The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct that crosses the Gardon River near the town of Vers-Pont-du-Gard in southern France. The Pont du Gard, built as three tiers of archways to bring water to the city of Nîmes, is the highest of all elevated Roman aqueducts, and one of the best preserved. It was added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1985 because of its historical importance.
The aqueduct bridge is part of the Nîmes aqueduct, a 50-kilometre (31mi) system built in the first century AD to carry water from a spring at Uzès to the Roman colony of Nemausus (Nîmes).[4] Because of the uneven terrain between the two points, the mostly underground aqueduct followed a long, winding route that called for a bridge across the gorge of the Gardon River. The bridge has three tiers of arches, stands 48.8m (160ft) high, and descends a mere 2.5 centimetres (1in)– a gradient of only 1 in 18,241– while the whole aqueduct descends in height by only 12.6m (41ft) over its entire length, which is indicative of the great precision that Roman engineers were able to achieve using simple technology. The aqueduct formerly carried an estimated 40,000m3 (8,800,000impgal) of water a day to the fountains, baths and homes of the citizens of Nîmes. It may have been in use as late as the 6th century, with some parts used for significantly longer, but a lack of maintenance after the 4th century led to clogging by mineral deposits and debris that eventually choked off the flow of water.
After the Roman Empire collapsed and the aqueduct fell into disuse, the Pont du Gard remained largely intact, due to the importance of its secondary function as a toll bridge. For centuries the local lords and bishops were responsible for its upkeep, in exchange for the right to levy tolls on travellers using it to cross the river, although some of its stones were looted and serious damage was inflicted on it in the 17th century. It attracted increasing attention starting in the 18th century, and became an important tourist destination. It underwent a series of renovations between the 18th and 21st centuries, commissioned by the local authorities and the French state, which culminated in 2000 with the opening of a new visitor centre and the removal of traffic and buildings from the bridge and the area immediately around it. Today it is one of France's most popular tourist attractions, and has attracted the attention of a succession of literary and artistic visitors.
Description
Route of the Nîmes aqueduct

The location of Nemausus (Nîmes) was somewhat inconvenient when it came to providing a water supply. Plains lie to the city's south and east, where any sources of water would be at too low an altitude to be able to flow to the city, while the hills to the west made a water supply route too difficult from an engineering point of view. The only real alternative was to look to the north and in particular to the area around Ucetia (Uzès), where there are natural springs.[5]
The Nîmes aqueduct was built to channel water from the springs of the Fontaine d'Eure near Uzès to the castellum divisorum (repartition basin) in Nemausus. From there, it was distributed to fountains, baths and private homes around the city. The straight-line distance between the two is only about 20km (12mi) but the aqueduct takes a winding route measuring around 50km (31mi).[6] This was necessary to circumvent the southernmost foothills of the Massif Central, known as the Garrigues de Nîmes. They are difficult to cross, as they are covered in dense vegetation and garrigue and indented by deep valleys.[7] It was impractical for the Romans to attempt to tunnel through the hills, as it would have required a tunnel of between 8 and 10 kilometres (5 and 6mi), depending on the starting point. A roughly V-shaped course around the eastern end of the Garrigues de Nîmes was therefore the only practical way of transporting the water from the spring to the city.
The Fontaine d'Eure, at 76m (249ft) above sea level, is only 17m (56ft) higher than the repartition basin in Nîmes, but this provided a sufficient gradient to sustain a steady flow of water to the 50,000 inhabitants of the Roman city. The aqueduct's average gradient is only 1 in 3,000. It varies widely along its course, but is as little as 1 in 20,000 in some sections. The Pont du Gard itself descends 2.5cm (0.98in) in 456m (1,496ft), a gradient of 1 in 18,241.[8] The average gradient between the start and end of the aqueduct is far shallower than was usual for Roman aqueducts – only about a tenth of the average gradient of some of the aqueducts in Rome.[9]

The reason for the disparity in gradients along the aqueduct's route is that a uniform gradient would have meant that the Pont du Gard would have been infeasibly high, given the limitations of the technology of the time. By varying the gradient along the route, the aqueduct's engineers were able to lower the height of the bridge by 6 metres (20ft) to 48.77 metres (160.0ft) above the river – still exceptionally high by Roman standards, but within acceptable limits. This height limit governed the profile and gradients of the entire aqueduct, but it came at the price of creating a "sag" in the middle of the aqueduct. The gradient profile before the Pont du Gard is relatively steep, descending at 0.67 metres (2ft 2in) per kilometre, but thereafter it descends by only 6 metres (20ft) over the remaining 25 kilometres (16mi). In one section, the winding route between the Pont du Gard and St Bonnet required an extraordinary degree of accuracy from the Roman engineers, who had to allow for a fall of only 7 millimetres (0.28in) per 100 metres (330ft) of the conduit.[10]

´It is estimated that the aqueduct supplied the city with around 40,000 cubic metres (8,800,000impgal) of water a day[11] that took nearly 27 hours to flow from the source to the city.[12] The water arrived in the castellum divisorum at Nîmes – an open, shallow, circular basin 5.5 m in diameter by 1 m deep. It would have been surrounded by a balustrade within some sort of enclosure, probably under some kind of small but elaborate pavilion. When it was excavated, traces of a tiled roof, Corinthian columns and a fresco decorated with fish and dolphins were discovered in a fragmentary condition.[13] The aqueduct water entered through an opening 1.2 metres (3ft 11in) wide, and ten large holes in the facing wall, each 40 centimetres (16in) wide, directed the water into the city's main water pipes. Three large drains were also located in the floor, possibly to enable the nearby amphitheatre to be flooded rapidly to enable naumachia (mock naval battles) to be held.[14]
The spring still exists and is now the site of a small modern pumping station. Its water is pure but high in dissolved calcium carbonate leached out of the surrounding limestone. This presented the Romans with significant problems in maintaining the aqueduct, as the carbonates precipitated out of the water during its journey through the conduit. This caused the flow of the aqueduct to become progressively reduced by deposits of calcareous sinter.[15] Another threat was posed by vegetation penetrating the stone lid of the channel. As well as obstructing the flow of the water, dangling roots introduced algae and bacteria that decomposed in a process called biolithogenesis, producing concretions within the conduit. It required constant maintenance by circitores, workers responsible for the aqueduct's upkeep, who crawled along the conduit scrubbing the walls clean and removing any vegetation.[16]
Much of the Nîmes aqueduct was built underground, as was typical of Roman aqueducts. It was constructed by digging a trench in which a stone channel was built and enclosed by an arched roof of stone slabs, which was then covered with earth. Some sections of the channel are tunnelled through solid rock. In all, 35km (22mi) of the aqueduct was constructed below the ground.[17] The remainder had to be carried on the surface through conduits set on a wall or on arched bridges. Some substantial remains of the above-ground works can still be seen today, such as the so-called "Pont Rue" that stretches for hundreds of metres around Vers and still stands up to 7.5m (25ft) high.[18] Other surviving parts include the Pont de Bornègre, three arches carrying the aqueduct 17m (56ft) across a stream; the Pont de Sartanette, near the Pont du Gard, which covers 32m (105ft) across a small valley; and three sections of aqueduct tunnel near Sernhac, measuring up to 66m (217ft) long.[19] However, the Pont du Gard is by far the best preserved section of the entire aqueduct.
Description of the bridge
 Built on three levels, the Pont is 49m (161ft) high above the river at low water and 274m (899ft) long. Its width varies from 9m (30ft) at the bottom to 3m (9.8ft) at the top.[21] The three levels of arches are recessed, with the main piers in line one above another. The span of the arches varies slightly, as each was constructed independently to provide flexibility to protect against subsidence. Each level has a differing number of arches:[20][22]

