Vračar | Belgrade Neighborhood's Names

The central municipality, undoubtedly the most popular for living in the capital city, is Vračar.

Covering just 3 square kilometers, Vračar is the smallest and most densely populated municipality in Belgrade. However, due to its excellent location in the broader city center, good connectivity, and the image it has enjoyed for the past twenty years, it represents the most attractive residential part of Belgrade.

Although mentioned as a neighborhood in Belgrade as early as the 16th century, there are multiple legends about the origin of the name of this municipality (related to healers, sparrows, a hero named Vračar, etc.), but none of them can be accepted as a historical fact.

What is certain is that Vračar used to refer to the hill on which the Tašmajdan Park is now located, with today's Bulevar kralja Aleksandra running along its ridge, and not the elevation on which the Saint Sava Temple is situated, as is commonly believed.

With the expansion of Belgrade, different parts of the city gained new contours and changed. In this complex process of urbanization, Vračar "nestled" itself and preserved its distinct spirit within the central city core, increasingly attracting both existing and "new" residents of Belgrade.

Despite its small size, Vračar has numerous neighborhoods with boundaries that are not clearly defined but are well-known among Vračar residents, especially the older ones.

Crveni krst (Red Cross)

A part of Vračar, which admittedly belongs partially to Zvezdara as well, is called Crveni krst (Red Cross). It encompasses the area between the Zvezdara neighborhoods of Lion and Đeram, as well as Kalenić, Čubura, and Neimar, or Pašino (Lekino) Brdo in Voždovac. The name does not derive from the famous international humanitarian organization but rather from one of the oldest monuments in Belgrade, the renowned Vozarev Krst (Vozar's Cross). The author of this monument is Gligorije Vozarević, the first Belgrade librarian and publisher. Believing and researching that the relics of Saint Sava were burned precisely at that spot, Vozarević erected a large wooden cross in the mid-19th century, which is now located in the square where bus lines 22 and 83 turn around. As the wooden cross had a limited lifespan, the city authorities replaced it with a stone one of reddish color. Restored several times over the past decades, the cross has always maintained its recognizable color and has become a symbol of this part of Belgrade over time.

Kalenić

Continuing towards the city center along Mileševska Street, Crveni krst leads to Kalenić - a neighborhood that encompasses the immediate surroundings of the most famous (eponymous) Belgrade market and Petra Bojović Park. Whether the neighborhood got its name from the market or the market from the neighborhood is a question akin to the age-old debate about the chicken and the egg. The facts tell us that in this part of the city, in the late 19th century, Vlajko Kalenić, a wealthy yet humble man and a great philanthropist, owned an estate. Towards the end of his life, he bequeathed his property to the city. Therefore, today, this entire neighborhood, along with one of its central streets, the market, and the famous tavern, bear the name Kalenić.

Čubura

When heading from Crveni krst towards Slavija along Cara Nikolaja Drugog Street, after about half a kilometer, you reach Čubura, a legendary Vračar neighborhood immortalized in many domestic films. Encompassing a few streets in the vicinity of Čubura Park, the name of this neighborhood is of Romani origin and dates back to a time when this part of Vračar was the "rough" periphery of the city, mainly populated by Roma people. Namely, a stream used to flow through the valley that now stretches as Južni Bulevar. Despite the significantly smaller surface area of the former Belgrade at that time, the water in the stream was still murky and unsuitable for drinking. Since there was no water supply system in this part of the city at the time, the Roma people had to find a source of water. They purified the water from a spring at the beginning of today's Južni Bulevar by using a tall barrel with the bottom removed, thus obtaining relatively clear and clean water. As the Romani language uses the term "učoburo" for a tall barrel, the term "čubura" became established in the vernacular, giving the neighborhood its name.

Gradić Pejton

The legendary and widely recognized part of Čubura is called Gradić Pejton, which represents a complex of around forty craft shops in a small area, nearly identical in appearance and built in the early 1970s. This unique architectural ensemble forms a sort of neighborhood within a neighborhood, and its name is derived from an American novel, later turned into a popular TV series called "Peyton Place," which was shown in Yugoslavia in the mid-1970s. Admittedly, there is no particular correlation between the series and the Čubura neighborhood, but its popularity among the residents of Čubura was so significant that they affectionately dubbed this craft "town" as Pejton.

Neimar

Descending from Čubura towards Južni Bulevar, crossing Šumatovačka Street leads to a neighborhood called Neimar, with its central part being the intersection of Maksim Gorki Street and the aforementioned boulevard. Neimar is still a very pleasant neighborhood to live in, where distinguished Belgraders from the early 20th century built family villas and weekend houses. The original name of this part of Belgrade was Kotež Neimar, precisely because of these cottages, but with the construction of the eponymous settlement on the left bank of the Danube, only Neimar remained in use. It was named after the construction company that purchased this land from a private owner in the 1920s and started planned development of a new residential area of Belgrade.

Savinac

From the top of Vračar Hill, where the magnificent Saint Sava Temple is located, towards Slavija Square, between Bulevar oslobođenja and Makenzijeva Street, there is a neighborhood called Savinac. While there is no doubt about its name, many may be unfamiliar with the fact that this part of Belgrade was called Englezovac in the late 19th century. At that time, a significant area around today's Slavija was owned by Scottish philanthropist and missionary Francis McKenzie, whom the people of Belgrade called "the Englishman." McKenzie came to Serbia during the Serbo-Turkish wars of 1876-1878 and stayed until his death. He served as an official at the British embassy and was a prominent figure in the Belgrade community. The land he purchased was then just a marsh on the city outskirts, but today it is one of the central points of Belgrade.

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• How Belgrade Neighborhoods Got Their Names | Savski venac

Cvetni trg

A small square in the triangle formed by Njegoševa, Kralja Milana, and Svetozara Markovića streets was once a large flower and green market, second of its kind in Belgrade after Zeleni Venac. Apart from a few beautiful buildings from the late 19th century (the "Vračar Beautification Society"), this part of Vračar has been transformed into a small square with numerous cafes. In its central part stands the oldest oak tree in Belgrade, a kind of botanical monument of nature.

Krunski venac

The relatively small neighborhood that refers to the area along Krunska Street and its immediate surroundings is called Krunski venac and represents one of the best-preserved parts of pre-war old Belgrade. Moreover, at the beginning of the 20th century, this street was legally designated for the construction of exclusively residential villas. Many of them have survived to this day, making Krunski venac and Krunska Street one of the most beautiful in Belgrade.

Grantovac

Parallel to Krunski venac, between Krunska, Njegoševa, Molerova, and Beogradska Street, there is a neighborhood with a nearly forgotten name - Grantovac. Although few people use this term today for the area around Njegoševa Street, it is interesting to recall the origin of its name. It is hidden in the fact that at the end of the 19th century, the Vice Consul of the United States, Edward Maxwell Grant, owned a private estate in this place. After dividing the property into over a hundred smaller plots for sale, houses and villas began to be built. Most of them from that time have not been preserved, except for a few buildings in Smiljanićeva Street.