Belgrade Fortress

Belgrade Fortress is located on top of the high ending ridge of the Šumadija geological bar. The sandbank stretches at least from the city's Tašmajdan section, originating from the Miocene period, and the oldest stages of the ancient Pannonian Sea. The cliff-like ridge overlooks the Great War Island () and the confluence of the Sava river into the Danube, and makes one of the most beautiful natural lookouts in Belgrade. It borders the neighborhoods of Dorćol (north and north-east), Stari Grad (east) and Kosančićev Venac (Savamala; south). It is bounded by 3 streets: Boulevard of Vojvoda Bojović, Tadeuša Košćuška, Pariska, plus the railway along the riverside. == History ==

Classical Antiquity Belgrade Fortress is the core and the oldest section of the urban area of Belgrade. For centuries, the city population was concentrated only within the walls of the fortress, and thus the history of the fortress, until most recent times, reflects the history of Belgrade itself (see: Timeline of Belgrade history). The first mention of the city is when it was founded in the 3rd century BC as "Singidunum" by the Celtic tribe of Scordisci, who had defeated Thracian and Dacian tribes that previously lived in and around the fort. The city-fortress was later conquered by the Romans, was known as Singidunum and became a part of "the military frontier", where the Roman Empire bordered "barbarian Central Europe". Singidunum was defended by the Roman legion IV Flaviae, which built a fortified camp on a hill at the confluence of the Danube and the Sava rivers. In the period between 378 AD and 441 the Roman camp was repeatedly destroyed in the invasions by the Goths and the Huns. Legend says that Attila's grave lies at the confluence of the Sava and the Danube (under the fortress). In 476 Belgrade again became the border between the empires: the Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), and the Slav-Avar State in the north. The Celtic fortification was a primitive one, located on top of Terazije ridge, above the confluence of the Sava into the Danube, where the fortress still stands today. Celts also lived in small, open and fortified settlements around the fort, called oppida. Since it is not known for sure where the Celtic fort was; some historians suggest that it was rather close to the necropolises in Karaburma and Rospi Ćuprija. Celtic settlements belonged to the La Tène culture. The original military camp was probably occupied by the soldiers from the Legio VIII Augusta from 46 AD to 69. Early Singidunum reached its height with the arrival of Legio IV Flavia Felix which was transferred to the city in 86 AD and remained there until the mid 5th century. The presence of Legio IV prompted the construction of a square-shaped castrum (fort), which occupied Upper Town of today's fortress. Construction began at the turn of the 2nd century AD as since the early 100s, Legio IV Flavia Felix became permanently stationed in Singidunum. At first, the fortress was set up as earthen bulwarks and wooden palisades, but soon after, it was fortified with stone as the first stone fort in Belgrade's history. The remains can be seen today near the northeastern corner of the acropolis. The legion also constructed a pontoon bridge over the Sava, connecting Singidunum with Taurunum. Rectangular castrum covered what is today the Upper Town and the Kalemegdan Park. The castrum had tall walls, built from the white Tašmajdan limestone and spread over the area of to , being shaped as an irregular rectangle (approximately ). Belgrade remained in Serbian hands for almost a century. After the Despot's death in 1427, it had to be returned to Hungary. An attempt by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1456 to conquer the fortress was prevented by Janos Hunyadi (Siege of Belgrade), saving Hungary from Ottoman dominion for 70 years. Early Modern In 1521, 132 years after the Battle of Kosovo, the fortress, like most parts of the Serbian state, was conquered by the Turks and remained (with short periods of the Austrian and Serbian occupation), under the rule of the Ottoman Empire until the year 1867, when the Turks withdrew from Belgrade and Serbia. During the short period of Austrian rule (1718–1738), the fortress was largely rebuilt and modernized. It witnessed the Great Serbian Migration in the 17th century and two Serbian Uprisings in the 19th century, during the Turkish Period. During the Austrian occupation of northern Serbia 1717–39, several hospitals were established in Belgrade. The City hospital of Saint John was built within the fortress walls, but its exact location is not known. Emperor Charles VI signed the Belgrade City Statute in 1724 ("Proclamation on organizing German Belgrade"), which mentions city hospital, city pharmacy, medics and midwives. The German municipality had low incomes so it had to ask the state for help and