Gradski vodič / City Guide
RITAM GRADA RHYTHM OF THE TOWN
RIMSKI BUNAR KOJI TO NIJE ROMAN WELL THAT ISN’T
P rva koordinata tog unutrašnjeg grada je Rim- ski bunar na Kalemegdanu, koji niti je rimski, niti je bunar. „To je, zapravo, cisterna za vodu koju su napravili Austrijanci kopajući od 1717. do 1731, ali ju je narod docnije nazvao Rimski bunar, jer je za ljude tog doba sve staro bilo rimsko“, objašnjava istoričarka Ka- tarina Jovančić. Austrijanci u svoje vreme nisu uspeli da dođu do izvora ni na 60 metara dubine, pa se cisterna punila kišnicom. Iznošenje vode obavljalo se uz korišćenje si- stema dva spiralna stepeništa, sve do kote od 35 meta- ra, gde ih je spajao hodnik. Bunar je rađen po uzoru na poznatiji u Orvijetu, ali teško da je za taj veći i dublji od beogradskog vezano toliko legendi. Od toga da tu- nel izlazi na suprotnoj strani Dunava, u Zemunu, kod Milenijumske kule zvane Gardoška, do fantastične sa- ge o „ribici koja je pojela 52 ljudi za vreme Drugog svet- skog rata“. Nadležni stručnjaci iz Beogradske tvrđave čude se otkud potreba za mistifikacijom, kad je istina dovoljno zanimljiva. Laiku možda sve to nije važno, čak ni da li su tačne glasine da je i čuveni reditelj Alfred Hičkok 1969. ovu lokaciju označio kao idealnu za snimanje horor filmo- va. Bitno je da je većini posetilaca ovo jedan od impre- sivnijih prizora. T he first coordinate of this hidden city is the Roman Well at Kalemegdan Fortress, which is neither Roman nor a well. “It is actually a water tank that was made by the Aus- trians, who dug it out from 1717 to 1731, but the peo- ple later dubbed it‘the RomanWell’, because for them everything that was old was Roman,” explains historian Katarina Jovančić, who leads this underground tour for an agency. During their time, the Austrians failed to reach the source of water, even at a depth of 60 metres, and so this water tank was filled by rainwater. The principle of extracting water relied on a system of two spiral staircases, up to an angle of 35 metres, where they were connected by a hallway. The well was built ac- cording to a more famous model in Orvieto, but it would be dif- ficult for that well, which is bigger and deeper than the Belgrade one, to be linked to so many legends. From the one suggesting that the tunnel has an exit on the opposite side of the Danube, in Zemun, near the Millennium tower known as Gardoš Tower, to the fantastical saga of “the fish that ate 52 people during World War II”. The Belgrade Fortress’ history experts wonder about the need for mystification, when the truth is sufficiently interesting. Perhaps all of that is unimportant, even the rumours that fa- mous film director Alfred Hitchcock highlighted this site in 1969 as an ideal location for shooting horror films. What is important is that for the majority of visitors this one of the more impres- sive scenes in Belgrade.
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