Slavija Square
Slavija ( Serbian Cyrillic Славија ) is one of the great central squares of Belgrade, Serbia.
Location
The Slavija Square is located approximately 1.5 km south of the Terazije between the districts and Vračar Savski Venac at an altitude of 117 m.
History
Until the 1880s into the territory of the present Slavija was a valley on the eastern edge of town, in which there was a lake, to which the inhabitants came to the duck hunting. The history of the place began with the Scottish traders and Nazarene Francis Mackenzie, who bought a large tract of land here and this, in turn, offered in lots for sale. Shortly after Mackenzie had built a house here for yourself, was the place in 1910 to the meeting of the labor movement.
The Slavija was officially planned as the last in a sequence of courses from Kalemegdan from; this urban idea was never fully implemented.
After the Second World War, the Communists buried the bones of the leading Serbian socialist Dimitrije Tucović in the center of the square was erected in 1947 and a bronze bust of Tucović. A name change to Dimitrije - Tucović Square was also carried. The name does not prevailed and was officially changed back to the beginning of 2000 Slavija.
On the square reside three hotels, all called " Slavija " and the oldest McDonald's restaurant in Eastern Europe, which opened in 1988.
Traffic
The scale than roundabout Slavija is one of the busiest intersections in Belgrade. This is where seven roads and all transport systems of the city together: bus, trolleybus and tram. A reconstruction of the major tributary of the Nemanjina ulica could be completed in 2008.
Architecture
The Slavija is characterized by functional architecture and is characterized more by the market than by architectural sophistication. The place should modern remodeled and a monument Dimitrije Tucovićs be removed, but the proposed designs have never been carried out.
It is worth mentioning that one side of the place - the so-called Miticeva rupa on the northern edge - after several failed attempts to build a representative object here, still undeveloped. For a time there was a large sundial here.
At the Nemanjina Ulica was the early 1990s, the National Bank of Serbia built.