Kosančićev Venac

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.

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.

History

Cathedral church

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 1979 Kosančićev Venac was officially added to the Spatial Cultural-Historical Units of Great Importance list, and 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:

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.

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:

See also

External links

Coordinates: 44°49′03″N 20°27′05″E / 44.8175°N 20.4514°E