Bulbulder (; often erroneously Bulbuder (Булбудер)) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Zvezdara.
Location
Bulbulder is located in the western section of Zvezdara municipality, some 2.5 kilometers east from downtown Belgrade (Terazije). It spreads mostly between the streets of Dimitrija Tucovića on the south and Svetog Nikole on the north. It borders the neighborhood of Đeram on the south, Slavujev Venac on the west, Belgrade New Cemetery on the north-west, Zvezdara II on the north and Zvezdara itself on the east.
Name
The neighborhood's name means "nightingale valley" and comes from Turkish words bülbül, nightingale, and dere, valley. Apparently, the entire surrounding area was populated by nightingales, as the neighboring areas are called Slavujev Venac and Slavujev Potok (Serbian for "nightingale's rim" and "nightingale's creek", respectively).
History
Pre-19th century
In the 17th century. the Ottomans built a water supply system in the area, the Bulbulder waterworks. It was made from the short, baked-earth pipes (čunak). In the 18th century, Austrian occupational administration built the Town's waterworks. With the oldest, Mokri Lug waterworks, all three merged into the single system, which converged under the Terazije, where the water separating reservoir was built.
When Belgrade was occupied in 1717 by the Austria, a defense moat was built whose outer section crossed the Veliki Vračar hill, where the modern Volgina Street is today. After Austria re-occupied Belgrade in 1789, the trench was reconstructed by the general Ernst Gideon von Laudon and became known as the "Laudan's trench" (Serbian: Laudanov šanac or simply Šanac). When Bulbulder developed later, this marked its easternmost extension, becoming known as the Baba Ruža's End.
Chronicler Milan Milićević noted that during this Austrian occupation, Bulbulder for Belgraders had the function which in the early 1900s had Topčider: a green, forested excursion area just outside of the city. Also, it was the market place where more "exotic" goods could be purchased, like the "figs from the (Adriatic) sea" and "grapes from Mostar".
19th century
The creek which used to flow through the neighborhood has been conducted underground into the sewage system. It was named Slavujev potok or Bulbulderski potok (Slavuj or Bulbulder Creek) and originated near the clinical center Zvezdara. It flew down in the direction of the moderns streets of Dimitrija Tucovića, Ruzveltova and Mije Kovačevića, before emptying into the Danube east of the present location of the Pančevo Bridge. At the modern corner of the Cvijićeva and Zdravka Čelara, there was a widening, where the creek would overspill and the pond would form. Local population came to the pond for harvesting reeds and shooting ducks. Historically, until World War I term Bulbulder was applied to the much wider area than the modern local community covers. It included the entire valley of the Bulbulder Creek with the Veliki Vračar hill, especially its right bank which would today also include Zvezdara Forest, Slavujev Venac, Slavujev Potok, Hadžipopovac and Profesorska Kolonija. In the 19th century, the upper section of the neighborhood had a string of brickworks which used the local clay.
Major changes ensued after 1886 and construction of the Belgrade New Cemetery in the neighborhood. The main street which connected the neighborhood to the rest of Belgrade, Grobljanski Put (Cemetery Road, later street; renamed tp Ruzveltova in 1946) became much busier. In 1893, a tram line of public transportation was conducted through the street. Originally assigned No. 3, it was later changed to No. 8 and in 1949 it became No. 13. Because of this, a small bridge was built over the creek in the 19th century, on the route of the modern Ruzveltova Street, on the western border of the neighborhood, in the Slavujev Venac section. Original wooden bridge was replaced with the stone one in 1929, and today there is a modern overpass. The bridge was replaced mainly to make easier access to the cemetery, further down the Ruzveltova Street. Old bridge was often getting covered in ice during the winter and numerous accidents were recorded.