ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY OF THE CAPITAL CITY Belgrade’s rise via Kneza Miloša Street It was in this very street, which was then called Topičiderski Drum, that European principles of urban planning and architecture were introduced to Serbia for the first time. It was with these changes that the city slowly began to become a real European capital W e can today ob- serve the rise of Belgrade in the emergence and development of Kneza Miloša Street. With its charac- teristic architectural stock, it preserves all the monumental buildings of Bel- grade and the stories of the political as- pirations of various regimes, state am- bitions, political ideologies, economic current events, architectural tenden- cies, styles and famous builders.
The reign of Prince Miloš Obrenović represented a period of the increasingly decisive rejection of Turkish models and turning towards the modern Europe. Immediately up- on Serbia gaining autonomy and the prince inheriting his princely dignity, Slovak architect Franz Janke arrived in Belgrade from Vienna, tasked with devising an urban plan for the then uninhabited Vračar part of Belgrade. It was according to his plan that the then Topčiderski Drum, today’s Kn- eza Miloša Street, was arranged and regulated. According to Janke’s plan, the streets intersected at right angles, unlike the Turkish Belgrade with its irregular network of streets. Accord- ing to the prince’s idea, the street that is now named after him should form the state, administrative and military centre of the Serbian Belgrade. The prince’s residence and court was built on the area occupied by today’s Gavri- lo Princip Park, then the Great Bar- racks were erected across the street, only for the Vaznasenjska [Ascen- sion] Church, the State Council build- ing, the Military Academy and the Ministry of Armed Forces all to have been built by the end of the 19 th cen- tury. The Prince’s Palace, along with
the aforementioned military facili- ties on the corner of Nemanjina and Kneza Miloša streets, were destroyed during World War II bombing raids. The court of Prince Miloš was completed in 1836, with the gar- den-park landscaped at the same time. It was there that the prince built a baths - hammam. With the departure of Prince Miloš and his son Mihailo’s subsequent exile, the entire complex was handed over to the state to house the Ministry of Finance of the Principality of Ser- bia. The park would continue to be called the Financial Park, after this institution, until 2017. When he re- turned from exile, Prince Mihailo de- clared that this park was for the peo- ple, and so Belgrade gained its first public park, in July 1864. Along with the construction of these representative edifices, the first residential buildings already began being erected here in the middle of the 19 th century. Miloš would often allocate plots for free, on condition that construction begin immediately. Over time, this street would be fur- ther ennobled by Atanasije Nikolić creating tree lines along both sides. Also testifying to the prestigious character of this street is the fact that
Knez Miloševa ulica iz razglednica Sergeja Dimitrijevića Prince Miloš’s street on a postcard by Sergej Dimitrijević
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