At the site of Tasmajdan Park, centuries ago, there was a quarry (Tash in Turkish means stone, and maidan – mine), then ammunition depots in lagumas, a cemetery and a hippodrome.
The park was formed relatively late, in the late 1930s, after the erection of the Main Post Office building on the corner of King Alexander Boulevard and Takovska Street.
Historical events and buildings
There are several important and beautiful buildings in Tasmajdan Park. The present-day St. Mark’s Church was erected during and after World War II, at the site of the 1835 church, demolished in the April bombing.
The old church was built exactly where five years earlier the Sultan’s Hatyserif on Serbia’s internal independence was read publicly. Emperor Dusan, King Alexander Obrenovic and his wife Draga Mashin, Patriarch German, rest in St. Mark’s Church…
The Church of the Holy Trinity (Russian Church) was erected in 1924, for the needs of the Russians who fled to Belgrade in large numbers after the October Revolution.
The Seismological Institute building, and the earthquake monitoring facility housed there, have been around since the first decade of the 20th century.
There is also the famous Tashmajdan Cave whose rocks are 14 million years old. They hid the wars of Karadjordje as well as the people during the bombing of World War I. The cave also had a reserve command of the German Army in World War II. It has been closed since 2011, there is no lighting, and it is planned to be open to tourists in the middle of this (2015) year.
