THE 'KONAK' OF THE OBRENOVICHS
The old court of the Obrenovich dynasty was once situated in the present-day park area, between the two preserved royal palaces. It was here where King Alexander Obrenovich I and his wife Draga Mashin were assassinated in 1903. 

THE GRAND HOTEL
Once one of the finest in town, the hotel was situated in a centrally located building with a facade treated - for the first time in Belgrade - in secession style. The construction was demolished in 1968. 

NATIONAL LIBRARY 
The fine Neo-classical building of the National Library, once situated at the heart of Old Town, was bombed by Nazi airplanes at the beginning of April 1941. Incendiary bombs were dropped and everything inside the library had been destroyed - more than 350.000 printed books, 1.500 valuable medieval manuscripts, all cartographic staff and many other precious items. However, archaeological excavations on the site in the mid-1970s revealed some signs of additional looting of the library's fund remains, carried out by Nazis shortly after the bombing.

'NESELDORF' IN THE CITY 
The first automobile appeared in the streets on April 3, 1903. The automobile was imported by Bosko Radulovic. It was Neseldorf type, and was introduced by the driver employed at the firm. He had an obligation to teach a couple of citizens of Belgrade how to use the vehicle. Shortly afterwards, a Belgradian became the first holder of the driving license in the city.  

KING ALEXANDER I BRIDGE 
On December 16th 1934, the chain bridge on the Sava, named after King Alexander I was inaugurated as the first Belgrade road bridge. It was built on the two reinforced-concrete pillars in Serbo-Byzantine style. The bridge was blown up in 1941, and replaced with the current one (Brankov Bridge) after WW II.

THE FIRST AIRLINE COMPANY 
In January 1927, the first airline company 'Aeroput' (Air-way) was founded and it operated successfully till the beginning of WWII. On this promotional poster we can see the flight network with destinations*, and the attractive headline slogan: "Vienna - Belgrade - Thessalonica in 10 hours". 

Vienna, Graz, Zagreb, Susak (Rijeka), Sarajevo, Podgorica, Skopje and Thessalonica.

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is part of BELGRADE SIGHTSEEING Web site.
Commentaries by B. Rabotic, 2001, 2002, 2003

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