Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T08:08:54.953Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘The city in our hands’: urban management and contested modernity in nineteenth-century Belgrade

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2012

MILOŠ JOVANOVIĆ
MILOŠ JOVANOVIĆ*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 309 Gregory Hall, M/C 466, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

This article examines the image of the city and notions of urban management in the discourse of elite groups in Belgrade between 1830 and the late 1860s. It focuses on the negotiation of modernity in heterogeneous cultural spaces, particularly looking at the textual interplay of power, orientalized exoticism and notions of backwardness. These discourses were integral to the processes of managing urban populations and homogenizing the cityscape. The city's specific political situation as a site of dual authority, however, left room for minor acts of contestation which questioned the primacy of exclusion and dispossession as bases for modern urban transformation. This dynamic interplay framed the city as a site of conflict between mutually defining forces of ‘Europeanization’ and ‘backwardness’.

Type
Eastern European Cities
Information
Urban History , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , February 2013 , pp. 32 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Parusheva, D., ‘Running “modern” cities in a patriarchal milieu: perspectives from the nineteenth-century Balkans’, in Roth, R. and Beachy, R. (eds.), Who Ran the Cities? City Elites and Urban Power Structures in Europe and North America, 1750–1940 (Aldershot and Burlington, VT, 2007), 190–1.Google Scholar

2 Yerolympos, A., ‘Urbanism as social engineering in the Balkans: reform prospects and implementation problems in Thessaloniki’, in Nasr, J. and Volait, M. (eds.), Urbanism: Imported or Exported? Native Aspirations and Foreign Plans (Chichester, 2003), 109, 111.Google Scholar

3 Stojanović, D., Kaldrma i Asfalt: urbanizacija i evropeizacija Beograda 1890–1914 (Beograd, 2008), 363.Google Scholar

4 Robinson, J., Ordinary Cities: Between Modernity and Development (New York, 2006), 7.Google Scholar

5 Harvey, D., ‘Contested cities: social process and spatial form’, in LeGates, R.T. and Stout, F. (eds.), The City Reader (London and New York, 2007), 229Google Scholar, and Harvey, D., Paris, Capital of Modernity (New York, 2003), 18–19Google Scholar.

6 Rose, N. and Miller, P., ‘Political power beyond the state: problematics of government’, British Journal of Sociology, 43 (1992), 179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7 Joyce, P., The Rule of Freedom: Liberalism and the Modern City (London, 2003).Google Scholar

8 Ibid., 240.

9 On the role of travellers in imagining the ‘Balkan city’, see Jezernik, B., ‘Western perceptions of Turkish towns in the Balkans’, Urban History, 25 (1998), 211–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 Ibid., 212.

11 See Lehan, R., The City in Literature: An Intellectual and Cultural History (Berkeley, 1998).Google Scholar

12 Here and elsewhere I refer to Miloš Obrenović using only his title, Knez (Prince), and first name.

13 Besides Belgrade, these cities included Smederevo (Semenderi), Šabac, Kladovo (Feth ul-Islam), Užice and Soko.

14 Belgradi, R., Istorija Čudnovatih događaja u Beogradu i Srbiji – I knjiga, trans. Čohadžić, D.S. (Beograd, 1894), 31.Google Scholar

15 Beogradski Sud knezu Milošu, 1 Apr. 1831, Arhiv Srbije (Archive of Serbia) (AS), Kneževa Kancelarija (Prince's Office) (KK) VIII, no. 323.

16 AS, KK VIII, 6 May 1831, no. 341(1).

17 AS, KK III, 5 May 1823, no. 37.

18 AS, KK III, 18 Sep. 1826, no. 42.

19 Ismail birakčija Knezu Milošu, 6 Feb. 1832, AS, KK XXIX, no. 140, etc. These letters are situated in the Kneževa Kancelarija (Prince's Office) fund of the Archives of Serbia, section no. XXIX Domaći Turci knezu Milošu (Local Turks to Prince Miloš).

