Bečmen (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...

: Бечмен) is a suburban settlement of

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of

Surčin Surčin ( sr-Cyrl, Сурчин, ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. As of 2011 census, it has a population of 43,819 inhabitants. It is the newest municipality of Belgrade, having split from the municipality of Zemun in 2003. Its most ...

Location

Bečmen is located in the western-central part of the municipality, in the

Syrmia Syrmia ( sh, Srem/Срем or sh, Srijem/Сријем, label=none) is a region of the southern Pannonian Plain, which lies between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is divided between Serbia and Croatia. Most of the region is flat, with the exce ...

region (sub-region of

Podlužje Podlužje ( sr-cyr, Подлужје) is a small geographical region in Serbia. It is located in south-eastern Syrmia. The western part of Podlužje belong to the autonomous province of Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), offi ...

, north of the ''Bojčinska'' woods), 6 kilometers west of its municipal seat, Surčin, and some 25 kilometers west of downtown Belgrade. It is located on the road which connects Petrovčić on the west to Surčin on the east, and continues to the west into the province of

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...

(the village of

Karlovčić Karlovčić () is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Pećinci municipality, in the Srem District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population numbering 1,243 people (2002 census). Sports On June 5, 2009, ...

History

From the 19th century, when the area was part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, it was populated by the German settles from

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, which emigrated after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the village was colonized with the settlers from the central Serbia. That is why the village's football club is called „Šumadinac“, after

Šumadija Šumadija (, sr-Cyrl, Шумадија) is a geographical region in the central part of Serbia. The area used to be heavily covered with forests, hence the name (from ''šuma'' 'forest'). The city of Kragujevac is the administrative center of the ...

, region of central Serbia. Bečmen was known for the vast number of big

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...

trees, which spread all the way to the neighboring Petrovčić, and for the vineyards.

Population

Bečmen is statistically classified as a rural settlement (village), and it had a steady population growth in the past century, except for the immediate period after World War II, due to the immigration of the German population. According to the latest Serbian census of population, Bečmen had a population of 3,785. Major ethnic groups by the 2002 census were the

Serbs The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

(3,214 or 94.28%),

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

(60 or 1.76%),

Montenegrins Montenegrins ( cnr, Црногорци, Crnogorci, or ; lit. "Black Mountain People") are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common Montenegrin culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro. Genetics Accordin ...

(21 or 0.61%) and Macedonians (19 or 0.55%).

Ključ

A hamlet of Bečmen, named after the shape of the settlement (Serbian ''ključ'', the key).

Tourism

Bečmenska Bara

Bečmenska Bara (Bečmen Pond) is a complex of three

fish pond A fish pond or fishpond is a controlled pond, small artificial lake or retention basin that is stocked with fish and is used in aquaculture for fish farming, for recreational fishing, or for ornamental purposes. Fish ponds are a classical g ...

lakes directly adjacent to the central part of the village. Total length of the lakes is . They are rich in

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

Prussian carp The Prussian carp, silver Prussian carp or Gibel carp (''Carassius gibelio''), is a member of the family Cyprinidae, which includes many other fish, such as the common carp, goldfish, and the smaller minnows. It is a medium-sized cyprinid, and d ...

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

zander The zander (''Sander lucioperca''), sander or pikeperch, is a species of ray-finned fish from the family Percidae, which includes the perches, ruffes and darters. It is found in freshwater and brackish habitats in western Eurasia. It is a popul ...

grass carp The grass carp (''Ctenopharyngodon idella'') is a species of large herbivorous freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae, native to the Pacific Far East, with a native range stretching from northern Vietnam to the Amur River on the Sino-Russian ...

silver carp The silver carp (''Hypophthalmichthys molitrix'') is a species of freshwater cyprinid fish, a variety of Asian carp native to China and eastern Siberia, from the Amur River drainage in the north to the Xi Jiang River drainage in the south. Alt ...

and

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

. Apart from fishing, the water skiing is organized. The pond is one of four small lakes interconnected by the channeled Galovica stream, and all also serve as fish ponds. In 2022, two

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

s were built on the pond.

Swan Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...

s live in the lake.

Oaza sports complex

Area of Bečmen has been chosen as a location of the future largest

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

s in the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

, which is with the projected value of €800 million in the next 11 years one of the largest foreign investments in Serbia. It is projected that in the next six years a large course with 18 holes and two smaller ones with 9 holes will be built, while the entire complex on will be finished in 11 years and also include ambulance, open kindergarten, five star hotel complex, golf club, service buildings, business center, residential complex with 5,000 apartments but also a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

field, basketball, tennis, volleyball and handball courts,

bowling alley A bowling alley (also known as a bowling center, bowling lounge, bowling arena, or historically bowling club) is a facility where the sport of bowling is played. It can be a dedicated facility or part of another, such as a Meetinghouse, clubhous ...

and

bocce (, or , ), sometimes anglicized as bocce ball, bocci or boccie, is a ball sport belonging to the boules family. Developed into its present form in Italy, it is closely related to British bowls and French , with a common ancestry from ancien ...

court. An artificial lake which will separate the courses from the residential area will be also created. The entire "Oaza" (

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

) complex will be encircled with of woods and pedestrian and bicycle paths which will connect it to the left bank of the Sava river. "Oaza" will be away from Belgrade and its construction will include a new long access road from

Dobanovci Dobanovci ( sr-Cyrl, Добановци) is a suburban neighborhood of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Surčin. Dobanovci is located in the eastern Syrmia region, 25 km west of downtown Belgrade, between the Bel ...

. However, nothing has been done in those next 11 years, and in September 2019 the US-Austrian-Israeli consortium behind the project announced that only now the ownership problems with the land were solved, that drafting of the detailed regulatory plan begins and that works will start in 2020, starting with the large, 18 holes course.

References

Suburbs of Belgrade Populated places in Syrmia Surčin {{BelgradeRS-geo-stub