Stari Grad (Serbian Cyrillic: Стари Град) is an urban neighborhood and one of 17 municipalities which constitute the City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is one of 10 urban municipalities which constitute the Belgrade City proper and encompasses some of the oldest sections of urban Belgrade, thus the name (‘’stari grad’’, Serbian for “old town”).

1 Neighborhood
2 Municipality
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Neighborhood

The neighborhood of Stari Grad is not generally considered by the Belgraders as one single definitive neighborhood. Area which Stari Grad covers is either simply styled "downtown" or by the names of the more established neighborhood which it overlaps: northern ("Upper") and eastern parts of Dorćol (which it borders on the north) or Studentski Trg. Roughly, it spawns northern and western from the Square of the Republic, bordering also the neighborhoods of Kalemegdan (west), Kosančićev Venac (south-west), Jevremovac and Palilula (south-west) and Viline Vode (north-west), with a population of 9,646 in 2002.

Municipality

Geography

Stari Grad, occupies the ending ridge of Šumadija geological bar. The cliff-like ridge, where the fortress of Kalemegdan is located, overlooks the Great War Island and the confluence of the Sava river into the Danube, and makes one of the most beautiful natural lookouts in Belgrade. With Novi Beograd, it is one of 2 municipalities of Belgrade (out of 17) which occupy the banks of both major rivers in Belgrade, the Sava and the Danube (Zemun was the third, but when the municipality of Surčin split, Zemun was left with the Danube, and Surčin with the Sava bank).

The municipality of Stari Grad covers an area of just 7 square kilometers (2.7 sq mi) (second smallest in Belgrade, after Vračar) and borders the municipalities of Paliula on the east, Vračar on the south-east and Savski Venac on the south. The Sava makes a border to the municipality of Novi Beograd (west) and the Danube to the municipalities of Zemun (north-west) and the Banat's section of Palilula.

The riverside of the Danube has two distinct artificial bays, the small marina (Marina Dorćol) and the port "Beograd".

Population

Like the other two "old" municipalities of the central Belgrade (Savski Venac and Vračar), Stari Grad for decades is a highly depopulating municipality, but being a central municipality and small in area, it remains one of the most densely populated municipalities in Serbia. There were 55,543 inhabitants according to the 2002 census or 7,935 inhabitants per square kilometer (20,551.6/sq mi), compared to a population of 96,517 with a density of 13,788 inhabitants per square kilometer (35,710.8/sq mi) back in 1971. Population of Stari Grad:

1961 - 96,517
1971 - 83,742
1981 - 73,767
1991 - 68,552
2002 - 55,543 (57.5% of the 1961 population)

Ethnic composition:

Serbs - 48,027 or 86.47%
Yugoslavs - 1,404 or 2.53%
Montenegrins - 1,031 or 1.86%
Croats - 409 or 0.74%
Macedonians - 308 or 0.55%
Roma - 305 or 0.55%

Even though residential areas are much densely compact compared to Vračar, the latter is densely populated because almost one third of Stari Grad, even though it is "heart" of Belgrade is not inhabited (mostly the large park of Kalemegdan and the highly industrialized riverside of the Danube, with dozens of factories and spacious hangars and depots).

However, a number of people working on the territory of the municiplity doubles its own population and makes possible for the municipality of Stari Grad to achieve GDP per capita 6 to 8 times higher than the average of Serbia.

History

Despite some of the oldest sections of Belgrade belong to Stari Grad, the municipality itself is among the latest urban ones formed administratively. It was formed by the merger of the municipality of Skadarlija and part of the municipality of Terazije on January 1, 1957. Recent presidents of the municipality:

1992 – 2000; Jovan Kažić (b. 1937)
2000 – present: Mirjana Božidarević (b. 1954)

Twin towns

Stari Grad is twinned with:

Germasogeia (Yermasoyia), Cyprus
Kotor, Montenegro
Staré Mesto, Bratislava, Slovakia
Centar, Skopje, Macedonia
Erzsébetváros, Budapest, Hungary

Neighborhoods

Features

Administration

Presidency of the Republic
National Assembly of Serbia (both buildings)
former Federal Assembly
Assembly of the City of Belgrade (City hall)