20 AS, KK III, 1 Jul. 1825, nos. 592–5 This practice continued well into the 1830s and 1840s.

21 AS, KK III, 12 Jan. 1830, no. 415, also AS, KK III, no. 413.

22 AS, KK III, 1 Mar. 1830, etc. – nos. 419–30.

23 Arenda-based incomes represented 55% of the City Magistrate's income in 1839. See: Raport primiritelnog suda varoši Beograda, 3 Oct. 1840, Istorijski Arhiv Beograda (Historical Archive of Belgrade) (IAB), Uprava grada Beograda (Belgrade City Management) (UGB), K 10, F IV 529.

24 AS, KK VIII, 1 Apr. 1831, no. 308.

25 Peruničić, B., Beogradski Sud 1819–1839 (Beograd, 1964), 151.Google Scholar

26 Ibid., 597.

27 Maksimović, B., ‘Borba Za Održavanje Abadžijske Čaršije Kao Privrednog Elementa Novog Beograda Van Šanca’, Godišnjak Muzeja grada Beograda, 2 (1955), 237–46.Google Scholar

28 Ibid., 240.

29 Ibid., 241.

30 IAB, UGB, 12 Nov. 1847, no. 5519.

31 Ukaz o kasapnicama, 14 Feb. 1835, in Zbornik zakona i uredaba u Knjaževstvu Srbiji u dosadašnjim zbornicima neštampanih a izdanih od 2 februara 1835 do 23 oktobra 1875 godine, XXX (Beograd, 1877), 51.

32 IAB, UGB, 24 Oct. 1841, K 15, V 759.

33 Ibid., document no. 1776.

34 The distinction between the duties of the Magistrate and the police force was made early in the 1830s. See: IAB, UGB, 18 Jun. 1837, K 1, 240.

35 Rešenje o pravu otkupa zemljišta, 3 Jul. 1839, in Zbornik, 252.

36 Ibid., 255–6, 267.

37 IAB, UGB, 22 May 1840, K 7, F 177.

38 AS, KK VIII, 16 Apr. 1838, no. 699 (1).

39 AS, KK VIII, 21 Apr. 1838, no. 699 (2). The Batal Mosque was near the apex of the Belgrade crag, the furthest spot from both the Sava and the Danube rivers.

40 AS, Državni Savet (State Council) (DS), 14 Mar. 1842, no. 541.

41 AS, DS, 17 Mar. 1842, no. 544.

42 Đurić-Zamolo, D., Graditelji Beograda 1815–1914 (Beograd, 1981), 53.Google Scholar

43 Belgradi, Istorija Čudnovatih događaja u Beogradu i Srbiji, 33–4.

44 Appendix to a letter from Cvetko Rajović to Mihailo M. Obrenović, 20 May 1842, AS, DS, no. 560.

45 AS, DS, 23 Mar. 1842, no. 550.

46 AS, DS, 20 May 1842, no. 560.

47 Belgradi, Istorija Čudnovatih događaja u Beogradu i Srbiji, 35, 44.

48 Ibid., 71.

49 Paton was a British diplomat and traveller who authored several books on the Ottoman territories, including Researches on the Danube and the Adriatic (London, 1861).

50 Paton, A.A., Serbia: Youngest Member of the European Family (London, 1845), 38.Google Scholar Paton is probably referring to Alaric A. Watts’ popular poem ‘The siege of Belgrade’, published in London's Literary Gazette in 1817.

51 Ibid., 39–40.

52 Ibid., 42.

53 Siegfried, born Isaac Salomon Kapper, was a Slavophile Bohemian Jew who published several works on Serbia and the Balkans.

54 Kapper, S., Vuk Stefanovitsch Karadschitsch. † 8. Februar zu Wien. Allgemeine Zeitung, Beilage, no. 62, 2–4Google Scholar Mar. 1864, 1001–2, 1017–18, 1035–6.

55 Kapper, S., A Visit to Belgrade (London, 1854), 5.Google Scholar

56 Ibid., 15.

57 Ibid., 16, 23, 20.

58 Blanqui, J.-A., Izvestie o stanju naroda u evropskoj Turskoj, trans. Medaković, D. (Novi Sad, 1850).Google Scholar

59 Milićević, Milan Đ., Pomenik znamenitih ljudi u srpskog naroda novijega doba (Beograd, 1888), 335–6Google Scholar.

60 Blanqui, Izvestie o stanju naroda u evropskoj Turskoj, 17–18.

61 Ibid., 13, 15, 11, 12.

62 Spencer, E., Travels in France and Germany in 1865 and 1866 – Including a Steam Voyage down the Danube and a Ride across the Mountains of European Turkey from Belgrade to Montenegro (London, 1866).Google Scholar

63 Ibid., 165.

64 Ibid., 172–3.

65 Ibid., 174–5. For Spencer, this improvement stems from the ‘air of nobility about this tribe [Servian] of the great Slavonian race’.

