Tag: balkan

Hidden Belgrade, Life, The Belgradist

Mathematical High School: Serbia’s Academic Bright Spot

Belgrade’s Matematicka gimnazija (Mathematical High School) is a rare Serbian institution, along with athletes and cuisine, which receives nearly unanimous national acclaim and the school is protected from the usual mud slinging of Serbia’s public arena for good reasons. Year after year, the school churns out positive news: alumni routinely achieve great success at the world’s best universities- one alumnus is a former mayor of … Continue reading Mathematical High School: Serbia’s Academic Bright Spot

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Pokretači, The Nutshell Media

Pokretači #29 Luka Popović – Ex-Yu Aviation / Beograd

Luka Popović već 10 godina svakog dana na Ex-Yu Aviation blogu piše o novostima u komercijalnoj avijaciji na prostru bivše Jugosavije. Njegov blog je jedan od 100 najboljih u svetu avijacije, i često je citiran od velikih medijskih kuća. Sa Lukom sam pričao o tome kako izgleda praviti izuzetno uspešan blog, da li postoji formula uspeha, i šta je toliko privlačno u avijaciji. Beleške View … Continue reading Pokretači #29 Luka Popović – Ex-Yu Aviation / Beograd

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

First Years of Modern Belgrade

A century and a half ago, on April 6 1867, the last Ottoman soldiers left the Belgrade fortress, the northernmost post of the sprawling, if crumbling, empire. That day, celebrated with much pomp in Kalemegdan, marked the beginning of modern Belgrade. Under Ottoman rule, Belgrade was known as Dar al Jihad (House of the Holy War) and in the 17th Century it was one of … Continue reading First Years of Modern Belgrade

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Balkans, Travel

Zagreb: a Belgrader’s take

Despite being named as the best destination in Europe by travel guide publisher Lonely Planet in 2017, Zagreb was the target of a scathing and, at points, hilarious review in the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel last July. The review not only claimed that Zagreb is the most boring capital in Europe, but also said that its highway to Croatia’s famed Adriatic coast was the best thing … Continue reading Zagreb: a Belgrader’s take

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Pokretači, The Nutshell Media

Pokretači 2.05 Ivan Brkljač/Mokrin House, Mokrin

Gost je Ivan Brkljač, čovek koji stoji iza projekta Mokrin House. Mokrin House je inovativni co-living i co-working prostor koji se ne samo trudi da ponudi jedinstveno mesto za digitalne nomade iz celog sveta, već i da oživi bivše najveće selo u SFR Jugoslaviji na samom severo-istoku Srbije. U našem razgovoru, Ivan je podelio priču o svom dugom putu od Novog Sada do Mokrina – … Continue reading Pokretači 2.05 Ivan Brkljač/Mokrin House, Mokrin

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (29): Voždovac’s Surrealist Church

From the outside the Church of St Constantine and St Helen in the suburb of Voždovac looks like a slightly more elegant standard-issue Serbian Orthodox church, with a demure grey façade and a prominent bell-tower. The current structure, an update of the church built in early 20th Century and damaged in WWII was designed by Dragomir Tadić, a renowned Serbian church architect of the late … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (29): Voždovac’s Surrealist Church

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Politics, Serbia

Serbia and Albania: Know Thy Neighbour

In October 2017, I went to Tirana for a conference about relations between Serbia and Albania, jointly organised by the Albanian Institute for International Studies and the European Movement in Serbia. One of the topics of the conference was the public perception of the relationship between the two countries, which made me instinctively shudder. Despite the recent displays of friendship between the Albanian Prime Minister … Continue reading Serbia and Albania: Know Thy Neighbour

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Balkans, Travel

Finding Count Vronsky in Serbia

In 1878 Leo Tolstoy somewhat abruptly ended the story of desperate and broken Count Vronsky in Anna Karenina by sending him to Serbia to fight in the Serbo-Turkish War of 1876-1878, where he sought adventure, or even death, as penance for his famously ill-fated affair. A century and a bit later, this slightly inelegant end to the story of one of the protagonists of this … Continue reading Finding Count Vronsky in Serbia

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Pokretači, The Nutshell Media

