Kalmyk Buddhist Temple, also known as Kalmyk Home, was a Buddhist temple in Belgrade, capital of Serbia. It was built in 1929 as one of the first Buddhist temples in Europe, served for the religious purposes until 1944, and completely demolished in the mid-1960s.
Pagoda was located in the neighborhood known today as Učiteljsko Naselje, in Zvezdara municipality. Učiteljsko Naselje is a section of the larger Konjarnik neighborhood. The street in which it was based was named Budistička (Buddhist) after the temple was built, and today is named Budvanska (Budva street). [1]
After the October Revolution in 1917, a huge number of people from Russia, supporters of the White movement, emigrated to Yugoslavia, including Pyotr Wrangel, general of the White Army. Among them were hundreds of Kalmyks, Western Mongolian people of Buddhist faith, who inhabited the shores of the Caspian Sea. From April 1920 to late 1923, some 500 Kalmyks entered Serbia, and 400 of them settled in Belgrade, thus creating the largest Kalmyk colony in Europe. [1] [2]
They settled on the eastern outskirts of Belgrade: Karaburma, Bulbulder, Cvetkova Pijaca, Crveni Krst. [3] However, the majority of them settled in Mali Mokri Lug, the suburban village of Belgrade at the time. Having several priests in their community, already in 1923 they rented rooms in the still existing house in the Vojislava Ilića street No 47 for religious service. [4] In 1925 they moved it to Metohijska street No 51 and started an action for building a proper temple. [2] The Kalmyks were headed by the former colonel of the Russian Imperial Army, Abusha Alekseyev (1886–1938) and the Buddhist elder Manchuda Borinov (1872-1928). [3] They officially formed their Belgrade organization in April 1929, and Alekseyev was elected as the chief. [5]
Many Kalkmyks worked in the brickworks owned by the industrialist Miloš Jaćimović (1858-1940) and soon he became a major benefactor of their community. In 1928 he donated the lot on which the temple was built and also provided the building materials, bricks and roof tiles. That same year, Kalmyks were granted permission to build the temple, given to them from both the political and Serbian Orthodox Church authorities. King Alexander I of Yugoslavia also helped them financially. [1] [5]
The temple was consecrated on 12 December 1929. The guests included members of the Kalmyk diaspora in Czechoslovakia and France, so as the representatives of the Russian organizations in Belgrade, including the atamans of the Don Cossacks and the Terek Cossacks, as the Kalmyks in Russian Empire mostly served in the army horse units. [5] The temple soon became an attraction, being listed in tourist guides, and the street in which it was built was officially named "Buddhist" street. City government became a financial supporter of the temple, so it was reconstructed and expanded in 1935. The main wall was decorated with two painted deer. Being so far away from Buddhist countries, the temple lacked lots of artifacts needed for the religious service. Through the contacts with the Japanese envoy to Bucharest, in the neighboring Romania, a large bronze statue of Buddha arrived from Tokyo and was consecrated on 25 March 1934. [1] [6] [7] With the Buddha statue, additional religious equipment arrived (drums, gongs, etc.), but the shipment was kept at the Customs Office, which asked for the huge amount of money to be paid by the Kalmyks. Ministry of Justice intervened and the Buddhist shipment was declared customs free. [5]
Within the temple, Kalmyks established a Buddhist Spiritual Council, which was a focal point of all local Kalmyks in Serbia but also made connections to Kalmyk communities from other parts of Europe. Torghut princess Nirjidma visited the temple on 20 September 1933. They also had a Buddhist religious school in the Center and classes of the Kalmyk language. [8]
Due to their appearance, local population colloquially called them "Chinese". As there was a big discrepancy in the gender ratio of the emigrants, one woman to five men, their number in Belgrade never grew over 500. As a result of the cordial relations the two communities had, there were Kalmyk–Serbian marriages, where Kalmyk men would marry Serbian women. As witnesses from that period reported, children from those marriages had "white complexion inherited from us, and slanty eyes inherited from them". Pagoda had a beautiful rose garden and when the wind would blow, the wind chimes would make music. Kalmyks would often serve tea to the neighbors and during the religious holidays they would give presents to the children from the neighborhood. [1]
In 1934, following the Buddhist customs, 49 days after the assassination of King Alexander in Marseilles, a service was given as he was a temple's benefactor. Another benefactor was the 1926-1932 US ambassador to Belgrade, John D. Prince. [1]
The Kalmyks soon became known as diligent workers. [5] Apart from brickworks, they mostly worked as carters and tailors. Best known Kalmyk in Yugoslavia was Učur Kuljdinov, footballer of the FK Jugoslavija. They were also known for horse breeding. When Palace Albanija, which was to be the highest building in the Balkans, was built in 1938-1940, the project envisioned three floors below the ground. As the city government had no machinery required for the job, they invited the Kalmyks, with their horses and carts, to remove the rubble and earth from the foundation pit. [1]
During the war, relations between the neighbors turned sour. On the one side, Kalmyks sided with the German occupational forces and on the other, city government, which was part of the German-appointed puppet regime in Serbia, stripped them of financial support in 1942 as they were not of "Serbian nationality". With the advance of Yugoslav Partisans and Soviet Red Army in the September 1944, and fearing the reprisals of the latter, some 300 remaining Kalmyks withdrew with German troops, first to Germany and then resettling in New Jersey, United States of America, where they established a new colony. [1] [5] [7] [9] They moved in 1951-1952 and mostly settled in the Monmouth County.