66 IAB, UGB, 6 Nov. 1848, K 97, 2988.

67 IAB, UGB, 20 Dec. 1850, K 147, F XVII 2788.

68 IAB, UGB, 17 Aug. 1850, K 142, F XII 2094.

69 IAB, UGB, 11 Jan. 1850, K 124, F I 66.

70 IAB, UGB, 27 Nov. 1845, K 43, 1125.

71 IAB, UGB, 25 Jun. 1850, K 124, F XII 1944, no. 2819.

72 See Douglas, M., Purity and Danger: An Analysis of the Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (London, 1984).Google Scholar

73 IAB, UGB, 19 Oct. 1849, K 101, F I 106.

74 IAB, UGB, 11 Jun. 1849, K 113, F VII 1383.

75 IAB, UGB, 20 Apr. 1843, K 23, 748.

76 IAB, UGB, 16 Oct. 1850, K 147, F XVII 2760.

77 IAB, UGB, 24 Feb. 1848, K 89, F III 550.

78 IAB, UGB, 5 Aug 1850, K 142, F XII 2041.

79 AS, DS, 18 Nov. 1859, no. 904.

80 AS, DS, 23 Nov. 1859, no. 904 (2).

81 IAB, UGB, 12 Jun. 1840, K 8, F II 290.

82 IAB, UGB, 10 Mar. 1838, K 2, F 182.

83 IAB, UGB, 29 Dec. 1848, K 98, F 3000.

84 IAB, UGB, 25 Aug. 1860, K 488, F XII 287.

85 IAB, UGB, 12 Jul. 1840, K 10, F IV 642.

86 Andrić, N.et al., Beograd u XIX veku (Beograd, 1967), 48.Google Scholar

87 IAB, UGB, 2 Jun. 1862, K 631, 88.

88 The agreement was brokered by Serbian Foreign Minister Ilija Garašanin, whose 1844 text, the Načertanije, outlined a programme of state expansion. He questioned the political reality of two police forces in the city one year prior to the riots. See AS, DS, Fond Ilije Garašanina, no. 1214, 2587/30.

89 AS, DS, 29 Aug. 1867, no. 277, and AS, DS, 21 Aug. 1868, no. 342.

90 IAB, UGB, 12 Jun. 1862, K 625, F XXIX 164.

91 IAB, UGB, 28 Jun. 1862, K 631, 139.

92 Nikić, L., ‘Prelazak Emilijana Josimovića u Srbiju 1845. godine’, Godišnjak grada Beograda, 24 (1977), 39.Google Scholar

93 Ibid., 35.

94 IAB, UGB, 20 Apr. 1842, K 17, F II 422.

95 IAB, UGB, 16 Jul. 1847, K 77 F VII 2090.

96 IAB, UGB, 25 Jul. 1847, K 77, F VII 2214.

97 IAB, UGB, 23 Feb. 1850, K 130, F III 573.

98 IAB, UGB, 18 Dec. 1843, no. 2068.

99 IAB, UGB, 19 May 1844, K 30, 216.

100 Josimović, E., Objasnenje predloga za regulisanje onoga dela varoši Beograda što leži u šancu (Beograd, 1997 (orig. 1867)), 7.Google Scholar

101 Ibid., 13.

102 Ibid., 10, 28.

103 Ibid., 13, 23, 31, 36–7.

104 Ibid., 41.

105 Ibid., 45.

106 AS, DS, 13 Feb. 1869, no. 2.

107 AS, DS, 13 Feb. 1869, no. 2 (fol. 2).

108 In his letter, Deli-Marković also exclaimed: ‘shall not our pride be insulted if our capital should maintain the shape given to her by barbarity? A shape typified by alien custom, alien faith and prejudice, a type of fear and darkness, a type of constrictedness and petty spirit?’