Economy and tourism

large industrial zone on the riverside of the Danube (including the port)
BEKO clothing factory
park and fortress of Kalemegdan
botanical garden of Jevremovac
Belgrade Zoo
pedestrian zone of Knez Mihailova
bohemian quarter of Skadarlija
Aleksandar Palas *****
Hotel Majestic ****
Hotel Palace ****
Le Petit Piaf ***
Hotel Royal ***

Culture

Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Museum of Applied Arts (Vuka Karadžica 18)
National Museum (Trg republike 1a)
Konak Kneginje Ljubice (Kneza Sime Markovića 3)
Serbian Orthodox Church Museum (Kralja Petra I 5)
Military Museum (Kalemegdan)
Museum of Belgrade Fortress (Kalemegdan)
Museum of Ethnography (Studentski trg 13)
Museum of Pedagogy (Uzun Mirkova 14)
Museum of the City of Belgrade (Zmaj Jovina 1)
Museum of Theatrical Art (Gospodar Jevremova 19)
Jewish Historical Museum (Kralja Petra I 71/1)
Museum of Vuk and Dositej (Gospodar Jevremova 21)
Museum of Automobiles (Majke Jevrosime 30)

As a curiosity, Stari Grad is location of two shortest streets of Belgrade, Marka Leka and Laze Pačua, which are 45 and 48 meters long, respectivelly. ^[1]. Despite being in the sole downtown and densely populated urban section, they have no numbers as all the buildings located in them are numbered from the neighboring streets.

References

^ Politika, April 26, 2008, p.30

External links

v • d • e Municipalities of Belgrade

Urban: Čukarica · Novi Beograd · Palilula · Rakovica · Savski Venac · Stari Grad · Voždovac · Vračar · Zemun · Zvezdara Suburban: Barajevo · Grocka · Lazarevac · Mladenovac · Obrenovac · Sopot · Surčin

Municipalities and cities of Serbia

v • d • e

Central Serbia

City of Belgrade: (Barajevo • Čukarica • Grocka • Lazarevac • Mladenovac • Novi Beograd • Obrenovac • Palilula • Rakovica • Savski Venac • Sopot • Stari Grad • Surčin • Voždovac • Vračar • Zemun • Zvezdara)• City of Čačak • City of Jagodina • City of Kragujevac: (Aerodrom • Pivara • Stanovo • Stari Grad • Stragari)
• City of Kraljevo • City of Kruševac • City of Leskovac • City of Loznica • City of Niš:(Crveni Krst • Medijana • Niška Banja • Palilula • Pantelej) • City of Novi Pazar • City of Požarevac • City of Smederevo • City of Šabac • City of Užice • City of Valjevo • City of Vranje • City of Zaječar

Aleksandrovac • Aleksinac • Aranđelovac • Arilje • Babušnica • Bajina Bašta • Batočina • Bela Palanka • Blace • Bogatić • Bojnik • Boljevac • Bor • Bosilegrad • Brus • Bujanovac • Crna Trava • Čajetina • Ćićevac • Ćuprija • Despotovac • Dimitrovgrad • Doljevac • Gadžin Han • Golubac • Gornji Milanovac • Ivanjica • Kladovo • Knić • Knjaževac • Koceljeva • Kosjerić • Krupanj • Kučevo • Kuršumlija • Lajkovac • Lapovo • Lebane • Lučani • Ljig • Ljubovija • Majdanpek • Mali Zvornik • Malo Crniće • Medveđa • Merošina • Mionica • Negotin • Nova Varoš • Osečina • Paraćin • Petrovac • Pirot • Požega • Preševo • Priboj • Prijepolje • Prokuplje • Rača • Raška • Ražanj • Rekovac • Sjenica • Smederevska Palanka • Sokobanja • Surdulica • Svilajnac • Svrljig • Topola • Trgovište • Trstenik • Tutin • Ub • Varvarin • Velika Plana • Veliko Gradište • Vladičin Han • Vladimirci • Vlasotince • Vrnjačka Banja • Žabari • Žagubica • Žitorađa