King Alexander Bridge

On the right bank, the bridge was starting at the Sava Port, in the neighborhood of Savamala, a transportation and commercial hub and one of the busiest parts of Belgrade in that period. On the left bank, the bridge entered the still marshy and un-urbanized area where New Belgrade was built after 1948. The bridge continued into the road which connected Belgrade to Zemun, its outer suburb at the time. Belgrade's airport was located on the Zemun side, in Bežanija, built in 1927. During history, however, there were at least 10 temporary, pontoon bridges on the location of the King Alexander Bridge. They were constructed solely for the purpose of conquering the city during the numerous battles and sieges of Belgrade in history, like in 1521, 1595, 1688 or 1717. The history recorded 5 Austrian and 5 Ottoman pontoon bridges. == Construction ==

Development Belgrade's first modern bridge was the Old Railroad Bridge, built in 1884. Before Yugoslavia was formed in 1918, the Sava was a border between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. After Yugoslavia was formed, the government and the city began considering the construction of the road bridge. The concessionaires were invited for the first time in 1921. It took nine years for the new state to amass the funds needed for the project: 190 million dinars by the state for the bridge and 30 million dinars by the city for the access roads. The total length of the bridge was . The main construction of the bridge spawned over across the river, with the main span being long. The bridge was modeled after the Mülheim Bridge over the Rhine, in Cologne, Germany. The third "twin", based on almost the same project was built in Vienna, Austria, crossing the Danube. The second incarnation of the Reichsbrücke collapsed due to the structural failure on 1 August 1976. The joining of the last parts of the iron construction was finished in November 1933, but it took another year to finish the access roads. The beach itself was called Nica (Serbian for Nice, in France) after one of the kafanas. The supporting pylon on the right bank was built on the ruins of the former mosque, Liman Mosque. The remnants had to be removed first and this was the source of the popular myth after the demolition, that the bridge was cursed. Head of the project was Swiss-educated engineer Mirko Roš. Opening On 11 and 12 December 1934 the bridge was tested by dozens of city's tank trucks. It was ceremonially open on 16 December with 700 horsemen crossing over it. The unit was combined from the horsemen of the Royal Guards Artillery, Cavalry of the Junior Officers School and Zemun's Students Squad. To prove the high quality of the bridge, they trotted across the bridge four times. The bridge was officially opened on 16 December 1934. King Alexander, after whom the bridge was named, was assassinated on 9 October 1934 in Marseille, France, so the bridge was open by the Prince Regent Paul. By the 1931 census Belgrade had a population of 266,849 while the west bank was not urbanized yet and still some 150,000 citizens crossed the bridge on the opening day. Roš was convincing the people that it is "normal" for the bridge to swing and that it was perfectly safe. The press noted that bridge was swinging like a toy on springs under only 350 tons during the cavalry testing, even though it was designed to carry 25,000 tons, but also reassured public that this is normal and that bridge is the work of art of modern technology. Two days after the opening, the official barge-ferry line Belgrade-Zemun was discontinued. == History ==

Future developments On 5 November 1935, the first tram line over the bridge was established. Three especially decorated tram compositions fared from the starting point at the Hotel Moskva to Zemun. The bridge was wired with the explosives on 11 April 1941. It was blown up during the night and went out of service but apart from failing to stop the occupying army, the demolition directly caused a lethal accident. As the Royal Army was in a disarray, they blew up the bridge while the tugboat Tanasko Rajić was towing the military transport ship Korana with Yugoslav soldiers, transporting them to the reserve position in the village of Ostružnica, downstream the Sava. Not seeing the ships in the pitch dark, the military engineers blew up the bridge and the construction fell directly on the ships, killing 95 out of 110 soldiers and crew members. Though unusable since April 1941, the remains of the bridge persisted until the heavy "Easter bombing" of Belgrade by the Allies on 16 April 1944 when it was demolished completely. == Architecture ==

