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Crveni Krst (Belgrade)
Encyclopedia
Crveni Krst or colloquially just Krst is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade
, the capital of Serbia
. It is located in Belgrade's municipalities of Vračar
(larger part) and Zvezdara
.
on the west, Kalenić
on the north-west, Đeram on the north, Lipov Lad
on the north-east, Obilić Stadium area on the east and Lekino Brdo
on the south.
grand vizier
Sinan Pasha
burned the relic
s of the major Serbian saint, Saint Sava
, somewhere on the Vračar hill but after two centuries, the exact location was unknown. A majority of scholars agreed on a location on top of the hill, where the modern Cathedral of St Sava
has recently been built. According to one version, reason why Serbian publisher Gligorije Vozarović (1790-1848) erected a wooden cross in the area was to mark what he thought was exact location. It is controversial since according to some historians, Saint Sava's relics weren't burned here, nor on the place where the Cathedral of Saint Sava was erected, but near the present-day Tašmajdan park
. Another version says that reasons why he erected what is to become Belgrade's first public monument were more benevolent, it represented symbol of victory and liberation foreseeing nation's complete independence from crumbling Turkish Empire
.
The emerging settlement around it gradually became known as Vozarov Krst ("Vozarov[ić]'s Cross"). The Association of Saint Sava later replaced the wooden cross with a new, red one and it gave the present name to the neighborhood (Crveni Krst, Serbian for "Red Cross"). Still, the modern local community (mesna zajedinca) of the municipality of Vračar which comprises the neighbourhood is officially styled Vozarev Krst (Vozarov and Vozarev i.e. adjectives ending in -ov/-ev are variant spellings like English -ise/-ize), with a population of 12,736 in 2002 (excluding the Zvezdara part).
In addition to Cross
, two important sacral buildings in the neighbourhood are Orthodox Church
of the Holy Protection of the Virgin and Roman Catholic Church of St Anthony.
Church of the Holy Protection of the Virgin was designed by famous architect Momir Korunović and built in 1932-33. It is basilical in plan, with a choir loft, side galleries, and a four-storey bell-tower above the narthex. Designed in the Byzantine tradition, it also shows Romanesque
elements, especially in the architecture of the bell-tower. It has two side chapels which are dedicated to St Anthony
and St Petka
respectively.
Church of St Anthony was designed by Jože Plečnik
of Vienna Sezession and built in 1928-32. It is one of few round churches and the only example of Vienna Sezession in Belgrade (there are several other buildings in the style of other Art Nouveau
movements), and it has the only leaning tower
/bellfry in Belgrade, which is adjacent, but not actually attached, to the church building.
The former small square, which comprises a minute park with the cross, was turned into the roundabout
of the bus line 83 and trolleybus
line 22L. Still, the square remains a crossroads of five streets: Mileševska, Vojvode Šupljikca, Branka Krsmanovića
, Jovana Rajića and Žička. Interestingly, while just one bus line (83) goes through central part of the neighbourhood, five trolleybus
lines do the same (lines 19, 21, 22, 22L and 29). On neighbourhood's southern fringe alongside South Boulevard, two additional bus lines are available (lines 46 and 55). On its northern fringe alongside King Alexander Boulevard
, four tram
lines are also available (lines 5, 6, 7 and 14) and future Line 1 of Belgrade light metro
is planned to have its station there.
The main feature in Crveni Krst is the large building of the Belgrade Drama Theater
, opened in 1948 and completely reconstructed in 2003. All major domestic and foreign banks have their branches in Crveni Krst. Neighborhood is also home to famous basketball club Radnički which was national champion in 1973 and won national cup in 1976. Other important features are the complex of the Sports Center Vračar and Belgrade's Waterworks facilities.
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, the capital of Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. It is located in Belgrade's municipalities of Vračar
Vracar
Vračar is an urban neighborhood and one of 17 municipalities which constitute the City of Belgrade. With an area of only , it is the smallest of all Belgrade's municipalities, but also the most densely populated. Vračar is one of the three municipalities that constitute the central area of the...
