Eurovision Song Contest 2008

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian: Kraljevina Jugoslavija / Краљевина Југославија; Slovene: Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Serbo-Croatian: Kraljevina Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca / Краљевина Срба, Хрвата и Словенаца; Slovene: Kraljevina Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev), but the term "Yugoslavia" (literally "Land of South Slavs") was its colloquial name due to its origins. The official name of the state was changed to "Kingdom of Yugoslavia" by King Alexander I on 3 October 1929.The preliminary kingdom was formed in 1918 by the merger of the provisional State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (itself formed from territories of the former Austria-Hungary, encompassing today's Bosnia and Herzegovina and most of today's Croatia and Slovenia) and Banat, Bačka and Baranja (that had been part of the Kingdom of Hungary within Austria-Hungary) with the formerly independent Kingdom of Serbia. In the same year, the Kingdom of Montenegro also proclaimed its unification with Serbia, whereas the regions of Kosovo and Vardar Macedonia had become parts of Serbia prior to the unification.The state was ruled by the Serbian dynasty of Karađorđević, which previously ruled the Kingdom of Serbia under Peter I from 1903 (after the May Coup) onward. Peter I became the first king of Yugoslavia until his death in 1921. He was succeeded by his son Alexander I, who had been regent for his father. He was known as "Alexander the Unifier" and he renamed the kingdom "Yugoslavia" in 1929. He was assassinated in Marseille by Vlado Chernozemski, a member of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), during his visit to France in 1934. The crown passed to his 11-year-old son Peter. Alexander's cousin Paul ruled as Prince regent until 1941, when Peter II came of age. The royal family flew to London the same year, prior to the country being invaded by the Axis powers. In April 1941, the country was occupied and partitioned by the Axis powers. A royal government-in-exile, recognized by the United Kingdom and, later, by all the Allies, was established in London. In 1944, after pressure from the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the King recognized the government of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia as the legitimate government. This was established on 2 November following the signing of the Treaty of Vis by Ivan Šubašić (on behalf of the Kingdom) and Josip Broz Tito (on behalf of the Yugoslav Partisans).

Central Serbia (Serbian: централна Србија / centralna Srbija), also referred to as Serbia proper (Serbian: ужа Србија / uža Srbija), is the region of Serbia lying outside the provinces of Vojvodina to the north and the disputed territory of Kosovo to the south. Central Serbia is a term of convenience, not an administrative division of Serbia as such, and does not have any form of separate administration. Broadly speaking, Central Serbia is the historical core of modern Serbia, which emerged from the Serbian Revolution (1804–17) and subsequent wars against the Ottoman Empire. In the following century, Serbia gradually expanded south, acquiring South Serbia, Kosovo, Sandžak and Vardar Macedonia, and in 1918 – following the unification and annexation of Montenegro and unification of Austro-Hungarian areas left of the Danube and Sava (Vojvodina) – it merged with other South Slavic territories into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The current borders of Central Serbia were defined after World War II, when Serbia became a republic within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, with Kosovo and Vojvodina as its autonomous provinces.

The Čukur Fountain (Serbian: Чукур чесма/Čukur česma) is a monument built to commemorate the Čukur Fountain incident of 15 June 1862, starting with the death of a boy -- Savo Petković -- and growing into a conflict between Serbia and the Ottoman Empire (Serbia being under Ottoman suzerainty at that time). After a quarrel at a fountain, the Serbian and Turkish police came to shoot at each other, after which a riot broke out in the town that lasted the night. The following day, a truce was agreed and the Ottoman police was ordered to leave the Belgrade Fortress, with safe passage guaranteed by the Serbian government. The day after that, while the Pasha of Belgrade summoned the consuls to the fortress, Ottoman cannons were set off shelling the town, leading to the death of 50 civilians and soldiers, 20 houses destroyed, and another 357 damaged. The cause of the Pasha's order is unknown, while some sources suggested that the bombardment was triggered by Serbians firing muskets at the fortress, the British Consul-General concluded that the bombardment was "the mere result of panic and false alarm". The Great Powers met and decided that Ottoman troops leave the Belgrade Fortress; in the following year more than 8,000 Muslims left the city. The monument and fountain is located in Dobračina Street in Belgrade, Serbia, at the site of the initial altercation. The fountain features a bronze sculpture of the apprentice boy that was killed, titled "The Boy With a Broken Pitcher". The memorial fountain was erected in 1931 from an endowment fund established by a tobacco merchant named Toma Vanđel in his will. The design for the bronze sculpture on the marble pedestal was done by Simeon Roksandić, a sculptors of the Serbian Realist movement. A thirteen-year-old boy, Vlastimir Petković, was the model for the sculpture (it was a coincidence that he had the same last name as the victim of the conflict). The following words are written on the monument: "IN THE MEMORY OF THE EVENTS OF 26 May IN 1862, AT ČUKUR FOUNTAIN, THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED AS THE LEGACY OF VANĐEL TOMA IN 1931." (All sources state that the events occurred on 15 June 1862. It is not known who changed the date or why.) The first competition for the monument was opened in 1912, but the outbreak of World War I postponed the raising of the monument. There is little information about that tender, probably because of the spreading of the First World War, which disabled the building of the monument. In 1927, Roksandić submitted the design for the monument to the art section of the Municipality of the City of Belgrade. The monument was built with the sculpture a marble pedestal, and a small pool where the water from the pitcher spilled. A marble bench was placed next to the fountain. The monument was completed in 1931.On 5 February 1965 the fountain was declared a cultural monument.In May 2010, vandals stole the sculpture of the boy, banged it with a hammer and sold it to the owner of an unauthorized dump in Krnjača for 20 thousand RSD. The sculpture was broken into 22 pieces but was ultimately repaired. The reconstruction took three months to complete.