beneficence. The hospital is mentioned in the 1728 Census. It was a hospital already in 1719, later becoming the residence of Thomas Berger, the head of the hospital. After his death, his daughter continued to reside in the building. The hospital (Stattspital) was moved to another location, into the newly constructed building in 1724. A small church was built next to it. This new hospital was quite small, with only 2 rooms, a kitchen and a basement, so it way not be the same city hospital. Lazaret or a quarantine hospital is not mentioned in the documents, but it is safe to presume that it had to be formed during the viral outbreaks, as was usual in the time. The procedure in case of outbreaks was probably analog to the existing procedure in Buda, the capital of Hungary. Today unidentified disease ravaged Belgrade in 1730. Viral epidemic killed a lot of people. During the course of only two weeks, just the Jesuits buried 220 people and themselves lost 3 missionaries. The extremely massive plague outbreak hit the city in October 1738. As the Austrian army retreated in front of the advancing Turks, numerous civilians fled to the fortress, many of them being contagious. Having so many people in a cramped space, triage was not possible so the plague spread quickly. There are reports of the dead lying in the streets for days as there was no one to bury them. The Austrian garrison was decimated and the corpses of the soldiers who died of plague were burned with their personal properties. Four outer city gates, with the adjoining walls and ramparts were demolished from 1862 (Sava, Vidin and Varoš gates) to 1866 (Stambol Gate). After the Ottomans fully evacuated the inner fortress in 1867, Serbian troops took over, but as the state was still only autonomous (full independence was achieved in 1878), Serbia was only to "manage it" and was not acknowledged as the proprietor of the fortress by the neighboring Austria-Hungary. First squad of Serbian soldiers, under the command of colonel Svetozar Garašanin, ceremonially replaced the Ottoman guardsmen on 18 April 1867. First action by the Serbian authorities, just 5 days after the Ottomans left in April 1867, was to rebuild the Ružica Church. After the Ottoman withdrawal, newspapers in Austro-Hungary continuously published stories, backed by the military experts, that the fortress became strategically obsolete and that, having no value of any kind, Austrian army could destroy it in 24 hours. In the autumn of 1867 citizens were awaken by the heavy artillery fire. Ruling prince Mihailo Obrenović sent two batteries to the fortress (where modern Monument of Gratitude to France is) and ordered them to fire at the fortress wall where the old wooden bridge was located. A barrage fire of 300 salvos from De Bange cannons shelled the fortress during the entire day. It remained unclear why the prince ordered this: he decided to demolish the fortress completely, as such stories spread among the citizens; he wanted to show to the Austrians that the fortress has its values and importance, and that it can't be destroyed in a day (despite all the shelling, only of rampart was destroyed); or he simply did it to spite the Austrians. The shelling also disturbed the citizens of Zemun, across the Sava, which was part of Austro-Hungary at the time, and some of the grenades which missed the target hit Austro-Hungarian soil, so the imperial government sent an official diplomatic note to Serbia, protesting the shelling and reminding the prince he is only a "caretaker" of the fortress. Later, while it was inhabited, the fortress formed one of the quarters in the administrative division of Belgrade. It was called Grad ("city") for administrative purposes and continued to be translated in the foreign languages as "fortress". According to the censuses, it had a population of 2,219 in 1890, 2,281 in 1895, 2,777 in 1900, 2,396 in 1905 and 454 in 1910. Kalemegdan was the location of the second airport in Serbia, after one in the neighborhood of Banjica from 1910. A field in the Donji Grad was adapted for planes in January 1911. It was situated along the bank of the Sava river, from the old Turkish bath (modern Planetarium) to the mouth of the Sava into the Danube. One of the flight pioneers, Edvard Rusjan, died in an airplane crash after taking off from this field and being hit by the gust of košava on 9 January 1911. Remains of Rusjan's plane were originally exhibited in Donji Grad and his funeral was one of the largest recorded in Belgrade. Surviving rib of this airplane became the first exhibit in the predecessor of the modern Aeronautical Museum Belgrade. Today, the area is used by the parachutists and paragliders and as the location of the air shows for sports and ultra-light aviation. In June 2021 it was announced that the memorial bench dedicated to Rusjan will be placed below the fortress and that surrounding green area will be named