Плато Врачар: История и Память Святого Саввы

Plateau on Vračar Hill, Belgrade, Serbia

Vračar plateau is a plateau on top of the Vračar Hill in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. with an absolute height of above sea level. It is the purported location of the 1594 Burning of Saint Sava's relics by the Ottomans. The dominant position in Belgrade's cityscape made the plateau a natural location for the first meteorological observatory in Serbia, Belgrade Meteorological Station, built in 1891. The most distinctive feature of the plateau today is a massive Church of Saint Sava, visible from almost all approaches to the city, and one of the Belgrade's main landmarks. The plateau also houses Karađorđe's Park, Park Milutin Milanković, monument of Karađorđe Petrović and National Library of Serbia. In May 2021, the plateau was protected as the spatial cultural historical unit under the name Saint Sava's Plateau. The government noted "symbolical, memorial, cultural historical, architectural urban and artistic values of the locality, which represents memory spot of two turning points in Serbian history: Burning of Saint Sava's relics and the First Serbian Uprising".

The plateau is located on top of the Vračar Hill, in the Vračar municipality. To the north, it descends to the Slavija Square via the neighborhoods of Savinac and Englezovac. In the east, it extends into the neighborhood of Čubura. On the southern slope are Karađorđe's Park and the Neimar neighborhood, descending to Autokomanda. This entire area was known as East Vračar. Western section is occupied by the Park Milutin Milanković and Old Belgrade Observatory, extending into the vast Clinical Center of Serbia complex and West Vračar. The main thoroughfare passing across the plateau is the Liberation Boulevard (Bulevar oslobođenja).

In 1594, Serbs rebelled against Ottoman rule in Banat, during the Long War (1591–1606) between Austrian and Ottoman Empire, along the border of two states. Serbian clergy and rebels established relations with foreign states, and in a short time captured several towns, including Vršac, Bečkerek, Lipova, Titel and Bečej, although the uprising was quickly suppressed. The rebels had, in the character of a holy war, carried war flags with the icon of Saint Sava, medieval Serbian prince and later first Archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church, founder of Serbian law and education, and a diplomat. He was one of the most revered saints among the Serbs. Ottoman Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha decided to punish rebellious Serbs and ordered that the sarcophagus and relics of Saint Sava located in the Mileševa monastery be brought by military convoy to Belgrade. Along the way, the Ottoman convoy had people killed in their path so that the rebels in the woods would hear of it. The relics were publicly incinerated by the Ottomans, on 27 April 1595, as it was placed on a pyre and burnt on the Vračar plateau, and the ashes were scattered. According to Nikolaj Velimirović the flames were seen over both the Danube and the Sava rivers. Date and location of the Burning of Saint Sava's relics remained disputed. Even the exact year is unknown, with 1594 and 1595 being mentioned, so as the proposed locations, since the term Vračar was historically applied to the much wider territory than it occupies today. Propositions include: Crveni Krst, suggested by sr who erected reddish Vozarev Krst at the spot, which gave name to the entire neighborhood of Crveni Krst ("Red Cross"); mound of "Čupina Humka", in Tašmajdan, previously known as Little Vračar, which is the preferred location of modern historians; Vračar plateau, which attracted the widest public acceptance.

