page_title: Slavija Square
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Slavija Square / History
caption_attribution_description: Српски / srpski: Споменик Димитрију Туцовићу на Славији, београд, Србија. Сликао Голдфингер
context_page_description: Slavija Square is a major commercial junction, situated between the intersections of Kralja Milana, Beogradska, Makenzijeva, Svetosavska, Bulevar oslobođenja, Deligradska and Nemanjina streets in Belgrade. The square was previously named Dimitrije Tucović Square after the prominent Serbian socialist.
context_section_description: Until the 1880s, the area around Slavija was a large pool on the eastern outskirts of the city. The pond was naturally drained by the Vračarski potok, down the modern Nemanjina street, into the Gypsy Pond in the neighborhood of Savamala. The remnant of the pond is the large underground water spring under the modern Hotel Slavija. The earth from the top of the Vračar hill above the Slavija was used to cover and drain the pond, in turn flattening the hill and creating the modern Vračar plateau. The formation of the square started when a well-known Scottish businessman and Nazarene Francis Mackenzie, bought a large piece of land above the present square and parcelled it for sale (the area became subsequently known as Englezovac). Soon after that, Mackenzie has built a house for himself at Slavija (at the place where the old "Slavija" cinema used to be), which in 1910 was turned into the Socialist People's Center, a gathering place of the worker's movement. The other, smaller buildings at the corner of Kralja Milana and the square, where the famous cafés "Tri seljaka" and "Rudničanin" used to be, were destroyed before and during World War II.
  Today demolished, the original inn, later hotel "Slavija" was built from 1882 to 1888. The hotel's kafana became one of the best known in Belgrade. The venue had a big hall for the parties and balls, and a spacious summer, open-air garden. The hotel hosted recitals, theatrical shows and choirs performances. The large object gave name to its surroundings, and then to the entire neighborhood. Word "Slavija" itself is a generic term for land inhabited by the Slavs.
  Until World War II Slavija remained an unregulated crossroad of 8 streets, which crossed at different angles. Surrounding was an entangled web of small streets which, though cobblestoned in the early 20th century, were remains of the old, dirt paths dating from the Ottoman period. German occupational forces concluded that the traffic flow rate in Slavija was too low and that it obstructs the transportation. City government, part of the Quisling administration in Serbia, was entrusted with the task of conducting construction plans for Slavija devised in Germany. Massive works, headed by engineer Maksimović, began in the fall of 1942. Apart from transforming Slavija into the proper roundabout, underground works were also conducted. A major effluent sewer (sewage collector) was built, which collected wastewater and groundwater from the hills of Vračar and Zvezdara. The sewer further conducted the water under the Nemanjina Street into the Sava river. As of 2018, the roundabout, sewer and its outlet into the river still function. In the 21st century, the massive size of the sewer and large pipes are major obstacles for the construction of the projected underground passages around Slavija.
  Slavija was projected as the final square in a succession of squares around Belgrade's central route from Kalemegdan to Englezovac: Studentski Trg-Trg Republike-Terazije-Cvetni Trg-Slavija. In time, Studentski Trg and Terazije lost their square functions, becoming streets, while Cvetni Trg, with final changes in early 2000s, is completely defunct as a traffic object, so Slavija and Trg Republike remain as the rare true squares in downtown Belgrade.
  After World War II, the new communist regime renamed the square in 1947 in honour of prominent socialist figure, Dimitrije Tucović and placed a bronze bust of Tucović at the central square plateau. The bust, work of Stevan Bodnarov, was placed in 1949. In the early 2000s it was officially changed back to Slavija.
  Hotel Slavija was built in 1962, and enlarged later (complex Slavija A and Slavija B). A third addition, the ultra modern Slavija Lux was built in 1989.
caption: Bronze bust of Dimitrije Tucović on the central plateau before it was removed on 13 November 2016
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