From 12 to 16 October 1944, during the final days of the Liberation of Belgrade, the upper section of the temple was demolished due to the fightings in its vicinity. Since there were no believers left, nor the religious artifacts, new Communist government didn't consider it to be the temple anymore. In 1950 the dome was completely torn down and the ground level was adapted into the cultural center. Organizations like the Socialist Alliance of Working People of Yugoslavia and Women's Antifascist Front of Yugoslavia held conferences in it, but it was also used for more public venues, like weddings and dancings. Still, even at the late 1950s, the area was colloquially called "Chinese Quarter". The building was then transferred to the Budućnost company, which demolished the building completely in the mid-1960s and constructed a new, two-floor building instead. The company set its cooling service in it, but the edifice has been locked and out of use for a long time. [1] [2] [7]
Belgrade pagoda is considered as one of the earliest Buddhist temples in Europe, probably only second specifically built for this purpose and in the pagoda-style, after the Datsan Gunzechoinei temple in St.Petersburg, built from 1909 to 1915. [10] [11]
The Kalmyks and their temple are almost completely forgotten today, but still, they were inspiration for several works, including the study Kalmyks in Serbia 1920-44 by Toma Milenković (1998), a novel Kaja, Belgrade and the Good American by Mirjana Đurđević (2009; "Good American" being US ambassador John D. Prince) and a documentary There were Kalmyks in Belgrade once by Boško Milosavljević (2012). [1] However, in the 2010s, newspapers began to occasionally print articles on Kalmyks, bringing more and more their story to the modern readers and usually referring to the temple as the Belgrade pagoda.
Despite oblivion, Kalmyks left a big mark in modern Belgrade's etymology. One of the largest modern neighborhoods, Konjarnik ("horse breeding area"), which fully developed from the 1960s on, is named after the horses Kalmyks used to keep in this area before the war (konj is Serbian for horse). [1]
The Church of Saint Sava is a 79 m high Serbian Orthodox church, which sits on the Vračar plateau in Belgrade, Serbia. It was planned as the bishopric seat and main cathedral of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The church is dedicated to Saint Sava, the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church and an important figure in medieval Serbia. It is built on the presumed location of St. Sava's grave. His coffin had been moved from Mileševa Monastery to Belgrade. The coffin was placed on a pyre and burnt in 1595 by Ottoman Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha. Bogdan Nestorović and Aleksandar Deroko were finally chosen to be the architects in 1932 after a second revised competition in 1926–27. This sudden decision instigated an important debate in interwar Yugoslavia which centered around the temple's size, design and symbolic national function. This was accompanied by a sizeable increase in the base area of the ambitiously conceived project. The new design departed from the competition guidelines issued in 1926, and was to replicate the dimensions and architecture of Hagia Sophia.
New Belgrade is a municipality of the city of Belgrade. It was a planned city and now is the central business district of Serbia and South East Europe. Construction began in 1948 in a previously uninhabited area on the left bank of the Sava river, opposite old Belgrade. In recent years [when?], it has become the central business district of Belgrade and its fastest developing area, with many businesses moving to the new part of the city, due to more modern infrastructure and larger available space. With 209,763 inhabitants, it is the second most populous municipality of Serbia after Novi Sad.