The first level of the Pont du Gard adjoins a road bridge that was added in the 18th century. The water conduit or specus, which is about 1.8m (6ft) high and 1.2m (4ft) wide, is carried at the top of the third level. The upper levels of the bridge are slightly curved in the upstream direction. It was long believed that the engineers had designed it this way deliberately to strengthen the bridge's structure against the flow of water, like a dam wall. However, a microtopographic survey carried out in 1989 showed that the bend is caused by the stone expanding and contracting by about 5mm (0.20in) a day under the heat of the sun. Over the centuries, this process has produced the current deformation.[23]
The Pont du Gard was constructed largely without the use of mortar or clamps. It contains an estimated 50,400 tons of limestone with a volume of some 21,000m3 (740,000cuft); some of the individual blocks weigh up to 6 tons.[24] Most of the stone was extracted from the local quarry of Estel located approximately 700 metres (2,300ft) downstream, on the banks of the Gardon River.[25][26] The coarse-grained soft reddish shelly limestone, known locally as "Pierre de Vers", lends itself very well to dimension stone production. The blocks were precisely cut to fit perfectly together by friction alone, eliminating the need for mortar.[11] The builders also left inscriptions on the stonework conveying various messages and instructions. Many blocks were numbered and inscribed with the required locations, such as fronte dextra or fronte sinistra (front right or front left), to guide the builders.[27]
The method of construction is fairly well understood by historians.[28][29][30] The patron of the aqueduct– a rich individual or the city of Nîmes itself– would have hired a large team of contractors and skilled labourers. A surveyor or mensor planned the route using a groma for sighting, the chorobates for levelling, and a set of measuring poles five or ten Roman feet long. His figures and perhaps diagrams were recorded on wax tablets, later to be written up on scrolls. The builders may have used templates to guide them with tasks that required a high degree of precision, such as carving the standardised blocks from which the water conduit was constructed.[31]
The builders would have made extensive use of cranes and block and tackle pulleys to lift the stones into place. Much of the work could have been done using simple sheers operated by a windlass. For the largest blocks, a massive human-powered treadmill would have been used; such machines were still being used in the quarries of Provence until as late as the start of the 20th century.[31] A complex scaffold was erected to support the bridge as it was being built. Large blocks were left protruding from the bridge to support the frames and scaffolds used during construction.[22] The aqueduct as a whole would have been a very expensive undertaking; Émile Espérandieu estimated the cost to be over 30 million sesterces,[31][32] equivalent to 50 years' pay for 500 new recruits in a Roman legion.[19]
Features of the Pont du Gard
Side view of the Pont du Gard, showing the three rows of arches
Stonework on the Pont du Gard, showing the protruding blocks that were used to support the scaffolding
The underside of an arch on the second tier of the Pont du Gard. Note the missing stonework atop the aqueduct.
The road bridge adjacent to the aqueduct. Pedestrians are shown for scale.
Interior of the water conduit of the Pont du Gard
The water tank or castellum divisorum at Nîmes, into which the aqueduct emptied. The round holes were where the city's water supply pipes connected to the tank.
Pont du Gard seen from the river Gard

Although the exterior of the Pont du Gard is rough and relatively unfinished, the builders took care to ensure that the interior of the water conduit was as smooth as possible so that the flow of water would not be obstructed. The walls of the conduit were constructed from dressed masonry and the floor from concrete. Both were covered with a stucco incorporating minute shards of pottery and tile. It was painted with olive oil and covered with maltha, a mixture of slaked lime, pork grease and the viscous juice of unripe figs. This produced a surface that was both smooth and durable.[33]
Although the Pont du Gard is renowned for its appearance, its design is not optimal as the technique of stacking arches on top of each other is clumsy and inefficient (and therefore expensive) in the amount of materials it requires. Later aqueducts had a more sophisticated design, making greater use of concrete to reduce their volume and cost of construction. The Aqueduct bridge of Segovia and the Pont de les Ferreres are of roughly similar length but use far fewer arches. Roman architects were eventually able to do away with "stacking" altogether. The Acueducto de los Milagros in Mérida, Spain and the Chabet Ilelouine aqueduct bridge, near Cherchell, Algeria [34] utilise tall, slender piers, constructed from top to bottom with concrete-faced masonry and brick.[35]
History

The construction of the aqueduct has long been credited to the Roman emperor Augustus' son-in-law and aide, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, around the year 19 BC. At the time, he was serving as aedile, the senior magistrate responsible for managing the water supply of Rome and its colonies. Espérandieu, writing in 1926, linked the construction of the aqueduct with Agrippa's visit to Narbonensis in that year.[7] Newer excavations suggest the construction may have taken place between 40 and 60 AD. Tunnels dating from the time of Augustus had to be bypassed by the builders of the Nîmes aqueduct, and coins discovered in the outflow in Nîmes are no older than the reign of the emperor Claudius (41–54 AD). On this basis, a team led by Guilhem Fabre has argued that the aqueduct must have been completed around the middle of the 1st century AD.[36] It is believed to have taken about fifteen years to build, employing between 800 and 1,000 workers.[37]
From the 4th century onwards, the aqueduct's maintenance was neglected as successive waves of invaders disrupted the region.[33] It became clogged with debris, encrustations and plant roots, greatly reducing the flow of the water. The resulting deposits in the conduit, consisting of layers of dirt and organic material, are up to 50cm (20in) thick on each wall.[38] An analysis of the deposits originally suggested that it had continued to supply water to Nîmes until as late as the 9th century,[39] but more recent investigations suggest that it had gone out of use by about the sixth century, though parts of it may have continued to be used for significantly longer.[40]

