Kalvarija (Zemun)

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Kalvarija, also known as Marija Bursać (Serbian Cyrillic: Калварија or Марија Бурсаћ) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Zemun.

1 Location
2 Characteristics
3 Jelovac
4 References

[edit] Location

Kalvarija is located southwest of downtown Zemun. It borders the neighborhoods of Sava Kovačević on the north, Železnička Kolonija on the west, the northernmost extension of Bežanijska Kosa on the south and Tošin Bunar on the east and southeast.

[edit] Characteristics

Kalvarija is one of three hills on which the old town of Zemun developed. The other two are Ćukovac, into which Kalvarija extends in the northeast, and Gardoš, on the right bank of the Danube.

The neighborhood was officially called Marija Bursać, after a Yugoslav Partisan war hero. It is also name of the central street in the neighborhood and name of the local community (mesna zajednica), municipal sub-administrative unit which covers Kalvarija, with a population of 11,002 in 2002 census of population. Surrounding neighborhoods are also named in memory of Partisans, like the commander Sava Kovačević or Battle of Sutjeska (Sutjeska).

Western section of the neighborhood is mostly residential, while eastern is mostly industrial (factories and depots of Navip, Inos Metal, brickwork, etc.)

[edit] Jelovac

Jelovac is a trapezoid-shaped, 5 hectares large park and the surrounding sub-neighborhood in the center of Kalvarija. In the mid 1980s city government decided that the area was to remain unurbanized. In 2007 attempts were made to construct buildings in the area, but after the protest of the local population, the park remained and it is in the process of reconstruction which began in September 2007 and ended on April 16, 2008 ^[1]. Open children playgrounds with rubber floors were placed, so as the volleyball, soccer and basketball courts, connected by the pedestrian paths. New grass was planted on the area of 6,500 square meters and number of trees in the park was raised from 254 to over 400. ^[2]

The name of the park and the neighborhood comes after the Jelovac family from Zemun. Two Jelovac brothers owned original brickworks, which was confiscated by the Communist government after World War II. Apart from the industrial facility, Jelovac family also owned the land on which the park was later planted.