Vukov Spomenik or colloquially Vuk (Serbian

Serbian language

Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....

 Cyrillic: Вуков Споменик, The Vuk Monument) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade

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 on the tripoint

Tripoint

A tripoint, or trijunction , is a geographical point at which the borders of three countries or subnational entities meet....

 of Belgrade's municipalities of Zvezdara

Zvezdara

Zvezdara is a hill, forest, urban neighborhood and one of 17 municipalities which constitute City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.- Location :...

, Palilula and Vračar

Vracar

Vračar is an urban neighborhood and one of 17 municipalities which constitute the City of Belgrade. With an area of only , it is the smallest of all Belgrade's municipalities, but also the most densely populated. Vračar is one of the three municipalities that constitute the central area of the...

.

Location

Vukov Spomenik is located on the crossroad of the Bulevar kralja Aleksandra

Bulevar kralja Aleksandra

Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra , with length of 7,5 kilometers, is the longest street entirely within the urban limits of Belgrade, capital of Serbia...

 and Ruzveltova street, in the valley between the north-eastern slopes of the Vračar and western slopes of the Zvezdara hills. It borders the neighborhoods of Tašmajdan on the west and Palulula and Hadžipopovac

Hadžipopovac

Hadžipopovac is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Palilula.Hadžipopovac is located in the central part of urban section of the municipality...

 on the north (in Palilula municipality), Slavujev Venac

Slavujev Venac

Slavujev Venac is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Zvezdara.- Location :...

 on the north-east and Đeram on the north (in Zvezdara municipality) and Krunski Venac

Krunski Venac

Krunski Venac is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in the Belgrade's municipality of Vračar....

 and Kalenić

Kalenic

Kalenićki Prnjavor , or just Kalenić, is a village in Central Serbia , in the municipality of Rekovac. It lies at an altitude of 460 m. According to the 2002 census, the village had 154 residents. Kalenić is well known by Kalenić monastery.-External links:* * *...

 in the south.

History

The area formed an eastern outskirts of Belgrade until 1930s. A football field was set in the area and the oldest campus

Campus

A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...

 in Serbia was built here too in 1928. A donor of the campus was king Alexander I of Yugoslavia

Alexander I of Yugoslavia

Alexander I , also known as Alexander the Unifier was the first king of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as well as the last king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes .-Childhood:...

, so the campus was named "King Alexander the First". Prior to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the campus was used as a seat of the Grand Lodge

Grand Lodge

A Grand Lodge, or "Grand Orient", is the usual governing body of "Craft", or "Blue Lodge", Freemasonry in a particular jurisdiction. The first Masonic Grand Lodge was established in England in 1717 as the Premier Grand Lodge of England....

 of Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

's Freemasons. In 1937, on the corner of the Bulevar kralja Aleksandra and Ruzveltova street, a monument to Vuk Stefanović Karadžić

Vuk Stefanovic Karadžic

Vuk Stefanović Karadžić was a Serbian philolog and linguist, the major reformer of the Serbian language, and deserves, perhaps, for his collections of songs, fairy tales, and riddles to be called the father of the study of Serbian folklore. He was the author of the first Serbian dictionary...

 (by sculptor Đorđe Jovanović), a major reformer of Serbian language, celebrating 150 years of his birth. After the monument, the entire neighborhood got its name (Vukov spomenik is Serbian for Vuk's monument). The entire neighborhood developed into an academic area, as University Library, Archives of Serbia and Technical faculties are located here and the park built to surround the monument was named after one of the first Slavic enlighteners, Cyril and Methodius.

Characteristics

Apart from its academic function, Vukov Spomenik is one of the busiest traffic spots in Belgrade, being on or near the crossroads of some of the most frequently used transportation routes (Bulevar kralja Aleksandra, Ruzveltova, Kraljice Marije, Cvjićeva streets). Additionailly, "Vukov Spomenik" is also one of the underground train stations of the future Belgrade Metro, which for now operates as part of the Belgrade-Pančevo

Pancevo

Pančevo is a city and municipality located in the southern part of Serbian province of Vojvodina, 15 km northeast from Belgrade. In 2002, the city had a total population of 77,087, while municipality of Pančevo had 127,162 inhabitants. It is the administrative center of the South Banat...

 railway (local Beovoz

Beovoz

Beovoz is a commuter rail that provides mass-transit service within Belgrade metropolitan area in Serbia. The main usage of today's system is to connect the suburbs with downtown Belgrade...

 rail, connecting Nova Pazova

Nova Pazova

Nova Pazova is a settlement in Serbia, founded by German settlers.It is situated in the Stara Pazova municipality, in the region of Syrmia , in the autonomous province of Vojvodina...

 (in province of Vojvodina

Vojvodina

Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...

), Belgrade and Pančevo (in Vojvodina again).

Administratively, Vukov Spomenik is a local community (mesna zajednica, sub-municipal administrative unit) in its Zvezdara section, with a population of 11,379 by the 2002 census. Additionally, it is a main administrative center of the municipality of Zvezdara as a whole, as the Municipal assembly of Zvezdara is located here, so as theaters, cinemas, etc.