Although some of its stones were plundered for use elsewhere, the Pont du Gard remained largely intact. Its survival was due to its use as a toll bridge across the valley. In the 13th century the French king granted the seigneurs of Uzès the right to levy tolls on those using the bridge. The right later passed to the Bishops of Uzès. In return, they were responsible for maintaining the bridge in good repair.[39] However, it suffered serious damage during the 1620s when Henri, Duke of Rohan made use of the bridge to transport his artillery during the wars between the French royalists and the Huguenots, whom he led. To make space for his artillery to cross the bridge, the duke had one side of the second row of arches cut away to a depth of about one-third of their original thickness. This left a gap on the lowest deck wide enough to accommodate carts and cannons, but severely weakened the bridge in the process.[41]
In 1703 the local authorities renovated the Pont du Gard to repair cracks, fill in ruts and replace the stones lost in the previous century. A new bridge was built by the engineer Henri Pitot in 1743–47 next to the arches of the lower level, so that the road traffic could cross on a purpose-built bridge.[11][41] The novelist Alexandre Dumas was strongly critical of the construction of the new bridge, commenting that "it was reserved for the eighteenth century to dishonour a monument which the barbarians of the fifth had not dared to destroy."[42] The Pont du Gard continued to deteriorate and by the time Prosper Mérimée saw it in 1835 it was at serious risk of collapse from erosion and the loss of stonework.[43]
Napoleon III, who had a great admiration for all things Roman, visited the Pont du Gard in 1850 and took a close interest in it. He approved plans by the architect Charles Laisné to repair the bridge in a project which was carried out between 1855–58, with funding provided by the Ministry of State. The work involved substantial renovations that included replacing the eroded stone, infilling some of the piers with concrete to aid stability and improving drainage by separating the bridge from the aqueduct. Stairs were installed at one end and the conduit walls were repaired, allowing visitors to walk along the conduit itself in reasonable safety.[43]
There have been a number of subsequent projects to consolidate the piers and arches of the Pont du Gard. It has survived three serious floods over the last century; in 1958 the whole of the lower tier was submerged by a giant flood that washed away other bridges,[43] and in 1998 another major flood affected the area. A further flood struck in 2002, badly damaging nearby installations.
The Pont du Gard was added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1985 on the criteria of "Human creative genius; testimony to cultural tradition; significance to human history".[44] The description on the list states: "The hydraulic engineers and... architects who conceived this bridge created a technical as well as artistic masterpiece."[11]
Tourism
The Pont du Gard has been a tourist attraction for centuries. The outstanding quality of the bridge's masonry led to it becoming an obligatory stop for French journeymen masons on their traditional tour around the country (see Compagnons du Tour de France), many of whom have left their names on the stonework. From the 18th century onwards, particularly after the construction of the new road bridge, it became a famous staging-post for travellers on the Grand Tour and became increasingly renowned as an object of historical importance and French national pride.[45]
The bridge has had a long association with French monarchs seeking to associate themselves with a symbol of Roman imperial power. King Charles IX of France visited in 1564 during his Grand Tour of France and was greeted with a grand entertainment laid on by the Duc d'Uzès. Twelve young girls dressed as nymphs came out of a cave by the riverside near the aqueduct and presented the king with pastry and preserved fruits.[42] A century later, Louis XIV and his court visited the Pont du Gard during a visit to Nîmes in January 1660 shortly after the signature of the Treaty of the Pyrenees.[46] In 1786 his great-great-great-grandson Louis XVI commissioned the artist Hubert Robert to produce a set of paintings of Roman ruins of southern France to hang in the king's new dining room at the Palace of Fontainebleau, including a picture depicting the Pont du Gard in an idealised landscape. The commission was meant to reassert the ties between the French monarchy and the imperial past.[47] Napoleon III, in the mid-19th century, consciously identified with Augustus and accorded great respect to Roman antiquities; his patronage of the bridge's restoration in the 1850s was essential to its survival.[48]
By the 1990s the Pont du Gard had become a hugely popular tourist attraction but was congested with traffic– vehicles were still allowed to drive over the 1743 road bridge– and was cluttered with illegally built structures and tourist shops lining the river banks. As the architect Jean-Paul Viguier put it, the "appetite for gain" had transformed the Pont du Gard into "a fairground attraction".[49] In 1996 the General Council of the Gard département began a major four-year project to improve the area, sponsored by the French government, in conjunction with local sources, UNESCO and the EU.  The entire area around the bridge was pedestrianised and a new visitor centre was built on the north bank to a design by Jean-Paul Viguier. The redevelopment has ensured that the area around the Pont du Gard is now much quieter due to the removal of vehicle traffic, and the new museum provides a much improved historical context for visitors.[50] The Pont du Gard is today one of France's top five tourist attractions, with 1.4 million visitors reported in 2001.[51]
Literary visitors

Since it became a tourist destination, many novelists and writers have visited the Pont du Gard and written of the experience. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was overwhelmed when he first visited it in 1738:
[52]
I had been told to go and see the Pont du Gard; I did not fail to do so. It was the first work of the Romans that I had seen. I expected to see a monument worthy of the hands which had constructed it. This time the object surpassed my expectation, for the only time in my life. Only the Romans could have produced such an effect. The sight of this simple and noble work struck me all the more since it is in the middle of a wilderness where silence and solitude render the object more striking and the admiration more lively; for this so-called bridge was only an aqueduct. One asks oneself what force has transported these enormous stones so far from any quarry, and what brought together the arms of so many thousands of men in a place where none of them live. I wandered about the three storeys of this superb edifice although my respect for it almost kept me from daring to trample it underfoot. The echo of my footsteps under these immense vaults made me imagine that I heard the strong voices of those who had built them. I felt myself lost like an insect in that immensity. While making myself small, I felt an indefinable something that raised up my soul, and I said to myself with a sigh, "Why was I not born a Roman!"[53]

The novelist Henry James, visiting in 1884, was similarly impressed; he described the Pont du Gard as "unspeakably imposing, and nothing could well be more Roman." He commented:
The hugeness, the solidity, the unexpectedness, the monumental rectitude of the whole thing leave you nothing to say– at the time– and make you stand gazing. You simply feel that it is noble and perfect, that it has the quality of greatness... When the vague twilight began to gather, the lonely valley seemed to fill itself with the shadow of the Roman name, as if the mighty empire were still as erect as the supports of the aqueduct; and it was open to a solitary tourist, sitting there sentimental, to believe that no people has ever been, or will ever be, as great as that, measured, as we measure the greatness of an individual, by the push they gave to what they undertook. The Pont du Gard is one of the three or four deepest impressions they have left; it speaks of them in a manner with which they might have been satisfied.[54]

The mid-19th-century writer Joseph Méry wrote in his 1853 book Les Nuits italiennes, contes nocturnes that on seeing the Pont du Gard:
[O]ne is struck dumb with astonishment; you are walking in a desert where nothing reminds you of man; cultivation has disappeared; there are ravines, heaths, blocks of rock, clusters of rushes, oaks, massed together, a stream which flows by a melancholy strand, wild mountains, a silence like that of Thebaid, and in the midst of this landscape springs up the most magnificent object that civilization has created for the glory of the fine arts.[55]

Hilaire Belloc wrote in 1928 that:
[W]hen one sees the thing all that is said of it comes true. Its isolation, its dignity, its weight, are all three awful. It looks as though it had been built long before all record by beings greater than ourselves, and were intended to stand long after the dissolution of our petty race. One can repose in it. I confess to a great reluctance to praise what has been praised too much; but so it is. A man, suffering from the unrest of our time, might do worse than camp out for three days, fishing and bathing under the shadow of the Pont du Gard.[56]

See also
Eifel Aqueduct
List of aqueducts in the city of Rome
List of Roman aqueduct bridges

 at Structurae
 in Room IX of the Museo della Civiltà Romana in Rome.

How many arches are on the Pont du Gard bridge?


