Belgrade

Belgrade tours are the most exciting way to discover unique town as Belgrade. Located in the center of Balkan and south-east Europe, Belgrade with its 3000 years of existence is more than enough to tell you a lot of magnificent stories through Belgrade Tours.

First settlement on the territory of Belgrade was founded by one ancient Celtic tribe called The Scordisci. One of the main reasons forming settlement on that place was the confluence of river Danube and river Sava. Two rivers were like two big main trading routes, also very calm climate and nice nature were very favorable for the citizens. During the period of Celtic tribe in Belgrade we notice that originally center was aprox 5 kilometers from Square of Republic which is considered today Belgrade’s central point. Data which we can find today and which is accessible to us says the first name of the town of Belgrade was Singidunum. Everybody assumes that the word of Singidunum was unique and given by The Scordisci tribe as settlement was  founded.  Period of foundation of settlement was around III century BC. At this point we must notice that near to the territory of Belgrade we can find very significant leftovers of Vinča which is declared one of the oldest settlement from neolithic period found in the territory of Europe, so we can conclude that this region was very developed and inhabited with great population. Even today if we look at the map we will notice that actually position of Belgrade is at the big cross road between East and West. Centuries ahead this will be biggest advantage of Belgrade but on the other hand also biggest disadvantage, because of this Belgrade in its history holds a unofficial record how many times was town destroyed,burnt down to the ashes and how many times was rebuilt from the basic foundations thanks to the all conquerors and invaders who wanted to hold Belgrade in their hands. Part of the Belgrade tours is dedicated just to the ancient history of Belgrade and Serbia.

From 753 BC and the moment of founding the Rome which will become new rising empire we can say that from that point political map of Europe and world will slowly start to change. As it is located on a big and important crossroad Belgrade (Singidunim) will be on the spot of the big and powerful Roman Emire. During the period around I century BC Belgrade will become a Roman town. This was a period of forming a big new province of Moesia at that point Belgrade just a smaller village with small fortification for the legionaries. Today in Belgrade we can find many evidences of Rome, Kalemegdan Fortress was built on the foundations of the small fortification originally made by Romans. There is a phrase which says all roads lead to the Rome, but the historians says the oposite – all roads were starting and leading from Rome. Basically one of the main reasons why Roman empire was expended so great, even on the three continents are the roads. Ability to transport all goods and army very fast made empire one of the biggest which world civilization has seen.  One of the most important of them connecting Rome and Constantinople (Istanbul) was Via Militars which was passing through territory of Belgrade. So we can say that in Roman period Belgrade was in the middle between two capitals of the Empire. One of the Roman emperors called Flavius Iovanius was born in Belgrade. After the fall of the complete Roman empire 453 AD Belgrade will stay on the crossroad of East and West. Walking around Belgrade Fortress on Belgrade tours you will feel the spirit of the ancient Rome.

During the period between 6th and 7th centuries Slavic tribes are occupying territory of Balkan, Serbia and Belgrade. At the moment when Slavs has entered Belgrade first thing they have saw is the color of the walls on the fortress and houses which was white and from that point Belgrade got its today name – The White City or Belgrade. Serbians says Beograd – “Beo” on Serbian means white and “grad” means city …. The White city. From period of Roman break down, moving of Slavic tribes and further we can say that Belgrade was witness many wars and attempts to control the town and roads around Belgrade.

In the middle ages period again big political map of the World is changing again, due to the new empire rising on the East, territory of Serbia and Belgrade will have new rulers controlling in the next few centuries. Turkish ottoman empire will spread on the territory of Serbia from the moment of mythic Kosovo battle in 1389 capturing firs the south of Serbia. Fall of Belgrade happened in 1521 and it was led by Suleiman Magnificent most powerful from all Turkish sultans. Period of Turkish Belgrade is a period of not big expansion, for the Turks Belgrade was not interesting in the meaning of developing infrastructure and making some capital project. Their main goal was to keep the town safe from invaders and to collect enough taxes from the local population. During the Turkish rule there was just one small intermediate period with The Habsburg Monarchy ruling the town in the period from 1717 to 1739. During this period Austrians did a lot of reconstructions of Belgrade Fortress and town.  Exploring Belgrade on our Belgrade tours you can see Bajrakli Mosque – the oldest building in town.It was built around 1575, and is the only mosque in the city out of the 273 that had existed during the time of the Ottoman Empire’s rule of Serbia. Peak of the population of Belgrade during the period of Turkish rule was 10000 citizens. Check out Kalemegdan Fortress on Belgrade Tours and walk trough medieval Belgrade.

First fights and uprising against the Turkish from the local people starts from 1804. Many attempts and fights for liberation happened from 1804 to 1815. Knez Miloš Obrenović finally managed with diplomacy way of fighting to liberate Serbia and Belgrade. After 346 years of rule, the Turks left Belgrade for good on April 18, 1867, and Knez Mihailo Obrenović moved the capital from Kragujevac to Belgrade.That was a new stimulus to faster economic and cultural development of the town. In the second half of the XIX century it was brought closer to Europe in the aspect of city planning etc. The Kneza Mihaila Street had the central position and it was the shortest connection between the fortress and the town. It soon became the most important trade and business center of Belgrade and it has kept that role until today. Walking around Knez Mihalova on Belgrade tours you will enjoy view on the early xx century look of the town.

Beginning of th XX century for Belgrade is period of development of the town and period of transition of one smaller town to a real big capital of independent Kingdom of Serbia with cosmopolitan spirit and magnificent architecture. Unfortunately it was stopped due to the fight in the First World War and soon after by the bombing in Second World War. Bombing on 6th of April 1941 by Nazi troops destroyed more than 70% of Belgrade center. After the war Belgrade will become a new capital of a new formed Communist Yugoslavian State led by Josip Broz Tito. New architectural way of development of the town was in complete communist style. One of our most visited Belgrade tours is Communist tour where you can discover all the monumental communist buildings.

Today on the complete territory of city of Belgrade lives around 2 000 000 people. That is the number calculated with all surrounding suburbs, the main city core is around 1 300 000 citizens. The charm and rich cultural and historical heritage make it very attractive both to domestic visitors and to foreigners. As a city of hospitable people, a divine nature, unusual traditions and great cultural heritage that make it richer in the entire European cultural heritage, Belgrade is one of those points on the map of the world that you have to discover and experience. Many years Belgrade was declared as a one of the top cities for night life so for Belgrade we can hear that this is a city which never sleeps. During the summer period open river clubs called splavovi are opened whole week so you can have a great night whenever you want. During the day a lot of different types of Belgrade Tours will provide to you best knowledge about history and culture.

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