Skadarlija
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Skadarlija is well known as the bohemian quarter in Belgrade. In the period between the two World Wars it was at the peak of popularity, when the cultural and intellectual elite of Belgrade gathered in its taverns (kafanas), while in the transition from the 19th to the 20th century was a gathering place for bohemians, not so glamorous and settled but equally famous for its restaurants. New blooming Skadarlija is experiencing after 2000, with the arrival of foreign tourists in Belgrade. Depending on the moment, Skadarska street always had located between 10 and 15 restaurants, where the most famous of them were closed down in time, and new ones retrieved their place. “Šešir moj” („Old hat of mine“) is now considered one of the top four Skadarlian restaurants, and it is the only tavern that has increased the ranks of the chosen society over the last few decades.
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Skadarska street got its name in 1872, and since then, in just a few years has grown from Gipsy mahala in one of the central city streets with hundreds of houses. By 1880, the street got its cobblestones and fountain, opened the brewery and first taverns opened its doors. One of the explanations why this street soon became studded with restaurants is because it is located near the National Theater. In Skadarska street lived many actors, who loved to sit in taverns after the performance, and other artists followed them as well. No matter what the reason was for the construction of restaurants in Skadarska, by the end of the 19th century all the prominent artists in Belgrade spent their time in Skadarlija. Restaurants were competing whose regular guests would be more famous between actors and writers, although in reality the true bohemians often went from one tavern to another rather than spending time in the same place. Skadarlija reached its golden age after 1901, when restaurants „Dardaneli“ (“Dardanelles”) and „Pozorišna kafana“ (“Theater tavern”) were demolished. They were located near the current Republic Square.
The most famous restaurants in the early days of Skadarlija were „Bums Keler“, „Vuk Karadžić“, „Zlatan bokal“ („Golden carafe“), „Miloš Obilić“ and „Bandist“. These names are now largely forgotten, while the public mostly recognizes taverns that were known between the two wars and that mainly exist today. After World War II restaurants mostly continued to operate as before the war, but in a slightly calmer atmosphere, partly due to the departure of civic elite from the historical scene, and partly for fear of identification of bohemian behavior with pre-war traditions. Thus, Skadarska street began more and more to resemble an ordinary street that is losing its cultural significance after the war, but in 1966 the decision was taken to preserve the original appearance of the street, and then Skadarska turned into a pedestrian zone. It was decided not to remove the antique cobbles, but to set in concrete the holes between the pebbles, so cobble today is much easier than walking original cobblestones. New Skadarlija’s Fountain was built the same year, while in the 1989 arrived a copy of Sebilj’s fountain from Baščaršija, Sarajevo. In the following year monument of Djura Jaksic was commemorated in front of the house where he was born.
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When the weather is nice, through Skadarlija passes over 20,000 people, and most of them will take at least one cup of coffee in one of the places. Numerous entertainment and cultural facilities are designed to animate the passers-by, especially at the beginning of May, when the season opens.
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