Belgrade Cobblestones - Silent Witness of the City's History | Old Belgrade stories

Believe it or not, Belgrade still breathes in the rhythm of past days, narrow streets, old taverns, and untold stories beneath checkered tablecloths. Somewhere, it still lives the life that exudes such a specific and recognizable charm, an elegiac spirit and harmony, as seen in black and white photographs.

Today, that rhythm can still be felt in a small number of remaining streets that resist modern trends, in streets that preserve the old spirit of Belgrade as the ground we walk on.

This is a story about Belgrade's cobblestone streets, a story about the precursor to asphalt and the descendant of dirt roads...

"Kaldrma" is the term for a stone-paved road or street. The name originated from the combination of the Greek words "kalo," meaning good, and "dromos," meaning road. The word "kaldrma" traveled to us from the Turkish conquerors who used it to refer to a road made of round and pointed stones pressed into sand. The Turks only paved the most important streets in the city using this method, while the rest remained dirt roads. This technique was devised by ancient civilizations, and its remnants can still be seen today in the center of Rome.

Throughout the Roman Empire, city streets were paved with flat stone slabs, and such streets can still be found in the deeper archaeological layers of ancient Belgrade. In addition to Turkish cobblestone, stone blocks were widely used in Europe, which arrived in Belgrade with Austrian conquests.

The municipal authorities of Belgrade faced numerous challenges at the end of the 19th century. Inherited oriental architectural style, winding muddy streets, the absence of water supply and sewage systems to accommodate the growing number of residents were just some of the many problems encountered by the city authorities.

With every heavy rain, a general mud would form, making it difficult to move through the city. One of the first things that urban planners needed to address during the city's reconstruction was precisely the paving of streets. The remaining Turkish cobblestone in certain streets, due to its specificity, caused more trouble than benefit, and the pointed stones created difficulties for pedestrians and vehicles, prompting the search for alternative solutions.

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In the mid-1880s, one of the most significant intellectuals of that era, Dr. Vladan Đorđević, a physician, writer, and politician, took the helm of the Belgrade municipality. Alongside numerous communal works, the intensive cobblestoning of city streets began under Đorđević's leadership. One of the first things he did was form a commission tasked with creating a plan for communal works.

For this purpose, the commission, consisting of three members (Krsmanović, Antula, and Đorđević), visited major European capitals to gather information and methods regarding urbanization and addressing communal issues. During this journey, among other things, they saw various modern methods of street paving, ranging from stone blocks, macadam, and English wooden blocks to asphalt. Sidewalks were mostly made of stone blocks, similar to those already used in Belgrade at the time. Upon their return to Belgrade, a plan for cobblestoning city streets was developed. It was estimated that it would take between ten and fifteen years to complete. Unfortunately, as is often the case with planning in this region, significantly more time was needed for cobblestone to appear on the city streets.

The cobblestoning of the city progressed very slowly, partially due to the chronic lack of funds in the city treasury, but also due to disagreements within the commission regarding the methods and types of cobblestones to be used. Several years passed during these negotiations, and only a few central streets received new cobblestone. Streets in the city center were cobblestoned with stone blocks, streets outside the center with macadam, and streets on the outskirts of the city with crushed stone. In that first wave, only the central streets - Kneza Mihaila, Uzun Mirkova, Vasina, and Kralja Milana - were cobblestoned.

The majority of paved streets still consisted of impractical Turkish cobblestones. Cobblestoning was unplanned and chaotic, often resulting in the stones being moved from one street to another within a short period of time.

There is a record of the residents of Požarevačka Street protesting because the works in their street were interrupted and the stones were being taken away. In response, they received the following answer from the city authorities: "The stones have run out in Nemanjina Street, so they ordered them to be brought from another street. If needed, we will take the stones back to Požarevačka Street." This situation somewhat resembles the recent facade painting in the capital, where the works were abruptly interrupted, and the scaffolding was permanently relocated to other locations.

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New decisions and changes in city planning were made in 1911. At that time, Belgrade had around 300 streets and alleys, with about half of them being paved with Turkish cobblestones, half without any foundation, and only eight streets having modern paving blocks.

During the interwar period, intensive construction works were undertaken, and around 18 kilometers of streets were cobblestoned each year. The most commonly used material was stone blocks, but several streets such as Knez Mihailova, Vuka Karadžića, Obilićev Venac, as well as Kolarčeva Street and the Theater Square (now Republic Square) were paved with modern wooden blocks soaked in tar. Alongside the cobblestone and sidewalk construction, water supply and sewage systems were also built, which slowed down the progress.

Today, there are only a few streets in Belgrade that have preserved their pre-war cobblestones or paving blocks. There are fewer skilled craftsmen capable of properly installing them, and less attention is paid to details during the reconstruction of certain parts of the city. Lower-quality stones are used, while the old blocks are mostly sold to Austria, the Czech Republic, and Germany, where they are used for the reconstruction of their pedestrian zones.

In recent decades, a large number of cobblestoned streets have been asphalted, pushing the cobblestones irreversibly into oblivion. Occasionally, a few cobblestones emerge from numerous potholes as reminders of the time when they dominated the city. Pedestrian zones are now created by combining lighter granite blocks with dark slabs of gabbro stone (Knez Mihailova Street).

Recently, Kosančićev Venac, the oldest urban core and the center of liberated Belgrade, was reconstructed. It is the place where one of the oldest cobblestoned streets in Serbian towns was created. The cobblestones were temporarily removed in the 1960s but were brought back a few years later when the street was transformed into a pedestrian zone. During the recent works, the old cobblestones were removed and replaced with the old Turkish cobblestones, which, as the media stated at the time, were transferred from Kalenić Market.

Skadarska Street also recently had its paving blocks replaced with Turkish cobblestones. It was previously asphalted, and a layer of stone pavement was placed over it. However, due to the lack of skilled craftsmen capable of performing the task properly, Skadarska Street unfortunately lost much of its authenticity.

If we take a walk along Balkanska Street, Kralja Petra Street, Cara Uroša Street, Vojvode Dobrnjca Street, Rige od Fere Street, or Studentski Trg, we will feel the touch of Belgrade's cobblestones. Let's try to capture the rhythm of old Belgrade and allow our thoughts to take us back in time...

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