The Republic Square or the Square of the Republic (Serbian: Трг републике / Trg republike) is one of the central town squares and an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, located in the Stari Grad municipality. It is the site of some of Belgrade's most recognizable public buildings, including the National Museum, the National Theatre and the statue of Prince Michael. The Celtic and Roman predecessor of Belgrade was Singidunum. Castrum occupied part of today's Belgrade Fortress but the civilian zone spread from the Kralja Petra Street, over both the Sava and Danube slopes, till Kosančićev Venac, extending in a series of necropolises from Republic Square, along the Bulevar kralja Aleksandra all the way to the Mali Mokri Lug. Necropolis at Republic Square contained a well-shaped graves from the 1st century AD. In general, the largest section of the civilian settlement was situated between the modern Simina (Dorćol) and Brankova streets (Zeleni Venac, Kosančićev Venac), and the Republic Square. During the digging of the foundations for the Monument to Prince Michael in 1882, tombs from different periods of Roman rule were discovered. One tomb was made from bricks, and there were 13 circular and 2 rectangle grave pits. Some of them are "well-tombs", named so because they are more than 10 m (33 ft) deep. The "well-tombs" are rare in these areas and it is believed that the custom arrived from Gaul. The brick tomb, which contained rushlight, was discovered close to the Čika Ljubina Street, while the other pits were where the monument is today. The materials found in the tombs include pottery fragments and vessels, pieces of terracotta and stone statues, fan-shaped floor tiles, bronze and bone needles, bricks, rushlights, etc. The pits were filled with ashes and contained animal bones. Coins and bronze rings, parts of the armor, have also been discovered. These "well-tombs" are considered to be the oldest part of the vast Singidunum necropolis, originating from c.100 AD, while the brick tomb is dated to c.400 and some of its bricks have a stamp of the Legio IV Flavia Felix. The entire square area belongs to the Archaeological Site of Singidunum, which was declared a protected zone on 30 June 1964. During the 2018–2019 renovation, two additional, though devastated tombs were discovered. Architecture In terms of architecture, the square is not favorably perceived by the architects and artists nor is considered a proper square, which are generally lacking in Belgrade. Isidora Sekulić wrote in the 1930s that "in Belgrade, you have no beautiful squares. The square is a bordered and appeasing plane, which can't express the real character of Belgrade which is arbitrary, complex and opposed to the planimetrics". During the Interbellum, the square was smaller and less "spilled" than it is today. One the sides where the Press House, space in front of it and park area in front of the Staklenac are today, the square was cornered by two blocks of tall and unrepresentative buildings. In such arrangement, the Riunione Palace (modern Boško Buha Theatre) was de facto the frontal edifice of the square's composition, despite the building of the National Theatre was clearly the most public object. The objects surrounding the square were all of different heights, creating "height schism" and not allowing for the buildings to be considered as an "ensemble". As a result of this, after the Riunione Palace was built in 1931, it created insulating fluctuation, both daily and seasonal. After the noon, one half of the square is in deep shade while the other is fully lit up. In summer, this becomes extreme due to the heat, which was only aggravated with the 2018-2019 reconstruction. Building of the Mortgage Bank (now a National Museum) wasn't a proper public building until it was adapted into the museum. Just as the height is diversified, the arrangement on the ground is off the markers, too. The strictly symmetrical front façade of the museum faces the monument to Prince Michael, which, however, is not in the symmetrical axis regarding the museum's façade. Older, monument was placed right in the central axis between the Vasina and Čika Ljubina streets and misses the museum's axis because the streets are not equally wide. After the reconstruction, the square retained its amorphous borderline. The curved section to the Kolarčeva Street was bounded by two rows of trees, some of which withered before the reconstruction was finished. However, several trees were placed in front of the museum's front façade, closing it, especially as the trees grow bigger in the future. Though it was tried to transform the square into the "casserole" (tepsija), the perceptive plane of the square was indeed lowered to the level zero but it only made obvious the tilting of the square. While some, even more tilted squares are considered architectural gems, like the Piazza Grande in Arezzo, the Republic Square misses all the important elements: spatial articulation, borderline edifices and impeccable junction details of all objects with the paved ground. In the "shaved" square, the tilted empty space reinforced its "collage" character. In December 2021, the existing 21 trees on the square were replaced, with the idea of uniforming the species of trees. Newly planted but already mostly withered sycamore maples were replaced with plane trees. Maple trees which remained in good shape were replanted across the city. However, the older linden trees, across the street and in front of the Staklenac, were not replaced with planes, but with ash trees. Prince Michael monument The bronze statue of Prince Michael on a horse, by the Italian sculptor Enrico Pazzi was erected in 1882. It was erected in honor of the Prince's most important political achievement, complete expulsion of the Turks from Serbia and liberation of the remaining 7 cities within (then) Serbian territory, still under the Turkish rule (1867). The names of the cities are carved on a plates on the monument itself, on the statue's pedestal and prince is sculptured with his hand allegedly pointing to Constantinople, showing the Turks to leave. During recent years, the role and honor of prince somewhat fell into the oblivion and the statue became simply known as kod konja (Serbian for 'at the horse'). Even the nearby restaurant is named that way, Kod konja.