My favourite neighbourhood: Vračar

In the past year and a half, since I changed my life in Rio for a new life here, in Belgrade, I lived in several different apartments - four of them, to be precise. Despite all the bother of moving my stuff around from here to there, it was an interesting in a way cause I got to know several different parts of the city. I've lived in the very city centre (Stari Grad, meaning "Old Town") for 7 months; then, I temporarily shared my friend's flat in Kotež for several months, while I looked for the perfect flat in a more central part of the city; after a long search, I moved to the district of Vračar, to a flat that was far from perfect, but that was nice nevertheless. I lived in there for 5 months until when, all of a sudden, I was kinda "forced" to move out. After only a week looking for a new place for myself, I found the apartment I'm currently living in - and hope to live for quite some time now. Enough flat hunting and moving for me! But the best of it all concerning this new flat is that I only had to move 3 blocks away from my previous flat, meaning that I'm still in the heart of Vračar! To make it all even better, I have an amazing view from my balcony - and I'm a sucker for a room (or a balcony) with a view!

The view from one side of my balcony <3

I always fancied Vračar, really, since I came to Belgrade the first time in 2007. But since I moved here last August, this neighbourhood grew on me even more and became one of my favourite parts of the city.
It is very close to the city centre (in fact, borders the "Stari Grad" district) and through Slavija Square (a public transportation hub) it's very well connected will all of the city.
One of the reasons for my love for Vračar is that it reminds me a lot of my former neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, called Laranjeiras: small (it's area covers less than 3 sq. km!) and residential, uphill, full of small streets surrounded by trees, historical, a neighbourhood who flourished after mid 19th century, when it was considered fancy and hosted many European style houses and buildings.
Walking through Vračar today one can barely tell it's such an old, historical part of the city. Most of its buildings nowadays date from after 1945 since during the WW2, due to bombing on different occasions, most of its old original buildings were completely destroyed.

The coat of arms of Vračar

But let's get back in time further more, back to the origins of this Belgrade neighbourhood.

The name and Vračar first appears 1492, in Turkish-Ottoman documents and plans for the conquest of Belgrade, lead Suleiman Pasha. Later on, in 1560, Vračar is again mentioned in official Ottoman documents, described as a small Christian settlement within the then Turkish Belgrade, comprised of (only!) 17 houses, on the outskirts of the town.

The origins of the name of Vračar itself, its etymology, is full of controversy. The oldest story dates back from the early days of Ottoman occupation in Serbia, more precisely from 1495, and it says the name Vračar to be derived from the Serbian word vrač (meaning a healer, a doctor/sorcerer, a medicine man) who lived around in this part of town. Other source, dating from 1521 - the very year when Belgrade fell into Ottoman siege - suggests that Vračar was the name of a Christian man who lived in one of the very few huts/houses that existed in this area back then. I wonder if the man mentioned on the first half of the 16th century could be the physician mentioned in 1495? Hmm...
There's also a 3rd theory: my ex-boyfriend told me once that the name Vračar comes from the name of a bird, vrabac (sparrow, in English), since many of those used to inhabit this region, giving it the name of Vračarsko Polje, later on referred to as simply "Vračar".
Despite which of these possibilities is the historically accurate one (if any of these, at all), this part of the city has much more history to itself than this. ‎

In 1595, as a result of a Serbian uprising again the Ottoman occupation, the remains of the Serbian Orthodox patron saint Sv. Sava were brought from the Mileševa Monastery (where they were resting since 1237) and, under orders of the Albanian Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha, were burned on the Vračar hill. On the first half of the 20th century, the temple of Sv. Sava was set up on the location believed to be where the saint's remains were set fire nearly 500 years ago. (more about the temple below)

Ottoman troops burning the remains of Sv. Sava in Vračar

In the 19th century the term Vračar started being used to refer to a broader, wider geographical area of the city, nearly three times bigger than the area of the present day district itself.
In 1806, when the first Serbian uprising (against the Ottoman domination) started, Serbian troops set one of their camps on the Vračar plateau. After Belgrade was first liberated from Turkish domination, the deceived Serbian soldiers were buried on this camp site and the place became known as the Insurgents Cemetery. In 1848, a Monument to the Liberators of Belgrade was erected by Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević on this very location and reconstructed a few years later, in 1889, when trees were also added around it, starting what is today Karađorđev Park - the oldest park in Belgrade.