St. Joseph's College School (St. Joseph's College, SJCS, or St. Joe's, more colloquially known as St. Joe's Wellesley) is a girls' Catholic high school in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
History and tradition
St. Joseph’s College School was founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto in 1854, three years after the first nuns from the order came to the city. Originally called “St. Joseph’s Academy for Young Ladies,” the name was changed to “St. Joseph’s College School, a Boarding and Day School for the Higher and Primary Education of Young Ladies and Little Girls” when the school moved to Bay and St. Alban’s Street in 1863. In 1927, the school was renamed “St. Joseph’s College School” when it was moved to a building separate from the convent.
St. Joseph’s College has a history of promoting girls’ and women’s education.  In 1911, the school requested to be affiliated with the University of Toronto--a request the then-president of the university, Sir Robert Falconer, granted.  St. Joseph’s was officially tied to St. Michael’s College, the Roman Catholic college of the University of Toronto, in 1912.  This resulted in women being able to take courses at St. Michael’s College for the first time.  In 1928, the Academy was renamed St. Joseph’s College School.
When the Ontario government purchased the convent property to construct four office towers, the Sisters of St. Joseph relocated the College School across the street at its present location.  Students helped with the move, carrying furniture across Wellesley Street. St. Joseph’s College School at 74 Wellesley Street West opened on September 3, 1961. In 1967, it entered an agreement with the Metropolitan Separate School Board (now The Toronto Catholic District School Board) where Grades 9 and 10 were placed into the publicly funded system, while later grades continued to pay tuition. In 1984, the Ontario government expanded funding in Grades 11-13, the College School became entirely publicly funded in 1987 as it was ceased as a private school, at which time the Sisters leased the school to the Metropolitan Separate School Board.  The last Sister of St. Joseph to serve as principal retired in June 1996.
It turned 150 years old in the school year 2004-2005.
The Toronto Catholic District School Board bought the College School property from the Sisters of St. Joseph in December 2007.
Education
St. Joseph’s College School offers a full-time Extended French program, a variety of Advanced Placement and enriched courses, and a wide range of classes in the sciences and the humanities.  Additionally, the Arts Department offers drama, visual arts, music, and new media arts programming. Drama students, for example, have taken part in the Sears Ontario Drama Festival[1].  St. Joseph's regularly scores within the top 10% of schools on the Education Quality and Accountability Office's standardised tests.[2]
The school also has a Gifted education program and an Enriched program.  Through these, students are able to take part in a number of activities, including Encounters With Canada, the University of Toronto Mentorship Program, model United Nations conferences, the Queen’s University Enrichment Studies Unit, the University of Toronto Gifted Conference, Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge, and the University of Waterloo's various mathematics competitions.

Chaplaincy
The Chaplaincy program at St. Joseph’s College School provides all staff and students experiences of prayer, the sacraments, social action and Catholic leadership.  The school chaplaincy team leader and the student chaplaincy team organize the student retreat program, plan all aspects of school liturgies, contribute to the annual Remembrance Day assembly, and facilitate many other school projects.
Uniform
Students at St. Joseph's wear a uniform, which includes a Dress Gordon plaid kilt, a white blouse with the school insignia, and navy cardigans, full-zip sweaters and sweater vests embroidered with the school crest.
Notable alumnae
Nhooph Al-Areebi - professional wrestler / WWE developmental Diva (as Jasmin Areebi / Aliyah)
See also
List of high schools in Ontario


Valdosta State University, also referred to as VSU, or Valdosta State, is an American public university and is one of the four comprehensive universities in the University System of Georgia. Valdosta State is located on a 168-acre (0.68km2) campus at the heart of the city of Valdosta.  VSU serves over 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students representing 157 Georgia counties, all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Washington, D.C. and hosts over 300 international students from 76 countries.[2]  VSU also offers classes at Moody Air Force Base north of Valdosta in Lowndes County.
Degree levels offered at Valdosta State include Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's, Education Specialist, and Doctoral. The university comprises the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Education, Arts, and Nursing. The Graduate School also includes the Divisions of Social Work and Library Science.[3]
History

South Georgia State Normal College (1913–1922)
The school that would become Valdosta State University was founded in 1906. Colonel W.S. West led the legislation through the Georgia Senate, and C.R. Ashley and E.J. McRee pushed it through the House. However, no funds were appropriated for it until 1911 when the state allocated $25,000. The city of Valdosta raised $50,000, and Col. West gave the property that is now the main part of campus to the state for use by the new institution. The president chosen was Richard Holmes Powell. His travels in the American southwest led him to choose the Spanish Mission style of architecture for the institution's buildings.[4] The school opened as South Georgia State Normal College (SGSNC) in January 1913, with three college freshmen and 15 sub freshmen. The early students were required to wear a school uniform and paid $10 per year for tuition and $12 per month for food and board. Most came to be teachers and studied subjects from literature to physics to agriculture. In 1922, the school became a four-year college and the legislature changed the name to Georgia State Women's College
Georgia State Woman's College (1922–1950)
President Powell headed the GSWC until 1933 when he was made dean of the Coordinate College in Athens. Dr. Jere M. Pound, President of the Georgia Teachers College, was sent to Valdosta. However, his tenure at GSWC lasted less than a year before he had to go on sick leave. He died a year later in 1935.[4]
Dr. Frank Robertson Reade assumed the job of acting president in 1934 and on Dr. Pound's death became president. During his tenure, New Deal programs enabled the school to expand physically from three to seven buildings. The Powell Library, dedicated by Eleanor Roosevelt, was a centrepiece of this construction. During World War II, GSWC emphasized politics and science in its curriculum and in 1943, the B.S. degree was added. Moody Airfield, located nine miles from campus, provided the male participants for many patriotic parties.
Valdosta State College (1950–1993)
Dr. Reade served until 1948, he was followed by Dr. Ralph Thaxton, who came from the University of Georgia, where he had served as professor, Dean, Director of Admissions, and Registrar. Soon after Dr. Thaxton began his service, the Board of Regents, acting on the advice of a committee which had examined the whole University of Georgia System, declared that in 1950 GSWC was to become a co-educational – Valdosta State College (VSC).
Programs in premedical, predentistry, and prepharmacy were added, and the sciences became more prominent. Business became a popular major after 1950. By 1956 men on campus outnumbered the women. Greek organizations were formed, with fraternities leading the way, and intercollegiate athletics became a part of campus life when the Rebels, an all-male basketball team, was formed.
In 1953 VSC acquired the property of the former Emory Jr. College, a private all-male school that operated from 1928 to 1953, less than a mile away, and the facilities became the north campus which now house the College of Business and Air Force ROTC.[5]
Under Dr. Thaxton's tenure, the College integrated in 1963. Over the next decade, the college added African-American students, faculty and administrators.
Dr. Thaxton retired in 1966, and Dr. S. Walter Martin, former president of Emory University and Vice Chancellor of the University System of Georgia, assumed the presidency. He presided over a time of physical expansion of the school, including the construction of such buildings as the Odum Library, the Education Center, The Fine Arts Building, the College Union, a Science Administration Building and six dormitories. The student body grew, the School of Nursing was established, and many programs expanded, including those in graduate education.

