Tag: history

Culture

The fall of Yugoslav civilisation: Doomers at the gates

In the library of my grandmother’s salon in Avalska, between the many Marxist and Yugoslav communist tomes, stood a hard bound copy of „Civilisation“ by Kenneth Clark, published by Mladost from Zagreb in 1972. The fact that this book, a seductive (and often derided) statmeet of Western cultural supremacy,  was translated into Serbo-Croatian and published in a socialist only three years after it appeared in … Continue reading The fall of Yugoslav civilisation: Doomers at the gates

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Belgrade, Guide to Belgrade, Life, The Belgradist

Vanishing Majik of turn-of-millennium Belgrade hotspots

There is no better sign of (approaching) middle age than reminiscing about the restaurants, bars and clubs which are no longer around, but which left a mark on one’s memories, taste and, in many ways, life. My path towards becoming a kafana connoisseur started in Vidin kapija, across the road from my primary school. I was taken there in 1996 by my mom and grandma … Continue reading Vanishing Majik of turn-of-millennium Belgrade hotspots

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Travel

Hope and Despair in Valencia

Walking through the brash and brilliant City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, the flashiest in Calatrava’s global herd of white elephants, I could not but feel giddy with its ambition. The June sun, reflected on the ceramic coating of its improbably shaped buildings dispelled all the doom and gloom of 2022 Europe, and brought me back to the late 90s when I religiously watched … Continue reading Hope and Despair in Valencia

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Belgrade, Culture

Serbia and Yugoslavia at the World Fairs (1): 1885-1939

Ever since the world was sufficiently globalised to allow for a common cultural language of admiration for technology and industry in mid-19th century, there have been expositions which allowed every country to show their might, progress and peculiarity on the world stage. It all started with the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace of 1851, inside the Hyde Park, which dazzled the inhabitants of the … Continue reading Serbia and Yugoslavia at the World Fairs (1): 1885-1939

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Belgrade, Guide to Belgrade, Life, The Belgradist

Politically charged pies and the first Chinese dish in Serbia: More stories about Serbian food

If you think you are a Balkan culinary know it all for loving ćevapi, sarma, burek and kajmak, well the truth is… there is plenty more to discover. Everybody knows they are great, and with ajvar now present on the supermarket aisles from LA to Dubai, and the increasing number of restaurants serving Serbian fare all around the world: from Kafana in New York, via … Continue reading Politically charged pies and the first Chinese dish in Serbia: More stories about Serbian food

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (65): Three forgotten townhouses

Belgrade’s democratic and indomitable spirit is probably to credit (or blame, depending on who you ask, and what you think) for frequent turnovers of its elites. For example, in just one neighbourhood, playful Ottoman townhouses of Zerek – currently referred to as Dorćol – in which the Muslim merchants languored on divans – gave way to mostly sober neoclassical houses of late 19th and early … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (65): Three forgotten townhouses

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Hidden Belgrade, Politics, Serbia, The Belgradist

Occupation in 2-6 Pictures (2): Strahinja Janjić – a traitor’s traitor

On July 28th  1942, 36 year old Strahinja Janjić was taken to the infamous Banjica camp, on the charge of planning to assassinate Milan Nedić, the head of the puppet government that was helping the Germans control “German occupied territory of Serbia”. Banjica, ran in tandem by the Gestapo and Nedić’s government, claimed more than 3,800 lives and was the place where anti-fascist Serbs, Jews … Continue reading Occupation in 2-6 Pictures (2): Strahinja Janjić – a traitor’s traitor

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Culture, Politics, Serbia

RETVRN: Remembering the Serbian Middle Ages

One of the most commonly heard, yet, as it often happens, misattributed, Churchill quotes about the Balkans is that its nations „produce more history than they can consume“, always irritated me for both of its condescending and exoticizing attitude. What is that makes Balkan history so indigestible? Isn’t it the case that it is hardly only the Balkan people’s who shaped this region’s history (and … Continue reading RETVRN: Remembering the Serbian Middle Ages

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Occupation in 2-6 Pictures: Beginning

On this day 80 years ago, 6 April 1941, my great-grandparents’s flat in Vuka Karadžića street in Belgrade was torn in two by the Nazi bombs. On the same day, their relative, who was a child at the time was almost killed in the debris the Stukas made of an air-raid shelter by the Ascension church. A few days later, as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia … Continue reading Occupation in 2-6 Pictures: Beginning

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (61): Old School Belgarde

Ever since the First Serbian uprising in 1804, education was a major component in building the nation, as well as its identity, in large thanks to the two major personages of Serbian Enlightenment: Dositej Obradović and Vuk Karadžić. The first major educational institution was the Great School, which was operational between 1809 and 1813. It was devised by Obradović and attended by Karadžić and was … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (61): Old School Belgarde

