Belgrade Fortress

Belgrade Fortress
Belgrade in Serbia

Kalemegdan Park, part of the Fortress
Coordinates 44°49′24″N 020°27′01″E / 44.82333°N 20.45028°E / 44.82333; 20.45028Coordinates: 44°49′24″N 020°27′01″E / 44.82333°N 20.45028°E / 44.82333; 20.45028
Type Fortress
Site information
Open to
the public		 Yes
Site history
Built 535 (535)
Built by Justinian I
Stefan Lazarević
Materials Stone

Belgrade Fortress[1][2] (Serbian: Београдска тврђава / Beogradska tvrđava), consists of the old citadel (Upper and Lower Town) and Kalemegdan Park[3] (Large and Little Kalemegdan) on the confluence of the River Sava and Danube, in an urban area of modern Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Stari Grad. Belgrade Fortress was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and is protected by the Republic of Serbia.[2] It is the most visited tourist attraction in Belgrade, beating Skadarlija.[4] Since the admission is free, it is estimated that the total number of visitors (foreign, domestic, citizens of Belgrade) is over 2 million yearly.[5]

Location

Belgrade Fortress is located on top of the 125.5-meter high[6] ending ridge of the Šumadija geological bar. The cliff-like ridge overlooks the Great War Island (Serbian: Veliko ratno ostrvo) and the confluence of the Sava river into the Danube, and makes one of the most beautiful natural lookouts in Belgrade. It borders the neighborhoods of Dorćol (north and north-east), Stari Grad (east) and Kosančićev Venac (Savamala; south). It is encircled by three streets: Boulevard of Vojvoda Bojović, Tadeuša Košćuška, Pariska, and the railway along the riverside.

History

Belgrade Fortress is the core and the oldest section of the urban area of Belgrade. For centuries the city population was concentrated only within the walls of the fortress, and thus the history of the fortress, until most recent times, equals the history of Belgrade itself (see: Timeline of Belgrade history). The first mention of the city is when it was founded in the 3rd century BC as "Singidunum" by the Celtic tribe of Scordisci, who had defeated Thracian and Dacian tribes that previously lived in and around the fort. The city-fortress was later conquered by the Romans, was known as Singidunum and became a part of "the military frontier", where the Roman Empire bordered "barbarian Central Europe". Singidunum was defended by the Roman legion IV Flaviae, which built a fortified camp on a hill at the confluence of the Danube and the Sava rivers. In the period between AD 378 and 441 the Roman camp was repeatedly destroyed in the invasions by the Goths and the Huns. Legend says that Attila's grave lies at the confluence of the Sava and the Danube (under the fortress). In 476 Belgrade again became the borderline between the empires: the Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), and the Slav-Avar State in the north.

Despot Stefan Tower
Stambol Gate.
Gate of Charles VI.

The Byzantine Emperor Justinian I rebuilt the fortress around 535. In the following centuries the fortress suffered continuous destruction under the Avar sieges. The Slavs (Serbs) and Avars had their "state union" north of Belgrade with the Serbs and other Slavic tribes finally settling in the Belgrade area as well as the regions west and south of Belgrade in the beginning of the 7th century. The name Belgrade (or Beograd in Serbian), which, not just in Serbian but in most Slavic languages, means a "white town" or a "white fortress", was first mentioned in AD 878 by Bulgarians. The fortress kept changing its masters: Bulgaria during three centuries, and then the Byzantines and then again Bulgarians. The fortress remained a Byzantine stronghold until the 12th century when it fell in the hands of the newly emerging Serbian state. It became a border city of the Serbian Kingdom, later Empire with Hungary. The Hungarian king Béla I gave the fortress to Serbia in the 11th century as a wedding gift (his son married the Serbian princess Jelena), but it remained effectively part of Hungary, except for the period 1282–1319. After the Serbian state collapsed after the Battle of Kosovo in 1404, Belgrade was chosen as the capital of the principality of Despot Stefan Lazarević. Major work was done to the ramparts which were encircling a big thriving town. The lower town at the banks of the Danube was the main urban center with a new build Orthodox cathedral. The upper town with its castle was defending the city from inland. Belgrade remained in Serbian hands for almost a century. After the Despot's death in 1427 it had to be returned to Hungary. An attempt by Sultan Mehmed II to conquer the fortress was prevented by Janos Hunyadi in 1456 (Siege of Belgrade), saving Hungary from Ottoman dominion for 70 years.

In 1521, 132 years after the Battle of Kosovo, the fortress, like most parts of the Serbian state, was conquered by the Turks and remained (with short periods of the Austrian and Serbian occupation), under the rule of the Ottoman Empire until the year 1867, when the Turks withdrew from Belgrade and Serbia. During the short period of Austrian rule (1718–1738), the fortress was largely rebuilt and modernized. It witnessed the Great Serbian Migration in the 17th century and two Serbian Uprisings in the 19th century, during the Turkish Period. The fortress suffered further damage during the First and the Second World Wars. After almost two millennia of continuous sieges, battles and conquests, the fortress is today known as the Belgrade Fortress. The present name of Kalemegdan Park derives from two Turkish words, kale (fortress) and meydan (battlefield) (literally, "battlefield fortress").

