Stari Grad, Novi Sad
Stari Grad is an urban neighborhood and the city center of Novi Sad, Serbia. In the Serbian language, the name "Stari Grad" means "Old Town".
Location
Borders
[Image:Novi sad quarters.png|thumb|250px|Map of the urban area of Novi Sad with city quarters, showing the location of Stari grad]The eastern borders of Stari grad are Kej žrtava racije and Beogradski kej, the southern border is Bulevar Cara Lazara, the western border is Bulevar oslobođenja, the north-western borders are Jevrejska ulica, Šafarikova ulica, Ulica Jovana Subotića, and Temerinska ulica, and the northern borders are Ulica Miloša Bajića, Trg Republike, Daničićeva ulica, Ulica Zlatne grede, Pašićeva ulica, Ulica Matice srpske, Sterijina ulica, and Ulica Hadži Svetića.
The neighbouring settlements are: Podbara in the north, Salajka, Rotkvarija and Grbavica in the west, and Liman in the south. In the east of the settlement is the river Danube.
Parts of the neighborhood
Stari grad is divided into the Old Centre and the New Centre, and the border between these two parts of the settlement is Bulevar Mihajla Pupina. The Old Centre is located on the northern side of this Boulevard, while the New Centre is located on the southern side.One of the oldest parks in town, the Danube Park, is located in Stari grad.
History
Ancient times
A part of a Bronze Age Necropolis was found at the site of the Library of Matica srpska.Medieval times
In the medieval period, a settlement named Bakša existed at this location.Birth of Stari grad
The settlement from which Stari grad developed was founded in 1694. This settlement was known as Racka varoš or Petrovaradinski Šanac and was part of the Danube military frontier. The original area of Petrovaradin Šanac was in the northwest part of today's Stari grad and the southwest part of today's Podbara. Until the middle of the 19th century, the settlement mainly expanded to the west, where new urban districts — Rotkvarija, Salajka and Grbavica — were formed, and only later expanded to the east and south, so that some parts of today's Stari grad are newer in origin than some neighboring urban districts.Little and Great Limans
In The General Urban Plan of 1845, the eastern border of the city's area was made up of the streets of Alekse Šantića, Želežnička, Narodnog heroja and Zmaj Jovina.The major expansion of the city centre towards the south and east occurred only after World War I and World War II, when Stari grad was given its present appearance.
The southeastern part of today's Stari grad in the past was called "Mali Liman" and "Veliki Liman", which most of which is part of modern day Liman neighborhoods. Up until the early 1930s, the Little Liman contained ponds, sandbars, water plants, willows and meadows.
Little Liman covered today's Danube Park and the area along the Danube towards the former railway embankment, under which were the underpasses that connected to the Great Liman. The area of Little Liman was framed by the Danube, the Danube Street, the Zmaj Jovina Street, the King Alexander Street and the railway embankment.
In Little Liman, fishing from boats was common, and along the Danube, towards the Fortress, there was a collection of buildings called the Brukšanac, a small fortification that provided protection for a pontoon bridge. A few hundred meters upstream was the first city beach, with a wooden building on the water. This beach was later torn down to make room for the city flood embankment. The new city beach called Štrand would open in 1911 and would is located in what is today the banks of the Liman neighborhood. The name Little Liman was completely lost when the terrain was fully built and thus the central city core connected to the Danube.
Population
According to the data from JKP Informatika Novi Sad for 2010, the population of Stari grad was 17,383 residence. The registered residence in there three local communities were: "Stari grad" with 4,153; "Sonja Marinković" with 6,162; "Prva vojvođanska brigada" with 7,523.Since 2022, Star grad neighborhood in total has about 18,506 residents registered in its three local communities: "Stari grad" with 3,963; "Sonja Marinković" with 6,088; "Prva vojvođanska brigada" with 8,455.
Local Communities
Stari grad is part of Novi Sad municipality, and since 1989 it is administratively divided into three local communities:- "Stari grad", located in King Alexander I Street, encompasses most of the core city center in the northern part of the neighborhood;
- "Sonja Marinković", located in Žrtava racije Quay 4, encompasses most of the south eastern part of the neighborhood towards the Danube and bordering Žarka Zrenjanina Street and Stražilovska Street.
- "Prva vojvođanska brigada", located in Dimitrija Abramovića 8, encompasses most of the south western part of the neighborhood towards the Liberation Boulevard and bordering Žarka Zrenjanina Street and Stražilovska Street.