Terazije
Terazije is the central town square and the surrounding neighborhood of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the municipality of Stari Grad.
Today, Terazije has primarily function of the main transit square, surrounded by the important public buildings, cultural institutions, hotels, public monuments and parks. Though not classically shaped square, Terazije was historically important as the gathering spot and the former business and commercial center of Belgrade. With the Knez Mihailova Street, which extends to the northeast connecting directly Terazije and Belgrade Fortress, the square is one of the oldest and most recognizable ambience units of Belgrade. Due to its historical and cultural importance, Terazije was declared a protected spatial cultural-historical unit in January 2020.
Location
Despite the fact that many Belgraders consider the Republic Square or Kalemegdan to be the city's centerpiece areas, Terazije is Belgrade's designated center. When street numbers are assigned to the streets of Belgrade, numeration begins from the part of the street closest to Terazije.Terazije itself is also a short street, connected by the King Milan Street, the main street in Belgrade, to the Slavija square, by the Nikola Pašić Square to the King Alexander Boulevard, the longest street in Belgrade, by Prizrenska street to the neighborhood of Zeleni Venac and further to New Belgrade, and by the Kolarčeva street to the Square of the Republic. The neighborhood also borders Andrićev Venac and Pioneers Park on the southeast, Park Aleksandrov on the south and neighborhood of Varoš Kapija on the west. A small, covered square of Bezistan connects it to the Nikola Pašić Square.
Etymology
With regard to the origin of the name Terazije, the historian and writer Milan Đ. Milićević wrote: "In order to supply Belgrade with water, the Turks built towers at intervals along the đeriza or an aqueduct, a water supply system which brought water in from the springs at Veliki Mokri Lug. The water was piped up into the towers for the purpose of increasing the pressure, in order to carry it further. Those towers were: one, where the Terazije Fountain is today (roughly at the small square between the Balkan and Moskva; second was where the Ruski car Tavern is; and the third was where kafana Grčka Kraljica is now. The tallest of the three was the one at Terazije. That tower, beside its height, also stood on the spacious clearance, away from the surrounding houses and was taller than any of the neighboring buildings. All those towers were called "water terazije" by the Turks. Because of that, the entire neighborhood of the new section of Belgrade, especially the one between the Stari Dvor and close to the Stambol Gate, is today called Terazije".For the word itself, it literally means " scales", more commonly known as "water balances" or . But the tower-like structures were more than just scales - they were maintaining water pressure when conveying water to neighbourhoods at a high-level. The towers were tall and had a cistern at the summit from which the water flowed into distribution pipes. The Ottoman đeriza followed the route of the ancient aqueduct from the period of Singidunum, the Roman predecessor of Belgrade.
History
Before 1800
The top of the Terazije Ridge is rich in water springs. Water used to run down the slope, where the modern Prizrenska Street is, into the Zeleni Venac area. Zeleni Venac is built in the area that was previously part of the trench which surrounded the Belgrade Fortress in the 18th century. When the trench was covered, a pond was formed, partially filled by the stream from Terazije. Today's central city square turned into the bog filled in sludge and covered with overgrowth. Local population visited the pond hunting for ducks. It was recorded that during the cold winters, wolves would reach the pond. The draining of the pond began in the 1830s, but the underground water from Terazije still soaks the land between Terazije and the Sava river.1800–1850
Being outside of the moat and the city walls at the time, it was considered "distant" by the citizens. As it was located in front of the Stambol Gate and close to the Tsarigrad Road, some artisan shops and khans developed in time. The road was leading through the gate into the city and across the moat. Also, the existence of the water tower, with drinking fountain, helped the area to become sort of the "parking lot" in front of the city entrance.After the collapse of the First Serbian Uprising, the Ottomans regained Belgrade in October 1813, and their vanguards burned wooden hovels in Savamala neighborhood. When the main Ottoman army landed, a large number of people got stranded on the bank in Savamala, trying to flee across the Sava into Austria. Men were massacred, while women and children were enslaved. People were impaled on stakes along city's main roads so a rows of impaled people were placed from the Stambol Gate to Terazije, and nearby, along the Tsarigrad Road, from the Batal mosque to Tašmajdan.
Terazije started to take shape as an urban feature in the first half of the 19th century. In the 1840s, Serbian ruling prince Miloš Obrenović wanted to resettle Serbian population from the old moated town where they had been mixed with the Turkish inhabitants, and from the neighborhood of Savamala on the bank of the Sava river in order to modernize it. He ordered Serbian craftsmen, especially blacksmiths, cartwrights and coppersmiths, to build their houses and shops on the location of the present square, an empty, inhabited area spreading in front of the Stambol Gate. Also, the move was intended to prevent the fires being lit all over the town and tone down the noise made by these specific types of artisans.
However, the craftsmen and artisans refused to relocate, especially the residents of Savamala as prince Miloš planned to relocate them even further than Terazije, to the then distant village of Palilula, "behind God's back". The prince resorted to violence. He gathered his henchmen and thugs and sent them to Savamala in 1835. As the settlement was still just a shanty town, with houses made of rotten wood and mud, all the houses were demolished in one day, without any demolition equipment. Additionally, the ustabasha, chief of the cartwright and blacksmith guild, was publicly beaten, receiving 25 hits. The artisans then agreed to relocate.
