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Palilula, Belgrade

Palilula (Serbian: Палилула) is an urban neighborhood and one of 17 municipalities which constitute the City of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is one of the 10 urban municipalities, but among them also one of 4 that have both urban and suburban sections. It has the largest area of all municipalities of Belgrade.

Neighborhood

Location

Palilula is located east of Terazije in downtown Belgrade. Like majority of Belgrade's neighborhoods it has no firm boundaries and is roughly bordered by the Ruzveltova street and the municipality and neighborhood of Zvezdara on the east, neighborhood of Hadžipopovac in its own municipality on the north, neighborhood and municipality of Stari Grad and Jevremovac on the northwest (Jevremovac actually belongs to the neighborhood of Palilula, but administratively is part of Stari Grad), and the Tašmajdan and the King Alexander Boulevard on the south, bordering with the municipality of Vračar. Several small local communities which make this area had the combined population of 14,896 in 2002.

History

The neighborhood originates from the first half of the XVIII century, when Habsburg Monarchy occupied northern Serbia 1717-1739. The settlement, built as an outer suburb of Belgrade, was originally named Karlstadt and was well known for agriculture and craftsmanship of its inhabitants. In the early XIX century, Palilula becomes overwhelmingly populated by the Serbs. In 1840 villagers of Palilula rejected the regulatory plan of Belgrade, on basis that projected new streets would be too wide, and later even tried to split from the municipality of Belgrade because of the city government's low funding for the village. However, in the late XIX century Palilula became part of the continuously built-up area of Belgrade. The neighborhood is almost entirely residential, with lots of commercial facilities being so close to the center of Belgrade.

Name

The name Palilula comes from the expression pali lulu which in English means light a smoking pipe. One anecdote goes back to times when Belgrade and Serbia were occupied by the Ottoman Empire and Palilula used to be the area where most crops were so Turkish rulers banned smoking due to few instances of accidental setting of crops on fire. In the late summer and early autumn when all crops have been picked up, smoking ban was lifted and locals were announcing this by calling neighbours and letting them know that pipes may be lit. Another explanation comes from period of prince Miloš Obrenović's rule who banned smoking in Belgrade so you could only smoke outside the city gates.

Municipality

Location

Municipality of Palilula is generally located north of Belgrade. It is the northernmost of all Belgrade's municipalities and the easternmost of all urban municipalities. It is located on both banks of the Danube, which divides it in two: Šumadija section (on the right bank) and Banat section (on the left bank).

Šumadija section borders the municipalities of Stari Grad to the west, Vračar and Zvezdara to the south and Grocka to the extreme southeast. It also has a river border on the Danube to the province of Vojvodina (Municipality of Pančevo).

Banat section has no land borders to the other Belgrade municipalities, but has a river border on the Danube to the municipalities of Zemun and Stari Grad. Danube also makes the complete western border to the rest of the Syrmia region in Vojvodina (municipality of Stara Pazova), while the river Tamiš makes the eastern border (municipalities of Pančevo and Opovo). On the extreme north, Palilula borders the municipality of Zrenjanin (village of Čenta on the Karaš canal which connects the Danube and the Tamiš).

Geography

Šumadija section marks the northernmost point of Šumadija with Karaburma headland piking into the Danube. The prominent features in this part are the hills of Karaburma and Milićevo brdo, the spa of Višnjička Banja and the peninsula (formerly an island) Ada Huja.

Banat section is the extreme southwestern part of Banat region, known as Pančevački Rit. A large flat marshy floodplain of the Danube and Tamiš, it has been drained since 1945 but still holds many features of a swamp, including slow, meandering and flooding streams (Vizelj, Mokri Sebeš, Jojkićev Dunavac, Dunavac, etc) and marshy bogs (Sebeš, Veliko Blato, Široka Bara). An island of Kožara is located on the Danube, and is projected starting point of the future much larger artificial island of Čaplja. The spa of Ovčanska Banja is also located here. The area close to the Danube is heavily forested.

History

The municipality was created in 1956. On January 3, 1957 the municipality of Karaburma was annexed to it, while in 1965 the municipality of Krnjača (with entire Pančevački Rit) also administratively joined Palilula.

