.gif)
Ušce (Belgrade)
Encyclopedia
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, the capital of Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Novi Beograd
Novi Beograd
Novi Beograd or New Belgrade is the most populous municipality that constitutes the City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is a planned city, built in 1947 on the left bank of the Sava river which was previously an uninhabited area, opposite of the old Belgrade...
. Ušće is located on the mouth of the Sava river into the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
, thus the name (ušće is Serbian for (river) mouth). It occupies Novi Beograd's Blocks 10, 13, 14, 15 and 16 on the Sava's left and the Danube's right bank, covering a tip of land that overlooks the islands of Malo Ratno Ostrvo
Malo Ratno Ostrvo
Little War Island or Malo Ratno Ostrvo is a river island in Serbia, located at the mouth of the Sava river into the Danube...
and Veliko Ratno Ostrvo to the north and the old core of Belgrade, the fortress of Kalemegdan
Kalemegdan
Belgrade Fortress , represent old citadel and Kalemegdan Park on the confluence of the River Sava and Danube, in an urban area of modern Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Stari Grad...
to the west. Ušće borders the neighborhoods of Staro Sajmište
Staro Sajmište
Staro Sajmište is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Novi Beograd and it was the site of the World War II Sajmište concentration camp ....
and Savograd on the south. As a compact grassy and forested area it stretches along the bank of the Danube into the Block 10, to the Zemun
Zemun
Zemun is a historical town and one of the 17 municipalities which constitute the City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia...
municipality and the Jugoslavija hotel, and the ENJUB shopping mall.
Characteristics
Like all of Novi Beograd, Ušće is flat, and without buildings to hide that fact like in the rest of the municipality, that is quite obvious here. With only three buildings and several smaller edifices, Ušće is the least urbanized section of Novi Beograd but some residential blocks are administratively attached to the local community of the same name, which had the population of 6,623 in 2002. Ušće is a vast grassy and forested area (2,5 km x 1 km) along the river banks. As such, it is used by many Belgraders as a recreational area or as a place for organizing political gatherings or musical concerts. However, many areas are not cultivated, but left to grow wild. During the high levels of the Danube and the Sava, bank areas are always flooded.Buildings
Ušće has only three buildings, but two of them are monumental. One is the Palace of the Federation (Serbian: Палата Федерације, Palata Federacije), a seat of the former federal governments of YugoslaviaYugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
and Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro was a country in southeastern Europe, formed from two former republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia : Serbia and Montenegro. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, it was established in 1992 as a federation called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
(also called the SIV building). Another monumental building is the Ušće Tower
Ušce Tower
Ušće Tower is the tallest skyscraper in Belgrade, capital of Serbia, and the second-tallest building overall, after the Avala tower...
, with 134 m of height the tallest building in the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
(it was second tallest before the NATO attack on Serbia in 1999
Legitimacy of NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
The legitimacy of the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has been subject to question by many bodies and individuals from the time of the action continuing to this day. The key basis governing the legality of any act of war is international law...
when Avala TV Tower
Avala TV Tower
The Avala Tower is a tall telecommunication tower located on Avala mountain in the periphery of Belgrade. It was destroyed in NATO bombardment of Serbia on 29 April 1999. On 21 December 2006, the reconstruction of Avala Tower commenced and the tower was officially opened at a ceremony on 21 April...
just outside Belgrade was bombed down). Twin tower Ušće 2 will be finished by 2009. Third important building is the Museum of Contemporary Art
Museum of Contemporary Art (Belgrade)
Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade is the art institution which collects and displays work produced since in 1900 in Serbia and former Yugoslavia. The museum also organizes international exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. It was founded in 1958 as the Museum of Modern Art...
, close to Sava river's left bank.
Other facilities in the neighborhood are several restaurants along the river banks and the Park of Friendship (Serbian: Парк пријатељства, Park prijateljstva), where during the Communist rule of Yugoslavia by Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
, many world politicians and dignitaries used to plant a tree when they visited Belgrade. Park has been in very bad shape lately as a result of little to no maintenance.
Sava's left bank contains numerous barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
s (Serbian: сплав, splav), which since the early 1990s became center of the famed Belgrade's night life.
Motorsport circuit
Ušće was also the site of temporary street circuitStreet circuit
A street circuit is a racing circuit composed by temporarily closed-off public roads of a city, town or village, used in motor races. Facilities such as the paddock, pit boxes, fences and grandstands are usually placed temporarily and removed soon after the race is over but in modern times the...
where races were held since 1967. and were held almost every year afterwards. The track (in a 2.310 meter configuration) encompasses roads around the blok 15 (Ušće park), passing near the Ušće Tower
Ušce Tower
Ušće Tower is the tallest skyscraper in Belgrade, capital of Serbia, and the second-tallest building overall, after the Avala tower...
