Nikola Pašić Square

Nikola Pašić Square (Serbian: Trg Nikole Pašića) is one of the central town squares and an urban neighborhoods of Belgrade. The square is named after Nikola Pašić who served as mayor of Belgrade, prime minister of Serbia and prime minister of Yugoslavia. Until 1992 the square was named Square of Marx and Engels (Serbian: Trg Marksa i Engelsa).

The square was built during the 1950s as part of a massive Terazije reorganization project. Inaugurated as the Marx and Engels Square in honour of the famous communist theoreticians, its original terrain was so hilly that lots of earth had to be removed in order to make its construction possible.

Subsequently, in the late 1980s, it was one of the Belgrade’s first toponyms to change its name with the closing of the era of Socialist Yugoslavia.

A monument to Nikola Pašić was erected in the early 1990s. When the statue was to be erected, ideas of bringing back earth to the square in order to create the artificial hillock as a pedestal for the monument appeared, but were ultimately abandoned.

The dominant architectural features in the square are the massive “Dom sindikata” building and one of the Belgrade’s largest fountains. Museum of Yugoslav History is located across the fountain. Adjacent to the square is the Pioneers Park as well as the buildings of the Belgrade City Hall and the Presidency of the Republic.

The pedestrian section of the square is used for various public events, most notably open flower, honey, and book sales. On occasion, artificial ice rink or beach volley sand courts are put up as seasonal attractions in winter and summer, respectively.