Goveđi Brod (

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, t ...

: Говеђи брод) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of

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 Belgrade's municipality of

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; hu, Zimony) is a municipality in the city of Belgrade. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown Belgrade. The developme ...

Location

Goveđi Brod is the northwestern extension of urban Zemun proper, located on the right bank of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

. It occupies roughly the area between the Danube and the road which connects Zemun and the outer suburb of

Batajnica Batajnica ( sr-Cyrl, Батајница, ) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia. It is located in the Belgrade municipality of Zemun. Location and geography Batajnica is located in the Syrmia region, in the northern ...

(''Batajnički drum''). The only other urban neighborhood that it borders is Galenika, but it extends in the direction of

Zemun Polje Zemun Polje ( sr, Земун поље) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in the municipality of Zemun. Location Zemun Polje is located on both railway and highway Belgrade-Novi Sad, halfway between the ...

(northwest) and Gornji Grad (south, through Galenika).

Characteristics

Goveđi Brod is almost entirely a non-residential area. Some major facilities in the neighborhood are the Mining Institute and the Veterinarian Institute. The neighborhood also includes a large area of storehouses, and two gravel and

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

processing plants, "DIA" and "Anicom", both on the Danube's bank.

Romani

However, the publicly best known characteristic of Goveđi Brod is a former

informal settlement Informal housing or informal settlement can include any form of housing, shelter, or settlement (or lack thereof) which is illegal, falls outside of government control or regulation, or is not afforded protection by the state. As such, the info ...

of the

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

within the neighborhood. Known for having some of the worst living conditions in Belgrade area (total lack of running water, electricity, sewage, etc.), the settlement inhabited mostly by the Roma refugees from Kosovo and Metohija was set right in the Danube's river bed and was regularly flooded every spring with the rise of the water level of the river. As a result of its position, Goveđi Brod was literally wiped out during the major

2006 European floods From February to April 2006 many rivers across Europe, especially the Elbe and Danube, swelled due to heavy rain and melting snow and rose to record levels. These are the longest rivers in Central Europe. Southeastern Europe High Danube lev ...

. In February 2007 Roma families moved into the new houses built in the new neighborhood of

Plavi Horizonti Plavi Horizonti ( sr-cyr, Плави Хоризонти) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Zemun. With Altina, one of the newest and fastest developing neighborhoods. Locati ...

in Zemun. As the name of the neighborhood means ''cattle ship'', newspapers announced that "cattle ship was finally anchored".Danas
/ref> However, some of the old inhabitants of Govedji Brod returned to their flooded houses and renewed them, together with keeping new homes in Plavi Horizonti.

References

Neighborhoods of Belgrade Romani communities in Serbia Squatting in Serbia {{BelgradeRS-geo-stub