I n the basement of today’s City Library is located an entrance to Kalemegdan Fortress. What is nowadays referred to as the Roman Hall, and which serves as a venue for exhibitions and literary evenings, preserves the foundations of the ramparts and part of the main gate of the former Ro- man forti cation. The castrum was erected at the end of the 2 nd century or the begin- ning of the 3 rd , and stationed there was one of the most competent legions for defence against barbaric attacks, Flavia Felix, while the remnants and ruins were found when the library was renovated in the 1980s. It was around this military camp that the Singidu- num settlement developed, which the Ro- mans had inherited from Celts. Roman Bel- grade stretched all the way to the building of the former National Library in the Kosančićev Venac [Kosančić’s Wreath] neighbourhood, where traces of Roman Belgrade were also discovered and excavated. This attractive ar- chaeological site in the City Library lives not only from the views of tourists and curious bypassers, but also from the generations of Belgraders who come to the Roman Hall for arts, to more easily connect via these imag- inary distances with the clinking of Roman armour and the cannon of the horsemen of ancient Singidunum.
jan Josimović, the city’s rst urban planner, proposed in 1887 that part of the market be converted into a park, and goods were still traded on the Great Market until 1926, when the entire area became a park. We don’t have any information on how expensive fruits and vegetables were back then, or how much it cost during those summers to buy a hen for soup that was brought home still alive. But while we sit in the park and bask in the sun, in our slumber we may be able to hear what would be whispered to us by an old great- great granny of Dorćol, angry with her hus- band for getting drunk on a Sunday morn- ing in Mitina’s tavern.
socialising, business meetings, while some even had their own libraries. Is that some- times recalled by the students of the facul- ties of philosophy and philology, who pass through the plateau on a daily basis, overlad- en with books and lists of literature, and for whom spa is a considered noun? We don’t know, but the remains of these baths certain- ly represent a cultural heritage that is used on a daily basis. These are three connected walls, so-called apses in the shape of a horse- shoe that are propped up against the build- ing of the Rectorate. The baths constructed at the end of the 3 rd century were discov- ered in 1968, and at that time eight cham- bers were excavated that belong to an es- tablished type of ancient thermal baths. The largest part of the spa was in Students’Park, but it was decided in the 1970s that it would be buried, as the best way to ensure its pres- ervation. All that’s remained is the part with the students, to stand as a living lesson for Belgraders about the archaeology and his- tory of their city.
MOSQUE AND TOMBS
Bayrakli Mosque is the only preserved mosque of the 273 that existed in Turkish Belgrade. Built around 1575, it was original- ly called the Chokhadzhi Mosque, according to the endowment of choh trader Hadži Ali- ja. The Austrians converted it into a Catholic church from 1717 to 1739, then from 1741 it once again became a mosque. Bajrakli mosque was named after the banner [bar- jak] that was placed on it to mark the begin- ning of prayers in all other city mosques. Dur- ing the 19 th century, Prince Mihailo Obrenović and King Aleksandar Obrenović participat- ed in its reconstruction. This mosque has al- ways shared the turbulent history of the city in which it lives... Another rare example of Ottoman ar- chitecture in Belgrade is the Sheik Musta- fa Tomb. This is actually the mausoleum of senior dervish Sheik Mustafa, who was orig- inally from Belgrade. A tekye was once lo- cated on the corner of Višnjićeva and Braće Jugović streets, while this tomb is the only structure preserved from that period. Built from stone in the period from 1783-1784, passages from the Qur’an were written on the interior walls.
GREAT MARKET
Students’Square is Belgrade’s oldest city square, the central part of which comprises a park. Known as Students’Park, this place was once a Turkish cemetery, and from 1824 was the site of the Pazarište, Belgrade’s rst mar- ket. The market was formed following the complaints of peasants, because their goods were being bought cheaply by the Turks and then sold on at high prices in the towns. Prince Miloš, together with the Belgrade vizier, con- vened a meeting to discuss this proposal, in- viting prominent citizens among both Turks and Serbs, and it was agreed that a market would be formed in Belgrade where every- one would be able to bring and trade their products. After the departure of theTurks, the Great Market, as it was called, long remained the only place for trading in Belgrade. Emili-
VIA CORDO
We follow the traces of the Belgrade of antiquity in the city’s busiest pedestrian street. Namely, Knez Mihailova [Prince Mihai- lo’s] Street, which during the time of the Ro- mans was known as Via cordo, the main ac- cess road leading to Kalemegdan Fortress. In that street, in the passageway that connects Knez Mihailova with Vasina Street, between modern window displays and metal architec- tural constructions, you can see archaeolog- ical nds dating back to the period from the 2 nd to the 4 th centuries, which were excavat- ed along that precise route. Items displayed in showcases, Roman jewellery or pottery, testify to how people lived at that time, just as the cash machine located opposite these display cases testi es to how we live today andhowwe“mint”money.Thispassageway reminds us that we are only the current us- ers of this city, passing through, like the Ro- mans before us. And that’s why we should be careful what we leave behind!
U Cara Dušana 10 nalazi se i najstarija sačuvana kuća u Beogradu At number 10 Tsara Dušana Street stands
the oldest preserved house in Belgrade
BATHS ON THE PLATEAU
In the area from Students’Square to the plateau in front of the Faculty of Philosophy, public baths were located during the time that the city was inhabited by Romans. Alongside their basic function as public baths, for the Romans these were places for encounters,
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