Gradić Pejton ( sr-Cyrl, Градић Пејтон, trans. '' Peyton Place'') 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 ...

. Located in Belgrade's municipality of

Vračar Vračar ( sr-Cyrl, Врачар, ) is an affluent urban area and municipality of the city of Belgrade known as the location of many embassies and museums. According to the 2011 census results, the municipality has a population of 56,333 inhabitant ...

, it is a unique craftmen settlement in the city.

Location

Gradić Pejton is located 2 kilometers south-east of downtown Belgrade (

Terazije Terazije ( sr-Cyrl, Теразијe) is the central town square and the surrounding neighborhood of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the municipality of Stari Grad. Today, Terazije has primarily function of the main transit square, surrounded ...

), beginning on the corner of the ''Makenzijeva'' and '' Čuburska'' streets, right across the small Čubura park. It is a small, westernmost extension of the neighborhood of

Čubura Čubura ( sr, Чубура), ) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Located in Belgrade's municipality of Vračar, it is a synonym of the city's bohemian life. Location Čubura stretches along the crossroad of the str ...

that spreads east and north of Gradić Pejton, which in turn borders the neighborhoods of

Neimar Neimar ( sr, Неимар) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Vračar. Name The settlement was originally named Kotež Neimar. Kotež is a Serbian rendering of the French cottage, a sub ...

on the south and Vračar on the west.

Characteristics

Gradić Pejton is one of the most unusual parts of Belgrade. It is an

artisan An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art ...

settlement with many small shops and many of them are practicing crafts which are now rare and slowly dying out in big cities like Belgrade: stamp-cutters, printmakers, framemakers, keymakers, glassblowers, etc. In addition to this, several

kafana Kafana is a distinct type of local bistro (or tavern), common in former Yugoslav countries and Albania, which primarily serves alcoholic beverages and coffee, and often also light snacks (''meze'') and other food. Many kafanas feature live music ...

s and cafés are located in the neighborhood. Several more characteristics separate Gradić Pejton from the rest of Belgrade. It was built from 1968 to 1971 by the architect Ranko Radović (1935-2005) who, in the period of the most massive building of the concrete dwelling blocks in Belgrade's history, decided to make a commercial complex completely made of wood. Partially because of the wish not to disrupt the atmosphere of the Belgrade's famed bohemian quarter of Čubura and partially because of the environment preservation, not one single tree was cut on the lots designated for Gradić Pejton as the complex was designated in the

honeycomb A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal prismatic wax cells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey. Honey bees consume about of honey ...

pattern to protect the already existing trees. After the TV series Peyton Place, immensely popular in Serbia at that time, the neighborhoods was named after it. This was later followed by several other towns in Serbia like

Kraljevo Kraljevo ( sr-cyr, Краљево, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Raška District in central Serbia. It is situated on the confluence of West Morava and Ibar River, Ibar, in the geographical region of � ...

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians an ...

, etc.

Future

The city government announced in 2005 that it will tear down the entire Gradić Pejton and build a parking, cultural center and a kindergarten instead. This prompted the swift reaction of the Belgraders who oppose the demolition of the neighborhood even though it is currently in bad shape, which was used as a pretext by the city architect Đorđe Bobić. This is just one of the major clashes of the city architect and the inhabitants of Belgrade (the others include the building of Belgrade Opera not in the central Square of the Republic but in the uninhabited area of

Novi Beograd New Belgrade ( sr, / , ) is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. It is a planned city, built since 1948 in a previously uninhabited area on the left bank of the Sava river, opposite old Belgrade. In recent years, it has become the central bu ...

and removal of the Belgrade ZOO from

Kalemegdan The Kalemegdan Park ( sr, / ), or simply Kalemegdan ( sr-Cyrl, Калемегдан) is the largest park and the most important historical monument in Belgrade. It is located on a cliff, at the junction of the River Sava and the Danube. Kal ...

in downtown Belgrade to

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 ...

, 20 kilometers away). City government then proposed that some of the shops may be rebuilt but the shop owners refused this. Also, the idea of city architect to place a stone memorial commemorating that architect Ranko Radović's work was once here was refused by the Radović's widow Mirjana Popović-Radović who claims that she will sue city government if they do that because "no one has right to wash his own actions with the name of her husband".

External links

Gradić Pejton

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gradic Pejton Neighborhoods of Belgrade Vračar