[7]
Valdosta State University (1993–present)
When Dr. Martin retired in 1978, Dr. Hugh Coleman Bailey assumed the post. Under Dr. Bailey, the school had doubled in size from 4,500 to 9,000 students. From 1978 to 1993, numerous programs were added and existing courses upgraded, resulting in the early 1980s in an endeavor to make VSC a university. Throughout the 1980s the college established off-campus sites and course offerings and began receiving state and federal grant funds to develop curriculum and programs. In 1993, all the hard work and planning paid off. Valdosta State College became Valdosta State University (VSU), the second regional university in the University System of Georgia. In fall 1998, Valdosta State University adopted the semester system, along with other units of the University System of Georgia. Under Bailey's leadership VSU continued to grow with the addition of the 150,000-square-foot (14,000m2) University Center in the 1995 and a new science building in 2001.[4]
In January 2002, Dr. Ronald M. Zaccari assumed the post and during his time in office VSU updated its infrastructure to accommodate student population growth, including the construction of four new dormitories and two parking decks. Dr. Patrick J. Schloss became the President of VSU in 2008 and was in office during the opening of a new Student Health Center, Georgia Residence Hall, and Student Union.[8] Dr. William J. McKinney was announced as the new VSU president in 2012.[9] On April 2, 2015, it was announced that Dr. McKinney would step down as president effective July 1, 2015.[10]
In August 2015, interim president Dr. Cecil P. Staton citing a 17% decline in enrollment since its peak in 2011, announced that over thirty faculty and staff members would not have their contracts renewed at the end of the year.[11] That decision was met with criticism by students and faculty, and has caused some to question the future of the institution.[12]
Location

The city of Valdosta is located in South Georgia, just off of Interstate 75, approximately 20 miles (32km) from the Florida state line. Valdosta is about a two-hour drive from Tallahassee, Macon, and Jacksonville, three hours from Orlando and about four hours from Atlanta.
The Valdosta metropolitan area has a population of over 120,000 and the area offers many shopping areas including the Valdosta Mall, historic downtown Valdosta, multiple restaurants, a movie theater, a nearby theme park, art and history museums, and more.
The total economic impact of VSU related activities in the 2010 fiscal year brought in $537 million and 5,400 jobs to the Valdosta metropolitan area, or approximately 8 percent of the employed labor force in the Valdosta Metro area.[13][14]
A study by Valdosta State University's Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) shows that in the 2010–2011 school year VSU directly and indirectly generated 5,055 jobs and created an annual labor income impact of $208.7 million for the Valdosta Metropolitan Area. The Valdosta State staff includes 1,302 full-time and 526 part-time employees.  VSU ranks within the top 10 employers for the Valdosta MSA.[15]
Campus

Main Campus
The VSU campus is divided into two areas: main, and north campus. The main campus houses much of the academic and administrative departments and is recognized for its Spanish Mission architecture theme of every building. The 85-acre (34ha) Main Campus faces North Patterson Street, one of the city's main thoroughfares. In total, 85 buildings located across 168 acres (68ha) make up the Valdosta State University campus. Other units of the University are located in satellite facilities adjacent to the campus and along Patterson Street. The campuses and principal satellite buildings are connected by the University bus service, operating regularly throughout each class day.

West Hall
Built in 1917, West Hall, is the oldest building at Valdosta State University and has long been known as the symbol of the University due to its distinctive dome and Spanish-mission architecture. It is also the center of academic activity at VSU, housing the Administrative Offices of the President, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the Dean of Arts and Sciences. The Departments of English, Political Science, and Modern and Classical Languages are also located in West Hall. In addition, this building houses the Master's of Public Administration Program, the Foreign Language/International Culture Center, the language laboratory, an electronic classroom, the General Studies Program Office, the Campus Writing Center and numerous classrooms.[16]
Odum Library
The Gertrude Gilmer Odum Library built in 1971 at 85,000 square feet (7,900m2), serves as the main library of Valdosta State University. In 2004, a 95,000-square-foot (8,800m2) addition was built off the southern portion of the building doubling the size of Odum Library. Distinctive features of the addition include a 24-hour Internet Cafe, the GALILEO Technology Center, electronic classrooms, auditorium, expanded Media Center, climate-controlled Archives, new study areas, and additional book shelving.

The nearly 180,000-square-foot (17,000m2) library houses approximately 453,757 bound volumes, and nearly 3,000 current periodicals and newspapers and a microform collection of over a million units.[17] The Odum Library is a Selective Depository of U.S. Government documents and maintains the Archives of Contemporary South Georgia History and a Southern History Collection.   In November 2013, VSU announced it would expand its sustainability efforts by adding a solar canopy behind the library.[18]
Student Union
The 113,604-square-foot (10,554.2m2) Valdosta State Student Union serves as the social center of Valdosta State. It offers students a two-story bookstore, 300-seat theater, game room,large dividable multi purpose room with a capacity for over 500 people, ample lounge space, meeting rooms, student organization offices and a food court featuring  Which Wich?, Starbuck's, Moe's Southwest Grill, and Chick-fil-A. The previous Student Union was too small to accommodate the growing student population at VSU and in the fall of 2008, was demolished for construction of the new Student Union which opened in 2010.[19][20]

Bailey Science Center
The Hugh C. Bailey Science Center serves as the home of the Biology and Chemistry Departments. The facility is named after former VSU President Hugh C. Bailey who served from 1978 to 2001.[21] The building has 22 teaching and 19 research laboratories that occupy the entire north side of the building. In addition, it has four greenhouses on the rooftop; 11 classrooms, including four 48 seat classrooms, and one 96 seat classroom;[22] a large auditorium which seats 275, and a smaller auditorium which seats 148; two conference rooms and 41 offices.[23]

North Campus
The Rea and Lillian Steele North Campus, located less than a mile, approximately ten blocks, north of the VSU main campus and is home to the Harley Langdale Jr. School of Business, Air Force ROTC Detachment 172, Billy Grant Field,home of the VSU baseball team, and the VSU Softball Complex.[24][25] The campus is the former home of Emory Junior College, an all-male two-year private institution that served as a branch of  Emory University based in Atlanta. The property was sold to Valdosta State in 1950 after it transitioned from an all-female school to co-educational. The buildings follow a red brick modified form of Georgian architecture.[26]

Jewel Whitehead Camellia Trail
The Camellia Trail is believed to be the only such trail on a university campus in the nation. Located in the northwest area of the Main Campus, more than 1,100 camellias of many varieties form a winding 3,000-foot-long (910m) trail through the towering pines. The trail was a 1944 Christmas gift to the University from the late Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Whitehead of Valdosta. A memorial gateway honors the collection's founder, "The Camellia Lady," Jewell Whitehead.[27]

Outdoor Art Collection
The Valdosta State campus features six metal sculptures as part of an expanding outdoor art collection. "Cormorant" by Harry McDaniel of North Carolina was the first sculpture installed during the summer of 2011 outside of the Fine Arts Building on the corner of Brookwood Drive and Oak Street. "Three Spheres" by Hoss Haley, also from North Carolina, is located on the north side of the Fine Arts Building. "Fly Away Too" by Andrew Light of Tallahassee, Florida, is outside the College of Education on Baytree Road.  "Black Bird," located between Odum Library and the Student Union, was created and donated by the university's seventh president, Dr. Ronald Zaccari.  Charles E. Hook's "Fenris" located outside the north entrance Odum Library, was added in June 2012.[28] Most recently "Guardian" by Tallahassee artist Mark Dickson was installed in July 2012 between Odum Library and the Fine Arts Building.[29]

