pedestrian path and a cycle route. In recent years rugby matches have been played here and, it has been rumoured, staff from some of the embassies in town have come out to play cricket. It also now provides the site for the Belgrade Beer Festival held every August. Much of the Upper Town, too, is also given over to sports and other events, with courts for basketball, tennis and five-a-side football, venues for concerts beneath the fortress walls, and space for outdoor theatre performances during BELEF (Belgrade Summer Festival) held annually in July and early August.
The end of this section of Kalemegdan’s wall is marked by a stout tower, Dizdareva kula, and two gates, Despotova kapija and Zindan kapija, all from the fifteenth century, while beyond these structures the Austrians built Leopold’s Gate (Leopoldova kapija). Another path between Despotova and Zindan kapija also leads down to the Lower Town. On the way it passes by a small church dedicated to the Most Holy Mother of God, but popularly known as the Rose Church (Crkva Ružica). Originally a gunpowder store, it became the garrison chapel after Kalemegdan was handed over by the last Ottoman pasha to the Serbian authorities in 1867. It was ruined during the bombardment of Belgrade in the First World War and rebuilt in the 1920s.
The two statues on either side of the door represent military figures, one a medieval knight and the other a soldier from the First World War. Inside the church is a painting of the Prayer in Gethsemane on which the faces of contemporary figures are to be found: the Serbian king and his son, Peter and Alexander Karađorđević; the Russian Tsar Nicholas II; and the Serbian politician, Nikola Pašić. Two bells inside the church were cast from captured Turkish cannon as were two icons in relief of the Virgin Mary and St. George. Another church, this one to St. Petka, stands just a little further down the slope. It was built in 1937 above a spring from which, it is said, curative waters flow. When digging the foundations of the church, workmen found many skeletons of soldiers who fell defending Belgrade during the First World War which were removed and interred in a special vault close by.
Kalemegdan Zoo is close to Leopold’s Gate. It is quite unremarkable except for a monument in its centre to its most famous simian inhabitant. Sami, or Sammy, was a chimpanzee who came to live here in January 1988 until his death in September 1992 and who managed to escape twice. The first time he was soon caught and brought back. He became an urban legend, however, when he broke out for the second time. He was chased into the courtyard at 33 Tsar Dušan Street where he climbed into a cherry tree and then onto a garage. News of his escape spread quickly and over four thousand people turned up to lend him their support. Newspaper reports tell of people holding placards with slogan such as “Sammy, we’re with you!” and “Don’t give yourself up Sammy!” Eventually he was shot with a drugged dart and recaptured but not before he had become one of Belgrade’s foremost heroes.
Besides the zoo, Kalemegdan houses the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Belgrade (Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Beograda) situated behind the Victor, the gallery of the Natural History Museum (Galerija prirodnjačkog muzeja) and the Military Museum (Vojni muzej), both near Karađorđe’s Gate (Karađorđeva kapija). Up from the zoo and towards the entrance to the park from Knez Mihailo Street stands a grand pavilion named after Cvijeta Zuzorić (1555–1600), a famous Dubrovnik poetess of the Renaissance period. It was built in 1928 and was the first dedicated exhibition space in Belgrade, becoming the centre of artistic life until the Second World War and adding enormously to the city’s image as a modern European capital with an active cultural scene. Today it is by no means the only such space but it still hosts regular exhibitions in the
The end of this section of Kalemegdan’s wall is marked by a stout tower, Dizdareva kula, and two gates, Despotova kapija and Zindan kapija, all from the fifteenth century, while beyond these structures the Austrians built Leopold’s Gate (Leopoldova kapija). Another path between Despotova and Zindan kapija also leads down to the Lower Town. On the way it passes by a small church dedicated to the Most Holy Mother of God, but popularly known as the Rose Church (Crkva Ružica). Originally a gunpowder store, it became the garrison chapel after Kalemegdan was handed over by the last Ottoman pasha to the Serbian authorities in 1867. It was ruined during the bombardment of Belgrade in the First World War and rebuilt in the 1920s.
The two statues on either side of the door represent military figures, one a medieval knight and the other a soldier from the First World War. Inside the church is a painting of the Prayer in Gethsemane on which the faces of contemporary figures are to be found: the Serbian king and his son, Peter and Alexander Karađorđević; the Russian Tsar Nicholas II; and the Serbian politician, Nikola Pašić. Two bells inside the church were cast from captured Turkish cannon as were two icons in relief of the Virgin Mary and St. George. Another church, this one to St. Petka, stands just a little further down the slope. It was built in 1937 above a spring from which, it is said, curative waters flow. When digging the foundations of the church, workmen found many skeletons of soldiers who fell defending Belgrade during the First World War which were removed and interred in a special vault close by.
Kalemegdan Zoo is close to Leopold’s Gate. It is quite unremarkable except for a monument in its centre to its most famous simian inhabitant. Sami, or Sammy, was a chimpanzee who came to live here in January 1988 until his death in September 1992 and who managed to escape twice. The first time he was soon caught and brought back. He became an urban legend, however, when he broke out for the second time. He was chased into the courtyard at 33 Tsar Dušan Street where he climbed into a cherry tree and then onto a garage. News of his escape spread quickly and over four thousand people turned up to lend him their support. Newspaper reports tell of people holding placards with slogan such as “Sammy, we’re with you!” and “Don’t give yourself up Sammy!” Eventually he was shot with a drugged dart and recaptured but not before he had become one of Belgrade’s foremost heroes.
Besides the zoo, Kalemegdan houses the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Belgrade (Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Beograda) situated behind the Victor, the gallery of the Natural History Museum (Galerija prirodnjačkog muzeja) and the Military Museum (Vojni muzej), both near Karađorđe’s Gate (Karađorđeva kapija). Up from the zoo and towards the entrance to the park from Knez Mihailo Street stands a grand pavilion named after Cvijeta Zuzorić (1555–1600), a famous Dubrovnik poetess of the Renaissance period. It was built in 1928 and was the first dedicated exhibition space in Belgrade, becoming the centre of artistic life until the Second World War and adding enormously to the city’s image as a modern European capital with an active cultural scene. Today it is by no means the only such space but it still hosts regular exhibitions in the
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