Mali Mokri Lug is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the south-eastern section of Belgrade's municipality of Zvezdara. It marks the border with the municipality of Grocka. It mostly stretches between Bulevar kralja Aleksandra and the Highway Belgrade–Niš, but also north of the boulevard. It extends into the neighborhoods of Mirijevo on the north, Konjarnik on the west, Medaković III on the south-west, Veliki Mokri Lug on the south and Kaluđerica on the east.
Vračar plateau is a plateau on top of the Vračar Hill in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, with an absolute height of 134 metres above sea level. It is the purported location of the 1594 Burning of Saint Sava's relics by the Ottomans. The dominant position in Belgrade's cityscape made the plateau a natural location for the first meteorological observatory in Serbia, Belgrade Meteorological Station, built in 1891. The most distinctive feature of the plateau today is a massive Church of Saint Sava, visible from almost all approaches to the city, and one of the Belgrade's main landmarks. The plateau also houses Karađorđe's Park, Park Milutin Milanković, monument of Karađorđe Petrović and National Library of Serbia.
Dušanovac, is an urban and historical neighbourhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in the municipality of Voždovac.
Slobodan Jovanović was a Serbian and Yugoslav writer, historian, lawyer, philosopher, literary critic, diplomat, politician and one of the most prominent intellectuals of his time. He was the professor at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law (1897—1940), Rector of the University of Belgrade, and the President of the Serbian Royal Academy (1928–1931). He took part at the Paris Peace Conference (1919) as an expert for the Yugoslav Government.
Palace Albanija is a high-rise building in Belgrade, Serbia. Important construction and architectural innovations were incorporated into the project, which made Albanija an exceptional building endeavor in the Balkans. When completed in 1939, it was the first skyscraper in Southeast Europe. It remained the tallest building in Belgrade for 3 years, until being surpassed by BIGZ building in 1941. It remained the tallest building in the old part of Belgrade for the next 34 years, until being surpassed by the Beograđanka in 1974.
Eastern City Gate of Belgrade оr Istočna Kapija Beograda is a complex of three large residential buildings situated near the E-75 motorway in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, and is among the most prominent structures along the Belgrade skyline. The complex, which is officially named Rudo, was finished in 1976 and is considered one of the symbols of the city, and of the Yugoslav Socialism in general.
Belgrade is the capital of Serbia.
Šumice is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Voždovac. It is also the name of a park-forest within the neighbourhood.
Oskar Danon was a Yugoslav composer and conductor.
Cvetkova Pijaca or colloquially Cvetko is an open green market and an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Zvezdara.
Konjarnik is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is divided between Belgrade's municipalities of Voždovac and Zvezdara. As a large neighborhood, it has several sub-neighborhoods of its own, including Denkova Bašta, Učiteljsko Naselje and Rudo.
Zeleno Brdo is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Zvezdara.
The New Cemetery is a cemetery complex in Belgrade, Serbia, with a distinct history. It is located in Ruzveltova street in Zvezdara municipality. The cemetery was built in 1886 as the third Christian cemetery in Belgrade and as the first architecturally and urbanistically planned cemetery in Serbia.
Manjež Park is a public park situated in the centre of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia.
Obilićev Venac, a pedestrian and shopping zone, is located in the city center of Belgrade, Serbia, within the Knez Mihailova Street spatial unit protected by law, and contains a number of residential and office buildings dating from 1900 to 2000.
Branko Petranović was a Serbian historian and a Belgrade University professor specializing in history of Yugoslavia.
Kneza Miloša Street is a street in downtown Belgrade, Serbia. It was the main city's korzo (promenade) and today is one of the major traffic arteries of the city, location of some of the most important national institutions and a street with the largest number of embassies in Belgrade. It stretches through the territory of three municipalities: Stari Grad, Vračar and Savski Venac. Previously known as Topčider Road, it was later named after prince Miloš Obrenović, the first ruler of modern Serbia.
Momir Korunović, was a Serbian architect associated with Serbo-Byzantine Revival. He was sometimes called the Serbian Gaudi. Although he designed many buildings in Belgrade and Yugoslavia between the two world wars, he is largely forgotten today. Many of his works were destroyed or substantially altered during World War II and the period of communist dictatorship.