Academics

Colleges
Valdosta State is organized into five Colleges offering 56 undergraduate degree programs and over 40 graduate programs and degrees.
College of Arts and Sciences – Academic Departments include African American Studies, Biology, Chemistry, English, History, Mathematics, Computer Science, Modern and Classical Languages, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Physics, Astronomy, and Geosciences, Political Science, Sociology, Anthropology, Criminal Justice, and Women's and Gender Studies.[30]
College of the Arts – The College includes the Department of Art, the Department of Communication Arts, and the Department of Music.  The College of the Arts maintains a calendar of performing arts, visual arts, television, radio programming, and other arts activities that are available to students, faculty and the general public.  The Peach State Summer Theatre held at VSU is designated as the Official Musical Theatre of the State of Georgia.[31]
Langdale College of Business Administration – Located on the VSU North Campus the school is composed of the Department of Accounting and Finance, Department of Management, and the Department of Marketing and Economics.[32]
James L. and Dorothy H. Dewar College of Education & Human Services – Departments include Adult and Career Education, Communication Sciences and Disorders, Curriculum, Leadership, and Technology, Early Childhood & Special Education, Kinesiology and Physical Education, Middle, Secondary, Reading & Deaf Education, Psychology and Counseling.[33]
College of Nursing & Health Sciences – The Nursing Program was founded at Valdosta State College in 1968 The program offers Undergraduate and Graduate programs for nursing.[34]
Undergraduate
Valdosta State University offers undergraduate work leading to the following degrees: Associate of Applied Science in two major programs, the Associate of Arts, the Bachelor of Arts in thirteen major programs, the Bachelor of Science in eleven major programs, the Bachelor of Science in Education in twelve major programs, the Bachelor of Business Administration in five major programs, the Bachelor of Fine Arts in seven major programs, the Bachelor of Music in two major programs, the Bachelor of General Studies, the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, the Bachelor of Science in Exercise Physiology, and the Bachelor of Applied Science.
Graduate
Graduate degrees offered include the Master of Education in seventeen major programs, the Master of Arts in three major programs, the Master of Arts in Teaching in two major programs, the Master of Science in seven major programs, Master of Public Administration, Master of Business Administration, Master of Science in Nursing, Master of Art Education, Master of Music Education, Master of Music Performance, Master of Social Work, Master of Library and Information Science, the Education Specialist in ten major programs, the Doctor of Education in three major programs, the Doctor of Speech-Language Pathology, and the Doctor of Public Administration. New baccalaureate and graduate degree programs are added from time to time to meet the needs of the population served by the University.[35]
Accreditations
Valdosta State University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate, bachelor's, master's, educational specialist, and doctoral degrees.
Current program accreditations include:
Applied and Clinical Sociology (Undergraduate) and Applied Sociology (Graduate) – Commission on Applied and Clinical Sociology
Art – National Association of Schools of Art and Design; The National Association of Schools of Theatre
Business (College) – Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International
Chemistry – Committee on Professional Training of the American Chemical Society
Communication Disorders (Master's) – Council on Academic Accreditation of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Education (College) – National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education
Foreign Language Education in Modern and Classical Languages – American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
Library and Information Science (Master's) – Committee on Accreditation of the American Library Association
Marriage and Family Therapy Program (Master's) – Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Training and Education of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
Music – National Association of Schools of Music
Nursing (BSN and MSN) – Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education
Public Administration (Master's) – National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration
Public Relations – Certification in Education for Public Relations by the Public Relations Society of America
School Psychology (Master's) – National Association of School Psychologists
Social Work (Master's) – Council on Social Work Education
Athletic Training Education Program – Commission on the Accreditation of Athletic Training Education programs
Theatre – National Association of Schools of Theatre
Source: VSU 2009–2010 Undergraduate Course Catalog and Graduate Course Catalog.
Student life
There are over 200 recognized student organizations offered at VSU. Opportunities for students include VSU's student radio station 90.9FM, weekly newspaper (The Spectator), and annual literary publication (Odradek). The Student Recreation Center provides students with facilities such as an indoor pool, track, racquetball, volleyball and basketball courts, weight rooms, a cardio area, rock climbing wall, and more.
Housing
Valdosta State University offers seven traditional residence halls and two apartment-style buildings located throughout the campus.  Approximately 90% of the enrolled students at VSU live in the residence halls and on-campus apartments.
Greek life
Valdosta State University's Greek Fraternities and Sororities have approximately 1,200 members, representing more than 10 percent of the student community.[36]  There are 13 nationally recognized fraternities and 10 national sororities at VSU.[37]  The school's Greek organizations are members of the Collegiate Panhellenic Council (CPC), Interfraternity Council (IFC), and National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC). Six sororities are members of the CPC, the NPHC comprises nine historically-black organizations, and nine fraternities are a part of the IFC.[38]

The Spectator

The Spectator is the independent student newspaper of Valdosta State University, published every Thursday morning during each Fall and Spring Semester. The Spectator began in 1936 as the Campus Canopy but changed its name to The Spectator some years later. It contains latest campus news, local news, opinions, features, entertainment, and sports.
Omnino
Omnino is an online undergraduate research journal of Valdosta State University. It is published bi-annually and accepts substantial research from all disciplines. "Omnino" is a peer-reviewed journal. The word "Omnino" is Latin for "altogether." Omnino stands for the journal's main mission to bring together all disciplines of academia to form a well-rounded and comprehensive research journal. The journal was founded in the Spring of 2011 by student's in an "Editing for Publications" course.
"WVVS-FM"

"WVVS-FM" is a student-operated radio station broadcasting at 90.9 FM. The station broadcast throughout the year as is possible with a volunteer student and faculty staff. The station first signed on the air in July 1971, and operated out of the old Student Union building. With the replacement of that building the station moved to the south side of campus.
Athletics

The Valdosta State Blazers compete in football, basketball, baseball, tennis, golf and cross-country. "Lady Blazers" compete in basketball, softball, tennis, volleyball, cross-country, and soccer.  The school's team was previously known as the Rebels until the name was changed to the Blazers in the 1970s.[4] VSU is a NCAA Division II member institution and has been a member of the Gulf South Conference since 1981.  Valdosta State's first national championship was in baseball in 1979.[39]  Valdosta State University football teams won the Division II National Championship 4 times (2004, 2007, 2012, 2018) and also played in the title game in 2002. The men's tennis has won two national titles (2006 and 2011) and also played for the national championship in three other seasons (2004, 2007, and 2010).  The Lady Blazers softball team won its first national championship in 2012 after falling in their first title match appearance in 2010. Valdosta State also has a rugby club, VSU Rugby.
TitleTown USA
TitleTown USA was a month-long segment on ESPN that started in the Spring of 2008 and continued through July.  Fans nominated towns and cities across the country based on their championship pedigree. A panel reviewed the nominees and fan voting in May determined the 20th finalist. SportsCenter visited each city in July, and fan voting July 23–27 determined the winner.  Based on online fan voting, Valdosta, Georgia was the winning city of TitleTown USA.  Valdosta State's numerous national, conference, and division titles in multiple  sports were a major reason the city of Valdosta won the vote to be named "TitleTown, USA".[40]
Controversy
Hayden Barnes

