The Republic Square or the Square of the Republic (Serbian: Трг републике, Trg republike) is one of the central town squares and an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, located in the Stari Grad municipality. It is the site of some of Belgrade's most recognizable public buildings, including the National Museum, the National Theatre and the statue of Prince Michael.
Location
The square is located less than 100 meters away from Terazije, designated center of Belgrade, to which it is connected by the streets of Kolarčeva (traffic) and Knez Mihailova (pedestrian zone). Many people erroneously consider Square of the Republic to be the center of the city. Through Vasina street it is connected to the fortress and park of Kalemegdan to the west and through Sremska street it is connected to the neighborhood of Zeleni Venac and further to Novi Beograd. It also borders the neighborhoods of Stari Grad and Dorćol, to the north. Today, it makes one of the local communities within Belgrade with a population of 2,360 in 2002.
Name
The name of the square has been the subject of much debate in the city. Vuk Drašković of the Serbian Renewal Movement suggested the square be renamed to Freedom Square (Трг Слободе / Trg Slobode) after pro-democracy demonstrations were held in the square to oust Slobodan Milosević on 9 March 1991, during the 1991 protests in Belgrade. Most recently, a group of theater academics suggested the square's original name Theater Square (Позоришни Трг / Pozorišni trg) be returned.
History
Antiquity
The Celtic and Roman predecessor of Belgrade was Singidunum. Castrum occupied part of today's Belgrade Fortress but the civilian zone spread from the Kralja Petra Street, over both the Sava and Danube slopes, till Kosančićev Venac, extending in a series of necropolises from Republic Square, along the Bulevar kralja Aleksandra all the way to the Mali Mokri Lug. Necropolis at Republic Square contained a well-shaped graves from the 1st century AD. In general, the largest section of the civilian settlement was situated between the modern Simina (Dorćol) and Brankova streets (Zeleni Venac, Kosančićev Venac), and the Republic Square.
During the digging of the foundations for the Monument to Prince Michael in 1882, tombs from different periods of Roman rule were discovered. One tomb was made from bricks, and there were 13 circular and 2 rectangle grave pits. Some of them are "well-tombs", named so because they are more than 10 m (33 ft) deep. The "well-tombs" are rare in these areas and it is believed that the custom arrived from Gaul. The brick tomb, which contained rushlight, was discovered close to the Čika Ljubina Street, while the other pits were where the monument is today. The materials found in the tombs include pottery fragments and vessels, pieces of terracotta and stone statues, fan-shaped floor tiles, bronze and bone needles, bricks, rushlights, etc. The pits were filled with ashes and contained animal bones. Coins and bronze rings, parts of the armor, have also been discovered. These "well-tombs" are considered to be the oldest part of the vast Singidunum necropolis, originating from c.100 AD, while the brick tomb is dated to c.400 and some of its bricks have a stamp of the Legio IV Flavia Felix. The entire square area belongs to the Archaeological Site of Singidunum, which was declared a protected zone on 30 June 1964. During the 2018–2019 renovation, two additional, though devastated tombs were discovered.
Baroque Belgrade
During their occupation of northern Serbia from 1717 to 1739, the Austrians conducted massive project of extensive refurbishment of Belgrade from an oriental town into the modern, baroque-style, European one. Major section was the German Town, modern Dorćol, where large-scale settlement of ethnic Germans ensued. In the next two decades the goal was mostly achieved, and the historians today refer to this part of city's history as Baroque Belgrade. Project included construction of several imposing objects, some of which were located in the area of modern square, which was on the outskirts of German Town.
After Austria lost the Austro-Turkish War of 1737–1739, the northern Serbia, including Belgrade, was returned to the Turks. One of the provisions of the 1739 Treaty of Belgrade stated that Austria had to demolish all the fortifications and military and civilian building it has constructed during the occupation. Many baroque buildings were demolished, however, Austrians didn't demolish the buildings outside of the Belgrade Fortress' walls, so the Ottomans destroyed them and almost completely re-orientalized Belgrade.
Württemberg Gate
The Württemberg Gate was built in 1725. It predated the construction of the protective trench built on the orders by the Generalissimo Ernst Gideon von Laudon. It was one of the four gates which lead outside of the fortress and was part of the fortification's outer walls. The gate was a typical baroque gate of its day. It was designed by Nicolas Doxat, who renovated the entire fortress during the Austrian period. His task was to project the new walls and ramparts system around the city, to develop a completely new grid of streets and the transform Belgrade into the typical baroque town. The final completed section of the inner fortified system was the Württemberg Gate. Other three gates were located in the modern Cara Dušana Street (Imperial Gate), Pop-Lukina Street and along the Sava river.
