На основу студије заштите Завода за заштиту природе Србије, Влада Републике Србије прогласила је за Споменик природе „Калемегдански рт“ у Београду, који се налази јужно од ушћа Саве у Дунав, на подручју града Београда, између Горњег и Доњег града Београдске тврђаве. Границама споменика природе обухваћена је јединствена природна реткост геолошког карактера на тлу Србије – профил морског спруда из најстаријег стадијума у историји некадашњег Панонског мора.
The strategically favourable position of the ridge located at the confluence of the Sava and the Danube, which dominates the surroundings and provides conditions for control over the plains to the north and west, has been used for settlement since prehistoric times. Judging by the archaeological findings on the vantage point of the Upper Town of the Belgrade Fortress, the first settlement was founded during the Neolithic.
Important changes at the confluence of the Sava and the Danube took place with the settlement of the Celts in the period after an unsuccessful campaign against Delphi in 279 BCE. Arriving in the area around the Danube under the leadership of Batant, the Celtic Scordisci tribe first met the Illyrian tribe of the Autariatae, as well as other Thracian and Illyrian tribes. The presence of two different ethnic elements was reflected in the name of the city: ‘Singidunum’ is a compound of the Thracian or Dacian tribal name ‘Singi’ and the Celtic word ‘dunum’ which means city. Excellent warriors, the Celts developed agriculture and pottery techniques after settling, and minted coins as early as the middle of the 2nd century BCE. Archaeological research has established that the Celtic Singidunum was not located in the area of the Upper Town of Belgrade Fortress, but in the area of today’s Karaburma.
At the beginning of the 1st century CE, most probably between 6 and 11 CE, increasingly frequent attacks by barbarian tribes on the ridge near the confluence of the Sava and the Danube led to the establishment of the first Roman military camp. At the beginning of the 2nd century, Singidunum became the seat of the Flavian Fourth Legion. Due to its war successes, this legion was nicknamed Felix, or Lucky. The first Roman fortification was of the earthen-palisade type and then a castrum – a fortified military camp – was built.. The castrum had a rectangular base, 560 metres long and about 350 metres wide, and was located in the area of today’s Upper Town and the part of Kalemegdan Park next to Pariska Street. Parts of the
Located at a crossroads, Singidon – as the Byzantines called the city at the confluence of the Sava and the Danube – was an unavoidable place through which many peoples passed or stayed during the Great Migration. Under the leadership of Attila in 441, the Huns penetrated the Balkans, destroying many cities including Singidon. After Attila’s death, the Hun state disintegrated and the tribes of the Eastern Goths, Gepids, and Sarmatians settled in the area of Singidon. The leader of the Ostrogoths, Theodoric, conquered Singidon in 471 and held it for a full 17 years, until his departure for Italy. With the approval of the Byzantine emperor Anastasius I, Heruli also settled in the territory of Singidon. Realising the importance of border towns in the fight against barbarians, Emperor Justinian I (527–565) began the reconstruction of Singidon shortly before 535. Procopius, Justinian’s court writer, notes that the emperor surrounded Singidon with a solid wall and rebuilt the whole city so that it became “a city worthy of great praise”.
The Byzantine emperor and historian Constantine Porphyrogenitus notes that around 630, the Serbs reached Singidunum on their way to the areas of the Balkans they would settle in. The whiteness of the limestone ridge, with the remains of an early Byzantine fortress built of stone of the same geological composition and colour, clearly stood out in the surrounding landscape and, no doubt, determined the Slavic name of the city – Beli Grad (White City) became Beograd (Belgrade). When the Slavic city was built on the ruins of the ancient city, it is assumed, although there is no reliable data, that it happened at the turn of the IX century. The Slavic form of the name of the city, Belgrade, first appears on 16th April 878, in a letter from Pope John VIII to the Bulgarian prince Boris; the pope wrote that Slav Sergije is at the head of the Belgrade episcopate.
At the beginning of the 9th century, great changes took place in the areas near Belgrade. The Avar Khaganate disappeared from the historical stage and Frankish supremacy was established in parts of Pannonia. Around the same time, east of Belgrade, the Bulgarian state was developing and it expanded to the northwest in the second and third decades of the 9th century. The area of Belgrade then came under its rule. For the Bulgarian state, Belgrade’s position in the area bordering the Franks was certainly of great strategic importance.
