FAMOUS FORTRESS AS FLOWER GARDEN

Shannon News, 6 August 1929, Page 4

FAMOUS FORTRESS AS FLOWER GARDEN

SCENE OP MANY ATTACKS. A high, precipitous hill that used to glower out over the Danube Kiver, with its angry guns pointed at a neighbouring State, has been converted into a flower garden, a playground for little children, a refuge for those who want to sit quietly in the shade of well-kept trees, and a rendezvous for friends (-Whites "E.H.M." in the Christian Science Monitor). That is Kale Megdcn, the famous fortress of Belgrade. It is a steep cliff, pushing sharply into the angle made by the juncture of the Save and Danube' rivers. At its outmost tip it still bears massive old buildings, sheer walls and barricades, and they have withstood many fierce attacks.- Centuries ago, after the Turks had overrun the Balkans ano defeated the Serbs at the Battle of Kossovo, sung ever since by sad Serbian minstrels, they pressed on to the Danube and made Belgrade fortress their stronghold and the fitting symbol of their oppressive power. United With History.

But finally, after hundreds of years, the Serbs won -it back, and it became ft rallying point for them in their continuous struggles for liberation. It bocame the symbol' of the might of freedom in the struggle against despotism. Little by little. Serbia expanded her borders and increased her power until she came into conflict with Austria. .And it was just at this point that the World War began. Belgrade was the first fortress to be attacked. It held out for many months, and stood massive and lofty as a Servian Gilbrditar, but in the end succumbed. Serbia was overrun and occupied. But now all that is history. Serbia has been converted into Jugo Slavia her boundaries have been pushed far from Belgrade in every direction, and the old fortress no longer has any border to watch.- No more can it glare at a foreign empire, nor does it need !:o serve as a refuge against the Turk:-. So the whole atmosphere of the place has been changed. Over the top of the old hili is spread -one of the most beautiful small > parks in the Balkans. It has meandering walks, flourishing grass, an abundance of trees, pleasant retreats, and a large variety of flowers. Oho one side it overlooks the Save,

■;(!• below. From the other side can be :i.:rn tlie Danube. Behind stretch the streets of the Jugo-Slav capital, the Dow Belgrade. One long boulevard starts in the park itself and runs almost straight for miles to -the other end of the town. It passes near the cathedral, the main hotel, and the university, and ends an, another hill near a cluster of massive new hospital buildings. It is well paved and well lighted, and further, it is daily swept and washed.. Converted Into Paris.

Midway between the ends there branches'off to the right a broad new strce, lined by scores of new, large, official State buildings. Not far from the place where these streets meet as the new palace of the King, w uic]l 1S a large, semi-circular building embracing a beautifully' kept lawn and flower garden, opening on to the main boulcyard. On the left runs another wide, newly-paved street, passing the nCAv Parliament House, t,ho enormous now university building for the technical department, and new students' home built, by the King. i j A fortress converted into a park and 'a village* transformed into a beautiful city—perhaps these arc rightly symbolic of Serbia that, has been changed into Jugo-Slavia.