Karađorđev Park and the Monument to the Liberators of Belgrade

It was also on the 19th century that the district saw a major growth and development: despite the city of Belgrade being under Turkish occupation, prince Miloš Obrenović ordered the construction of a new city centre on Western European standards, whereas most of the rest of the city beard all characteristics of an Ottoman town. This brought the implementation of broad streets and boulevards, new buildings to house administrative and public institutions of the city, parks and so on. The first results of this "westernisation" of Vračar was described by a journalist from The Times who published, in 1843, a text full of compliments to the new look of the district of Vračar:

"Four years have passed since the time when I was last here, and how Belgrade has changed! I have hardly recognised it. The high belfry on the church (Cathedral) now screens by its shadow the Turkish mosques; many shops are now provided with new doors and glass windows, oriental clothing is more rare and houses with several storeys, in European manner, are being built everywhere."

In the 1860's many architects and "builders"coming from Austro-Hungary and Italy came to Belgrade to join local prestigious architects on the efforts to make Vračar look more Serbian and less Turkish. After 1868, when the Turkish occupation was finally over and the Principality of Serbia gained its full independence, these architectural activities were extended from Vračar to downtown Belgrade, bringing down the ruins, old Turkish houses and Serbian huts and constructing new houses and buildings, turning Belgrade into a Austro-Hungarian looking capital.

Ottoman Belgrade ("The ruined gateway of Prince Eugene")

Turkish part of Belgrade shortly before its demolition, 1866

After the end of the 1st World War and the Balkans wars, the construction of Sv. Sava's Temple on the Vračar plateau attracted many rich citizens and notorious people to move to its surroundings, turning this part of Vračar into an elite part of city. Today, the temple of Sv. Sava (sometimes referred to as "cathedral") is definitely Belgrade's most famous landmark and Serbia's as well. The temple is also one of the 10 largest church buildings in the world as well as the Orthodox cathedral with the biggest internal space on the planet. It's massive!

The Vračar plateau, with the Sv. Sava Temple on the right and the roof of the National Library on the left.

Later on the 20th century, during WW2, Belgrade was heavily bombed by German-Nazi forces. The Nazi invasion started on April 6th 1941 and the bombing lasted for nearly four days. William Stephenson, a representative of British Intelligence during the 2nd World War, wrote about the bombing of Belgrade in his biography:

"After four days of what the Germans code-named Operation Punishment, some 24,000 corpses were recovered from the ruins. Untold numbers were never found."[11] The most important cultural institution that was destroyed was the National Library of Serbia, with 300,000 unique items including priceless Medieval manuscripts."

On Easter 1944, Belgrade was again heavily bombed, but this time around by allied forces, killing nearly fifteen hundred civilians against less than 20 German military losses. The Čubura area of Vračar was almost completely destroyed by the bombing and today a monument in this area pay tribute to the civilians deceived on that occasion.

A street in Čubura before the WW2 bombings

Kičevska street after the 1944 allied forces' bombing (source)

On the years that followed the end of the war, a huge reconstruction effort took place in Belgrade, and most of the buildings standing in the city today date from this period.

On 1966, the new building of the National Library of Serbia started being built just beside the temple of Sv. Sava. A new, modern building carefully planned to host all remaining and restored books and documents that survived the bombing of the former National Library during WW2.
I love it there, by the way! The annual membership costs 2.000,00 Dinars (less than 20 Euro!) and it's a great place for studying, reading and researching. I highly recommend it!

Flowers on the site of the former National Library on the anniversary of its bombing by Nazi forces, over 70 years ago

The National Library of Serbia

The renovated interior of the National Library

Today, Vračar is under huge real state growth, with tones of new, modern apartments' buildings being built over the past few years, bringing down most of the very few remaining houses from the first half of the 20th century.

Vračar today: plenty of new buildings and very few remaining old houses

Still, Vračar is a very pleasant district to live in: it's full of small, shady streets, many major shops and stores (most of them on Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra) as well as small shops of all sorts (some of which became my favourite, I'll write about some of them later!), a full range of services, museums, theatres, the biggest green market in the city (called Kalenić), some really nice restaurants, kafanas and many - I said, many! - cafes!

On my next post, a list of my favourite spots in Vračar!



Wanna see more of Vračar? Check out the picture galeries here and here!

What a Kafana is?

I was just about to post my 3rd entry for the "Minha Belgrado" series, pointing out some of my favourite "kafanas" in Belgrade. But then I realised that most people who had never been to Serbia before probably have no idea what so ever of what a kafana is. So I thought it would be cool to write a bit about it.

Some would simply describe kafana as the serbian equivalent of a tavern. But others - and I include myself into this group - would tell you that kafana is much more than just a tavern: it's almost a way of life!

