highly valued throughout their lives, both in their local environment and internation- ally, and who are – according to all param- eters – among the most respected intel- lectuals in the modern history of Serbia. Mika Alas lived at this address from birth to death. Initially schooled in Bel- grade, he went on to complete post-grad- uate studies of physics and mathematics in Paris. He then returned to the city of his birth and became a university professor, a founder of the Belgrade School of Mathe- matics, one of the country’s youngest aca- demics, a travel writer, tavern musician and famous angler. He was a man with a rich mind and rare modesty. Extremely highly appreciated in intellectual circles, he was also a favourite among the people of the “ordinary”world, especially the shermen with whom he spent his entire life. Živojin Perić was born in the area around Obrenovac and relocated to Ko- sančićev Venac in 1895, only departing dur- ing World War II. He received his Ph.D. in law in Paris, then returned to Serbia and spent several decades working at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, while he also lectured in international law at the Hague Academy. His exceptional results in that domain also led to him receiving an hon- orary doctorate from the Faculty of Law in Lyon. One of Europe’s most respected le- gal professionals, he was an original, ver- satile and very productive thinker. Along- side his scienti c and educational work, he also engaged actively in politics. Both of them spent a lot of time at their home in Kosančićev Venac. They both
Odavde je na reku svakodnevno gledao najpoznatiji profesor matematike Mika Alas From here Serbia’s most famous professor of mathematics, Mika Alas, watched the river pass every day
from engaging in the political life of the time? Probably. And was Alas’s then ab- solutely unacceptable love life mentioned in their conversations? Probably not. How- ever, I imagine that they discussed Perić’s homeland, which he loved in nitely, Mika’s travels, the events that shook the Serbia of the time, political crises, poverty, wars… If you pass Kosančićev Venac today, you won’t see these two professors walk- ing or talking on the balcony, but you’ll certainly notice the tracks that they left there. You’ll also see the traces of the waves of Belgrade’s rivers and the lines that fuse the modern with the traditional, east with west, the ordinary with the elite. So, be sure to pass by...
lived and worked there, and the Belgrade gossipers of the time said that half of Ser- bia’s intelligentsia lived in that house. Al- though the balcony is beautiful, the two of them certainly didn’t merely enjoy the view in silence. But we can only guess what they discussed. The house’s entrance hall contained statues of Napoleon and Pascal, so they almost certainly sometimes discussed the successes of the genius that was this military commander and famous ruler of France, and Pascal’s gifts to the world’s his- tory of philosophy and science, as well as his famous wager relating to the existence of God... Did they also discuss Perić’s un- shakeable principles that prevented him
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