Small Staircase in Kalemegdan Park

The small staircase is located at the end of Sava promenade of the Big Kalemegdan, as the connection to the Pariska Street.

It was built in 1903. after the design of the first female architect in Serbia, Jelisaveta Načić.[1] The object was constructed in the style of academism, and as the main model, neo-Baroque manner was applied. Levelling between the Sava promenade and Pariska Street was done by constructing the bifurcated arched staircase with the ramps blending in the central platform, from which one staircase ramp prolongs towards the Sava promenade. The facade facing Pariska Street is decorated with the fountain in the shape of a lion`s head placed in the arched niche decorated with shallow pilasters. The railing is built in the massive form with shallow pilasters, as decoration. The stone was used as the main material. The staircase represents the integral part of the decoration of the Big Kalemegdan park,[2][3] resembling the city parks of European metropolis in the late 19th and early 20th century, bearing the features of the representative city park fin de siècle.

The staircase is covered with the greenish granite, kersantite, from the now closed Tešićev Majdan ("Tešić Quarry") in Ripanj, on the southern slopes of Avala. As the staircase deteriorated in time, city government in 2011 drafted a restoration project, but the problem was that the quarry is closed before 1960 and it is the only known location of kersantite in Serbia. For decades, kersantite was used for the Belgrade buildings, including some of the most representative ones: the fountain between the Novi Dvor and Stari Dvor, bordure of the Hotel Bristol, pedestal of the Play of Black Horses statues in front of the House of the National Assembly of Serbia and buildings of Belgrade Cooperative, Elementary School King Petar I, Cathedral Church of St. Michael the Archangel and Main Post Office Building. City government announced in 2012 that it will unilaterally explore the pit until it gets reopened and inspected it in 2013.[4] After the political change in Belgrade in the late 2013, the motion was dropped and the Small Staircase wasn't renovated.

References

  1. ↑ Мilić, Milan S. (1956), "The First Female Belgrade Architect – Jelisaveta Načić", Belgrade: GGB III. p. 451 – 458.
  2. ↑ Hranislav Milanović, "Belgrade Greenery", Belgrade 2006, 114-132
  3. ↑ Hranislav Milanović. The contribution to the study of the development of the Kalemegdan park – at the occasion of 130 years from the first works done on the greening and decoration of Kalemegdan park 1869-1999, The Heritage II, Belgrade 1999, page 41-52 (PDF).
  4. ↑ Marija Brakočević (27 October 2013), "Malo stepenište na Kalemegdanu čeka beogradski kamen", Politika (in Serbian)

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