, along the Branko's bridge
Branko's Bridge
Branko's bridge is the second-largest bridge of Belgrade, Serbia, connecting the city center with New Belgrade across Sava river....
and then along the Sava bank, with its start-finish straight just across the eternal fire monument. The circuit is popularly known as "a circuit without right hand turn", although it has two slight right-handers, and it is famous for its high speed S-curve near restaurant "Ušće" and Museum of Contemporary Art
Museum of Contemporary Art (Belgrade)
Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade is the art institution which collects and displays work produced since in 1900 in Serbia and former Yugoslavia. The museum also organizes international exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. It was founded in 1958 as the Museum of Modern Art...
, on Sava coast, which exist because the road had to navigate around the previously made Ranney collector
Ranney collector
A Ranney collector is a patented type of radial well used to extract water from an aquifer with direct connection to a surface water source like a river or lake...
. The first race was held on 30. April, 1967. but the most remembered is the one held in 1969. (on a 4.350 configuration) when around 40.000 spectators flocked to see powerful Fiat Abarths in European Touring Car Challenge
European Touring Car Championship
The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004...
, and Formula Vee
Formula Vee
Formula Vee is a popular open wheel, single seater junior motor racing formula, with relatively low costs in comparison to Formula Ford or Formula BMW....
cars race on the streets. After poor management and maintenance of roads and circuit, and race cars reaching high speeds in 90s and 2000s, FIA and drivers continuously criticised the safety of the track, lack of proper barriers
Traffic barrier
Traffic barriers keep vehicles within their roadway and prevent vehicles from colliding with dangerous obstacles. Traffic barriers installed at the road side also prevent errant vehicles from traversing steep slopes. Traffic barriers installed at the medians of divided highways are also referred...
and run-off areas
Run-off area
A run-off area is an area on a racetrack for racer safety. Run-off areas are usually located along a race course where racers are most likely to unintentionally depart from the prescribed course. It is also known as a gravel trap or, informally, kitty litter – see glossary of motorsport terms...
. After many unfortunate events, and a fatality in 2005, the circuit was taken off the calendar and "Grand Prix of Belgrade" was subsequently replaced with a race held in Batajnica Air Base. Despite these events, the race on Ušće was held in 2008, and never again. The rich history of races held on Ušće have gained somewhat a "classic" status in Serbia and former Yugoslavia
Former Yugoslavia
The former Yugoslavia is a term used to describe the present day states which succeeded the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia....
, with meany people's associations on hearing the word "Ušće" firstly reminding them about the race.
Gathering place
Due to its central location and wide-open space, Ušće has hosted some mass gatherings:- On November 18, 1988, Slobodan MiloševićSlobodan MiloševićSlobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
(at the time Chairman of the Serbian Communist LeagueLeague of Communists of SerbiaThe League of Communists of Serbia was the Serbian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole legal party of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1990. Under a new constitution ratified in 1974, greater power was devolved to the various republic level branches. In the late 1980s, the party was...
's Central Committee) addressed the crowd of more than 100,000 people as the main speaker at a mass rally that took place as integral part of "anti-bureaucratic revolutionAnti-bureaucratic revolutionAnti-bureaucratic revolution as a term, refers to a series of mass protests against governments of Yugoslavian republics and autonomous provinces during 1988 and 1989, which led to resignations of leaderships of Kosovo, Vojvodina and Montenegro, and the capture of power by politicians close to...
" and in essence served as Milošević's unofficial inauguration.
- On March 11, 1991, Milošević's regime organized a large counter-rally in direct response to March 9th Protest two days earlier. The gathering was seen as the regime's attempt at showing that anti-regime protesters of the prior days were a lone, politically instrumentalized, and misguided group of destructive-minded youth. Milošević himself did not address the crowd, but some of the most prominent members of his Socialist Party of SerbiaSocialist Party of SerbiaThe Socialist Party of Serbia is officially a democratic socialist political party in Serbia. It is also widely recognized as a de facto Serbian nationalist party, though the party itself does not officially acknowledge this...
did. The crowd on hand mostly consisted of older generation members, many of whom were workers and pensioners bussed in for the occasion from other parts of SerbiaSerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
.
Concerts and festivals
- On July 3, 2004 the rock bandRock BandRock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
Riblja ČorbaRiblja CorbaRiblja Čorba is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. Their presence on the scene has lasted from 1978 to today. They reached their peak of popularity in the 1980s, but it has declined in the 1990s, partly due to controversial political attitudes of the band's leader Bora Đorđević...
and the eastern faction of the rock band Zabranjeno Pušenje headlined a day-long anniversary concert before 40,000 spectators that came out to celebrate Riblja Čorba's 25 years and Zabranjeno Pušenje's 20 years on the scene. However, the concert is best remembered by the fact that Zabranjeno Pušenje performance was ended after about half an hour, as the band performed the songs they recorded as The No Smoking Orchestra, and the angry fans threw various objects on stage. The other acts that performed on the concert included Negative, Prljavi Inspektor Blaža i KljunoviPrljavi inspektor Blaža i KljunoviPrljavi Inspektor Blaža i Kljunovi is a Serbian rock band from Belgrade.-1990s:...
, BjesoviBjesoviBjesovi are a Serbian grunge/alternative rock band from Gornji Milanovac.- Formation and breakup :...
