Zvezdara


Zvezdara is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. The municipality is geographically hilly and with many forests. According to the 2022 census results, the municipality has a population of 172,625 inhabitants.
The municipality of Zvezdara is located east of Belgrade and occupied almost the entire eastern urban section of the city. It borders the municipalities of Palilula on the north-west, north and north-east, Grocka on the east and south-east, Voždovac on the south and south-west and Vračar on the west.

History

Historically, Zvezdara hill was known as Great Vračar. Vračаr area at that time occupied much wider area that it does today and was divided into West Vračar, East Vračar and Great Vračar. Turkish source from 1621 describes it as "a hill and a big field". In the 17th and 18th century, the area was covered in vineyards, orchards and lush oriental gardens, a major excursion ground for the wealthy Belgrade Turks which called the hill Ekmekluk and built their summer houses there. The Ekmekluk occupied the slope which today spreads from the observatory to the Cvetko Market.
When Belgrade was occupied in 1717 by Austria, a defense moat was built whose outer section crossed the hill, where the modern Volgina street is today. After Austria re-occupied Belgrade in 1789, the trench was reconstructed by the general Ernst Gideon von Laudon and became known as the "Laudan trench". Due to the military importance of the hill, its gardens were neglected.
Until the 1930s, the Zvezdara hill was known as Veliki Vračar. In the 19th century the foothills were not urbanized and, being far from the city center, were used by the Belgraders as a resort and picnic area, named Baba Ružin kraj. In 1929-32 an observatory designed by Czech-born architect Jan Dubový was built on top of the hill. The observatory was originally called zvezdara in Serbian, so the hill and the developing suburban area of Belgrade around it was named that way soon. In time, Latinism opservatorija replaced zvezdara, which in turn completely disappeared from spoken language as such, but remained as a name of Belgrade's neighborhood. As a result, many today believe Zvezdara was named that way simply after stars. In 1935 the Clinical Center Zvezdara was built as a bequest by wealthy Serbian merchant Nikola Spasić. The area was rich in water, originally used for city waterworks. Several public drinking fountains were built.
The KBC Zvezdara, which in time became known as the City Hospital Zvezdara, doubled its capacities already prior to World War II, expanding also number of wards. After the war it expanded capacities almost 8 times compared to December 1935, when it was opened and became one of the largest medical complexes in Serbia. Donation from the Sue Ryder charity in 1963, allowed the establishment of the first geriatrics ward in Yugoslavia.
The municipality of Zvezdara was created on 1 September 1955, from new neighborhoods around the observatory. On 1 January 1957 Zvezdara was greatly enlarged as the municipalities of Stari Đeram and Mali Mokri Lug were annexed to it. Villages of Kaluđerica, Vinča and Leštane were later detached and annexed to the municipality of Grocka. In the first half of the 1970s, all settlements in the municipality became part of the Belgrade city proper so the entire municipality of Zvezdara is today one of six municipalities which are completely part of urban Belgrade.

Neighborhood

The Zvezdara neighborhood is located south-east of downtown Belgrade. In its original sense, the neighborhood of Zvezdara comprises areas around the Zvezdara Forest, including the neighborhood of Zvezdara II. It borders the neighborhoods of Bogoslovija and Karaburma on the north, Ćalije on the north-east, Mirijevo on the east, Mali Mokri Lug on the south-east, Cvetkova Pijaca and Konjarnik on the south, Lion on the south-west and Bulbuder on the west. The area had a population of 10,095 by the 2002 census of population. However, after the creation of the municipality in 1955, the entire section west and south-west of Zvezdara is today considered as part of it in a narrow sense.
This is a list of neighborhoods in the municipality:
  • Bulbulder
  • Crveni Krst
  • Cvetanova Ćuprija
  • *Denkova Bašta
  • Đeram
  • Konjarnik
  • Konjarnik I
  • Konjarnik II
  • Konjarnik III
  • Lion
  • Lipov Lad
  • Mali Mokri Lug
  • Mirijevo
  • Mirijevo II
  • Mirijevo III
  • Mirijevo IV
  • Novo Mirijevo
  • Orlovsko Naselje
  • Padina
  • Rudo
  • Slavujev Venac
  • Stari Đeram
  • Staro Mirijevo
  • Učiteljsko Naselje
  • Veliki Mokri Lug
  • Vukov Spomenik
  • Zeleno Brdo
  • Olimp
  • Kaluđerica II
  • Zvezdara II

    Geography

Despite being one of Belgrade's minor municipalities in terms of area, Zvezdara covers some of the highest sections of urban Belgrade, including the hills:
  • Stojčino Brdo
  • Orlovica
  • Zvezdara
  • Mokroluško Brdo
Zvezdara basically has no real city parks, but has two large wooded areas, Zvezdara Forest and the northern section of Stepin Lug in the southern part of the municipality. Peti Park is a minute green area in the neighborhood of Lipov Lad which gained a lot of publicity in the mid-2000s with a public movement to keep the area green.
Zvezdara does not come out on the river banks of two major Belgrade's rivers. The major water flows in the municipality are two creeks, both of which are partially conducted underground in the city sewer: Mokroluški potok and Mirijevski potok. For several hundred meters, the Bolečica river flows through the southernmost part of the municipality, near Bubanj Potok.

Demographics

According to the 2022 census results, the municipality has a population of 172,625 inhabitants. The population of the municipality had a steady, large growth until the 1990s when birthrates plunged in all of Serbia due to the Yugoslav Wars. Zvezdara remains one of the most densely populated areas in entire Serbia, with 4,897 inhabitants per square kilometer as of 2011.

Ethnic groups

The ethnic composition of the municipality :
Ethnic groupPopulationPercent
Serbs147,47685.43%
Romani1,5900.92%
Yugoslavs1,0130.59%
Montenegrins6070.35%
Russians5910.34%
Macedonians4150.24%
Croats3610.21%
Gorani3360.19%
Muslims2240.13%
Bosniaks1860.11%
Hungarians1600.09%
Bulgarians1080.06%
Slovenians860.05%
Romanians650.04%
Slovaks620.04%
Albanians370.02%
Others1,0940.6%
Undeclared/Unknown18,27910.59%
Total172,625-

Administration

Recent Presidents of the municipality were:
  • 1996–2000: Vučeta Mandić
  • 2000–November 19, 2004: Petar Moravac
  • November 19, 2004 – February 18, 2005: Milan Popović
  • February 18, 2005 – June 28, 2005: Ljubiša Stojmirović
  • June 28, 2005 – June 11, 2012: Milan Popović
  • June 11, 2012 – June 1, 2016: Edip Šerifov
  • June 1, 2016 – September 4, 2020: Miloš Ignjatović
  • September 4, 2020 – present: Vladan Jeremić

    Culture and society

Educational and research facilities:
Theaters:
  • Tetar Kult
  • Zvezdara Teatar
Churches:
  • ; former industrial object, adapted into church by Momir Korunović in 1933;
  • ; also built by Korunović;
  • Saint Trifon
  • Saint Prophet Elias
  • Saint Father Nikolay
Sports:
The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity :
ActivityTotal
Agriculture, forestry and fishing97
Mining and quarrying14
Manufacturing3,720
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply325
Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities1,810
Construction4,859
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles9,037
Transportation and storage3,595
Accommodation and food services2,113
Information and communication3,041
Financial and insurance activities845
Real estate activities343
Professional, scientific and technical activities4,543
Administrative and support service activities3,766
Public administration and defense; compulsory social security2,618
Education4,175
Human health and social work activities3,042
Arts, entertainment and recreation972
Other service activities1,931
Individual agricultural workers25
Total50,870