Bulevar kralja Aleksandra (, "King Alexander Boulevard") is the longest street entirely within the urban limits of Serbian capital Belgrade, with length of 7.5 kilometers.Politika, April 26, 2008, p. 30 Known for decades after World War II as Bulevar Revolucije (, "Boulevard of the Revolution"), although, Belgraders are simply refer to it as the Bulevar (, "Boulevard), although there are 20 boulevards in Belgrade.
Location
Due to its length, Bulevar stretches through four out of eight urban municipalities in the old section Belgrade: Stari Grad, Palilula, Vračar and Zvezdara, in which the main part of the Bulevar is located. Starting at the Square of Nikola Pašić, it goes for the most part in a south-east direction, curving only near the end, in the neighborhood of Mali Mokri Lug, after which the Bulevar extends into the road of Smederevski put, which connects Belgrade with the city of Smederevo.
History Antiquity
Location of the boulevard was always important for the traffic. In Roman period, it was a starting section of the 924 kilometers long Via Militaris, which connected Singidunum, predecessor of Belgrade, and Constantinople, and in more local terms, Singidunum with fortresses and settlements along the Danube border of the Roman Empire, like Viminacium. Built in the 1st century AD, the road was six meters wide, with rows of shops, forges and arsenals, while Romans were buried along the road in stone sarcophagi. Archeological remnants of the Roman road can still be seen below the “Depo”, former depot of the city’s public transportation company. Majority of boulevard's course is part of the “Ancient Singidunum” archeological locality.
Singidunum's castrum occupied part of today's Belgrade Fortress, but the civilian zone spread from the Kralja Petra Street, over the both Sava and Danube slopes, till Kosančićev Venac, extending in a series of necropolises from Republic Square, along the Bulevar kralja Aleksandra all the way to the Mali Mokri Lug. During almost every construction downtown where digging is involved, more remains are being discovered. In 2007, on the location of the former kafana Tri lista duvana at the corner of Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra and Kneza Miloša Street, several necropolises were found. Just across, in Pioneers Park, there is Archaeological Site Pionirski Park. When the underground garage was dug, 19 tombs were discovered. The entire Singidunum was surrounded by vast necropolises and the main with the largest ones stretched along today's boulevard, where numerous graves, grave steles and sacrificial altars were discovered.
Later history
In Ottoman period, Turks built a major cemetery in the lower part of the modern boulevard, spreading from Batal mosque (location of the modern House of the National Assembly) to Tašmajdan. During this period, the route of the Bulevar was a famed Tsarigrad Road (Constantinople Road), officially bearing that name to 1849. There were stations (menzulana) along the road, where the horses could be replaced, and which also served as the post offices. On Belgrade section there were stations in Mali Mokri Lug (Meyhane of Nadži-Ašik-Mihailo), Boleč and Grocka. The fourth was near Smederevo.
19th century
When the Ottomans regained Belgrade in October 1813, after the collapse of the First Serbian Uprising, their advance guards burned wooden hovels in Savamala neighborhood, engulfing the city in smoke. When the main Ottoman army landed, a large number of people got stranded on the bank in Savamala, trying to flee across the Sava into Austria. Men were massacred, while women and children were enslaved. All over the city heads on a spike appeared, and people were impaled on stakes along all city main roads, including the Tsarigrad Road. Rows of impaled people were placed along the road, from the Batal mosque to Tašmajdan.
In the mid-19th century, near the modern crossroads with the Takovska Street (named Ratarska then), was where city ended at the time, and the fields began. The Batal mosque was located there, giving its name to the developing neighborhood, but in Serbian version, Bataldžamija. The mosque itself was demolished after the 1862 Ottoman bombing of Belgrade, making the buildings behind it visible, but the name Bataldžamija for the neighborhood survived into the early 20th century. Ruling prince Mihajlo Obrenović was often visiting the area and made plans for the mosque. He had idea of reconstructing it and moving the State Archive in. He was assassinated in 1867, before his plans were conducted.
Kafana Valjevo was located where the Czech embassy is today. At the crossroad was the house of the Savić family, used as a medical facility and across it was the Marić pharmacy. Next to the pharmacy was a curvy road which was leading to the Tašmajdan cemetery. The cemetery wasn't divided into parcels, but had numerous narrow, crossed paths, grown into bushes. This was also the location of Fišeklija, a series of gunpowder stores, where gunpowder was sold in fišeks, cone-shaped bags made from waxed paper. The stores developed in the second half of the 19th century, after Prince Miloš ordered for gunpowder stores to be removed outside of the city due to the safety reasons. Belgrade's major flea market, Bitpazar, was located in Dorćol. After the 1862 bombing, the flea shops from Bitpazar scattered all over the city, until 1887 when they were ordered by the city to group along the Fišeklija Street. It was recorded that the merchants were forbidden to sell any "oldies" unless they disinfect it in the "Institute which exists for that" and for which they will be charged "small tax".