(larger part) and Zvezdara
Zvezdara
Zvezdara is a hill, forest, urban neighborhood and one of 17 municipalities which constitute City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.- Location :...
.
Location
Crveni Krst is located in the east-central part of the municipality of Vračar and west part of the municipality of Zvezdara, around the small square of the same name. It borders the neighborhoods of ČuburaCubura
Čubura is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Located in Belgrade's municipality of Vračar, it is a synonym of the city's bohemian life.- Location :...
on the west, Kalenić
Kalenic
Kalenićki Prnjavor , or just Kalenić, is a village in Central Serbia , in the municipality of Rekovac. It lies at an altitude of 460 m. According to the 2002 census, the village had 154 residents. Kalenić is well known by Kalenić monastery.-External links:* * *...
on the north-west, Đeram on the north, Lipov Lad
Lipov Lad
Lipov Lad is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Zvezdara.- Location :...
on the north-east, Obilić Stadium area on the east and Lekino Brdo
Pašino Brdo
Pašino Brdo is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Voždovac, while the northern section belongs to the municipality of Vračar...
on the south.
History
The area of the modern Crveni Krst is in the eastern section of the Vračar field. In 1595 OttomanOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
grand vizier
Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier, in Turkish Vezir-i Azam or Sadr-ı Azam , deriving from the Arabic word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...
Sinan Pasha
Sinan Pasha
Sinan Pasha or Sinan Pashë Kahremanliu was an Albanian Grand Vizier, Ottoman military commander and statesman.-Life:...
burned the relic
Relic
In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...
s of the major Serbian saint, Saint Sava
Saint Sava
Saint Sava was a Serbian Prince and Orthodox monk, the first Archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church, the founder of Serbian law and literature, and a diplomat. Sava was born Rastko Nemanjić , the youngest son of Serbian Grand Župan Stefan Nemanja , and ruled the appanage of Hum briefly in...
, somewhere on the Vračar hill but after two centuries, the exact location was unknown. A majority of scholars agreed on a location on top of the hill, where the modern Cathedral of St Sava
Temple of Saint Sava
The Cathedral of Saint Sava or Saint Sava Temple in Vračar, Belgrade, is an Orthodox church, the largest in the Balkans, and one of the 10 largest church buildings in the world.. The church is dedicated to Saint Sava, founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church and an important figure in medieval Serbia...
has recently been built. According to one version, reason why Serbian publisher Gligorije Vozarović (1790-1848) erected a wooden cross in the area was to mark what he thought was exact location. It is controversial since according to some historians, Saint Sava's relics weren't burned here, nor on the place where the Cathedral of Saint Sava was erected, but near the present-day Tašmajdan park
Tašmajdan park
Tašmajdan Park , colloquially Tašmajdan or simply just Taš, is a public park and the surrounding urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Palilula...
. Another version says that reasons why he erected what is to become Belgrade's first public monument were more benevolent, it represented symbol of victory and liberation foreseeing nation's complete independence from crumbling Turkish Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
.
The emerging settlement around it gradually became known as Vozarov Krst ("Vozarov[ić]'s Cross"). The Association of Saint Sava later replaced the wooden cross with a new, red one and it gave the present name to the neighborhood (Crveni Krst, Serbian for "Red Cross"). Still, the modern local community (mesna zajedinca) of the municipality of Vračar which comprises the neighbourhood is officially styled Vozarev Krst (Vozarov and Vozarev i.e. adjectives ending in -ov/-ev are variant spellings like English -ise/-ize), with a population of 12,736 in 2002 (excluding the Zvezdara part).
In addition to Cross
Cross
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars perpendicular to each other, dividing one or two of the lines in half. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally; if they run obliquely, the design is technically termed a saltire, although the arms of a saltire need not meet...
