Boleč ( sr-cyr, Болеч) is a suburban settlement of

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. It is located in the municipality of

Grocka Grocka ( sr-cyr, Гроцка, ) or Grocka na Dunavu ( sr-cyr, Гроцка на Дунаву, ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade. According to the 2022 census results, the municipality has 82,810 inhabitants. L ...

Location

Boleč is located 17 km east of the Belgrade, near the road of ''Smederevski put'' which connects Belgrade and

Smederevo Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, ...

. One of the branches of the

Bolečica The Bolečica ( sr-Cyrl, Болечица) is a short river in north-central Serbia, a 12 km-long right tributary to the Danube. During its entire flow it runs through the suburban section of Belgrade and despite being short it flows through ...

river flows through the settlement and gives its name to it (its derived from Serbian words for ''bol'' (pain) and ''leči(ti)'' (to cure), so it means the ''water that heals the pain'').

History

Well preserved bust of the Roman emperor

Macrinus Marcus Opellius Macrinus (; – June 218) was a Roman emperor who reigned from April 217 to June 218, jointly with his young son Diadumenianus. Born in Caesarea (now called Cherchell, in modern Algeria), in the Roman province of Mauretania ...

(ruled 217-218) was found in Boleč. The locality was situated halfway between the ancient

Singidunum Singidunum ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Сингидунум, Singidunum) was an ancient city which later evolved into modern Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The name is of Celtic origin, going back to the time when the Celtic tribe Scordisci settled the a ...

, predecessor of modern Belgrade, and the modern village of Brestovik, which was also settled by the Romans. It was also close to the ''Tricornium'' fort, in modern

Ritopek Ritopek (Serbian Cyrillic: Ритопек, ) is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the municipality of Grocka, 20 km east of Belgrade and 19 km west of the municipal seat, on the right bank of the Danube, acros ...

Population

For decades the population of Boleč was growing. Since the mid-1970s however, the settlement (classified as the rural one, the village) is experiencing accelerated growth which continues until today, with large number of refugees from Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo settling in this area. Originally south of the ''Smederevski put'', as the settlement was growing it reached the road and connected to other surrounding villages (

Vinča Vinča ( sr-cyr, Винча, ) is a List of Belgrade neighborhoods, suburban settlement of Belgrade, Serbia. It is part of the municipality of Grocka. Vinča-Belo Brdo, an important archaeological site that gives its name to the Neolithic Vinča c ...

Leštane Leštane ( sr-cyr, Лештане) is a suburban settlement in Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the municipality of Grocka. Location Leštane is located 15 km east of Belgrade, originally further away from the major roads. As the settlement e ...

), so today it makes one built-up area all the way to Belgrade. Population of Boleč: * 1921 - 890 * 1953 - 1,213 * 1971 - 1,476 * 1981 - 3,360 * 1991 - 4,659 * 2002 - 5,750

Notable people

* Janko Gagić, notable Serbian soldier and folk leader assassinated during the Slaughter of the Dukes * Igor Krmar, professional football player *

Đorđe Crnomarković Đorđe Crnomarković ( sr-Cyrl, Ђорђе Црномарковић; born 10 September 1993) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Vojvodina. Club career Crnomarković started career playing with Beograd, and late ...

, professional football player * Marija Popović, a personality in the world of robotics and informative path-planning in the ETH laboratories.

Economy

Until the late 1970s and early 1980s the economy of Boleč was based on agriculture, especially on fruit growing as the one of major Serbian fruit regions begins here and stretches to Smederevo, 35 km to the east. Since then, a boom in privately owned small companies boosted the economy and attracted new population to migrate in the settlement. The only large company is the branch of PKB, agricultural company, with fruit plantations and huge refrigerators (''PKB - Voćarske plantaže'').

Sports and culture

Boleč is the home for the

FK Boleč Fudbalski klub Boleč (Serbian Cyrillic: Фудбалски клуб Болеч) is a Serbian amateur football club based in Belgrade, more precisely from the Boleč suburban neighborhood. The club currently competes in the Belgrade Zone League) 4t ...

football club that competes in lower ranks of Belgrade football. The locally well known folk dance ensemble "KUD Boleč" (Cultural-artistic society Boleč) (Serbian: Kulturno-umetničko društvo Boleč) comes from this settlement.

References

Sources

* Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): ''Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije''; Svjetlost-Sarajevo; Suburbs of Belgrade Šumadija {{BelgradeRS-geo-stub