, AlogiAAlogiaIn psychology, alogia , or poverty of speech, is a general lack of additional, unprompted content seen in normal speech. As a symptom, it is commonly seen in patients suffering from schizophrenia, and is considered as a negative symptom...
, Roze Poze, AbonosAbonosAbonos is a Serbian gothic metal band from Belgrade.The guitarist Jakša Vlahović and a former keyboardist and vocalist Marta Vlahović are brother and sister and children of graphic artist and former Porodična Manufaktura Crnog Hleba member Jugoslav Vlahović...
, Kraljevski ApartmanKraljevski ApartmanKraljevski Apartman is a Serbian heavy metal band from Belgrade.-Apartman 69:...
, Đorđe David, and others.
- On June 17, 2006 Serbian turbo-folkTurbo-folkTurbo-folk is a popular musical sub-genre that originated in Serbia, the Balkans. Having mainstream popularity in Serbia, although closely associated with Serbian performers, its sound is as popular in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro...
superstar Ceca Raznatović performed for more than three hours in front of the crowd of more than 150,000 people, in support of her Idealno lošaIdealno loša-Concert:The promotion of the album was scheduled for June 17, 2006, in Ušće, Belgrade, Serbia, where a concert took place in front of estimated 110,000 people. It lasted for 3 and a half hours....
album that got released the same day.
- On July 14, 2007 The Rolling StonesThe Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
finally played a concert in SerbiaSerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
after several previous cancellations. The spectacular 2-hour show in front of more than 65,000 people was part of their A Bigger Bang TourA Bigger Bang TourA Bigger Bang Tour was a worldwide concert tour by The Rolling Stones which took place between August 2005 and August 2007, in support of their album A Bigger Bang...
.
- On June 24, 2008, The PoliceThe PoliceThe Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...
played a show in front of the crowd of more than 27,000 people as a part of their reunion tourThe Police Reunion TourThe Police Reunion Tour was a 2007–2008 worldwide concert tour by The Police, marking the 30th anniversary of their beginnings. At its conclusion, the tour became the third highest grossing tour of all time, with revenues reaching over $340 million...
, with Counting CrowsCounting CrowsCounting Crows is an American rock band originating from Berkeley, California. Formed in 1991, the group gained popularity following the release of its debut album in 1993, August and Everything After, which featured the hit single "Mr. Jones"...
performing as the opening band.
- Since August 2008 Belgrade Beer FestBelgrade Beer FestBelgrade Beer Fest is an annual festival of beer in Belgrade, Serbia. Started in 2003, the festival is held annually over 4 to 5 days as a showcase event for various beer producers. In addition to domestic and foreign brews, the festival features live music performances each evening...
is held at Ušće.
- On May 20, 2009, Depeche ModeDepeche ModeDepeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
was scheduled to play Ušće as part of TuborgTuborg GreenFestTuborg GreenFest is an annual series of rock music events that takes place across Eastern Europe during the summer months. Since 2005, Danish beer makers Tuborg, part of the Carlsberg Group, have brought together well-known rock bands and artists for one-day festivals in Russia, Serbia and Ukraine...
GreenFestGreen Fest (Serbia)Green Fest was an annual single day musical event held in Serbia.Conceived as a local arm of the Carlsberg Group's Tuborg GreenFest summer concert series across Eastern Europe, Serbian Green Fest is organized by the same group of individuals who are behind EXIT...
on the band's Tour of the UniverseTour of the Universe (Depeche Mode Tour)Tour of the Universe was a 2009/2010 worldwide concert tour by English electronic band Depeche Mode in support of the group's 12th studio album, Sounds of the Universe, which was released in April 2009....
. This performance, and several other on the tour, was canceled due to Dave Gahan's health concerns.
- On August 24, 2009, MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
played Ušće in front of the 40,000-strong crowd as part of the second leg of her Sticky & Sweet TourSticky & Sweet TourThe Sticky & Sweet Tour was the eighth worldwide concert tour by American singer Madonna to promote her eleventh studio album, Hard Candy. It began in August 2008 and was Madonna's first tour from her new recording and business deal with Live Nation. The tour was announced in February 2008, with...
.
- On June 2010 Ušće Fest was held, with Bajaga i InstruktoriBajaga i InstruktoriBajaga i Instruktori are a highly popular Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band...
, Severina, Goran BregovićGoran BregovicGoran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...
, Vlado GeorgievVlado GeorgievVlado Georgiev is a popular Serbian pop singer, composer and lyrics writer as well.Born to Serbian parents , Georgiev was raised in Herceg Novi...
, and Billy IdolBilly IdolWilliam Michael Albert Broad , better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. A member of the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans, Idol first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X...
performing.
- On June 25 2011, Zdravko ČolićZdravko ColicZdravko Čolić , is a pop singer popular across the entire area of former Yugoslavia. Originally from Sarajevo, since 1992 , his home is in Belgrade, Serbia...
, one of the greatest Bosnian stars, performed a 4 hour long concert in front of 80,000 people.