Union University is a higher education institution with headquarters in Belgrade, Serbia. Founded on 21 June 2005, it has 3,114 enrolled students as of 2018–2019 school year, which makes it the fifth largest private university in Serbia.

Pavlović`s family house family is situated in Belgrade, at 39 Gospodar Jevremova Street, and it has the status of the cultural monument. The house was built in 1882as a ground-floor family house of Kosta St. Pavlović , then head of the department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the former mayor of Niš after the liberation from Ottoman rule. Before the very building of the house, Kosta Pavlović along with the professor Ljuba Kovačević and the general Јovan Mišković (latter presidents of Serbian Royal Academy) bought the lots in a row, on the bank of the Danube. Up to now, there are „testimonies“ of the mayor Ž.M.Blaznavac about the purchase of the lots.

The Steam Bath of Brothers Krsmanović is the former public bath in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Built from 1901 to the 1920s around the former Turkish bath from the 18th century, it was the last operational public bath in Belgrade, until it was closed in 2004. In 2001 the edifice was declared a cultural monument. The first public swimming pool in Belgrade was opened in the venue in 1904.

House of Stevan Mokranjac in Belgrade is significant as the house where the famous composer Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac lived and worked, during his stay in Belgrade. It is located on the corner of 16, Dositej Street and Gospodar Jevremova. The house was built as a family house of Jakov Damjanović, building contractor, in 1872. From July 1878 to May 1879, the house was used for housing the humanitarian organization of the English Institute for Serbian Orphans, later the Institute for Serbian Orphans, which was founded by English physician Dr. Henri Ciman after the Serbian-Turkish wars and for whose needs, a garden wing was added next to the building. In the house, Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac (1856—1914) lived and worked, as the most prominent Serbian composer and choirmaster, teacher and collector of folk melodies with which he enriched art music. He completed his music studies studied in Germany and Italy. He was a representative of musical realism and one of the most important figures in the history of Serbian music at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. highest achievement was reached by his work Руковети, and one of his most important and most frequently performed spiritual compositions is the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

House of Leona Panajot is at 31 Francuska Street in Belgrade, in the city municipality of Stari grad. It was built in 1908, and represents immovable cultural property as a cultural monument.The building was constructed as a multi-storey detached house by the architect Đura Bajalović. It consists of a basement, ground floor, first floor and attic. Architecturally, it is designed in the style of Art Nouveau. As a pronounced work of this style, the house was presented at the Fourth Yugoslav Art Exhibition in Belgrade in 1912. His brother Petar Bajalović designed the Serbian Pavilion for the International Art Exhibition in Rome in 1911.Art Nouveau features of this facade are the vertical division with shallow pilasters, asymmetry, horizontal cornices which do not reflect the level of internal division of levels, shallow embossed floral decoration, segmental-arched shapes of window frames, and polychrome. Especially interesting is the square tower on the corner of the building, with a prominent oriel window. A rare example of Belgrade Art Nouveau is the nearly circular box that frames the central balcony opening on the floor. Decorative treatment is characterized by rich floral ornaments both on the façade in the mortar, and on the door panels, with expertly executed and harmoniously fit artisan details. The gateway to the courtyard of wrought iron is also a prominent example of Art Nouveau. With its harmonious architectural design and rich plastic, it stands out as a representative example of an urban residential house of early 20th century, with rare consistently applied Art Nouveau style in Belgrade. The character of the building stems from the fact that it represents an outstanding work of art of the famous Belgrade architect and that is of particular importance for the development of the architecture of Belgrade in the first decade of the 20th century. House of Leona Panajot was declared a cultural monument in 1997 (Decision, "Official Gazette of RS", No.51/97).

The cultural-historical complex in the area around Dositej's Lyceum is one of the oldest and most important city parts in Belgrade, which centre formed at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century.

Nikola Pašić's House (Serbian: Кућа Николе Пашића, Kuća Nikole Pašića) is located at 21 Francuska Street, in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Originally built in 1872 and thoroughly expanded in 1921, it was purchased by the longtime prime minister Nikola Pašić in 1893. It was declared a cultural monument in 1984.

House of Milan Piroćanac is located in Belgrade, Serbia, at the corner of Francuska and Simina streets, and it has the status of a cultural monument.

First Belgrade Gymnasium (Serbian: Прва београдска гимназија, romanized: Prva beogradska gimnazija) is a gymnasium (Central European type of grammar school) with a long tradition, founded in 1839 in Belgrade, Serbia. Since 1938, it is situated in the center of the city, on 61 Cara Dušana Street. The Church of St. Alexander Nevsky is located next to the school. In October 1838, Kragujevac was the capital of Serbia. But despite it being the main cultural center at the time, Miloš Obrenović decided for First Belgrade Gymnasium (grammar school) to be founded in Belgrade, in an area called Dorćol (Dort-yol). The school was instituted on 18 June 1839. At that time, it was located on Jug Bogdan's Street number 26, which was the residence of Nikola Selaković. At the very beginning, it had only two grades, but in the next four years, the school's system was significantly upgraded so at the end, it had a total of five grades. It could be said that in the 1842–43 school year, the school actually became a real gymnasium. The first school professors were Vasilije Berara and Mihajlo Popović, who functioned as the school's headmaster as well. According to a law from 1844, and thanks to Jovan Sterija Popović, teachings and classes in the school were reformed, so that the 6th grade was actually added to the school's system. With this addition, First Belgrade Gymnasium received the same status like other European higher class schools. That year, the school got its first library.