Probably one of the most interesting facts about Belgrade is that it exists at all. In its long history, it has been devastated more than twenty times. The reasons people continued living there is that it ocupies a vital strategic position at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, and lies on the cross roads between east and west. The Celts were the first to settle there, and later the Romans built a city there. The Huns, the Goths and the Avars all possessed it. Finally, it was settled by the Slavs and remained, with interuptions, one of the chief cities of Serbian state, until Turks took it away from the Hungarians in 1521. Numerous battles were fought for it, in and around it. It is not surprising that very few antiquites survive, though it would be much more but for the violent German bombardment in 1941. The NATO bombardment in the spring 1999 had destroyed almost all of the very few authentic buildings, but the city wall, built in 16th century as a protection from Turks, still remains (although in ruins) as one of the major characteristics of Belgrade. Furthermore, Serbia has been through five wars during the last decade, and Belgrade is a true image of a third world capital with the government in a trasition from dictatorship to democracy, with the devastated economy and overall decline of society. (1)
             Belgrade, with its two million residents, is located in Serbia , at the place where the Sava joins the Danube. It is one of the oldest cities in Europe, and besides Athens, the greatest urban whole of the Balkans. The oldest archeological artefacts in Belgrade date back to the fifth millenium BC. It is the capital of Serbia and Yugoslavia, whic is multietnical country, with 63% Serbs, 14% Albanian, 6% Montenengrin, 4% Hungarian, and 13% others. 65% of the population are Christian Orthodox, 19% Muslim, 4% Roman Catholic, 1% Protestant and 11% others. (2). The form of government today is multiparty federal democrac...