Presidents of the municipal assembly:

1997 - 2000; Gordana Todić (1955)
2000 - October 21, 2004; Milan Marković (1970)
October 21, 2004 - present; Danilo Bašić (1973)

Dunavski Venac and Čenta

The motion of separating the area of former municipality of Krnjača start gaining momentum in the 2000s, this time under the name of Dunavski Venac. As procedure by the city statute provides that municipal assembly (in this case, of Palilula) needs to start the motion in the city assembly, after years of public agitation, the municipal assembly of Palilula agreed to do so in summer 2005, but it still didn't officially did so, so the organization for separation of Dunavski Venac announced it will go to the court.

The village of Čenta in the Vojvodina's municipality of Zrenjanin is located on the northern border of the municipality of Palilula. Now and then, a motions by the locals, not very vocal though, appear, asking for Čenta to be annexed to the City of Belgrade. Majority of population work on the territory of Belgrade and until recently, one regular bus line of Belgrade City public transportation was connecting Čenta to Belgrade.

Population

With an estimated population of 157,924 on December 31, 2005 (155,902 according to the last census 2002), Palilula is the third most populous municipality of Belgrade (after Novi Beograd and Čukarica), but the growth of population, as in the rest of Belgrade, is slowing down. The major gainer of population in the municipality is still the suburb of Borča. Population of Palilula:

1961 - 89,141
1971 – 126,380 (census)
1981 – 150,484 (census)
1991 – 150,208 (census)
2002 – 155,902 (census)
2005 – 157,924 (estimate)

Ethnic structure

According to the 2002 Census of population:

Serbs = 135,586 (86.97%)
Roma = 3,897 (2.50%)
Yugoslavs = 2,279 (1.46%)
Montenegrins = 1,858 (1.19%)
Macedonians = 1,035 (0.66%)
Croats = 931 (0.59%)
Gorani = 836 (0.53%)
Muslims = 823 (0.52%)
Romanians = 781 (0.50%)

Neighborhoods and settlements

Neighborhoods of urban Palilula on the right bank of the Danube:

Neighborhoods of urban Palilula on the left bank of the Danube:

Settlements of suburban Palilula on the right bank of the Danube:

Settlements and neighborhoods of suburban Palilula on the left bank of the Danube:

Neighborhoods of Borča:

Neighborhoods of Padinska Skela:

Industrijsko Naselje

Novo Naselje

Srednje Naselje

Staro Naselje

Tovilište

Economy

Industry and adjoining economic activities are located mostly along the right bank of the Danube. It includes the highy industrialized neighborhoods of Viline Vode (TEMPO cash-and-carry center, several gravel and sand extracting companies on the Danube's bank, Beograd put, Centroprom, Martez, Tehnohemija, Jugopapir, Duga, Avala cardboard factory, Balkan, eastern part of the port Belgrade and the railway station Beograd-Dunav) and Ada Huja (hangars and companies for building and construction, including a series of concrete plants and gravel and aggregates storing and treating facilities, paper and cardboard factory Avala-Ada, furniture factory Novi Dom, gravel storages of Tembo and DV Trade, etc). It also includes a series of brickworks which occupy extensive areas of the northern ridge of the Field of Višnjica (Polet, Trudbenik, Jedinstvo, Kozara, Balkan, Rekord). There is also extensive industrial zone in Krnjača and agricultural industry in Padinska Skela.

Palilula is crisscrossed by some of the major railroads in Belgrade area: Zrenjaninski put, Pančevački put, Višnjička street, Slanački put, etc. The only Belgrade's bridge over the Danube, Pančevo Bridge (with railway) is located in Palilula.

Intensive agrucultural production is developed in Banat section and eastern areas around Veliko Selo, producing large amounts of food (grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, etc) for the population of Belgrade. Palilula has the largest agricultural area of all municipalities of Belgrade. It covers an area of 298 square kilometers, or 66,5 % of the entire municipal territory.

Culture, education and sports

Urban Palilula hosts some of the most important faculties within the Belgrade University: the Technical Faculty, the Faculty of Law and the Mining and Geology Faculty. Also, the building of Radio Television of Serbia, St. Mark's Church, Tašmajdan Park, sports Pionir Hall and the stadium of the OFK Belgrade soccer team are located in the municipality.

Tourism

The beach of Bela Stena, and spas of Višnjička Banja and Ovčanska Banja are not used or developed enough. Belgrade's largest kart racing track is located in Ada Huja. Future artificial island of Čaplja on the Danube is projected as the modern entertainment park, with aqua parks, golf courses, etc.