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Zemun

A vibrant city for itself for much of its history, Zemun is chock-full of history and quirky places, from its underground tunnels to a rather eerie stairway made of gravestones. Although settled since pre-history, it first entered recorded history as Taurunum when it was founded by the same Celtic tribe which founded Belgrade, Scordisci in 2nd BC. It was settled due to its great strategic … Continue reading Hidden Zemun

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (59): Yugoslavia’s Crib

Due to many destructions brought upon Serbia, there are a few houses that have been standing long enough and have been important enough to tell the story of the country’s history (and various incarnations). Thankfully however, one of them is located bang in the heart of Belgrade, at Terazije. One of the first works by one of Serbia’s first starchitects, Jovan Ilkić, this Neo-baroque house … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (59): Yugoslavia’s Crib

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Belgrade, Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (57): Friends in need… or how Czechs and Slovaks shaped Belgrade

In the past few years much is made about Serbia’s alliances, whether old (albeit tumultuous) ones like those with Russia and France and or relatively recent ones with China and the UAE. Despite many memorial events in the past few years related to 80th anniversary of the start and 75th anniversary of the end of WWII, it is remarkable that no one decided to mark … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (57): Friends in need… or how Czechs and Slovaks shaped Belgrade

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (56): Prehistoric Belgrade

As the world seems to be teetering on the edge of a catastrophe in the past few years, many are looking back to pre-history for answers, whether it is in terms of diet (paleo!) or socio-political hot takes, from evolutionary psychology-based recommendations to (the very controversial) Bronze Age Mindset. No stranger to political controversies in more recent times, Belgrade (and Serbia) is the for pre-history … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (56): Prehistoric Belgrade

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Guide to Belgrade, Politics, The Belgradist

Belgrade’s Lost Monuments

As a city which went through significant turmoils in its modern, post-Ottoman history – from brutal occupations in WWI and WWII to major political changes in 1903, after WWII and in 2000 – Belgrade has had its fair share of monument destructions, however mostly at the hands of its occupiers. Unsurprisingly, removal of monuments to the recent past happened most immediately after the Partizans took … Continue reading Belgrade’s Lost Monuments

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Politics, Serbia, The Belgradist

An African-American Star in 1920s Yugoslavia

In April 1929, Josephine Baker was the first African-American star to visit Belgrade, while she was on her tour around Central Europe on the Orient Express. The visit came during her peak popularity in Paris, just before she made her hit „J’ai deux Amours”, and while she was still shunned in her native US, despite entrancing everyone with her dance and skimpy exotic outfits. She … Continue reading An African-American Star in 1920s Yugoslavia

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (54): A death and a riot which changed Belgrade’s history

Back in 1862, Zerek, was a warren of streets and gardens in still very much Ottoman Belgrade. Hugging the fortress which still held an Ottoman garrison lorded over an Ottoman Pasha, it was the home of the remnants of the Muslim Ottoman population, nestled within the crumbling city walls above one of the main cross roads at Dorćol and the Jewish quarter of Jalija and … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (54): A death and a riot which changed Belgrade’s history

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist, Uncategorized

Hidden Belgrade (53): Belgrade’s Most Storied Church

Church of the Ascension (Vaznesenjska crkva) lacks the glitz of Cathedral Church of St. Michael the Archangel (Saborna crkva), the grandeur of St. Mark’s and St. Sava’s, or romance of Ružica and Topčider church, but there are few churches, in the city who witnessed as many dramatic and glorious events in the city’s history. That was maybe its fate from the beginning given that it … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (53): Belgrade’s Most Storied Church

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Balkanska posla, Serbiana/Srpska posla

Sećanja Gojka Garčevića na II zasedanje AVNOJa u Jajcu

Ovu priču o putovanju između Kolašina i Jajca na drugo zasedanje AVNOJa 1943. kao i utiske sa samog zasedanja, zapisao je moj deda, Gojko Simata Garčević, koji je bio jedan od delegata koji su tamo predstavljali Narodno Oslobodilačko veće Crne Gore i Boke. Moj deda je rođen u Nikšiću, 1902 godine u trgovačkoj porodici, a umro je u Beogradu 1967. Pre rata, on je studirao … Continue reading Sećanja Gojka Garčevića na II zasedanje AVNOJa u Jajcu

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Hidden Belgrade, The Belgradist

Hidden Belgrade (40): National Assembly’s Grand Interior

Built in 1936, on the spot of the former Batal mosque, and just across the road from the royal place complex, the National Assembly building, was built to impress the power and ambitions of the ill-fated Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The outdated, Belle Epoque grandeur of its exterior was based on a design by Konstantin Jovanović in 1892, (later modified by Jovan and Petar Ilkić in … Continue reading Hidden Belgrade (40): National Assembly’s Grand Interior

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