the Edvard Rusjan Park. The fortress and the park were damaged during World War I. Serbian army had no proper weaponry to fight the Austro-Hungarian gunboats, so they freely fired at the city from the Sava. The city was especially damaged during the heavy bombardment in 1914–1915. Diplomat and author described it in 1914: "Kalemegdan is "trimmed", the trees in the park are battered, the ancient ramparts of Singidunum crushed, all being hit by the heavy, modern artillery, from precisely measured distance and even more precisely unmeasured hatred". Heavy fighting occurred in the Lower Town in 1915, when Serbian forces, led by major Dragutin Gavrilović, persistently but ultimately unsuccessfully, fought the invading Austro-Hungarian army. Before full occupation, Austro-Hungarian army temporarily entered Belgrade, from 3 to 14 December 1914. Already on 4 December they erected gallows in fortress' Upper Town, and on several other locations around the town, for hanging civilians. In 1928, building company "Šumadija" proposed the construction of the cable car, which they called "air tram". The project was planned to connect Zemun to Belgrade Fortress, via Great War Island. The interval of the cabins was set at 2 minutes and the entire route was supposed to last 5 minutes. The project was never realized, but the idea of the cable car was revived in the 21st century. Funiculars were also planned, to connect the Upper and the Lower Town. The entire Lower town was planned for demolition, with the plans including large amusement park, museums, artificial lake, zoo, and stadiums instead of the existing military barracks. Instead of everything, the railway was conducted around the foothills of the fortress, encircling it completely, and effectively cutting it off from the Sava river, which wasn't universally accepted among the architects and urbanists of the day. During his visit to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Yugoslav prime minister Milan Stojadinović was fascinated by the objects built for the games, especially by the grandiose Olympic Stadium. He instigated the Yugoslav Olympic Committee to nominate Belgrade as the host of the 1948 Olympics and invited Werner March, architect of the Berlin stadium, to visit Belgrade and design objects for the games. March came to Belgrade in May 1938 and suggested the Fortress' Lower Town as the location for the Olympic complex. Without architectural design competition or bidding, Stojadinović's government accepted his idea and gave him carte blanche regarding the design. The project was finished in 1939 and the architectural model was exhibited in October 1940 at the "Exhibition of the new German architecture" in the German pavilion at the Belgrade Fair. In the early 1940, March began the preparatory works, as he also planned the partial remodeling of the fortress outside of the sports complex, too. He incited archaeological survey and invited German architectural historian Daniel Krencker to study the excavations. Within the scopes of the Nazi expansion of the megaprojects, and augmentation of the German historic role and importance in this region, Krencker praised March's project as the "artistic dream, which represents rare and major German cultural act which will contribute to the old German glory of Belgrade". Just few days after German scientists left the fortress, Germany attacked Yugoslavia on 6 April 1941. The Olympic complex was pushed aside, shifting the focus of the Germans to the archaeological exploration of the fortress during the war. After almost two millennia of continuous sieges, battles and conquests, the fortress is today known as the Belgrade Fortress. The present name of Kalemegdan Park derives from two Turkish words, kale (fortress) and meydan (field), literally meaning "fortress field". After World War II, before skiing facilities were built on the mountains further from Belgrade, the slopes of Kalemegdan (so as of Banovo Brdo, Košutnjak and Avala), were used by Belgraders for skiing. Also, immediately after the war, some parts of the fortress were closed for public. In some parts the new, Yugoslav People's Army was stationed, while others were closed because of the ammunition left behind. In 2018 it was announced that the entire riverbanks section from the Branko's Bridge on the Sava, to the Pančevo Bridge on the Danube, will be transformed into the linear park, patterned after the High Line park in New York City and Zaryadye Park in Moscow. It would encircle the Belgrade Fortress. In April 2019 it was announced that the park will stretch for , covering an area of . In August 2021, city expanded the project to , but only will actually make the green corridor, while the rest will be privately owned residential buildings, commercial venues and sports fields. This caused negative comments from experts. New design would actually push people away from the river, to walk