Square of Nikola Pašić

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Trg Nikole Pašića or Square of Nikola Pašić (Serbian Cyrillic: Трг Николе Пашића) is one of the central town squares and an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Stari Grad.

[edit] Location

The Square of Nikola Pašić is located in downtown Belgrade as the direct extension of Terazije. It overlooks the monumental building of former Yugoslav assembly and itself extends into the Belgrade's longest street, the Boulevard of king Alexander, while Dečanska street connects it to the Square of the Republic.

[edit] Characteristics

The square was formed in the 1950s with a project of massive reorganization of Terazije. Originally named the "Square of Marx and Engels", it was one of the first Belgrade's streets and squares to change its name in the late 1980s with the loosening of the Communist government. A monument to Nikola Pašić is erected in the early 1990s. The original terrain was hilly so a lots of earth was removed from it to make possible the forming of a square and when monument was to be erected, ideas of brining back earth to the square to make an artificial hillock as a pedestal for the monument appeared.

The dominant features in the square are the massive, typical soc-realistic building of the Home of the Union (Dom Sindikata) and one of the Belgrade's largest fountains. Museum of the history of Yugoslavia (former building of the Belgrade's Stock Exchange) is located across the fountain. Right in front of the square is the Pionirski park and the buildings of the Belgrade City Hall and the Presidency of the Republic.

The pedestrian section of the square is used for various public events, most notably open sales of flowers, honey, books, etc. In some years, a small, artificial ice rink is put on the square too.