In 1806 during the siege of Belgrade in the First Serbian Uprising, Serbian army set a camp at the top of the plateau's southern slope. After the Serbs secured Belgrade, soldiers killed in the battle on the liberation day, 30 November 1806, were buried at this place, which was arranged as the Insurgents Cemetery in 1848, when the Monument to the Liberators of Belgrade was also erected. The tall memorial was one of the first public monuments in Belgrade. Out of the 50 original tombstones, 12 still survived into the 2020s. The patron of the monument was Aleksandar Karađorđević, the ruling prince of Serbia, and son of the First Serbian Uprising leader and the founder of the Karađorđević royal family, Karađorđe. After the monument was erected, it was suggested that the park should be planted around it. City administration dismissed the idea, claiming lack of funds. By 1887, the cemetery and monument became neglected. It was constructed according to the design of architect Dimitrije T. Leko and equipped with the modern small instruments for astronomical and meteorological observations. Apart from its importance for astronomy and meteorology, the newly built observatory was a cradle of the seismic and geomagnetic research in Serbia. The observatory was also equipped with a seismograph. During the withdrawal from Belgrade at the end of the World War I in 1918, the occupational Austro Hungarian army destroyed all the instruments in the observatory. The observatory was later relocated to the new complex built in Zvezdara from 1930 to 1932. That way, the building became known as the Old Zvezdara (Stara Zvezdara, meaning "old observatory"). In 1894, which was at the time celebrated as 300 years since the burning, consensus was reached to build the church on the plateau location. In 1895 the "Society for the Construction of the Church of Saint Sava on Vračar" was founded in Belgrade. A major part of the parcel donated for the construction came from Scottish missionary Francis Mackenzie, who purchased and developed this part of the city in the late 19th century. By the 1900 ukaz of King Alexander Obrenović, planned church was declared a "nationwide project". Children who grew up in the vicinity, including the future President of Serbia Boris Tadić, didn't know the intended purpose of the unfinished construction, so they played inside thinking it was a ruin of some old castle. There is a small, pavilion type house in the central part of the Karađorđe's park. There were also two swimming pools in front of it, built during the Interbellum. After World War II, in the 1950s, the venue was adapted into the children's cultural center. In time, the venue was abandoned, and the pools were covered with earth and the flowers were planted. There was another, even smaller, green pavilion, at the plateau behind the house. It was used for selling food and beverages but was demolished later. In September 2019 it was announced that the house will be adapted into the "Momo Kapor Endowment". There is also a stone memorial dedicated to the victims killed in an underground shelter during German bombing of Belgrade on 6 April 1941. Built hastily before the war began, it suffered a direct hit by a bomb and collapsed, killing 192 Belgraders. Around the old observatory building, a park was planted in the 1950s, retaining the name of Old Zvezdara. In 2010 the name of the park was changed to the Park Milutin Milanković, after Milutin Milanković who worked for decades in the observatory. The building is today the seat of the Center for the Climate Changes "Milutin Milanković". Park was renovated and re opened under the new name on 28 December 2010. The idea of monument dedicated to Karađorđe was revived in the 1970s. City officials decided to use already existing sculpture by sculptor Sreten Stojanović, who died in 1960. The sculpture was kept chained in the coal cellar of the "Plastika" foundry for decades and Stojanović's family decided to donate the sculpture to the city. However, it was decided not to place the monument in the park named after Karađorđe. Instead, the mound on top of the plateau, at the entry section of the path which leads to the Church of Saint Sava was selected. Thus, the park and the monument are divided by the Nebojšina Street. The monument was dedicated in 1979. Church's discontinuation of the construction over decades resulted in numerous mistakes, including the plateau surrounding the church which remained unfinished and nonfunctional. Construction of the library in 1973 affected massively the design envisioned in 1926 by Deroko and Nestorović. Three architectural design competitions for arranging the plateau which surrounds the church were organized after World War II.

Construction of the Macura Bobić project finally began in 2003, and the works were ceremonially opened by prime minister Zoran Živković. The works were pushed in order to be finished by February 2004, for celebration of 200th anniversary of the First Serbian Uprising. In January 2020, city announced complete redesign of the plateau and the construction of the Patriarchate Building. The project was designed by architects Branislav Mitrović and Dejan Miljković. The project wasn't adopted by the city or any experts commission or jury, but by the Serbian Orthodox Church itself. The central pedestrian pathway is to be expanded and between the library and the new Patriarchate Building an artificial forest, partially growing out of the water, was to be planted. The existing fountain will be dismantled and the new one "will not be a classical fountain". Though city officials claimed there will be more green areas, from the officially presented architectural model showed more trees, but less green areas overall. First, smaller phase on the outskirts of the plateau were planned for October 2020, when the church was to be finally finished. The design was criticized by the Association of Serbian Architects which stated the planned “forest” would degrade the historical, symbolical and social importance of the plateau by reducing the area to the profane city park. It was noted that mass gatherings organized on the plateau (funeral processions for Patriarch Pavle and prime minister Zoran Điniđić, visit of Russian president Vladimir Putin) showed that the area’s space is inadequate as it is. Massive Patriarchate Building, though planned from the start, is also deemed problematic. It is considered too big and robust for its location. It will also enclose the Krušedolska Street, the tenants in it, and obstruct the view from the numerous street's café's on the park which has a touristic value. By December 2022, almost nothing has been done from the proclaimed first phase of reconstruction, which was to last from 2020 to 2021. Area in front of the church was only partially repaved, but the oak trees were not planted, nor the concrete benches were placed. Phase two, which was to be finished by 2022, didn't even start, while the existing plates deteriorated even further. In November 2023, mayor Aleksandar Šapić announced plateau reconstruction and digging of the garage for 2024, but the construction of the library's depots was omitted.