Sava Tekelija | Origin of Street Names

Sava Popović Tekelija (1761 – 1842) was one of the most esteemed Serbs in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. As a descendant of a Serbian noble family that found itself in the Hungarian territory after the fall of the Serbian Despotate in 1459, he was born in Arad, present-day Romania.

It is believed that the addition of the surname "Tekelija" originates from the old village of Tukulja or Tokolj on Čepel Island, near Budapest, one of the few places in Hungary predominantly inhabited by Serbs, where it is presumed that the Popović family once lived.

Thanks to the merits of his ancestors who fought on the side of the Habsburgs in the wars against the Ottoman Empire (especially in the Battle of Senta in 1697), the Popović family in Hungary enjoyed noble status and high esteem from the Emperor.

Growing up in a privileged family within the Monarchy, Sava Tekelija had all the prerequisites to become an intellectual and highly educated individual of exceptional reputation. He was the first Serbian doctor of law, a respected merchant, an enlightenment missionary and philanthropist, a political and state-building visionary, and an advocate of the idea that Serbs in Hungary can persist in their aspiration for unification with Serbia only through their own institutions. His interest in the fate of the Serbian people became particularly pronounced after the outbreak of the First Serbian Uprising in 1804.

In the context of the formation of the Serbian intellectual elite within the Habsburg Empire, he was the founder of one of the largest Serbian endowments outside of Serbia – Tekelijanum, a sort of university dedicated to the education of the best Serbian students, among whom were Jovan Jovanović Zmaj, Jakov Ignjatović, Radivoj Kašanin, Kosta Ruvarac, Laza Kostić, Nikola Tesla, and many others. Tekelijanum, along with Matica Srpska (of which Tekelija was declared the lifelong president), was the center of cultural and scientific life for Serbs in the Austrian provinces in the 19th century. The building is still located in the same place in Budapest, at 17 Vereš Palne Street. Transformed into a modern hotel, it symbolically serves as a reminder of the Serbian patron.

Sava Tekelija died in his hometown of Arad and was buried in the courtyard of the Church of St. Peter and Paul, of which he was also a benefactor. Having no heirs, he left all his property to the people, thus inscribing his name in the book of the greatest benefactors and luminaries in Serbian history.

Streets in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, Kikinda, Kanjiža, and the village of Sanad bear the name of Sava Tekelija today.