The construction of the bridge was patterned in the Serbo-Byzantine style, placed on two pylons made of reinforced concrete, In 1935 Krasnov made additional plans for the decorations, in the aftermath of the King Alexander's assassination. The new project was focused on the pylons' girders, where the body of the bridge leaned on. Steel girders were to be coated with gold plated bronze with the royal crowns above them. On the horizontal crossbars the king's last words (now generally considered as being false) should be written: "Guard Yugoslavia". Between the words, a state coat of arms in bronze, tall, was to be placed. The project remained on paper as was deemed too expensive at the time. == Importance ==

The bridge was revered after it was finished. It has been described as "gorgeous", "one of the most important object ever built in Belgrade" and "hanging colossus". After the bridge was completed and the permanent road link established, Zemun lost its separate town status to Belgrade in 1934. Also in 1934 city plans were expanded to include the creation of a new urban tissue which would connected Belgrade and Zemun. In the 1930s members of Belgrade's affluent elite began to buy land from the villagers of Bežanija, which at that time administratively spread all the way to the King Alexander Bridge, which was a dividing point between Bežanija and Zemun. From 1933 a settlement, consisting mostly of individual villas, began to develop. Also, a group of Belarus emigrants built several small buildings, mostly rented by the carters who carried goods across the river. As the settlement, which became known as New Belgrade, was built without building permits, authorities threatened to demolish it, but in 1940 government officially "legalized the informal settlement of New Belgrade". Prior to that, the city already semi-officially recognized the new settlement, as it helped with building its streets and pathways. By 1939 it already had several thousands inhabitants, a representative in the city hall, and was unofficially called New Belgrade. In 1937, for the purpose of hosting Belgrade Fair, a complex of buildings was erected next to the already existing community and just south of the Zemun's section of the bridge. The foundation stone was ceremonially set by the king Alexander I of Yugoslavia on 6 June 1937. It was built in three months and the facility was open on 11 September 1937. It was the site of the new Belgrade fair (hence the name) with modern and artistic buildings and constructions, including high metal spike construction, which became known as the Central Tower. Designed by the architects Milivoje Tričković, Rajko Tatić and Đorđe Lukić, it was envisioned as the monumental modern complex, with the Central Tower as the domineering motif. Around it, pavilions for the exhibitions were built: five Yugoslav, one for the “Nikola Spasić Foundation” and national pavilions of Italy, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary and the Dutch company Philips. The complex included: of roofed exhibition space, of open exhibition space, of lawns and flower beds and of roads and paths. Turned into the Sajmište concentration camp during World War II, today it is known as the neighborhood of Staro Sajmište. == After demolition ==

As it was the only road bridge across the Sava, the Germans needed a bridge for transportation of the troops, wounded, military equipment and raw materials from central into the south Europe. Originally, they constructed the pontoon bridge on the boats, right next to the south of the demolished bridge, where the pavilions of Belgrade Fair were. Germans used some of mobile bridge construction which they confiscated from Yugoslav army at Šabac. Hastily built on 24 April 1941, several days later it collapsed with several German vehicles falling into the river. A bit further, another same-type pontoon bridge was built. Germans decided that the reparation of the bridge would be a major operation, so in 1942 they relocated the bridge they just built over the Tisa river near Žabalj. As of November 2019, that bridge still stands and is in use, being named Old Sava Bridge. After the war, as the bridge was demolished and several trams remained on the Zemun side, the tram line on the west bank was re-established, connecting Zemun and Staro Sajmište (line No. 14). The new bridge on the same location, today known as the Branko's Bridge, was built in 1956. It actually uses lower parts of the former bridge's pylons as outer constraints for its two secondary spans. Starting in the 2010s, some civil organizations continuously promoted the idea of restoring the original appearance of the bridge and for returning the bridge's original name. Symbolically, the Bridge of King Alexander still exists today, in the form of Sava Bridge in Kraljevo, in central Serbia, away from its original location. Using parts of the demolished bridge, engineers formed a smaller, but functional bridge, which was transported to Kraljevo and placed over the Ibar river. == Gallery ==