Dunavski Park
Novi Sad through the memories of old postcards: [from the collection of Slavko Košutić] / edited by Slavko Košutić; [text authors Živko Marković, Donka Stančić, Đorđe Srbulović]. - Novi Sad: Futura, 1996 (Novi Sad: Futura). - [84] p. : illustration ; 32 cm
Dunavski Park is the oldest existing place for walking and relaxation of Novi Sad citizens. For a long time, there was a liman – a backwater of the Danube, and Dunavski Park as we know it today was mentioned for the first time in a record from 1810. Substantial arrangements of this area took place at the turn of the 20th century when the footpaths were made and the gazebo built. At the entrance to the park from Dunavska Street, the first sculpture of “Girl with Cornucopiaˮ by Đorđe Jovanović was placed in 1912.
While walking in the park or boating on the lake for pleasure, a military band played music in a place called “Promenadaˮ. In winter, the lake was frozen, so there was an ice rink. The next arrangement of the park took place in the 1930s along with the building of the so-called “Mali Limanˮ. The park was then landscaped from all sides and got its present appearance and size. The first tennis court was also built, where the greatest European tennis players of that time used to play.
DUNAVSKI PARK IN NOVI SAD
(Excerpt from the lyrical prose Novi Sad na Vatri [Novi Sad on fire])
Parks are said to be the soul of a city. Dunavski Park in Novi Sad is too small for the city to breathe through it. Novi Sad breathes across the Danube; fresh air, at least when a breeze blows, comes from Mt. Fruška Gora. In Novi Sad, Dunavski Park serves more to show off.
If you look at the park from an aeroplane, you will notice a small crescent-shaped lake in the middle, like a piece of a broken mirror. There is a small island in that lake with a weeping willow in the middle. Because of the lake, Dunavski Park can remind you of Central Park in New York. Dunavski Park versus Central Park is just like Novi Sad versus New York: there is everything you need but to an appropriate extent. The bronze female figure at the entrance to the park from Dunavska Street can remind you of some famous places, such as Old Peterhof or Versailles, especially when water is released and the sculpture becomes part of the fountain: bathed in colourful splashes of water at night, the figure, although not large, seems to be showing off like similar figures from the famous places.
Translated into English: Olivera Krivošić
Images
Novi Sad through the memories of old postcards: [from the collection of Slavko Košutić] / edited by Slavko Košutić; [text authors Živko Marković, Donka Stančić, Đorđe Srbulović]. - Novi Sad: Futura, 1996 (Novi Sad: Futura). - [84] p. : illustration ; 32 cm