Kalemegdan was the location of the second airport in Serbia, after one in the neighborhood of Banjica from 1910. A field in the Donji Grad was adapted for planes in January 1911. It was situated along the bank of the Sava river, from the old Turkish bath (modern Planetarium) to the mouth of the Sava into the Danube. One of the flight pioneers, Edvard Rusjan, died in an airplane crash after taking off from this field on 9 January 1911. Today, the area is used by the parachutists and paragliders and as the location of the air shows for sports and ultra-light aviation.[7][8]

In 1928, building company "Šumadija" proposed the construction of the cable car, which they called "air tram". The project was planned to connect Zemun to Belgrade Fortress, via Great War Island. The interval of the cabins was set at 2 minutes and the entire route was suppose to last 5 minutes. The project never realized.[9]

Archaeology

Monument to "The Victor"—the protector of Belgrade.
Jakšić's Tower

On 29 February 1952 city adopted the "Decision on protection, adaptation and maintenance of the people's park of Kalemegdan" which set the borders of the protected areas as the rivers of Danube and Sava and the streets of Tadeuša Košćuškog and Pariska. In 1962, Belgrade's Institute for the cultural monuments protection expanded the zone to several blocks across the streets. Detailed plan on Kalemegdan from 1965 provided that, despite the immense archaeological value that lies beneath the fortress ground, basically only what was discovered by that time can be explored, restored or protected. That caused the problem both for the expansion of the park but even more for the further exploration of the fortress' underground. Best example is the Lower Town where neither the park fully developed nor the remains of the former port, which was located there, are visible.[10]

The area of the fortress is 66 ha (160 acres). By 2000, only 5% of that area was archaeologically surveyed, and by 2010 that number rose to 12% or 8 ha (20 acres). Based on the findings so far, it is estimated that during the rule of despot Stefan Lazarević in the first half of the 15th century, when Belgrade became capital of Serbia, the city within the fortress had 5,600 to 12,000 inhabitants. Archaeological examinations were done on the next locations:[11]

Features

Belgrade Fortress is generally divided into four sections:

At the location of the Monument of Gratitude to France there was a monument to Karađorđe. During the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Belgrade in the World War I, the Austrians planned to erect the bronze monument to their emperor, Franz Joseph I. When the monument was being shipped to Belgrade in 1918, Serbian forces captured the ship and confiscated the statue. It was later melted into the church bells which are still today ringing from the belltower of the Ružica Church.[5]

In 1948, after the Informbiro resolution and the ensuing Tito–Stalin split, a construction of the defensive bunker began on the fortress. In the process, the 5 m (16 ft) thick rampart of the original Nebojša Tower was discovered. It was destroyed and by 1949 the bunker which covers 200 m2 (2,200 sq ft) was finished. The tallest point of the bunker is the cannon dome which was used for the artillery and military units. Abandoned later, it was adapted for the tourists and opened in December 2012. It has parts of the authentic inventory from the 1950s: safety doors, beds, ventilation, water tanks, etc.[5]

Also adapted for the visits is the Great Austrian gunpowder magazine, built during the Austrian occupation of Belgrade 1718-39, as they destroyed the old one during the 1717 Siege of Belgrade. They directly hit the magazine with the cannonball and the explosion which followed allowed the Austrians to capture the city. The magazine is today embellished with the artifacts from the Roman period which were discovered in or around the fortress: tombstone stelae, monuments, altars and the Sarcophagus of Jonah, which originates from the 3rd century AD.[5]

Overview

Kalemegdan is the most popular park among Belgraders and for many tourists visiting Belgrade because of the park's numerous winding walking paths, shaded benches, picturesque fountains, statues, historical architecture and scenic river views (Sahat kula – the clock tower, Zindan kapija – Zindan gate, etc.). The former canal which was used for city supplying in the Middle Ages is completely covered by earth but the idea of recreating it resurfaced in the early 2000s. Belgrade Fortress is known for its kilometers-long tunnels, underground corridors and catacombs, which are still largely unexplored. In the true sense, fortress is today the green oasis in the Belgrade's urban area.

As a combination of several habitats (parkland with old trees, fortress, landscape view of rivers and forested Veliko Ratno Ostrvo), Kalemegdan may be interesting for overseas tourists-birdwatchers as it provides a snapshot of local bird fauna. It is also important as the resting spot for small passerine birds on migration, before or after crossing the rivers Sava and Danube. Kalemegdan has its own eBird hotspot and associated webpage at Kalemegdan Hotspot

The Belgrade Race Through History, an annual 6 km footrace, takes place in the park and fortress as a way of highlighting the history and culture of the area.[12]

Walls of Belgrade Fortress—panoramic view from the river

Concerts

The flat grounds below the fortress have occasionally been used as open-air concert location during late spring and summer:

Furthermore, KK Partizan and Red Star concrete basketball courts on the fortress have been used for concerts:

See also

References

  1. ↑ A official site of Belgrade Fortress
  2. 1 2 http://www.kultura.gov.rs/?p=901
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-10-09. Retrieved 2011-08-21.
  4. ↑ Daliborka Mučibabić (21 January 2010). "Skadarlija vraća izgubljeni boemski duh" (in Serbian). Politika.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Dimitrije Bukvić (29 December 2011), "Kameni "mesojedi" ispod Kalemegdana", Politika (in Serbian)
  6. ↑ Statistical Yearbook of Belgrade 2007 - Topography, climate and environment Archived 2011-10-07 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Slobodan Kljakić (1 September 2012), "Aeromiting nad Dojnim poljem", Politika (in Serbian)
  8. ↑ "Istorija: Kalemgdan-Donji Grad (1911)" (in Serbian). Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport.
  9. ↑ Dejan Spalović (27 August 2012), "San o žičari od Bloka 44 do Košutnjaka", Politika (in Serbian)
  10. ↑ Vladimir Bjelikov (September 2011), "U prilog Čodbrani beogradske tvrđave"", Politika (in Serbian)
  11. ↑ Daliborka Mučibabić (5 December 2010), "Mapa zakopanog blaga Beogradske tvrđave", Politika (in Serbian)
  12. ↑ The Belgrade Race Through History Archived February 7, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.. Belgrade Marathon. Retrieved on 2009-10-15.
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