Bežigrad

Audio|Bezigrad.ogg|Bežigrad is a district in the northern part of Ljubljana, Slovenia. It encompasses the area between the southern rail line to the south, the Upper Carniola (or Kamnik) rail line to the west, the highway loop to the north, and Šmartinska Cesta ("Šmartno Street") and the Žale Cemetery to the east. It extends on both sides of Dunajska Cesta ("Vienna Street"), which is its central axis and main traffic artery. In the narrow sense, it includes the neighborhoods of (old) Bežigrad, Brinje, BS3 ("Bežigrad neighbourhood number 3"), Nove Stožice ("New Štožice"), and Savsko Naselje ("Sava Settlement"). In the broader sense, Bežigrad is sometimes considered to include the northern Ljubljana suburbs of Stožice, Ježica, and Črnuče.

Bežigrad is primarily a residential district. Along Dunajska Cesta there are some sections with high concentrations of shops and businesses. There is a small industrial zone in the northwest part of the district. Its buildings are generally low (up to six floors), and single-family dwellings and raw houses predominate. Larger communities of apartment buildings are concentrated on the district's eastern edge, in Nove Stožice and Savsko Naselje. Bežigrad ranks as one of the greenest districts of Ljubljana.

Important institutions and feature of Bežigrad include Plečnik's Bežigrad Central Stadium, the Bežigrad Secondary School, Navje Cemetery, Plečnik's unfinished "Akademski kolegij" (intended to serve as the Baraga Seminary), the Žale Cemetery, and the Ljubljana Fairgrounds. The older part of Bežigrad has many large attractive houses from the interwar period. Hranilniška Ulica ("Savings Bank Street") stands out in particular. It is the oldest street in Bežigrad, created in the 1880s.