Provocative and mysterious stories from Belgrade’s bathing areas: Photo exhibition “Ancestral Beaches”

On the plateau below the large stairs on Kalemegdan, a valuable exhibition of photos “Beaches of the ancestors” was opened, which were donated and collected by the editors and members of the Facebook group “Once upon a time, Belgrade was”.

More than 130 photos that have not been published so far because they were not taken in photo studios and are family property, testify to what the bathing areas on the Sava and Danube looked like in the pre-war period.

– The topic of Belgrade’s beaches on the Sava and Danube, as well as river beaches in Serbia in general, was not dealt with by anyone before us, except incidentally and superficially. That’s why the photos and texts from this exhibition are full of surprises – points out Branka Đorđević Nakaniši, one of the authors of the exhibition alongside Jelena Janić Ljubisavljević, Sofija Mrišuk, Dragoljub Gajić, Zoran Živković and Željko Vuk.

The first beaches and organized baths, fenced wooden pools in the river, began to form already in the first half of the 19th century, and in the interwar period there were dozens of organized baths. According to the authors, there were more such bathing places on the banks of the Sava than on the banks of the Danube, because it was believed that the currents there cured rheumatism, neurasthenia and neuralgia, and there were showers and cabins on the beaches, as well as sports clubs.

– Many of our river beaches were decorated according to the latest European fashion, so they had fancy names, such as “Mon Pleisir”, “Nice”, “Venice”, “Abbacy”. They had changing cabins, fenced pools for children, restaurants, moorings… But they were popular and unorganized beaches, without municipal rules and regulations. There were even wild, nudist beaches – explains Đorđević Nakanishi and adds:

– There were more than 40 beaches, both state and private, as well as wild. In comparison with today’s beaches on Ada, we conclude that in those days, entertainment was more active and dynamic. It wasn’t just swimming and sunbathing. Many played sports, and guitars, accordions and the like were brought to the beaches, so they played and sang. They came in much larger groups than today. In some photos, we can see around twenty friends or extended family members, spending time, having fun, enjoying themselves and socializing in the latest fashion swimwear on the beaches below these ramparts.

This treasury contains provocative photographs that reveal mysterious stories from the capital’s rivers. Among them, which rules had to be followed, because there was a series of regulations that the Administration of the City of Belgrade passed in 1921, which concerned both the safety of the swimming pool and the preservation of public morals.

Also, it was revealed who Femka was, the first woman who bathed with men. We are talking about the assistant in the shop of fashionista Katarina Antonović from Knez Mihailova Street, who managed to disarm the guys on the beach with her red costume, kind behavior and flirtatious smile. Like, who are the young men who took pictures of themselves naked covering their private parts with leaves…

“To the Beaches of the Ancestors” is the editorial team’s fifth exhibition in less than three years. The previous exhibition “In the Paths of the Ancestors” was located at the same place in Kalemegdan, was extended several times and lasted a record year. This one will be open until May 20, but it is already suspected that that date will be moved…

Bonus video: Special caution on wild beaches: The lifeguard explained what to pay attention to