Fontana (Belgrade)

Fontana (Serbian Cyrillic: Фонтана) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Novi Beograd.

Fontana sprawls around the intersection of "Pariske Komune", "Narodnih heroja" and "Otona Župančiča" streets, in the north-central section of the municipality. It roughly comprises (entirely or partially) Blocks 1, 2, 3 and 5 that were mostly built in the 1960s. The population of the local community of Fontana was 4,476 in 2002, and 9,833 with the neighboring areas which make the neighborhood of Fontana. In the north, it extends into the neighborhood of Paviljoni, and in the east into Tošin Bunar.

Apart from being a residential area, some commercial and educational facilities are located near by: a multi-functional shopping and cultural center "Fontana" by architect Uroš Martinović (completed in 1967), a McDonald's restaurant, indoor arena Hala sportova with an outdoor stadium, four kindergartens, three elementary schools and two highschools (Graphic Design Secondary School and IX Belgrade Gymnasium). Fontana is very well connected to the other parts of Belgrade as over ten lines of public transportation pass through the neighborhood.

In March 2008, city government announced complete reconstruction of Block 1, including the old shopping complex "Fontana", which at time of construction was unofficial center of Novi Beograd. [Citation | last = | first = | author-link = D.Spalović | title = Novi sjaj "Fontane" | newspaper = Politika | pages = p. 25 | language = Serbian | year = 2007 | date = 2007-03-12 | url = ] Reconstruction should be finished by the end of 2008, and it should include building of a public underground garage, renovation of the children playgrounds, green areas, fountain and ground level of "Fontana" center. Originally, city planned to build overground garage, but after the protests of the local population, idea was changed. As for the "Fontana" center itself, it will be reconstructed under the supervision of the Institute for the protection of cultural monuments, because complex is considered to be a representative of the modern Serbian architecture.

References

* "Beograd - plan grada"; M@gic M@p, 2006; ISBN 86-83501-53-1