Tašmajdan park
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Tašmajdan Park (Serbian: Tašmajdanski park; Cyrillic: Ташмајдански парк), colloquially Tašmajdan or Taš, is a public park and the surrounding urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Palilula.
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[edit] History
At the site of Tašmajdan Park, during the Ottoman Empire, there used to be a large stone-pit. That is how this park got its name (in Turkish: taš - stone, majdan - pit). According to an old record, "it may be freely said that all of the old buildings in Belgrade.... have been built of stone excavated here". Military arsenals and warehouses have been housed for a long time in the catacombs left after the excavations of stone blocks, and these catacombs have been also used as shelters and first-aid places for wounded soldiers.
During the Siege of Belgrade in 1806, Karađorđe set up a camp and pitched his tent here. After the Second Serbian Uprising, Knez Miloš Obrenović started to build a Serbian town district in Savamala and during 1826 ordered that the old Serbian cemetery be moved from Varoš-kapija to Tašmajdan.
The old St. Mark's Church was built in 1835 (it was subsequently destroyed in the bombing of Belgrade on April 6, 1941).
On November 30, 1830, at Tašmajdan, the Sultan's hatišerif (charter) on the internal independence of Serbia was read. In 1909, the first Seismological Station was built, and it still exists today.
The neighborhood of Tašmajdan (a local community within Belgrade) had a population of 4,018 in 2002.
[edit] 1999 NATO bombing
During the 78 day NATO bombing campaign of Serbia, several objects in Tašmajdan park were badly hit.
See full article: NATO bombing of RTS
- 23 April 1999 - On this day at 2:06 NATO bombed the building of the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation (RTS) situated in Tašmajdan park. Part of the building collapsed, trapping people who were working in the building that night. Sixteen people were killed while many were trapped for days.
- 24 April 1999 - A children’s theatre in the heart of Tašmajdan park was badly damaged due to its close proximity to neighbouring buildings that were bombed.
- 30 June 1999 - A heart like shaped monument was erected by the city of Belgrade for all the children that have died in the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia. The monument says "We were just children" in English and Serbian.
 New building of RTS also located in Tašmajdan |
 Monument to children that have died during the NATO bombing campaign (located in the centre of Tašmajdan park) |
 The theatre which was badly damaged during the bombing—now displaying flags of Europe for the "Joy of Europe" dancing contest |
[edit] Location
Tašmajdan park is located between Takovska, Georgi Dimitrova, and Beogradska streets and Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra.
[edit] Landmarks in Tašmajdan Park
Walking around Tašmajdan today, one will encounter a variety of significant religious, administrative, media, and sporting structures like the St. Mark's Church (the new one, built in 1931-1936), Russian Church (1924), Post Office main building (1934), Tašmajdan Sports Center, "Taš" and "Metropol" hotels, famous Madera restaurant, RTS main building, children's amusement park, etc.
For those into birdwatching, many Rock Doves can be seen in the park.
[edit] Sports complex
Within the Tašmajdan park a sports complex is located.
Pionir Hall – The Hall was opened in May 1973, It covers an area of 16,000 m². With sports rings covering some 2,500 m² and 7,000 seats, as well as press-rooms equipped with phone and telex connections, TV and radio booths, it is convenient for all sorts of indoor sports, shows, gatherings and other events. The Pionir Hall was one of the venues, which hosted several preliminary round games in the Eurobasket 2005 (European Basketball Championships 2005) competition.
Swimming pools - The outdoor swimming pool was built in 1959-1961. Its dimensions are 50x20m; its depth varies between 2.2 and 5.0 m; its capacity is 3,500 m³ and 2,500 seats. Next to it there is a small swimming pool for children. All in all, there is enough room for 4,000 people. It is equipped for international day-and-night competitions in swimming, water polo, water diving and so on. It will be one of the venues for the 2006 European Water Polo Championships in September 2006 in Belgrade. The pool has been renovated for the upcoming event.
The indoor swimming was built in 1964–1968. Its dimensions are 50x20 m; its depth is between 2.2 and 5.4 m; its capacity is 3,700 m³. The swimming pool is surrounded with four diving boards - 1m, 3m, 5m and 10m, and 2,000 seats. It is equipped with underwater light. At minus 16 °C, water and air can be heated up to 28 °C.
Ice hall - The Ice Hall was built in ten months and opened in March, 1978. It covers an area of 6,000 m², comprising 2,000 seats and 1,800 m² of ring-area, and is used for hockey, skating and figure skating competitions. Modern devices maintain the ice surface even during summer, or only one third of it if required.
[edit] Current events
[edit] Little Tašmajdan
One part of the Tašmajdan park (where the Metropol hotel is located) is often referred to as Little Tašmajdan. It has recently undergone renovation. Concrete walkways have been put in (around 6 thousand square metres) and new stairways as well as new lighting have been installed. In the centre of the park a playing area for children has been constructed. Near the children’s area, there is a fountain, which has also been renovated. Around 30 new benches have been put in.
[edit] Future plans
The Tašmajdan sports complex is under ongoing renovation. The renovation of the swimming pool complex is complete while other objects will also be built within the complex. Pionir Hall received a face-lift in 2005 for the Eurobasket competition.
[edit] Sea world beneath Taš
Company for underwater research "Viridijan" announced that, in July 2006, it will start construction of the first sea aquarium in Belgrade in the underground caves beneath Tašmajdan Park. Representing the project for construction of 50 underground aquariums with about 1,000 cubic meters of water, the manager of company "Viridijan" Zoran Lilić said that it would be one of the most beautiful aquariums in Europe. The return of Pannonian Sea will return to Belgrade. The project will be more than just exhibit space. Over 900 sea creatures will be placed in the natural milieu of the cave.
The Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Services of Serbia and Assembly of the City of Belgrade have backed the project on which company "Viridijan" will work on for nine years. Construction of aquarium will cost over 100 million Serbian dinars, although the exact amount is still a business secret of "Viridijan". According to the words of Lilić, the projects lacks only building permit, which should be issued to company "Viridijan" very soon.
[edit] Underworld of Tašmajdan park
Secret communist-era network of tunnels and bunkers beneath Tašmajdan park have been uncovered. People my see these caves by contacting the any tourist office in Belgrade.
