Žarkovo (, ) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Čukarica.
Location and divisions
Žarkovo (Greater Žarkovo) is one of the most populous single neighborhoods of Belgrade. As such, it is divided in several sub-neighborhoods, which were built as Žarkovo's extensions: Julino Brdo and Repište to the north, Cerak-Cerak II to the west and Bele Vode and Rupčine to the south.
In general, Greater Žarkovo is bordered by the Čukarica, Banovo Brdo to the north, Košutnjak to the east, Skojevsko Naselje to the northeast and Makiš to the west. On the south, it is bordered by the open fields of Stari Lanci, Novi Lanci and Rupčine, but with the urbanized strip of land alongside the Belgrade-Bar railway and the Vodovodska Street it makes a continuous built-up area with Železnik to the southwest.
However, according to the local Žarkovo's folk legend, parts of the village were named after the events surrounding the gigantic evil dragon who harassed the villagers in the area around the water spring above the village. Living in the cave next to the spring, dragon was abducting the most beautiful girls who would come to get water from the water source. In the end, the dragon was killed by the brave young man named Žarko. The humongous animal slammed into the ground creating a valley. Where his head fell, the Zmajevac Hill was formed (Serbian zmaj, dragon), where was his tail is modern Repište (rep, tail), Repište Creek (also known as Kraljeva cesma or King`s Creek) began to flow where his body slammed from the tail which Žarko cut off, while Žarkovo itself was named after the hero who killed the dragon. Urbanized area around the stream is also called Zmajevac and is today one of the sub-neighborhoods of Žarkovo.
Another theory is that the name came from the word žar (ember). For centuries, the nearby Sava river was the frontier between various states and large empires, so the settlements along the river were often attacked and burned. For example, town of Obrenovac, southwest from Žarkovo, was previously called Palež (burned ground, arson).
The stream is today mostly conducted underground, into the sewage system. The deep, carved valley remained to this day, and one of the streets around it is called Provalijska (Chasm). Crossed by the Žarkovo Bridge, it is the only remaining point where the stream is still visible today. However, an informal settlement developed at the bottom of the valley, under the bridge, polluting the stream and covering it with garbage.
Žarkovo became important border trade settlement after the border between Austria and the Ottoman Empire stabilized on the Sava river. Serbian merchants were selling entire herds of pigs and oxen via Žarkovo and the Ostružnica ferry on the Sava's bank. But, also because of its location, most of the military attacks on Belgrade originated from Žarkovo's direction, after forcing a river crossing. This included the Austrian attacks of 1717 by Prince Eugene of Savoy, and 1789 by Ernst Gideon von Laudon.
Prior to the First Serbian Uprising, Žarkovo was the central location for supplying rebels with weapons. After the uprising started in 1804, it was an unofficial military base of Karađorđe and Serbian rebel army. Belgrade's Ottoman pasha, Bekir Pasha, met with Karađorđe in Žarkovo, reached an agreement regarding the Ottoman outlaws, Dahije, and asked Karađorđe not to attack Belgrade, but to make headquarter outside of the city, in Vračar. He agreed, let the Ottomans through the gauntlet (with Serbian soldiers firing in the air) organized at modern Bele Vode section of Žarkovo and moved the army. He attacked and liberated Belgrade in 1806. The surrounding area was known for fertile land and with the large market of the nearby Belgrade for the farmers' products, farmers and craftsmen families in Žarkovo turned affluent. The village had a cinema, culture center, municipal and administrative building, etc. Municipality of Žarkovo was abolished in July 1955 and it was annexed to the municipality of Čukarica. A direct line of the Belgrade public transportation, No. 31, connected Žarkovo to downtown Belgrade, at the Republic Square. Čukarica municipality recreated local community of Žarkovo, which included Julino Brdo and Bele Vode but without Cerak. Žarkovo had a population of 30,979 in 2011 (with Cerak, 74,972).
Characteristics
The Old School building was constructed in 1840 as both the school and the seat of the village administration. In 1880 the administration moved out, and the school, later named "Ljuba Nenadović", continued until 1968 when it was moved into another building. The old building was declared a cultural monument in 1965, but was left to the elements since the pupils moved out. By the 2010s, it was totally neglected and desolate. The school was built from solid materials, with a simple design of a modest, standardized architectural "box" style. It had two classrooms and several smaller auxiliary rooms, including the teacher's quarters. The ground-floor object has a cellar beneath a part of the roof, which is four-gabled and covered with flat tiles. The house was declared a cultural monument. In 2020 it was decided to adapt it into the Museum of Žarkovo and Čukarica. Reconstruction began later that year 2020. Under the name оф Heritage Museum of Žarkovo, as a department of the Belgrade City Museum, it was opened on 17 May 2022.
The old, large two-storey building, which was the administrative seat of the municipality, was built in 1921. At the plateau next to the building, there was a monument dedicated to the fallen heroes in World War II, but was later moved next to the "Ljuba Nenadović" elementary school. After it lost its administrative purpose in 1955, it hosted pharmacy, bakery and finally a library. It wasn't maintained well and became crumbly. The building was demolished in 1986, during the complete overhaul of the Trgovačka Street, central street in the neighborhood. Big, glass-plated shopping mall was built instead, and as the commercial facilities spread around it, it is today the busiest part of Žarkovo and a major crossroad of numerous public transportation and intercity bus lines. The locality is today known as the Žarkovo Center.
A major communal problem is an informal Romany settlement under the Žarkovo Bridge, in the valley of the Paripovac stream. The settlers mostly collect garbage for further sale or recycling. In time, they created a landfill around the settlement, clogging the remaining above-the-ground flow of the stream with waste. The municipality cleaned the landfill and the stream several times, but to no avail.
Sub-neighborhoods
Žarkovo Selo
Bele vode is the oldest part of Žarkovo. Urbanized today, with its small houses with backyards and short streets, it still distinct itself from the rest of the modern, tall buildings in the neighborhood. It had a population of 4,219 in 1981 (9,6% of the whole population of Žarkovo) and 7,625 in 2002 (10,6%).