A walk through old Zemun

About A walk through old Zemun

By the ULTIMATE Belgrade Editorial Team

Zemun is one of the loveliest places in Belgrade: a little Central European town of Baroque churches, pastel houses and cobbled lanes, with café-lined squares buzzing on warm summer evenings and the Danube at its feet, all watched over by Gardoš Tower on its hill above the river.

Two empires, one river

For two centuries the Danube and the Sava were not just rivers but a frontier between empires. From 1717 until 1918 Zemun belonged to the Habsburg Empire, from 1867 Austria-Hungary, while Belgrade across the water was an Ottoman town until the mid-19th century. Zemun grew as a garrison and trading town on the Habsburg border, home to Serbs, Germans, Hungarians, Croats, Greeks, Jews and many others, and it built itself in the image of Central Europe.

That is why walking into Zemun feels like crossing into another country. Where old Belgrade grew from an Ottoman town, Zemun has Baroque bell towers, Biedermeier and Secession facades, arcaded courtyards and little squares that would look at home in Vienna or Novi Sad. It only became part of Belgrade in 1934, and it still keeps its own proud identity.

Across the water, Belgrade was Ottoman; Zemun was Habsburg, and you can still see the difference.

Glavna and the squares

Start on Glavna, the main street, lined with handsome 19th-century buildings, shops and bakeries, then turn into the old centre. Veliki trg, the great square, is framed by pastel houses and the Baroque bell tower of the Catholic church, and Magistratski trg, by the old town hall, is lined with café and restaurant terraces. On warm summer evenings the squares fill with families, couples and friends, children play while their parents linger over coffee or a glass of wine, and the whole town takes on an easy, almost Mediterranean feel.

From the squares, narrow lanes of low houses with geraniums at the windows climb towards Gardoš, and others run down to the Danube quay, with its fish restaurants, floating terraces and the largest flock of swans in Belgrade.

A town of many faiths

Zemun’s mixed past is written in its churches. The Orthodox Church of St Nicholas, begun in 1745, is the oldest in the town; the Orthodox Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God was built by Serbs, Tsintsars and Greeks around 1780; and the Serbo-Byzantine Church of St Demetrius was built in 1874–76 by the wealthy Greek Petrović-Hariš family. The Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, completed in 1795, stands on Veliki trg, and Zemun also has a Catholic church of St Roch and an Evangelical church. The town’s 19th-century synagogue still stands near the main street, a reminder of Zemun’s once-thriving Jewish community.

Zemun life

Zemun is only a few kilometres from the centre of Belgrade, yet Zemunci, as its people call themselves, have always seen themselves as different from downtown Belgraders: proud of their own town, its history and its slower, more relaxed rhythm. You feel it on the quay, where fishermen still tend their boats in the morning, and in the unhurried way people stop to chat on the squares.

Along the Danube, the quay and the Zemun park are a long ribbon of green, with tree-lined paths, bike lanes and pedestrian promenades. People walk, cycle and rollerblade along the river, families push prams under the trees, and friends relax on the benches watching the boats go by, while bars and restaurants on the moored river barges serve drinks and fish late into the evening. The riverside path runs all the way to Ušće and the centre, so you can walk or cycle from one world to the other.

Festivals on the river

Every August, Zemun Fest turns Magistratski trg, Veliki trg and the quay into stages for concerts, art installations, workshops for all ages and food from around the world. And every year on 19 January, at Epiphany, Zemun keeps one of Serbia’s most stirring traditions: after a liturgy at St Nicholas’ Church and a procession through the town, swimmers plunge into the icy Danube from the quay to race for the Holy Cross, cheered on by crowds lining the river bank. The winner is said to be blessed with good fortune for the year.

Above it all, Gardoš

Whichever way you walk, Gardoš Tower watches over the town from its hill above the Danube, built in 1896 on the ruins of a medieval fortress. Climb up at the end of the afternoon for the view over the red roofs, the river and Belgrade beyond, then walk back down to the quay for dinner as the sun sets over the water.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with A walk through old Zemun before you go.