The Street of Open Heart

As long ago as in 1988, the City of Belgrade organised for the first time the event “The Street of Open Heart” aimed at spreading the sense of joy and humanity among people. Originally, the event was part of a broader-scale programme, entitled “Belgrade – the city of an open heart”, which lasted from the St. Nicholas day until St. Sava day, that is, for more than a month.
The idea was that the actors from the nearby theatre Atelje 212 serve the food they prepared themselves to the personnel in their favourite bohemian gathering place Srpska kafana (Serbian tavern), as a token of gratitude to all those who served them throughout the year.
The number of curious visitors and passers-by grew rapidly those days, so Srpska kafana simply was not big enough to receive all the people wishing to enjoy a glass of mulled wine, surrounded by this extraordinary atmosphere. Therefore the idea came out quite spontaneously to relocate such event from the tavern onto the whole of Svetogorska street.

Starting from 1872, Svetogorska street has changed its name 7 times. It is located in the city centre, around 10 minutes of walking from the Republic Square.
The street is famous for the theatre Atelje 212, which is unexpectedly located at the number 21. The urban legends say that Atelje was named after the opening event, on which occasion the theatre had quite limited room and could only accommodate 212 viewers, as they had only 212 chairs. The elderly citizens in Belgrade, however, have another story: the apartment no. 212 in a London hotel was the birthplace of Aleksandar Karađorđević II.
Radio Belgrade building is located at the corner of Svetogorska and Hilandarska streets.
Some other landmarks include the house at the number 27, which was the atelier of our famous painter Uroš Predić. The house dates back to 1908.
Number 32 was the home of another famous Serbian figure Stanoje Stanojević, a historian and the first Serbian encyclopaedist, lecturer at Lyceum and the professor at the University of Belgrade.
To all our guests who wish to be in the centre of all events during the New Year holidays, and throughout the year as well, we often recommend the apartments located in Svetogorska street or its immediate neighbourhood. This is the apartment Argento, and the apartments Stefan, Ruski car, Skadarlija, Skadarlija lux.

Lately, the event “The Street of Open Heart“ takes place on the 1^st January and is one of the most representative events in Belgrade. The event is organised by Atelje 212, Tourist Organisation of Belgrade, under the sponsorship of the City of Belgrade Assembly. Over 100 000 citizens of Belgrade and tourists visit this event. You can see the bands, singers, actors, street musicians and dancers, entertainers, animators and others performing all along Svetogorska and Makedonska streets. The programme starts at noon and is dedicated to charity purposes every year.

Belgrade is not sleeping, so you shouldn’t be either!

So, you’ve celebrated the New Year Eve in Belgrade; at noon, provided your body allowed you, you walked along the Street of Open Heart, and now what next?! The night is falling, and you can’t make up your mind. Which of the two you should choose – a relaxing and peaceful night in some of our superb apartments of our agency, or perhaps, the relaxation could wait.
If you actually thought that the celebrations in Belgrade are over after the New Year Eve, then you are very wrong. We’ve already told you a couple of times that Belgrade never sleeps, so why should you do such thing?!

You should be aware that clubs in Belgrade celebrate New Year for at least three days. After the New Year Eve, there’s the night after, and there’s the night after the night after, and so on and so forth.
Don’t take this as persuading, but the facts tell us that our guests have much better time at the night after than at the very New Year party. There are at least three reasons for this:

• More relaxing atmosphere;
• Less crowded;
• Cheaper (club entrance comes free of charge, or charged at minimal amount; most clubs don’t require paying for reservation and the prices are back to normal …)