The square in front of the former Main railway station with the surrounding buildings is a unique combination of Belgrade’s old spirit and the most modern architectural solutions. Through a carefully designed reconstruction, all the historical layers that give this part of the city its authenticity have been preserved, and this also applies to the Old Post Office building, which will soon be restored to its original, pre-war facade.
After the completion of the reconstruction, this monumental building of the “Serbian Gaudí” Momir Korunović will become the new home of the children’s centre “Boško Buha”, which will solve the long-standing problem of the location of this cultural institution. There will also be an interactive children’s museum with special settings and programs that play out children’s imagination and educate the youngest through play, as well as a library. Along with the Historical Museum of Serbia in the reconstructed building of the Main railway station, the state-of-the-art bilingual elementary school, and the kindergarten on the adjacent lot, Sava Square becomes the new educational and cultural city center and a favorite meeting place of all generations.
The Old Post Office building is also returning to its original glory
After the careful restoration of the Belgrade cooperative and the “Bristol” hotel, the Belgrade Waterfront will soon restore artistic splendor to the Old Post Office on Sava Square, another forgotten masterpiece of Serbian architecture. On the basis of existing archival documentation and original drawings, the original exterior of the building, which was built in the contemporary Serbian-Byzantine style in 1929, and “stripped down” in the spirit of socialist realism after the Second World War, will be reconstructed.
Educational campus on 13,500 square meters
The space of the largest square in Serbia, with a pedestrian zone of 20,000 square meters and an abundance of greenery, will be enlivened by children’s noise and the little ones who will fill it after returning from kindergarten and elementary school, which will be built not far from there. On a plot of about 13,500 square meters, there will be a state-of-the-art bilingual elementary school, and next to it a state kindergarten with the most modern facilities for children. This unique educational campus, in addition to all other facilities, will contribute to this part of the city, in the embrace of the river and the spacious Sava Park, becoming the most attractive location in the city for young families with children, because they will have everything they need for education and entertainment at their fingertips.
Little ones aged three to six will enjoy a pleasant environment that is fully adapted to their developmental needs. In the building with an area of about 800 square meters, in addition to equipped rooms for a pleasant living room, there will also be a state-of-the-art multifunctional hall for gatherings and performances, and all rooms are designed as special “houses” connected by a corridor in a circular, attractive form. The yard is designed as a large children’s playground bordered by greenery and trees. In addition to the usual props and equipment, such as swings, slides, seesaws, a climbing tower, and sand, it will also include a little play hill, as well as a zone with different tactile surfaces that are very useful in the development of the youngest children. This will create a free and safe oasis for children in the strict city center, where they will be able to play, run, perform various outdoor activities, and develop motor and other abilities. The excellent location of the kindergarten will enable parents to organize their responsibilities more easily, avoid traffic jams and spend more time with their children.
When the children are old enough to go to school, the doors of the elementary school will be opened for them, which will be located just a few steps from the kindergarten. This is one of the few educational institutions in the country that offers schoolchildren the opportunity to acquire education in two languages simultaneously. This type of teaching has great benefits for children, because, among other things, it encourages their creativity and openness to other cultures and opens doors for them in further education.
In addition to the curriculum, what further distinguishes this school is the area for extracurricular activities, which will also have additional equipment for children with disabilities. In addition to sports fields for handball, basketball, and volleyball, there will also be a school garden, as well as a multipurpose green area suitable for organizing various events. In the part of the courtyard next to the library and the exhibition space, there will be a “classroom under the open sky”, intended for innovative forms of outdoor teaching. By enrolling in this school, children will get the best conditions to realize their full potential and develop their talents because they will have a handful of contents in one place that few schools in Serbia can boast of.
Looking to the future, we cherish tradition
Tenants of the new, modern buildings within the Belgrade Waterfront will enjoy the many advantages of being close to the school and kindergarten. It is much easier to organize daily tasks and free time when all the necessary contents are at your fingertips. The only problems will be the sweet ones: whether to visit the museum, theater, playroom in Galerija or drink hot chocolate in the restaurant on the roof terrace of the Old Post Office after kindergarten and school.
All these contents will be easily accessible to residents of other parts of the city. Behind the building of the future Historical Museum of Serbia, there will be a metro station where the first two lines of the underground railway will cross, just as here the historical heritage that we carefully nurture and restore and the innovative educational and cultural facilities that we build intersect here, showing that we are at the same time looking at the future. Sava Square will thus become the future educational and cultural city center, which will offer fellow citizens, as well as all visitors, the best of “both worlds”.
