554 SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp563–4 and p565
St Mark’s
Church 8
Crkva Svetog marka
Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra 17.
Map E4. @ 25, 26, 27, 32. 5
Completed in 1940, St Mark’s
Church is an archi tectural tri b-
ute to Serbia’s medieval build-
ers, being largely based on the
14th-century monastery church
of Gračanica in Kosovo. With
its cluster of green domes and
striped red-and-ochre stone-
work, it is a more exuberant
piece of work than the origi-
nal, and features an angular
modern belfry. Laid out
beneath a 52-m (171-ft) high
cupola, the interior of the
church is com paratively bare,
which draws attention to a
glittering mosaic of the Last
Supper set in the iconos tasis.
Set against the south wall of
the nave is the sarcophagus
of Serbia’s greatest medieval
ruler, Tsar Dušan.
Southeast of the church
stretches Tašmajdan Park
(Tašmajdanski park), named
after the quarry that operated
here during the Ottoman per-
iod; Tašmajdan means “stone
quarry” in Turkish. Today, its
leafy prom enades attract a lot
of visitors. A few steps west
of the church is Serbia’s
Parliament Building (zgrada
Parlamenta), famously stormed
in October 2000 by protesters
demanding the overthrow of
the then pre sident, Slobodan
Milošević. The entrance to this
Classical-style building fea tures
striking sculp tures of mus cular
figures wrestling to control
struggling horses, the work of
the 19th-century Croatian
sculptor Toma Rosandić.
Nikola Tesla
Museum 9
Muzej Nikole tesleKrunska 51. Map F5. Tel (011) 243- v 7, 12. @ 26, 27.
10am–6pm Tue–Fri, 10am–1pm
Sat & Sun. & 8 =
http://www.tesla-museum.org
Born to Serb parents in the
Lika region of Croatia, Nikola
Tesla (1856–1943) was one of
the engineering geniuses of
the Modern Age, carrying out
pioneering work in the fields
of X-rays, radio transmis sion
and remote-control devices.
One of his greatest achieve-
ments was demon strating
how electricity could be
trans mitted in the form of
alter nating currents, a system
now used around the world.
Tesla is also credited with
being one of the co-inventors
of the radio, even though his
Italian rival Guglielmo Marconi
was the first to suc ceed in
demon strating the technology
in action. Despite spending
most of his adult life in North
America, Tesla requested
that his ashes be
brought to Belgrade
after his death; this
memo rial museum
was established to
house them. The
display provides
an infor ma tive over-
view of Tesla’s life
and work, with
labels in Serbian
and English. There
are scale models
of his laboratories,
together with a
replica of the
remote-control boatThe Royal
Compound 0
Kraljevski dvoroviDedinje. Map D4. Tel (011) 334- n Makedonska 5. # Nov–
Mar: 11am & 2pm Sat & Sun. &
8 11am & 2pm Sat & Sun, call for
bookings. http://www.royalfamily.org
Comprising two palatial villas
and a landscaped park, the
Royal Compound was built by
King Aleksandar of Yugoslavia
in the 1920s. It is located in
Dedinje, a hilly suburb south-
west of the centre. After the
mon archy was abolished by a
refer endum in 1947, the com-
pound was used by the then
Yugoslav president Tito, and
more recently, by the Serbian
Nationalist-Communist leader
Slobodan Milošević. After the
fall of Milošević, the Royal
Family returned to Dedinje,
and the compound now serves
as their home. The main royal
residence has an entrance
hall deco rated with copies
of medieval Serbian fres coes
and a splendid dining room
decked in Flemish tapes tries.
The base ment is deco ated
in Muscovite style, with
motifs from Russian folk art
adorning its vaulted ceil ings.
On the other side of the
park stands the White Palace
(Beli Dvor), originally built by
Aleksandar for his sons; it now
con tains the royal art collec-
tion. High lights include paint-
ings by Poussin and Canaletto
as well as Rembrandt’s
Detail on the exterior of St Mark’s Church Portrait of a Young Man.
Section of the permanent exhibition space inside the Nikola Tesla Museumhe first demonstrated to the
public at Madison Square
Gardens in New York in 1898.