along the present boulevard which encircles the fortress. The fortress itself will end up being additionally degraded and devalued, so architects and archaeologists suggested surveys, explorations and conservation of the fortress' foothills instead. The park project was described as a smokescreen, with the actual purpose of selling the riverbanks to the private investors and elevating the real estate prices. In 2022, new city administration headed by mayor Aleksandar Šapić included in the city's urban plan relocation of the Belgrade Zoo out of the fortress. In February 2023, Šapić announced relocation to the Ada Safari section of Ada Ciganlija island. City manager, Miroslav Čučković, explained the relocation: "Since the foundation of the new city administration...we made decisions which are connected to our dedication to spaces to which Belgraders were coming close to in all of these previous years. Those are spaces for which we think should have some new type of content and possibility to directly invest into them". Šapić added that the "political decision was made to handle this", and, if everything goes by the plan, the relocation might be finished in three years. Public and experts' backlash against the project was massive, mostly regarding hastiness, arbitration, irrelevance, legality and selected location. Public speculated that the residents of the newly built affluent K-Distrikt residential complex across the zoo are bothered by the smell, or that some more lucrative structures might be built instead of the zoo on such exceptional location, since "direct investments" were given as one of the reasons. Šapić then retreated a bit, stating this is just a "political idea" which is not hastily made, that only now analyses and surveys will be done to check the viability, that nothing will be built instead of the zoo but the fortress will be conserved instead, and that there is no set time frame for the project. == Archaeology ==

World War II . Already in April 1941, professor and major was appointed to the Referat for the Protection of the Cultural Values in Serbia. He saved numerous cultural objects in Serbia, which won him praise even from some Serbian historians after the war. On 20 October 1941 the Lower Town was fenced on his orders of keeping and protecting the fortress. He also began archaeological digging. However, the right to dig in the fortress was asked from both the pseudo-scientific organization Ahnenerbe and the Main Work Group Southeast of the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce. Pressured financially and politically, von Reiswitz felt he must side with one of them, so he arranged the participation of Ahnenerbe with organization's head Walther Wüst in October 1941. Based on this, collaborationist Minister for Education and Religion Velibor Jonić issued the "permit on monopoly" to Ahnenerbe's Secretary General Wolfram Sievers in February 1942. The area of the fortress is . By 2000, only 5% of that area was archaeologically surveyed, and by 2010 that number rose to 12% or . Based on the findings so far, it is estimated that during the rule of despot Stefan Lazarević in the first half of the 15th century, when Belgrade became capital of Serbia, the city within the fortress had 5,600 to 12,000 inhabitants. Archaeological examinations were done on the following locations: • Upper Town in the inner fortress; surveyed 1948–2009; found remains belong to the Prehistory, Antiquity, Middle Ages and Turkish-Austrian period • waterfront rampart in Lower Town 1963–2010; Middle Ages and Turkish-Austrian period • Kalemegdan Park 1973–2010; antiquity, Middle Ages and Turkish-Austrian period • Belgrade Zoo 1988; antiquity, Middle Ages and Turkish-Austrian period In September 1969 major discoveries were announced. The appearance of the Lower Town was almost completely changed after the excavation. The medieval cobblestone was uncovered, so as the old ramparts and gates. In the process, the Lower Town was made more accessible to the visitors, including the new stairway and reconstruction of the part of the medieval rampart. In the Upper Town, four large, massive pillars from the period of despot Stefan Lazarević (15th century) were discovered. They are remains of the medieval bridge which was located in front of the main entry into the inner fort of the city. The fort was surrounded by the deep trench. It was previously known that an inner, bascule bridge existed within the fortress, which survived until the 17th century, but its exact location and type of construction were unknown. The explored sections after 2000 include the access downhill path to the Small Staircase in Kalemegdan Park, the bastion on the Sava slope, the gates of King, Sava, Dark and Karađorđe, the Great Ravelin, etc. == Features ==