Already in 1880, city newspapers were reporting on the bad condition of the Tašmajdan cemetery. The burial lots were purchased in the Saint Mark's Church, which became quite wealthy, but the cemetery was neglected. Also, as the land was owned by the church, city administration had no interest into arranging the cemetery itself. Part of the cemetery on the side of the Takovska, belonged to the Catholics and the Lutherans. The hill in the direction of modern Seismology Institute was allocated for the graves of soldiers, drowning victims, suicides and non-Christians in general, except for the Jews, who had their own cemetery. Newspapers described the cemetery and the surrounding area as the "shelter for rascals and danglers, who tear the flowers, steal monuments, defile graves with slurs and in other ways, so that cemetery is an abomination of Belgrade where there is no any piety for the deceased".
As the city expanded, cemetery became inadequate. One the one side, it became too small for the function of the city’s main graveyard. On the other, once projected to be on the outskirts of the city, as Belgrade grew, Tašmajdan practically became downtown and close to the Royal court. The first official initiative for the removal of the cemetery came in 1871 from Mihailo Jovanović, Metropolitan of Belgrade. As the city was in the financial crisis at the time and wasn’t able to buy such a large lot for the new cemetery, mayor of Belgrade Vladan Đorđević donated a patch of his land to the city for the purpose of establishing a new cemetery. Though the Belgrade New Cemetery became operational in August 1886, the reinterment of the remains from Tašmajdan dragged on for the several decades, being finished only in 1927.
As population settled along the road, gradually it became a street, originally known as Sokače kod zlatnog topa ("Alley at the golden cannon"). It was later renamed to Markova ("Marko's Street"). The major gunpowder magazine was located in the abandoned and derelict Batal Mosque, but as the town was expanding, the magazine was relocated and the small gunpowder shops were open instead so in 1872 was renamed to Fišeklija. There was also a large khan next to the mosque. In 1896 it was renamed to "Smederevski put" ("Smederevo Road") and later that year it was renamed after then ruling Serbian king Aleksandar Obrenović, the last from the Obrenović dynasty. Despite being one of the most unpopular modern Serbian rulers, when he was overthrown, new king Peter I Karađorđević from the rival Karađorđević dynasty didn't change the street's name.
Because of the vicinity of the cemetery in Tašmajdan, there were many shops of funeral equipment and stonecutters. Small shops in time evolved into larger facilities, mostly selling old and cheap goods for the poorer citizens. Mostly owned by the Jewish merchants, these second hand shops formed the predecessor of modern flea markets, stretching along the street to the location of modern Law Faculty. That's where the horse race track began, occupying area along the road to the modern Vukov Spomenik. Above it were the tram sheds, where later the Depo was built. Again, this was the eastern edge of the city, with only few edifices further than this point. The house of the quilt maker Laza Mitić, in the center of the orchard on the slope to the stream of Bulbulderski Potok, and Antulina Vila, surrounded by vineyards, were the only two edifices in this area until 1910.
20th century
The first automobile repair shop in Belgrade was open in the Bulevar. It was situated among the blacksmith shops and second-hand shops, in the commercial zone. Owned by Tričko Puškar, it was opened several years after the first automobile arrived in Belgrade on 3 April 1903 and was located a bit down from the kafana "Tri lista duvana". At the beginning of the 20th century, a location for one of outer railway stations was selected along the street. The railway never reached the boulevard, and on the chosen parcel the building of the Belgrade University Library was built in the 1920s.
In the early 20th century, the road was partially paved with cobblestone and the linden tree avenue was planted. The sidewalks were paved with large stone slabs, which were later, when the sidewalks were paved with the asphalt concrete, placed on the Kalenić market where they still stand as of 2019. There was a riding track between the pedestrian sidewalk and the carriageway. After 1918, construction of highrise began around Vukov Spomenik, extending in the direction of Cvetkova Pijaca. By this time, the flea market ceased to exist. In the 1920s and 1930s, after the cemetery was closed and relocated to the New Cemetery and Tašmajdan was gradually turned into the park, so as construction of the Saint Mark's Church (1940) and the building of the General Post Office (1938), the road became a proper modern and urbanized street.
Other important buildings and objects along the street, built during the Interbellum, include Belgrade University Library (1926), Students' Residence King Alexander I (1927), Park of Ćirilo and Metodije (1928), Building of the Technical Faculties (1931), Faculty of Law (1937), Monument to Vuk Karadžić (1937). Library, Technical Faculties and the building of the faculties of Mechanical Engineering and Technology and Metallurgy behind them, in the Kraljice Marije Street, form sort of the college town within Belgrade. Monumental Library and Technical Faculties were designed by Nikola Nestorović in the style of romanticized academism with the touch of secession. Facades and ornaments were work of Branko Tanazević, Ilija Kolarević, Ivan Lučev and Bedrih Zeleni. After World War II, another floor was added, designed by Mihailo Radovanović. Construction of the massive building of the National Assembly at the beginning of the street, which began in 1907, was finished in 1936. Sculptural group "Black horses at play", work of Toma Rosandić, were placed at the main entrance of the assembly in 1938, facing the boulevard.