Belgrade was held by the Byzantines in the 11th and 12th centuries. In these turbulent times, it was demolished and rebuilt several times. Numerous and diverse crusaders passed through the territory of Belgrade on several occasions. After the crusades of 1096 and 1147, for the Third Crusade in 1189, Belgrade was the meeting place of the crusader army of Frederick I Barbarossa. By re-establishing the border on the Danube during the time of Manuel I Comnenus (1143–1180), the Byzantine Empire proved its interest in Belgrade by rebuilding the city’s fortifications. Several towers and ramparts were built according to the principles of Byzantine military architecture, as well as the castle in the Upper Town, which had the shape of a deltoid about 135 metres long and about 60 metres wide. Throughout the 13th century, Belgrade was in the hands of Hungarians with only minor interruptions.
At the convocation in Dezevo in 1282, the Serbian king Dragutin abdicated the throne in favour of his younger brother Milutin and gained control of a part of Serbian land. Dragutin was married to Katarina, the daughter of the Hungarian king Stefan V, from when, in the middle of 1284, he took control of Mačva along with Belgrade. Records about Belgrade from this period are scarce but it is reliably known that the Byzantine princess and Serbian queen Simonida paid a visit to Belgrade, most likely in 1315. During her visit, Simonida paid homage to the icon of the Most Holy Mother of God, which was considered miraculous and was the largest city relic since the 1070s. Belgrade was Serbian until Dragutin’s death in 1316. In March 1316, King Milutin occupied the area ruled by Dragutin and held it until 1319, when the Hungarians launched an offensive and conquered Belgrade. Although the later Serbian rulers, Tsar Stefan Dušan and Prince Lazar, fought with the Hungarians on several occasions, the situation did not change significantly – Belgrade was in the hands of Hungary until the beginning of the 15th century.
After the Battle of Angora (1402), Stefan Lazarević, the son of Prince Lazar, received the title of despot from the Byzantine emperor and management over Belgrade from the Hungarian king Sigismund. Thus, through diplomacy, in 1404 Belgrade became the capital of the Serbian state for the first time – its military, economic and cultural centre. Since, according to Constantine the Philosopher, the city was “destroyed and neglected”, the despot immediately started rebuilding the existing fortifications and then constructed new city walls and towers. Belgrade was divided into two parts: the Upper and the Lower City. The city was surrounded by double walls with towers and a moat on the mainland. In the Upper Town, on the site of an old Byzantine castle, the despot built a castle, specially fortified with a wall with towers and a moat, which was entered via a drawbridge. Inside the castle was the court, opposite each other the large towers of Nebojša and Bojša, the houses of the nobles, the chapel, the library and the treasury. Under the rule of Despot Stefan Lazarević, Belgrade experienced economic and cultural prosperity. After the death of Despot Stefan in 1427, Belgrade again fell into the hands of the Hungarians, who, due to the increasingly frequent attacks by the Turkish army, strengthened and extended the fortress.
Belgrade first defended itself against a Turkish attack in 1440. Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, undertook a great campaign against Belgrade in 1456. After a great battle on the rivers, in which the Serb sailors stood out, and on the mainland, Belgrade managed to defend itself and became “Antemurale Christianitatis”, a bulwark of Christianity. During the third siege of Belgrade in 1521, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent managed to capture the city. Belgrade then became an important Turkish stronghold for their further incursions towards the heart of Europe. The Turks called the city field in front of the fortress ‘Kalemegdan’ (‘kale’ meaning city and ‘megdan’ meaning field), and the hill on which the fortress was built was called Fićir-bajir – the hill of thinking. Of the numerous Turkish buildings in Belgrade Fortress, the fountain of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha from the second half of the 16th century and the tomb of Damat Ali Pasha from the 18th century have survived to this day.