, two important sacral buildings in the neighbourhood are Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
of the Holy Protection of the Virgin and Roman Catholic Church of St Anthony.
Church of the Holy Protection of the Virgin was designed by famous architect Momir Korunović and built in 1932-33. It is basilical in plan, with a choir loft, side galleries, and a four-storey bell-tower above the narthex. Designed in the Byzantine tradition, it also shows Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
elements, especially in the architecture of the bell-tower. It has two side chapels which are dedicated to St Anthony
Anthony the Great
Anthony the Great or Antony the Great , , also known as Saint Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius , and Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers...
and St Petka
Saint Paraskevi
Saint Paraskevi , literally "Preparation" as the day of preparation for Sabbath, "Friday") can refer to several saints ....
respectively.
Church of St Anthony was designed by Jože Plečnik
Jože Plecnik
Jože Plečnik , was a Slovene architect who practised in Vienna, Belgrade, Prague and Ljubljana.-Biography:...
of Vienna Sezession and built in 1928-32. It is one of few round churches and the only example of Vienna Sezession in Belgrade (there are several other buildings in the style of other Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
movements), and it has the only leaning tower
Leaning tower
This is a list of leaning towers. A leaning tower is a tower which, either intentionally, due to errors in design, construction or to subsequent external influence, does not stand perpendicular to the ground...
/bellfry in Belgrade, which is adjacent, but not actually attached, to the church building.
Characteristics
Today, Crveni Krst is essentially an eastern extension of the neighborhood of Čubura and some city maps mark the area as Čubura, but the local community which covers Vračar portion of the area of Crveni Krst rivals the local community which covers the area of Čubura in population (12,736 to 13,498 in 2002, respectively). In fact, taken as a whole (including its Zvezdara portion), area of Crveni Krst probably exceeds it.Roundabout
A roundabout is the name for a road junction in which traffic moves in one direction around a central island. The word dates from the early 20th century. Roundabouts are common in many countries around the world...
of the bus line 83 and trolleybus
Trolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
line 22L. Still, the square remains a crossroads of five streets: Mileševska, Vojvode Šupljikca, Branka Krsmanovića
Branko Krsmanović
Branko Krsmanović , a participant in the Spanish Civil War and the National Liberation struggle and national hero of Yugoslavia.-References:* * *Đurđević-Đukić Olga, , Belgrade 1975....
, Jovana Rajića and Žička. Interestingly, while just one bus line (83) goes through central part of the neighbourhood, five trolleybus
Trolleybus
A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...
lines do the same (lines 19, 21, 22, 22L and 29). On neighbourhood's southern fringe alongside South Boulevard, two additional bus lines are available (lines 46 and 55). On its northern fringe alongside King Alexander Boulevard
Bulevar kralja Aleksandra
Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra , with length of 7,5 kilometers, is the longest street entirely within the urban limits of Belgrade, capital of Serbia...
, four tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
lines are also available (lines 5, 6, 7 and 14) and future Line 1 of Belgrade light metro
BELAM
BELAM is a defunct plan for a rapid transit system in Belgrade. It was due to begin construction in 2008. It was intended to relieve Belgrade's growing traffic congestion issues, with the first stretch of line opening in 2012...
is planned to have its station there.
The main feature in Crveni Krst is the large building of the Belgrade Drama Theater
Beogradsko dramsko pozoriste
The Belgrade Drama Theatre was founded in August 1947, and it was the first city theater formed in Belgrade, Serbia after the Second World War. The first opening night of "The Youth of the Fathers" by Boris Gorbatov staged by Petar S. Petrović was performed on the stage on 20 February 1948...
, opened in 1948 and completely reconstructed in 2003. All major domestic and foreign banks have their branches in Crveni Krst. Neighborhood is also home to famous basketball club Radnički which was national champion in 1973 and won national cup in 1976. Other important features are the complex of the Sports Center Vračar and Belgrade's Waterworks facilities.