Crvenka ( sr-cyr, Црвенка) is a

suburban settlement A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, the capital of

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. It is located in the Belgrade's municipality of Palilula and statistically is part of

Borča Borča ( sr-cyr, Борча, ) is an urban settlement of the municipality of Palilula, Belgrade, Palilula, Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the left-bank part of the municipality, separated by the Danube from the rest of the city. , it has a popu ...

Location

Crvenka is located in

Banat Banat ( , ; ; ; ) is a geographical and Historical regions of Central Europe, historical region located in the Pannonian Basin that straddles Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. It is divided among three countries: the eastern part lie ...

section of the municipality, half kilometer away from the left bank of the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

, on the ''Batin kanal'' stream. It is built in the thickly forested area and surrounded by marshes of

Pančevački Rit Pančevački Rit ( sr-cyr, Панчевачки рит) is a small geographical area in south-western Banat, Serbia. It is situated between the rivers Danube and Tamiš, in Belgrade's municipality of Palilula. Features Its wetland was cons ...

so, even being close, it can't be seen from the opposite,

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. 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 ...

bank and it is not near to any other settlements of Belgrade.

History

During the 18th century an Austrian sentry post was erected here and was named Crvenka (Serbian for ''red land'' or ''red place''). The settlement was built after the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It developed as an experimental agricultural farm of the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

’s Faculty of Agriculture, which is seated across the Danube, in the neighborhood of Zemun. The settlers came to Crvenka as they were needed for the work, instead of being colonized like in the other settlements in Pančevački Rit. Part of the original settlers were Germans who left for Germany in the 1960s.

Characteristics

Part of Crvenka is a weekend-settlement which means it has no permanent population. It consists of some 100 houses, mostly owned by the residents of Zemun, even though it is located across the river, in different municipality. Public transportation bus line 104 connects Crvenka to Belgrade’s neighborhood of Bogoslovija. The canal that flows through the settlement, ''Batin canal'' used to be broader and navigable, with colonies of

wild duck The wild duck is the non-domesticated ancestor of the domestic duck. Wild duck may refer to: * Mallard * Muscovy duck The Muscovy duck (''Cairina moschata'') is a duck native to the Americas, from the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Mexi ...

s and white herons and it was used by the Belgrade's

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

clubs for trainings. Since the canal was illegally dammed to create a path to Borča with tree trunks, the water flow was stopped, the canal began flooding the surrounding area and wild birds moved out. Crvenka gained some public notoriety when on 2 April 2016 a murder occurred on the settlement's embankment. Little known folk singer Jelena Marjanović was murdered and the viciousness of the crime, botched investigation by the police and a fact that the crime has not been solved, turned the murder into the

cause célèbre A ( , ; pl. ''causes célèbres'', pronounced like the singular) is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning, and heated public debate. The term is sometimes used positively for celebrated legal cases for th ...

in Serbia.

Future

In the mid 2000s, city government announced plans to urbanize the area which would be centered at Crvenka, as the core of the future „Third Belgrade“ (after „old“ Belgrade and

New Belgrade New Belgrade (, ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade. It was a Planned community, planned city and now is the central business district of Serbia and South East Europe. Construction began in 1948 in a previously un ...

). Some of the requirements for the plan to develop was the construction of the northern part of the

Belgrade bypass The Belgrade bypass () or Belgrade city road bypass is a U-shaped, 78-km long motorway partially encircling the city of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The construction of the bypass started in 1991 and its parts have been sporadically built e ...

and the

Pupin Bridge The Pupin Bridge ( sr-cyr, Пупинов мост, Pupinov most) is a road bridge over the Danube River in Belgrade, Serbia. The bridge is located upstream of the city center and connects Belgrade neighbourhoods of Zemun and Borča. It is par ...

, which opened in 2014. However, due to the push of the

Belgrade Waterfront Belgrade Waterfront (), is an urban renewal development project headed by the Government of Serbia aimed at changing Belgrade's cityscape and economy by revitalizing the Sava amphitheater, between the Belgrade Fair and Branko's bridge, includin ...

project, plans are halted.

References

Sources