became interesting to Belgrade's upper classes, Senjak was an excellent natural lookout. As many farmers kept their hay throughout the entire city, fires were quite frequent, so it was ordered for hay to be collected and kept in one place, and the area of modern Senjak was chosen due to its hilliness.
Due to the nature of the Serbian language, the word "Senjak" is connected to two Serbian words: sena and seno — the former meaning "shadow" and the latter meaning "hay". When the word is attributed to the former, it may be interpreted to mean "one who resides in shadow" (where "one" refers to any noun: a person, place, or object), and when attributed to the latter it may be interpreted to mean "a place for storage of hay". Both are valid and likely played a part in the genesis of the name – it cannot be determined which sense is meant by saying "Senjak" alone, it is an ambiguous expression. Evidently and uncoincidentally, both senses fit well with describing Senjak: it is indeed a place which is slightly in shadow, and it indeed was used for the storage of hay partly due to this quality.
Senjak belonged to the municipality of Topčidersko Brdo which in 1957 merged with the municipality of Zapadni Vračar to create the municipality of Savski Venac.
During the 1999 NATO military operation in Serbia, a number of buildings in the neighborhood such as the Swiss ambassador's residence were damaged or affected by the conflict.
The first tram link established in Belgrade was from the Kalemegdan fortress to Senjak.
[edit] Characteristics
Just like the neighboring Dedinje, Senjak is generally considered among Belgraders as one of the richest neighborhoods in the city. After 1945, it shared much of the same faith as Dedinje: when Communists took over, they declared almost all former residents as state enemies and forced them out of their mansions, so the new Communist political and military elite moved in. Some measures in removing the former high class were brutal as only those who fled the country stayed alive. Those unlucky were taken into a nearby woods and shot, with their remains laying in unmarked graves for decades until they were exposed by construction workers clearing trees for a new soccer field.
Some of the main points of interest in the area are:
- Military Academy; after World War I, military academy was constructed by orders of king Peter I. The academy's building is majestic, with heavy cream-colored walls and tall windows. During World War II the occupational German forces made it the headquarters for their military operations in the Balkans. The Allies bombed the neighborhood during the war in order to destroy the headquarters and the bridge over the Sava, but they didn't manage to hit it or cause any damage to the building.
- House of king Peter; a vacant summer house of king Peter I, it stands across the soccer field of "FK Grafičar" and close to the building of the military academy.
- Museum of African Art; it was established from the private collection of a Yugoslav diplomat, and contains many rare pieces.
- Ecole Française de Belgrade, an international French school founded in 1951. The school is composed of a nursery school, an elementary school, a middle school and a high school.
- Senjak Gymnastics Club, which was a starting point for the future career of the renowned Yugoslav rhythmic gymnast Milena Reljin.
- Stadium and restaurant "FK Grafičar" and the Archive of Yugoslavia, both in the vicinity of Topčiderska zvezda, small roundabout with streets spreading in all directions connecting Senjak, Dedinje, downtown Belgrade, Topčider and further to the south (Kanarevo Brdo, Rakovica, etc).
