Banjica

Banjica (Serbian: Бањица, pronounced [bâɲitsa]) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is divided between the Belgrade's municipalities of Savski Venac (western half) and Voždovac (eastern half).

Banjica is located 5-6 kilometers south of downtown Belgrade (Terazije), on the Banjica hill. On the west, the hill descends into the valley and neighborhood of Lisičji Potok and further continues into the hill and woods of Topčider while on the south it descends into the valley of the creek of Kaljavi potok, bordering the neighborhoods of Kanarevo Brdo (south-west) and Jajinci (south-east). To the north, Banjica extends into the elite neighborhood of Dedinje while the eastern side is covered by the Banjička šuma (Banjica forest), a long narrow belt of deciduous woodland along the Boulevard of Liberation, which separates Banjica from the neighborhoods of Voždovac and Trošarina.

Findings of the ancient Vincha civilization such as figurines or the oval terracotta with meander art and Old European inscriptions place civilized human activity in Banjica to 7,000 years ago.

The name of the neighborhood comes from the Serbian word banja, meaning spa, thus it can be translated as the "small spa".

Banjica used to be a suburban village, inhabited in the early 19th century by migrants from southeastern Serbia who came after the end of the Second Serbian Uprising in 1815. In 1903 Banjica was the location of the military parade made for coronation of king Petar I Karađorđević of Serbia. Until World War II Banjica remained a quiet village with most of its population employed in crop production to support the growing agricultural demands of Belgrade. During the World War II Banjica was also a place where the German forces together with their Serbian collaborators ran a Banjica concentration camp. After the war, the village was heavily urbanized, with new large apartment buildings built in place of old family houses. Banjica had a population of 17,711 in 2002.

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