Pokretači: 2.02 Lazar Bodroža / Ederlezi Rising i Metaklinika, Beograd

Lazar Bodroža je režiser filma “Ederlezi Rising” koji je proglašen za najbolji domaći film na FEST 2018 i uz to je poneo nagrade za režiju kao i za obe glavne uloge. Lazar je takođe suosnivač i kreativni direktor studija Metaklinika koji stoji iza mnogih upečatljivih projekata, i 2011. je bio uvršten na listu najboljih 20 umetnika mlađih od 30 godina od strane prestižnog PRINT magazina. … Continue reading Pokretači: 2.02 Lazar Bodroža / Ederlezi Rising i Metaklinika, Beograd

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Politics, Serbia

“Serbsplaining” the West

From the early days of modern Serbia, and arguably before, Serbian perceptions and expectations of ‘the West’ were in many ways inextricable from how Serbians perceived themselves. Serbian uprisings against the Ottomans were from the outset imagined as a way for Serbia to re-join and catch-up with its Christian brethren from the West, who were expected to embrace it with open hands. After the last … Continue reading “Serbsplaining” the West

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Balkans, The Belgradist, Travel

Why are Serbians not outdoorsy?

As we were climbing around the ruins of Machu Picchu, feathery clouds clung to peaks covered with thick emerald forest. Rain, which pounded from the morning, stopped and allowed sunlight to shyly caress the sheer black cliffs above the foaming river. Around us, hundreds of tourists were jostling with selfie sticks to capture these magical scenes. My chain-smoking Belgrade-born-and-bred mother slowly moved uphill, panting. Once … Continue reading Why are Serbians not outdoorsy?

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (27): Old headquarters of women’s movement in Belgrade

Although women were not barred from pursuing education in early 19th Century Serbia, in line with the global mores of the day, there was a lot of debate whether education will make them leave the family hearth and neglect their traditional roles, and of course whether mixing with men is at all appropriate. However, in the beginning of modern Serbia, when it achieved an autonomy … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (27): Old headquarters of women’s movement in Belgrade

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Politics, Serbia

Poverty and Politics in Serbia

I only became aware of inequality and class division once I moved to a country which is almost synonymous with them: the UK. At both university and work, my British friends frequently dissected levels of “posh-ness” in themselves and others, assessing how appropriate it was to play rugby or vote Conservative, given their background. I was, of course, dumbfounded. In Serbia, discussing “class” and inequality … Continue reading Poverty and Politics in Serbia

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (26): Slavija’s strange history, from MacKenzie to McDonald’s

Hated by drivers, and considered the ugliest square in Belgrade, Slavija’s riveting history ironically started off as an attempt to introduce British-style urban planning to Belgrade. The development of the square began with Francis Mackenzie, an enterprising Scottish missionary who moved to the city in 1876 in hope of making Belgraders devote more time to the Bible, rather than smoking and drinking. In 1879 he … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (26): Slavija’s strange history, from MacKenzie to McDonald’s

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (25): Belgrade’s lost public baths

Despite the city’s long periods under Roman and Ottoman rule, Belgrade currently does not have a single open public bath probably for the first time in the past 19th centuries. Although neither of them were opulent marble-clad pleasure palaces that can still be enjoyed in Budapest or Istanbul, they would certainly come in handy as atmospheric places to warm up in long winter months and … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (25): Belgrade’s lost public baths

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Politics, Serbia

Serbia’s paradoxical affair with history

When pundits look for a culprit for instability in the Balkans, their fingers often point to history, or rather the great fondness the people here have for it. Visitors to Serbia are often baffled by Serbians’ tendency to explain contemporary actions and attitudes by referencing events that happened several centuries ago. For example, it is not uncommon for somebody to explain Serbia’s awkward teetering between … Continue reading Serbia’s paradoxical affair with history

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (24): Bežanija airport

2017 marked the 90th anniversary of the opening of the now mostly forgotten, Belgrade International Airport, which was located next to the old Austro-Hungarian village of Bežanija, in what is now New Belgrade. This airport, however, was not the first airfield serving the city. The first airplane to fly from Belgrade took off in Banjica in 1910, close to where VMA, the military hospital complex, … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (24): Bežanija airport

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