Belgrade Fortress is generally divided into four sections. The four sections, two of which make the fortress itself (Donji and Gornji Grad) and two make Kalemegdan park today, were divided by the Tsarigrad Road, on the location of modern pedestrian path next to the Cvijeta Zuzorić Art Pavilion. During the tenure of mayor Dragan Đilas (2008–13), the idea of expanding the zoo to Donji Grad, which it occupied prior to the World War II, resurfaced, but the experts were against it. The urban plan for the fortress from 1965 already projected the complete relocation of the zoo outside of the fortress, to some suburban locations, which in later plans included Veliko Blato, Stepin Lug or Jelezovac. The expansion of the zoo would cut the pedestrian communication between the Danube's and Sava's parts of the fortress, which was already cut in 1949 but was restored in 2009 with the reconstruction and opening of the Sava Gate. Also, it would prevent the exploration of Donji Grad, which is still largely unexplored and leave the Gate of Charles VI, a masterpiece of Balthasar Neumann, within the zoo itself. As of 2017, the zoo was not relocated but the idea of expansion was dropped, too. The cliffs are thought to have a historical importance also - the Slavic name of Belgrade, white town, according to one of the theories, originates from the exposed white layers of Miocene limestone on top of which the city was built. When the Hungarians handed over the city to Serbian despot Stefan Lazarević, he began massive reconstruction of the fortress, including the church, which was restored and expanded. Chronicler Constantine the Philosopher described the church, including the famed icon of the Mother of God, relics of Saint Petka and Saint Empress Theophano (relocated to Belgrade after the fall of Bulgaria to the Ottomans), icons of the Twelve apostles (six on both sides), and the reliquary containing a hand. Despot added the choirs and the monastery complex around it. The church became the seat of the Metropolitan of Belgrade, this time of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and he was proclaimed the "exarch of all Serbian lands". Close to the church, the Ottomans dug into the ground a large gunpowder magazine. During the Austrian attack under the Eugene of Savoy, the Austrian army directly hit the magazine on 17 August 1717 causing an explosion which demolished almost all structures in the Lower Town, including the church. During their massive reconstruction of the fortress, and construction of the Baroque Belgrade which ensued in 1720–1739, the Austrians never reconstructed the church. Furthermore, in order to level the terrain in the Lower Town, they completely demolished the church ruins. Today, it is not known for neither where the church was exactly located, nor what its exterior looked like. The magazine is today embellished with the artifacts from the Roman period which were discovered in or around the fortress: tombstone stelae, monuments, altars and the Sarcophagus of Jonah, which originates from the 3rd century AD. After the Austrians occupied the northern Serbia in 1717, it was obvious that there is a problem of providing water for the city within the fortress. Main sources were two large rivers, Danube and Sava, but as Belgrade was quite often under siege or a battleground, it wasn't practical as the rivers would become unreachable during the sieges so they searched for an alternative. Within the scopes of a massive construction and reconstruction of Belgrade in the Baroque manner, from 1717 to 1731 a present facility was dug and a complex wooden mechanism was installed to lift the water up from the pit of . It was designed by Balthasar Neumann. Austrians originally intended to dig a proper water well. They descended to , which is below the water level in the Sava, but found no water and actually hit the impervious rock layer. Then they decided to adapt it into the cistern and to conduct all surface water into it. The diameter of the shaft is . The staircase has 212 steps and there is a small corridor at the bottom which connects two sections of the staircase, but it is usually flooded. On Austrian maps, it is named the Great Well, but when Serbian rebels liberated Belgrade from the Ottomans in the early 19th century they gradually named it the Roman Well as the common belief at the time was that all old buildings were Roman. In 1954 a man threw his mistress into the well. Police wanted to prove that he killed her so the divers were dispatched to find the body, but they failed. Still, her body resurfaced ten days later. This story served as an inspiration for Dušan Makavejev when he wrote and directed the movie Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator in 1967. In 1964 Alfred Hitchcock visited the well and praised the "ambience". In 1967–1968, new exploration of the object was conducted. The divers discovered that the bottom is full of sludge and retrieved a number of skeletons, several animal ones and two human. In 1987 the divers