After almost two centuries of Turkish rule, Austria started its rule of Belgrade in 1688 and immediately began work on the construction of a modern fortress, designed by engineer Andrej Kornar. However, the Turks recaptured the city as early as 1690. During the siege, a Turkish bomb hit a tower of the castle of the Upper Town and the fire engulfed the gunpowder warehouse. The explosion was so powerful that the castle of Despot Stefan Lazarević was completely destroyed, killing over a thousand people. After the conquest, the Turks continued the work on the renovation of the fortification according to Kornar’s project, as he transferred to their service. From 1717 to 1739, Austria recaptured Belgrade and immediately began building new ramparts with bastions and earthen embankments. The works were led by Colonel Nicolas Doxat de Démoret.
Belgrade Fortress had become one of the strongest military strongholds in Europe. However, with the Treaty of Belgrade in 1739, Turkey took the city without a fight. Based on one of the provisions of the peace treaty, Austria had to demolish all their newly built fortifications. Austria managed to conquer Belgrade once again in October 1789. However, with the Treaty of Sistova in 1791, the Austrians left Belgrade and the Janissaries were forbidden to enter the Belgrade Pashaluk.
At the beginning of the 19th century, after the assassination of the commander of Belgrade, Hadji Mustafa Pasha, the Janissaries established their rule in the city and the surrounding villages. The Janissary reign of terror and the events surrounding the slaughter of prominent nobles led to the awakening of a national consciousness and the First Serbian Uprising in 1804, led by Karadjordje Petrović. At the end of 1806, the insurgents conquered the town, and, at the beginning of 1807, the fortress. After the collapse of the uprising in 1813, the Turks ruled the fortress again until their final departure from Belgrade. At Kalemegdan, the Turkish commander of Belgrade handed over the keys to the city to Prince Mihailo Obrenović on the 6th April 1867. The Turkish military guards were replaced by Serbian soldiers and, in addition to the Turkish flag, the Serbian flag was raised. After this period, the fortress lost its significance as a military stronghold.
In 1869, the first works on the landscaping of the city field – Kalemegdan Park– began. In March 1891, paths were cut and trees were planted. In 1903, the Small Staircase, leading towards Francuska Street, was built according to the designs of Jelisaveta Načić, the first female architect in Serbia, and in 1928, the Grand Staircase was designed by architect Aleksandar Krstic. During the First World War, all the old buildings inside the walls were demolished, while the walls of the fortress were significantly damaged. Between the two world wars, the park got its present appearance. The Sava promenade with the Grand Staircase leading to the King’s Gate and the newly erected ‘Victor’ monument was built. It was around this time, that the first archaeological excavations of the fortress began, which continue to this day. Since 1946, Belgrade Fortress and Kalemegdan have been placed under state protection.
Life on the ridge above the confluence of the Sava and the Danube has been ongoing for more than two millennia. A full six centuries have passed since Belgrade, for the first time in its history, became a capital city. The core around which the two million urban agglomeration developed is Belgrade Fortress and Kalemegdan Park. They form a unique spatial whole on which the remains of the fortress are clearly visible, divided into Upper and Lower Town, with two clear stylistic features – elements of medieval architecture are permeated with the dominant Baroque elements characteristic of the XVIII century. Kalemegdan Park – also divided into Great Kalemegdan Park and Little Kalemegdan Park – was built on the site of a former city field and is a place of rest and enjoyment. Together, Belgrade Fortress and Kalemegdan Park are a cultural monument of exceptional importance; a place for numerous sporting, cultural and artistic events, a place of fun and entertainment for all generations of Belgraders, and a top destination for the rising number of visitors to the city.
Houses in Singidunum looked similar to those in other Roman provinces. The building stone used was extracted in a quarry in Tašmajdan or Topčider. The houses had many rooms: vestibule, tabilium, cubicle, triclinina, depending on the wealth of the owner and the size of the house. The central part of a house was the atrium, …
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Read moreThe findings of medical instruments (forceps, scalpels, special knives, hooks, small spoons), and the seal of an ophthalmologist (found in the Lower Town) indicate the existence of a Medicus, who took care of the health of the residents of Singidunum. Some of the instruments, along with small scales, were also used in pharmacy. A medicus’s …
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Read moreViewed from below, the whiteness of the limestone ridge, together with the remains of the early Byzantine fortress, must have clearly stood out in the surrounding landscape. Walls and towers built of stone of the same geological composition and color, no doubt gave a new name to the town, ‘Beograd’- The White Town. G.Marjanović Vujović, …
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