In May 2007, T. Hayden Barnes, a student at Valdosta State University (VSU) was "administratively withdrawn" for criticizing the construction of two new parking garages on campus in a manner that University President Ronald Zaccari, over the objection of other administrators, deemed to be indicative of Barnes posing a clear and present danger to the VSU campus.  In January 2008, T. Hayden Barnes filed a civil rights lawsuit for violation of his First Amendment and due process rights against the university, VSU President Ronald Zaccari, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, and other VSU administrators.[41]  The September 8, 2010 edition of the Valdosta Daily Times noted that Hayden Barnes won his legal battle against past university president Dr. Ronald Zaccari.[42]
In July 2015, the university's insurers settled the case for $900,000[43] In a Huffington Post column, FIRE President Greg Lukianoff wrote that administrators like Zaccari should not have the protection of the university and its insurers when they knowingly break the law, as was indicated when the Federal 11th circuit appeals court stripped the former president of his qualified immunity (making him personally liable for breaking the law). Lukianoff offered an example of an administrator deliberately running down a student with his car, and stated this is no different.  He added until administrators understand they have skin in the game, they will continue to violate student's rights if they believe the university and its insurers will take the brunt of the fall-out.[44]
Mark Patrick George
On July 28, 2014, Valdosta State University deactivated the email account of adjunct sociology professor Mark P. George, a day after he sent a follow-up letter to state officials critical of the state of Georgia funding Confederate History Month, confederate events, and memorials. In June 2014, George had sent a similar open letter to Governor Nathan Deal and all of the state legislatures through his university email account. Professor George was also the long-time director of the Mary Turner Project, a program dedicated to raising awareness of the 1918 lynching spree in Lowndes County which included the death of Mary Turner. The funds for the Mary Turner Project were frozen at the same time of the deletion of George's email. The email account was deactivated following complaints by VSU alumnus and Sons of Confederate Veterans member, John Cooper Hall Jr. to VSU president William McKinney on 11 July. After initially supporting George's actions under freedom of speech, McKinney was instructed by Thomas Daniel of the University System of Georgia's External Affairs to remove George's access to university email. It is the position of VSU that George's action violated rules against using university materials for a political agenda. A meeting was arranged between McKinney and George in August in which George came away dissatisfied. In response to George's account being deactivated, John Cooper Hall Jr. responded, "Cry me a river. It's not like the Confederate Army went down there and hung him."[45] If proper procedures were followed when George's email account was deactivated is still in question as of August 24, 2014. George has since voluntarily left VSU for a job elsewhere.[46][47] In late October 2014, McKinney ordered an independent investigation into the ongoing clash. It is the position of Mark George that the shut-down of his email was politically motivated. John Cooper Hall Jr, claims that George's email being shut-down was as a result of personal attacks against Hall. McKinney is refusing to comment on the matter until the independent investigation is complete.[48] Hall's initial letter to McKinney complained that George was trying "to use racial politics to affect the upcoming election" with his campaign against Georgia's funding Confederate related matters, and makes no mention of personal attacks.[49] In late January 2015, the independent investigation announced that President McKinney did no wrong regarding Mark George. As of January 28, 2015, Mark George is considering legal action against Valdosta State University and disputes the findings of the investigation.[50]
Ben Carson
In early July 2014, Valdosta State University announced that neurosurgeon Ben Carson would be coming to speak at VSU for a September 11 event and fundraiser. All funds are supposed to go to the Valdosta Early College Academy. Tickets to the event sold out within three days of the announcement of the event.[51] In the wake of the incident with Mark P. George, it came to the light that VSU is paying Ben Carson $43,000 to speak for a few hours. Carson's visit is being billed as a non-partison fundraiser for the Valdosta Early College Academy (VECA). Tables for the dinner portion sold for $5,000, and tickets for the speech portion entitled "America the Beautiful: Rediscovering what made this nation great" sold for $20. Carson's conservative positions, his consideration of running for president in 2016, and the long list of other Republican politicians at the event have drawn questions as to whether or not the event will harm VSU's reputation and if it is a policy violation. The head of minority recruitment for the Georgia Republican Party has been reported as having reserved twenty seats for the event. It is of the opinion of VSU that since Carson has not officially announced his candidacy for any political office, the event is not a policy violation.[52] Ben Carson announced the formation of political action committee named One Nation on August 2, 2014 and appointed businessman Terry Giles as chairman of potential presidential campaign. Carson has stated that he will decide whether or not to run for president depending on the results of the 2014 mid-term elections.[53]
American Flag controversy
On April 17, 2015, Air Force veteran Michelle Manhart was taken into custody for removing an American flag from a student protest at the university. The protest by an unnamed student group involved walking over the flag repeatedly as a symbol against racism. Manhart was detained after she refused to return the flag to the student group, but was later released with a criminal trespass warning.[54] The school has stated that they are "monitoring the situation."[55]
On April 24, 2015, Valdosta State University campus police discovered a black bag belonging to student protester Eric Sheppard. A loaded handgun was found to be inside the bag, arousing fears that the student protesters belonged to a violent, anti-American group.[56]
Noted people

Coordinates:

Who was the first president of Valdosta State University?


Ada Ciganlija (Serbian Cyrillic: Ада Циганлија; pronounced[ˈǎːda tsiˈɡǎnlija]), colloquially shortened to Ada, is a river island that has artificially been turned into a peninsula, located in the Sava River's course through central Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. The name can also refer to the adjoining artificial Lake Sava and its beach. To take advantage of its central location, over the past few decades, it was turned into an immensely popular recreational zone, most notable for its beaches and sports facilities, which, during summer seasons, can have over 100,000 visitors daily [1] and up to 300,000 visitors over the weekend.[2][3] Owing to this popularity, Ada Ciganlija has been commonly nicknamed "More Beograda" ("Belgrade's Sea"), which was officially accepted as an advertising slogan in 2008, stylised as More BeogrADA.
Location

Ada Ciganlija is located on the southern bank of the Sava River, 4km away from its mouth, and entirely belongs to Belgrade's municipality of Čukarica. Its eastern tip roughly borders the urban neighborhood of Senjak on the west (across an inlet called Čukarica Bay), and the body of the peninsula borders the neighborhoods of Čukarica and Makiš (both across Lake Sava). Across the river, Ada Ciganlija borders Novi Beograd (specifically residential bloks and the urban neighborhoods of Savski Nasip) and another artificial peninsula called Mala Ciganlija ("Little Ciganlija"). Between Ada Ciganlija and Novi Beograd lies Ada Međica, a wholly insulated river island.[4][5]
Geography
Formerly an island, Ada Ciganlija is now an elongated peninsula, stretching for 6km from west to east and 700 m from north to south at its widest, and covering an area of 2.7km2. The entire Ada Ciganlija ecological complex, which stretches into the municipality of Novi Beograd, covers an area of 8km2,[2][3] including the islands of Ada Ciganlija and Ada Međica, waterways between the two Adas and Lake Sava, and some of Makiš itself. Lake Sava, formerly a branch of the Sava, was turned into a lake with two dams, while the remaining section on the northeast was turned into Čukarica Bay. There is another small lake on Ada Ciganlija itself, known as Ada Safari.
Thanks to the combination of factors, Ada Ciganlija is privileged with a microclimate. Situated between a river, an artificial flowing lake, various islands, and a heavily wooded area, air humidity is heightened compared to the rest of the city, helping to nullify Belgrade's high temperatures during summer.[2]
Hydrology
Lake Sava