Ilija Čarapić, the president of the Belgrade Municipality 1834–1835 and 1839–1840, had a special task of assigning the parcels in Terazije to these craftsmen and whoever accepted to fence the lot on his own, would have it for free. One of the lots was granted by prince Miloš to his favorite architect, Hadži Nikola Živković. Driving together in the coach one day, prince asked Živković to whom belongs one of the lots without the fence. Živković replied it was his, but the prince said: Well, now it's not yours anymore, when you failed to fence it all this time.
Politician and a businessman Stojan Simić, member of the influential Simić family, purchased the lot at the end of Terazije in the late 1830s. It was a piece of marshland which encompassed the modern features of Stari dvor, Pioneers Park and Park Aleksandrov. By the summer of 1840, he drained the marsh, filled and leveled the terrain and on the northern side of the modern Kralja Milana street built a luxurious mansion from 1840 to 1842. The edifice became known as the Old Konak. Development of the first Serbian royal compound began in 1843, when the state leased the mansion, with the surrounding garden, as the court for the ruling prince Alexander Karađorđević. As the royal family now moved into the neighborhood, first regulatory plan for Terazije, which envisioned it as the new commercial and business center of Belgrade, was drafted in 1843.
1850–1900
The idea for the monument to Karađorđe, leader of the First Serbian Uprising from 1804 to 1813, appeared in 1853 and the proposed location was Terazije First official proposal came in 1857, from Toma Vučić-Perišić, one of the leaders of the Defenders of the Constitution. Though Ottoman administration over Serbia was limited at the time, it was still strong enough to prevent building of the monument. They couldn't allow a memorial to the bitter enemy of their empire. After the Saint Andrew's Day Assembly in 1858–1859, dethroned Miloš Obrenović was restored to power and the idea of erecting a monument to Karađorđe on Terazije was abandoned.The "Kasina" kafana and later hotel was built in 1858. It was named as the gambling was organized for the VIP members. Clientele originally included members of the Serbian Progressive Party. National Assembly of Serbia was seated in the venue's hall for a while in 1918, and until 1920 the National Theatre held performances here, too. In 1860 the kafana "Kod Albanije", was opened. A small, crummy house, built in the oriental, Turkish style, with yellow façade, it was very popular. The clock in front of it was the first public clock in Belgrade, so it became the most popular meeting point in the city. It was demolished to make way for the Palace Albanija, which was finished in 1939.
Starting in 1859, Atanasije Nikolić, educator and agriculturist, planted a number of chestnut trees on Terazije, in the process of making Belgrade greener, where Nikolić, as an engineer and an urbanist, was also charged with arranging the Košutnjak and Topčider parks, and avenues along Terazije and Topčider Road, and other streets. He grew seedlings in the nursery garden he personally established in Topčider during the 1830s, when he arranged the park. The chestnut avenue in Terazije was planted in double rows. Up to about 1865, the buildings at Terazije were mainly single and double-storied. The water tower was removed in 1860 and replaced by the drinking fountain, "Terazijska česma", which was erected in to celebrate the second rule of Prince Miloš Obrenović. During the first reconstruction of the square in 1911, the chestnut avenue was cut, while the česma was moved to Topčider in 1912.
In 1860, construction of the Palace with Towers, next to the Old Konak began. It was intended to be the palace of the heir apparent prince Mihailo Obrenović. The prince never used it, residing mostly in the Little Palace which he built next to the Old Konak, while his court hosted the ministries of interior and foreign affairs. The building was designed by Kosta Šrepalović. On 24 May 1860, privately owned predecessor of the public transport in Belgrade was organized. The omnibus line was operated by the diligences. Its starting point was in Terazije, at the kafana "Kod Zlatnog Venca", and connected it to Topčider. The enterprise wasn't much lucrative so the owner Luka Jakovljević sold it in 1861 to Milan Tešić, who expanded the line from Terazije to Varoš Kapija and lifted the price to 3 groschen.
Terazije Quarter was officially formed on 3 March 1860, so Terazije administratively became part of Belgrade, so as the other neighborhoods outside of the former trench. After the incident at the Čukur Fountain, Ottoman garrison withdrew from the Stambol Gate. The gate was demolished from 26 April to 31 May 1866, removing the last "scar" which divided city parts on the opposite sides of the trench, thus making Terazije one urban unit with the older part of the city. This prompted accelerated urbanization, not only of Terazije, but of the other neighborhoods outside of the old city limits. When the first horsecar was introduced in Belgrade, on 14 October 1892, the station was located in Terazije, next to the fountain.
The Little Palace was demolished in April and May 1881 to make way for the Stari Dvor. Designed by Aleksandar Bugarski, it was built on the orders by the prince, later king Milan Obrenović. The foundation stone was laid on 23 June 1881 and the building was finished by 1883.