The Urban Plan of Emilijan Josimović | Old Belgrade Stories

Emilijan Josimović was the first Serbian urban planner and professor of architecture in Serbia, best known for creating the first urban plan of Belgrade.

The first ideas about numbering houses in Belgrade emerged in 1847. Twenty years later, in 1864, Prince Milan Obrenović decided that, with the departure of the Turks, the streets in the city must be given names. The prince turned to Professor Emilijan Josimović, then the Minister of Construction and Director of the Railway Directorate, and requested that he carry out surveying of the town and create a city regulatory plan.

The plan for an orthogonal street grid, prepared by Josimović for the prince, included widening of existing streets, numbering of buildings, parks, markets, and squares. The fundamental aspect of the plan was to create a unified whole that would meet the European standards of the time, as well as to establish a connection between the Square and Kalemegdan Fortress through Kneza Mihaila Street.

Professor Josimović conducted surveying for three years and created the regulatory plan of the city in 1867. Along with the plan, he provided a detailed explanation of his ideas in the book "Explanation of the Proposal for the Regulation of the Part of Belgrade Town Located within the Ramparts." It was the first professional book on urbanism in Serbia. He traced Knez Mihailova Street as the shortest connection between Kalemegdan Fortress and the Town. The first street names were assigned in 1872, and some streets in this part have remained unchanged to this day.

In Belgrade, since 1967, one street has been named after Emilijan Josimović, and twenty years later, a monument with the name of Professor Josimović was placed in front of the "Ruski car" restaurant.

Josimović was one of the first to address the issue of creating new parks within the old town. He also dealt with the problem of insufficient public green spaces in the city.

Emilijan Josimović

Emilijan Josimović was born in 1823 in Romania into a Serbian family. He served as the Minister of Construction, the Director of the Railway Directorate and the Serbian Shipping Company, one of the founders of the Association of Serbian Engineers and Architects, and the first editor of the journal "Srpski tehnički list" (Serbian Technical List). His most significant work is the "Explanation of the Proposal for the Regulation of the Part of Belgrade Town Located within the Ramparts," which he worked on from 1864 to 1867. He passed away in 1897 in Sokobanja.

The list of streets that have never changed their names since 1872 includes: Knez Mihailova, Balkanska, Vase Čarapića, Dositejeva, Dobračina, Kneza Miloša, Kraljevića Marka, Cara Dušana, Pop Lukina, Delijska, Kralja Milutina, Kosovska, Kondina, Citinjska, Zetska, Uzun Mirkova, Srebrenička, Rajićeva, Vladetina, Lomina, Solunska, Višegradska, Skadarska, Simina, Prizrenska, Hilandarska, Velike Stepenice, and Visoka in Zemun.