Boleč ( sr-cyr, Болеч) is a suburban settlement of Belgrade,

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

. It is located in the municipality of

Grocka Grocka ( sr-cyr, Гроцка, ) or Grocka na Dunavu ( sr-cyr, Гроцка на Дунаву, ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. According to the 2011 census results, the municipality has 83,906 inhabitants. Location and geography Th ...

Location

Boleč is located 17 km east of the Belgrade, near the road of ''Smederevski put'' which connects Belgrade and

Smederevo Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, Belgrade. According to ...

. One of the branches of the

Bolečica The Bolečica ( Serbian Cyrillic: Болечица) is a short river in north-central Serbia, a 12 km-long right tributary to the Danube. During its entire flow it runs through the suburban section of Belgrade and despite being short it flo ...

river flows through the settlement and givs its name to it (its derived from Serbian words for ''bol'' (pain) and ''leči(ti)'' (to cure), so it means the ''water that heals the pain'').

History

Well preserved bust of the Roman emperor

Macrinus Marcus Opellius Macrinus (; – June 218) was Roman emperor from April 217 to June 218, reigning jointly with his young son Diadumenianus. As a member of the equestrian class, he became the first emperor who did not hail from the senatori ...

(ruled 217-218) was found in Boleč. The locality was situated halfway between the ancient

Singidunum Singidunum ( sr, Сингидунум/''Singidunum'') was an ancient city which later evolved into modern Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The name is of Celtic origin, going back to the time when Celtic tribe Scordisci settled the area in the 3r ...

, predecessor of modern Belgrade, and the modern village of Brestovik, which was also settled by the Romans. It was also close to the ''Tricornium'' fort, in modern

Ritopek Ritopek (Serbian Cyrillic: Ритопек, ) is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the municipality of Grocka, 20 km east of Belgrade and 19 km west of the municipal seat, on the right bank of the Danube, acro ...

Population

For decades the population of Boleč was growing. Since the mid-1970s however, the settlement (classified as the rural one, the village) is experiencing accelerated growth which continues until today, with large number of refugees from Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo settling in this area. Originally south of the ''Smederevski put'', as the settlement was growing it reached the road and connected to other surrounding villages (

Vinča Vinča ( sr-cyr, Винча, ) is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, Serbia. It is part of the municipality of Grocka. Vinča-Belo Brdo, an important archaeological site that gives its name to the Neolithic Vinča culture, is located in the villa ...

, Leštane), so today it makes one built-up area all the way to Belgrade. Population of Boleč: * 1921 - 890 * 1953 - 1,213 * 1971 - 1,476 * 1981 - 3,360 * 1991 - 4,659 * 2002 - 5,750

Notable people

* Janko Gagić, notable Serbian soldier and folk leader assassinated during the Slaughter of the Dukes * Igor Krmar, professional football player * Đorđe Crnomarković, professional football player * Marija Popović, a personality in the world of robotics and informative path-planning in the

ETH (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , a ...

laboratories.

Economy

Until the late 1970s and early 1980s the economy of Boleč was based on agriculture, especially on fruit growing as the one of major Serbian fruit regions begins here and stretches to Smederevo, 35 km to the east. Since then, a boom in privately owned small companies boosted the economy and attracted new population to migrate in the settlement. The only large company is the branch of PKB, agricultural company, with fruit plantations and huge refrigerators (''PKB - Voćarske plantaže'').

Sports and culture

Boleč is the home for the FK Boleč football club that competes in lower ranks of Belgrade football. Also, locally very known folk dance ensemble "KUD Boleč" (Cultural-artistic society Boleč) (Serbian: Kulturno-umetničko društvo Boleč) origins from this settlement.

References

Sources

* Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): ''Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije''; Svjetlost-Sarajevo; Suburbs of Belgrade Šumadija {{BelgradeRS-geo-stub