The basic layout of the entire fortified system was finished by 1737. That year, another Austro-Turkish war broke out and the works on further fortification were stopped. After being defeated in the Battle of Grocka in July 1739, Austria agreed to sign a truce. As stipulated by the Treaty of Belgrade in 1739, Austrians had to withdraw and they insisted to demolish all objects and fortifications within the Belgrade Fortress, built in the period of their rule. In June 1740, on a boat in the middle of the Sava river, which now became border between Austria and Ottoman Empire again, an agreement was signed and the fortress, including the gates was demolished. The remains of the gate were found during the 1958 digging of the foundations for the "Press House". The remains of the walls and foundations were re-discovered during the 2018 reconstruction and showed no evidence of additional works and reconstructions after it was built.
The gate was named after Charles Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, who was Austrian governor of occupied Serbia from 1720 to 1733. His court and military barrack were located right behind the gate, at the very entrance into the fort. The National Theatre is today located on that spot. From descriptions, it is known that it was much larger and more monumental than the latter Stambol Gate, but there are no surviving illustrations so the exact appearance of the gate is unknown.
Württemberg Palace
Württemberg also ordered construction of the massive building, stretching over several blocks, which occupied the area between the German and Serbian sections of Belgrade. Originally intended to be a military barrack, after Württemberg's direction it was vastly expanded into his palace, or court. The palace occupied the area between the modern Ruski car Tavern, Zmaj Jovina Street and Republic Square. On one of its narrower side, where the "Jadran" cinema was located for decades, it faced the Württemberg Gate. On the other side it also faced a square, which was designated for the musters.
The palace had rectangular base and was vertically divided into ground floor, two storeys and Mansard roof. As the original purpose of the edifice was military one, the facade is ornamented in the style of plainer, classical baroque. The narrower sides were decorated more. The longer sides were divided in three avant-corps, one central and two flanks. The central avant-corps, or risalit, was especially enhanced with decorative elements, on all four facades. Also, all four had balcony porch, under which all four entrances into the building were located. The upper outline of the building ended with highly elevated roof and plump chimneys, which was typical for the Austrian architecture of the day.
Later Serbian folk songs said the palace had "windows as many as there are days in the year". However, after the examinations of the surviving images, that number was established to be around 312 rather than 365. Württemberg also formed something of the first zoo in Belgrade. He ordered his military to capture and bring to him "wild beasts from the forests and mountains of Serbia", which he then kept in cages.
After the Austrians withdrew in 1739, the local Ottoman administration sent a letter to the Sublime Porte asking for the "large masonry saray for the wālis to be demolished. Even before the reply came from Constantinople, local administration mined the building and leveled it to the ground. Partial remains of the palace were discovered during the 2018-2019 reconstruction. The building is today considered one of the most representative Belgrade edifices in the entire 18th century. Digital archaeological 3D representation of the building was finished in 2020.
Stambol Gate
After entering Belgrade in 1740, the Ottomans found completely destroyed ramparts. They walled the remaining earthen defensive mounds with palisades. The Ottomans decided to build only one gate, while on the other access points they set čardaks. They didn't use the foundations of the demolished Württemberg Gate, but built their gate a bit to the right, where the modern Vasina Street is, so the gate occupied the area between the modern National Theatre and the Monument to Prince Michael.
During the Austrian occupation, generalissimo Laudon ordered a vast effort to fortify the city, which included the defensive trench which encircled a wider Belgrade area. The trench became known as the Laudan's Trench (Laudanov šanac) and passed in front of the gate which was accessed over a small bridge over it. Though smaller than the previous Württemberg Gate, it was still the largest of all city gates at the time, but was also considered the most beautiful.
The Stambol Gate got its name as it was the starting point of the Tsarigrad Road, which linked Belgrade with Constantinople. Hence the name of both the road (Carigrad was Serbian name for Constantinople) and the gate (after shortened Serbian version of the Ottoman name for Constantinople, "Istanbul Gate"). The gate was made of dressed stone and bricks, on a rectangular base. It had rooms for housing the sentry units and three entry points: large, central one, for the carts and two smaller ones on the sides for the pedestrians. Above the main entrance there was tughra, a medallion with the signature of the Ottoman sultan. Doors were made of thick oak beams, nailed down with the strong iron plating. In time, the plating became full of obvious bullet holes.
The Stambol Gate became notorious as the place in front of which the Turks executed the rayah, their non-Muslim subjects, by impaling them on stakes. It was also the place where during the attack on Belgrade in 1806 in the First Serbian Uprising, one of the leading Serbian military commanders, Vasa Čarapić, was fatally wounded. In his memory, a street near the square (Vasina Street) and a monument in the vicinity were named after him. When the rebellion collapsed, the Ottomans regained Belgrade in October 1813. Their vanguards burned wooden hovels in Savamala and when the main army landed, a large number of people remained stranded on the bank in Savamala, trying to flee across the river into Austria. Men were massacred, while women and children were sold into slavery. All over the city heads on a spike appeared, while people were impaled on stakes along all city roads. Rows of impaled people were placed from the gate to Terazije in one direction, and along the Tsarigrad Road itself, from the Batal mosque to Tašmajdan, in another.