explored whether there is a connection between the well and the Sava, but found no tunnel. The bottom was flat, there was one park bench in the water and a huge number of coins. The Roman Well served as an inspiration for another , which was nominated by Serbia for an Oscar in 2002. During the 2006 dive, a miniature, long amphipoda, previously undiscovered in Serbia, was found. It was closed in 2007, reconstructed and reopened in March 2014, but as of 2017 the upper section is open for visitors while the descent is forbidden due to the safety reasons. Since 2007, city began making and amending plans for well's reconstruction, even calling it a priority due to its bad shape, but as of 2023 it has not been renovated. Damad Ali Pasha's türbe (1784) The türbe is located on the central plateau of the Upper Town and is one of the few remaining monuments of Islamic architecture in Belgrade. It was named after Damad Ali Pasha, a Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire 1713–16, during the reign of Sultan Ahmed III. The mausoleum, however, is younger. It was built in 1784 over the grave of Izzet Mehmed Pasha, another Grand Vizier and a muhafiz, or governor, of Belgrade. The türbe was badly damaged during the First Serbian Uprising, so the Ottoman governor of Serbia, Marashli Ali Pasha, reconstructed it in 1818–19 and dedicated it to Damad Ali Pasha. Another two muhafiz, this time administering only the fortress as Serbia gained autonomy, were buried in the türbe: Selim Sirri Pasha in 1847 and Hasan Pasha in 1850. The mausoleum is made of stone, with a regular hexagonal base. The sides are long, it is tall with a diameter of . A thorough renovation began in May 2017 and should be finished by October. The wiring and the roof are replaced, the floor was drained and the inner and outer conservation was done. Old roof tiles were broken so the water poured inside. The roof tiles, which were not the original roof cover, were replaced with the lead cover and new, modern roof tiles, rotten wooden floor was replaced with the brick slabs and the wooden covering of the tomb was also replaced. Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments (1904) The original building was built from 1902 to 1904, to serve as the headquarters of the Serbian General Staff. It was demolished during the Austro-Hungarian bombing of Belgrade across the Sava in October 1915. It was decided to build the new headquarters on the same location. In the post-war situation, when funds were low and urgency was needed to repair the damages, it was decided to erect two temporary structures. One building was constructed on the location of the First Southwest Rampart's bastion, while the other one was built on the foundations of the 1904 building. The rebuilt building was designed by Janko Šafarik, in the typical manner of 19th-century Serbian urban architecture. Facade and surrounding features include socle made of natural stone, side staircase of artificial stone, and fence and candelabra made of cast iron. When the general staff was moved into the new building in the Kneza Miloša Street in 1928, the building in the fortress was turned into the Military museum. In 1956, the museum was relocated to the nearby, much larger building of the Military and Geography Institute, the auxiliary building on the rampart was demolished, and the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments moved into the remaining building in 1961. The building's facade was fully renovated in the fall of 2021. As written on the inscription, the monument is dedicated to the members of the Yugoslavia national basketball team which qualified for the 1950 FIBA World Championship in Argentina. Four players from this team became members of the FIBA Hall of Fame: Nebojša Popović, Aleksandar Nikolić, Radomir Šaper and Borislav Stanković. The sculpture was built on the initiative of the former basketball player Nataša Kovačević. The monument was designed by sculptor Radoš Radenković, symbolizes "fight for global affirmation" and represents three stylized arms reaching for a basketball. Gondola lift In August 2017 the construction of the gondola lift, which would connect Kalemegdan with Ušće was announced by the city government for 2018. Construction was confirmed in March 2018 when the idea of a pedestrian bridge was dropped after it has been described as "complicated" and "unstable". On the Kalemegdan side, the station will be dug into the hill, 1m (3 ft 3in) below the fortress' Sava Promenade. There is a cave below the projected station, so there is a possibility that the cave will be adapted for visitations and connected to the future gondola station by an elevator. On the Ušćе side, the starting point will be next to the Skate Park, across the Ušće Tower. The entire route is long, of which will be above the Sava river itself. Estimated cost is €10 million and duration of works 18 months. Already