Below the Belgrade National Theater and behind the small park encircling the bus terminal, you may come across the threshold of another world – the harbor of olden times and sights. Walking into pedestrian zone and stepping over the cobblestones, you will be surprised to see a signpost with European directions – Montmartre, Ilot Sacré, Grinzing, Plaka. It’s a modern milestone in the 19th century Skadarlija neighborhood, mecca of forgotten “les bohemes” who spent their hours, days, years, and lives here, today witnessed by ornate facades and the fleeting spirit of the times.
It was the quarter where people were rich in poverty, purity, wits, and joy of life and where also lived a famous poet and painter Đura Jakšić, the bard of Bohemians, “a writer without occupation” as labelled by a police officer, when he applied to cross the Austro-Hungarian border at the end of 19th century.
This part of town originated in the first half of the 19th century as a Gypsy quarter while the very street claimed its name in 1872; its Bohemian features flourished around 1901, when after the demolition of old “Dardanelles” tavern, the regulars relocated to Skadarlija inns. It was poorly lit, and paved with cobblestone and flagstone due to the Ottoman era custom, inspiring the following verse:
In the wee hours, When clock strikes back,
You walk Skadarlija, Only to break your neck!
Nowadays, we should add another sign:
No high heels please, this is Skadarlija!
The busy market at the bottom of the street still bears the name of Bajloni, the Czech-born Jewish merchant with Lombardian origins, who once owned a nearby brewery, and at the place where now stands the Skadarlija emblem – a landmark with straw hat, a black cane and red carnation – in the past there was the imaginary line between the end of city and undeveloped outskirts.
