| Topcider Park and Kosutnjak Hill enjoy special protection and status, as a cultural-historical heritage environment.
Topcider Park is a big forest park and an urban neighbourhood in Belgrade and lies in the valley of the Topsider’s river. Location makes it a bit desolate and romantic Park begins five kilometres south of downtown Belgrade and extends west, east and south into the old Topcider woods which itself extends west into the Kosutnjak.
Topcider is the first park in Belgrade, which was made at the initiative of Prince Milos Obrenovic in 1831 when the Prince started building in this meeting point of Senjak and Dedinje. First of all The Prince Milos' Residence was built, representing a transitional form of Balkan building tradition to an acceptance of European architecture. Today it’s the Historical Museum of Serbia (opened every day except Monday for 9 AM until 5 PM). In front of the Residence is an impressive plane tree, about 160 years old, and nearby you can find a church that was built in the same period as the residence. Afterwards the kafana, army barracks and the park was made with the vineyards and summer houses for the wealthy people of that time.
One the other hand Kosutnjak hill was a royal hunting reserve until the beginning of 20th century. Now Kosutnjak is a beautiful viewpoint toward the centre of Belgrade and a pleasant place to stay in the countryside. It famous for it’s sports and recreational centre which includes playgrounds for soccer, athletics, volleyball, basketball and handball, as well as five open air swimming pools, and one indoor pool. Kosutnjak Hill also has a ski track open the year round allowing skiing lovers to practice summer and winter alike.
If you can, you should surly check out Supernatural Festival, held annually on Earth Day 22nd of April, at Hajducka cesma on Kostutnjak. Festival in nature, is a multimedia artistic project, which brings together people of all ages, where the music and other forms of art get people closer to the environmental problems of today, as well as solutions and new ideas for sustainable development such as recycling, renewable energy, and healthy lifestyle.
Well kept tracks where you can walk or run, sports facilities, benches that can offer you peace and quiet while reading or enjoying the beautiful nature, make Topcider and Kosutnjak one of the favored green areas of the Belgraders.
Things to see: the building of the Milos’s Konak, the Topcder Church, The Guard House, Hajducka cesma, various resturants etc. |