Alley of meritorious citizens: Who is destined for eternal rest among the famous?

Actors, writers, poets, sportsmen, singers, politicians and important figures of other professions are buried in the Alley of meritorious citizens, side by side.

Unlike the Alley of the Great, where today only descendants are buried, the funeral in the Alley of Meritorious Citizens is regulated by the city Decision on the arrangement and maintenance of the cemetery and burial.

The administration of the City of Belgrade did not accept the initiative Support of fine artists of applied arts and designers of Serbia (ULUPUDS) that the photographer Tomislav Peternek be buried in the Alley of meritorious citizens.

His family did not want to comment on this decision. They told us that they "don't want the story of the blindness of this society to overshadow the story of its greatness."

A stormy public discussion on this topic was also started after the death of folk music singers Džej Ramadanovski, Šaban Šaulić and football player Dragoslav Šekularac, who after that still got a place as an eternal starter among celebrities.

Who is buried in the Alley of meritorious citizens?

In the graves of the Alley of meritorious citizens, the coffins of several people are mostly laid, but there are also individual graves - for example, Zoran Djindjic, the former Prime Minister of Serbia.

In the past, more care was taken to have people of the same and similar occupations in the same tomb, but the lack of space changed the rule.

The original idea was also that spouses could not be buried together, but there are exceptions.

The poet Vasko Popa and his wife Haša Popa, as well as the painter Paja Jovanović and his wife Ermina Muni Jovanović, were buried together.

Unlike the greats of folk music, singer Toma Zdravković and Silvana Armenulić, who died while Yugoslavia existed, their colleagues - Predrag Cune Gojković and Staniša Stošić - who died in the previous decade, were buried in the Alley of Meritorious Citizens.

"Certain occupations had to pass the test of time and that is very important." she explained to BBC in Serbian formerly Violeta Obrenović, art historian of the company Pogrebne usluge.

The writers Danilo Kiš, Meša Selimović and Skender Kulenović, as well as the painter Petar Lubarda, are also buried in the Alley of Meritorious Citizens.

Great actors Olivera and Rada Marković, Zoran Radmilović, Dragan Nikolić and Milena Dravić, Petar Kralj, Nebojša Glogovac, director Jovan Ćirilov, writer Milorad Pavić and others are also buried there.

Alley of Deserving Citizens

The alley of meritorious citizens was designed by the architect Svetislav Ličina, and the construction was completed in 1965.

At first it was called the Cemetery of Meritorious Citizens.

It is located on an area of ​​about 4.200 square meters and has been expanded several times.

It represents a special architectural unit where almost 800 personalities of special importance for Serbian and Yugoslav history and culture are buried.

A person can be buried in a tomb - where chests are placed, rosariums - which are intended for placing urns in the ground and columbariums - partitions in semicircular concrete walls, conchas.

The tombs can be arranged next to each other or placed in a circle of five in a row, spreading radially.

Due to the concept that everyone is buried "equal in merit - regardless of occupation", the appearance of the plates is identical.

The initial idea was not to draw religious symbols on the plates - primarily crosses, as well as ideological symbols - pentagrams, but not everyone adhered to this.

Who can be buried in the Alley of Meritorious Citizens?

In addition to holders of the highest state honors, members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and honorary citizens of Belgrade, persons nominated by the relevant associations to which they belonged and their families can rest in the Alley.

"The mayor of the city of Belgrade can exceptionally decide that another person can be buried in special plots, who during his life was prominent in the area in which he operated", it is written in Decisions.

Although the final decision is made by the mayor's office, the family of the deceased must agree if they want to bury the deceased in that place.

Burials in the Alley of Meritorious Citizens are regulated by the city's Decision on the arrangement and maintenance of cemeteries and burials, more specifically in Articles 36 and 36 b.

Based on the aforementioned Decision, a deserving person is a person who received the highest degree of honor of the Republic of Serbia during his lifetime, a person who obtained the title of academician of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and a person who was awarded the title of honorary citizen of Belgrade, i.e. a person who received the Award of the City of Belgrade .

"Family members cannot be buried in the graves in the Alley of Meritorious Citizens." The families need to know that in order to eventually decide whether they want the funeral to be in the Alley of Merited Citizens or perhaps it is more advisable to have it in a family grave," he said earlier for RTS Dragan Baltovski, director of PUK Funeral Services, whose jurisdiction is Novo Groblje.