existing criticism of the project continued, from the officially used name (gondola instead of a traditional Serbian žičara) and chosen location, to the route, especially the Kalemegdan station which is a collapsible locality above the cave, in the area already prone to mass wasting. Park of the Non-Aligned Countries in the neighborhood of Kosančićev Venac was proposed as the better solution. Cutting of 47 trees in the park, because of the gondola lift began in March 2019. The pine trees were 50 to 60 years old. With an enlarged price of €15 million and unified opposition to the project by the environmentalists, architects and urbanists, with additional cutting of over 100 trees in Ušće park across the river, this prompted popular protests. Citizens organized and as the city was cutting the trees, they were planting new seedlings. Drilling also began and it was announced that the stone wall will be partially demolished, too. Municipality of Stari Grad also organized protests, demolishing fences on the construction site, filing complaints and fines against city and government officials and announcing 24-hours watch on site and demolition of any structure built in the meantime. Construction of the gondola lift is prohibited by the current Belgrade's General Regulatory Plan from 2016 which stipulates that construction of the "cables for the alternative transportation and recreation" is forbidden in the area of the Belgrade Fortress. In March 2020, Belgrade Fortress was voted one of the Europe's 7 most endangered heritage sites by the pan-European cultural heritage organization Europa Nostra, specifically due to the planned construction of the gondola lift. Little Kalemegdan Park Mali Kalemegdanski park (Мали Калемегдански парк) occupies the area in the eastern section, which borders the urban section of Belgrade. The northern section of Little Kalemegdan Park is occupied by the Belgrade zoo, opened in 1936. The Cvijeta Zuzorić Art Pavilion is also located here. == Overview ==

Kalemegdan is the most popular park among Belgraders and for many tourists visiting Belgrade because of the park's numerous winding walking paths, shaded benches, picturesque fountains, statues, historical architecture and scenic river views (Sahat kula – the clock tower; closed in 2007 for the reconstruction, reopened in April 2014, The Belgrade Fortress was nominated by the Serbian government for the UNESCO's World Heritage Site. Architects and urbanists think that possible inclusion on the list will protect the fortress from "aggressive transitional construction". In that case, the outlines of the fortress and a panoramic view on it will have to be preserved. The perceived visual pollution encompasses several objects. A gigantic object, a late 2000s project by the Zaha Hadid's studio, on the northern side of the fortress, down the slope of Danube. The project, despite some preparatory works, still didn't start off. The other was the spiral project "Cloud" by Sou Fujimoto, which was to connect the Sava port to the fortress, but the project was scrapped after 2013 when the mayoral tenure of Đilas ended. After being vandalized three times in one year, members of organizations claiming Communist heritage organized citizens' watches to guard the tombs in December 2020, but desecrations continued in 2021 and 2022. == Concerts and shows ==

The flat grounds below the fortress are occasionally used as open-air concert location during late spring and summer: • 3 September 1997: Partibrejkers • Belgrade Beer Fest, annually from 2003 until 2007 • 18 June 2011: Amy Winehouse and Moby • 15 September 2012: Warriors Dance Festival (The Prodigy, Skrillex) • 24 May 2013: Đorđe Balašević • 27 May 2013: Green Day (Belgrade Calling Festival, others: Atheist Rap, Superhiks, Hladno Pivo) • 14 June 2013: Whitesnake • 22 June 2013: Bajaga i Instruktori • 17 June 2014: Iron Maiden (Maiden England World Tour, opening act: Ghost) • 13 August 2017: Interpol • 27 August 2018: Jessie Ware • 8 September 2018: 2Cellos • 8 July 2025: Morrissey (cancelled) • 9 July 2025: Billy Idol Furthermore, KK Partizan and KK Crvena zvezda concrete basketball courts on the fortress have been used for concerts: • 26 June 2009: Simply Red (@KK Partizan court) • 11 July 2011: MTV Free Concert (@KK Partizan court, Rob Garza from Thievery Corporation, Philippe Cohen Solal from Gotan Project, and Gramophonedzie) • 26 May 2018: Hladno Pivo (@KK Partizan court) • 17 July 2024: Thievery Corporation (@KK Crvena zvezda court) Additionally, a small walled-in part of the fortress near its bottom is known as Barutana. It functions as an open-air club during late spring, summer, and early fall, mostly featuring EDM acts. Among the shows featured in Barutana are: • 31 July 2016: Talamasca (@Barutana) • 8 June 2018: Hernán Cattáneo & Nick Warren (@Barutana) == Gallery ==

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