Topciderski park Traditional Geocache
Nikrmana: Unfortunately there's been some continuing issues with this cache and there is no option to replace it, thus I am archiving it. I'm also archiving it to keep it from continually showing up in search lists, and to prevent it from blocking other cache placements.
If you wish to repair/replace the cache sometime in the future, just contact us (by email), and assuming it meets the guidelines, we'll be happy to unarchive it.
Nikrmana
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The cache is hidden in Topcider park, a very nice and green part of Belgrade near the city center. Please hide the cache as it was hidden when you found it.
The cache is a nano container, wrapped in leaves. Please bring a pen with you to sign the logbook.
During the Ottoman occupation, the valley of the Topciderska reka (river) and Topcider forest were locations where the Turkish artillery was positioned, intended to defend Belgrade, being distant from the town itself at the time (thus many military barracks to defend the city from later periods, but the town later spawned tens of kilometers further). This is how the area got its name as in Turkish Topcider means "artillery men's valley".
History of Topcider park itself begins in 1831 when the Prince of Serbia Miloš Obrenovic start building his personal quarters in the swampy terrain of Topcider, today one of the major attractions in Belgrade, the famous Milošev konak. Importance which Topcider gained for the city population can be seen from a fact that in 1884 it got its own railway station even though it had no settlement of its own at the time and also one of the very first tram lines in Belgrade used to connect Terazije and Topcider.A stone church, inn and military complex were also constructed. Planting of trees also began, mostly platanus, which are today among the oldest ones in Europe. The biggest and oldest platanus, protected by the state, is 34 meters high and diameter of the deck is 55 meters, while the shade of its crown covers an area of 1,400 square meters. Some sources claim it was planted in 1834 when prince Miloš ordered for a seedling of platanus to be planted in the lime kiln in front of the konak. Other, more reliable sources say the tree was planted in 1868, when 250 seedlings of platanus were bought in Vienna, Austro-Hungary, for which a receipt still exist today.
Even older is the almost 180-year-old pear tree, nicknamed kruška topciderka ("pear of Topcider"). According to the popular legend, it was planted by prince Miloš few years after the konak was finished. He wanted to redeem to his wife princess Ljubica because of his frequent infidelities and in front of the pear seedling swore to loyalty. It still bears fruits, so attempts are being made to produce its seedling in the greenhouse. The pear is surrounded by five pedunculate oak, all of which are over 100 years old.
Topcider was the first public park outside the central city area. Many monuments are centered around the konak: the binjektaš stone ("hopping stone") which prince Miloš used to jump on a horse, Museum of the First Serbian Uprising (in the konak itself), three public drinking fountains with additional fourth with lion's heads which was temporarily moved here, but restored in 1976 and returned to its original location in Terazije, and the stone obelisk erected in 1859, one of the first public monuments in Belgrade. A bronze monument to the Swiss doctor and philanthropist Archibald Reiss (by Marko Brežanin) was erected in 1931.
Simultaneously with the construction of the ruling complex of Knez Milos Obrenovic the surrounding area was arranged as well. Opposite the Konak, a court church dedicated to St. Apostles Peter and Paul was built in 1832. At this place in 1804 on the order of the leader of the First Serbian Uprising, Karadjordje Petrovic, his main rival, later to be a Serbian ruler and leader of Second Serbian Uprising, Prince Milos Obrenovic, should have been executed. Since the Prince evaded the execution, he built as the expression of gratefulness for the life saved, the endowment - a single nave arched church, with a two-storied baroque bell tower at the same place. Its standard was Vracevsnica, a monastery in Sumadija.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gurer vf n ubyr va n gerr...