The word "kafana" comes from the turkish word kahvehane, meaning something like "coffee place" or "coffee house". The first kafana in Belgrade was opened in 1522 in the neighbourhood of Dorćol, run by Turks - those were the early days of centuries of Ottoman occupation in the Balkans.
Although the "kafana concept" arrived in Belgrade in the 16th century, it was only in the 1700's - by the time of the second Ottoman occupation - that the term "kafana" started being used to refer to those coffee inns.

Alcohol only started being served in "kafanas" on the first decades of the 19th century. By that time, "kafanas" were increasing more and more in popularity, taking an important and special place in the development of social, economic and cultural life of Belgrade. It was the place where the known and the unknown people sat for a drink, as well as famous and anonymous writers, poets, journalists, actors and various artists, politicians and so on. It was a shelter for bohemians, travellers, students, people with no place to stay, prostitutes… Each kafana had their own physiognomy, character and guest circle.

Despite de taxes that Prince Miloš started imposing on kafana owners in the early 1800's (and the working licenses that were now required to run such places), by the end of the 19th century Belgrade was crowded with them: according to some statistics, by the turn of the 20th century Belgrade had 1 kafana/coffee inn for every 50 inhabitants!
By then, the number of "kafanas" in Belgrade was in fact so big that the owners of those places started looking for a different "something" to attract more customers - that was when live folk music acts were introduced in "kafanas".

Prior and between the two world wars, "kafanas" were the place where important events took place or decisions were brought and even members of political parties had their own, favourite kafana where they would go to on a regular basis.

Nowadays, "kafanas" continue to be a place for meeting friends, drinking, talking & discussing, live music, singing your favourite tunes out loud after tones of kilo kilo and so on. It's the place where a foreigner can best understand and experience Serbs and their social personalities.

Kafana "?" ("Znak Pitanja", or "Question Mark", in English), one of the oldest in Belgrade

On my next post, info and directions to my favourite "kafanas" in Belgrade ;)

Source:
http://www.jat.com/active/en/home/main_menu/travel_info/jat_review/januar_2006/inns.html
Interesting reading: Kafana rules:
http://srxx.blogspot.com/2005/11/kafana-republic.html

Life in Belgrade in 1907

I came across this thanks to Pedro :)
This is a page of a book from 1907 about the Balkans, called "The Near East: the present situation in Montenegro, Bosnia, Servia, Bulgaria, Roumania, Turkey and Macedonia", written by a british correspondent/dandy called William Le Queux. The complete digitalized version can be read here (highly reccomended!!) http://www.archive.org/stream/neareastpresents00lequuoft


"The city of Belgrade is in a transition state. Already in many of the principal streets fine buildings have been completed, and many are now in the course of construction. The roads, it must be said, are execrably paved, so uneven that driving is a torture. But the reason they have not been repaved during the presente regime is because a new drainage system is about to be carried out, and when this is done they will be asphalted and converted into boulevards. The natural situation of "Beograd" - or the White Fortress - is magnificent, high up on a hill at the junction of the Save and the Danube. Behind rises the extinct volcano of Avala, where, according to one tradition, a great treasure is hidden, and to another that the mountain is rich in gold and silver deposits.

The centre of life in Belgrade is the gay cafe of the Grand Hotel. From five to seven in the afternoon everyone is there, card-playing, smoking, sipping Slivovitza (plum gin) or drinking boch, and listening to the excellent band, while the inner hall is filled with smart ladies and their cavaliers. Save the peasantry one sees about the street, the oxen drawing primitive carts, and now and then a man wearing a fez, there is little there is eastern in Belgrade, save the slightly dark complexion and cast of features of the Servians. For the most part, women are very handsome, but they seem, like most Eastern races, to lose their beauty at an early age.

Though I made it my duty to hear and study both sides of political questions in Belgrade, and though I spent many hours with those in fierce opposition to the present regime, I must say that I received on every hand the greatest kindness, while everybody seemed ever ready to render me a service.

The Servians are a highly intelligent and thoughtful race. The young officers in the streets are not of the ogling, giggling genius one knows so well in Germany, France and Italy, but though smarter in appearance than either nation, they are serious, polite, and gentlemanly to a degree. The King, when speaking to me of military matters, pointed out a curious fact, namely, that so intelligent was the average Servian recruit that in six months he usually learnt what in France took him eighteen months.

Belgrade in the 1900's (taken from here)

In feminine circles it struck me that there was a great extravagance in dress. I saw the very latest Paris hats and smart, well-cut gowns, which bore evidence of the expensive couturiere worn by the wives of struggling officials, and I learnt that about then pounds was no uncommon price for a hat. All classes seem to vie with each other to dress well, and in the brilliant salons at night one sees some of the smartest gowns in Europe."

Wish I would've experienced Belgrade in the 1900's :)