Lake Sava (Serbian: Савско језеро, Savsko jezero), often also referred to as Ada, was created from the right arm of the Sava with the building of two dams near the northern and southern tips of the island in 1967.[2] The lake is 4.2km (2.6mi) long, has an average width of 200m (660ft) and is 4 to 6m (13 to 20ft) deep. It covers and area of  0.86km2 (0.33sqmi)[6] and is 78m (256ft) above sea level, one of the lowest areas of Belgrade. 7km (4.3mi) of its shores on both sides have been transformed into a gravel beach. The water regularly reaches 24°C (75°F) during summer.
Both dams allow water to flow through tubes and pumps. This way, the main body of the lake is connected to the smaller body of water on the southwest, which is itself separated from the river by the third dam. This mini "buffer" lake called Taložnik ("depository") is used as a purifier for the waters of both Lake Sava and city waterworks, which also use this water. Filtered water is constantly being pumped into the lake while on the northeast, the water is pumped out by electrically powered pumps through another dam into Čukarica Bay.[3] In this way, an artificial flow of water through the lake is created. Because the water is also used for drinking, sanitation and environmental protection of the lake are imperative and the lake is under rigorous environmental protection. Weeds are groomed on the lake's bottom to purify the water by bonding phosphorus, nitrogen and dirt. Use of motorboats is strictly prohibited in the lake and dogs are not allowed on the beach.[3]
Wildlife in the lake mostly consists of the fish species which were introduced since the 1950s. The most common fish in the lake are the introduced silver carp and grass carp, but large autochthonous wels catfish, weighting over 100kg (220lb), can also be found, causing concern among the swimmers so the authorities issued a statement that they are harmless.[3]
There are 20 to 25 fish species in the lake, including the autochthonous carp, northern pike, zander, common bream, asp and European perch, and the imported, and highly invasive brown bullhead, Prussian carp and pumpkinseed. There are also crayfish and crabs, and since 2010s, the red-eared slider inhabits the lake, too, probably being released in the lake by the owners who kept them as pets.[7][8]
The freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbyi was discovered in 2008, garnering much attention for the lake.[9]
These anthomedusae begin their life as polyps and develop into jellyfish only if conditions, such as purity and water temperature over 25°C, are right. However, authorities claim that these harmless and almost invisible jellyfish (they are only 3mm (0.12in) to 5mm (0.20in) wide, bell is 12mm (0.47in) in diameter and have no sting cells) actually have been present in the lake for over 20 years. The first specimens were discovered in 1994 and they can also be found in the Danube. They live only for several days.[10]
Ada Safari
Ada Safari (Serbian: Ада Сафари) is a small, irregularly shaped lake on the northern tip of Ada Ciganlija, primarily used for fishing. In the late 1960s, the hole was formed as the sand was dug to construct the permanent embankment which connected Ada Ciganlija to the mainland, turning it into the peninsula by 1974.[11]
It was the last remaining marshy area during the transformation Ada Ciganlija, infested by undergrowth and reeds, until its conversion into a lake in 1994,[3] 235m (771ft) long, with an area of 6ha (15 acres). It was officially opened in 1995. The water pumps are used to fill the lake, bringing water from the Sava Lake.[11] Rare species of fish were introduced in order to create a fishing resort, which now consists of 300 numbered fishing seats around the lake with an obligatory special permit for fishing. Fish species include common carp, grass carp, crucian carp, wels catfish, Prussian carp, zander and tench, which is rare in Serbia. Fish are mostly released back into the lake as fishermen can keep their catch in case if the fish is lighter than 10kg (22lb), if they pay extra and if its not a tench, which is protected by the law.[11]
Some animals roam freely in the area, like rabbits, ducks, geese and swans. A small zoo has been built next to the lake, chiefly containing swamp birds, as well as more exotic animals such as peacocks, pheasants and pygmy goats. There is also a restaurant on the shore and a typical Serbian 18th century house from Šumadija which was deconstructed from the Central Serbia and transferred here.[12] The house was originally built around 1735 in the village of Junkovac, near Topola. There is also a "Magical forest", an area for the kids with reproductions of the fairytale characters: Evil Witch, Cinderella, Wolf and the Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man, etc. There is a small stream over which the bridge and the cross, both made from timber, have been constructed. Fish are especially prepared for the winter in the process of "winter carp bathing". In the second week of November each year, fish (up to 9 tonnes in total) are taken from the lake to the shore by the professional fishermen. The lake is then emptied and the largest fish specimens are "bathed" in the small bathtubs with the water mixed with the medical, healing ingredients.[11]
Čukarica Bay
When Ada was connected to the mainland via the embankments in 1967, northern section of the arm of the Sava river which separated the island (Čukarica Arm, Чукарички рукавац) from the mainland was transformed into the Čukarica Bay (Чукарички залив). The arm is elongated in the southwest-northeast direction, bounded by the northern tip of Ada Ciganlija, the embankment and the right bank of the Sava (neighborhoods of Careva Ćuprija and southern stretch of Bara Venecija, formerly known as Šest Topola). This is where the Topčiderka river flows into the Sava. Near the connection point with the main flow of the Sava, the bay is today crossed by the Ada Bridge.[13][14]
The bay is used for the sports and leisure activities as the kayaking clubs were located in it, so as the marina for small boats, while the banks are encircled with the bicycle paths. The bay is 1.3km (0.81mi) long and 120 to 160m (390 to 520ft) wide. Surface of the bay itself is 16ha (40 acres), but the area which city administration included in the bay locality includes and additional 5.8ha (14 acres) of aquatorium and 20.8ha (51 acres) of the surrounding land. In March 2018 city announced an urban design competition for the adaptation of the total bay area (42.6ha (105 acres)).[6]
Since the early 1980s there is a constant ecological problem due to the massive pollution of the bay as a result of the polluted waters of the Topčiderka river. The garbage and highly polluted silt fills the bay and creates shoals. During low-tide, the bay is unusable for the boats in the marina, located in the middle of the bay or for the kayakers of Partizan and Crvena Zvezda who use the bay for practice. The silt is up to 5m (16ft) thick, smells bad and is poisonous so the swimming in the bay is forbidden.
In 2011 the estimated amount of garbage sludge in the bay was 120,000m3 (4,200,000cuft). The sludge cannot simply be dredged and thrown in the Sava further downstream due to the toxicity. The plan  to build a treatment plant on the bank near the Belgrade Fair which would detoxicate the sludge and produce fertilizer from it was scrapped due to the high costs. For now, the silt is being dredged and vegetation cut just enough to make it navigable for the small boats in the marina.[15]
Wildlife
Ada Ciganlija has a unique ecosystem, creating an oasis in the urban area. Most of the peninsula is forested. The original, thick deciduous forest mainly consists of oaks, elms, birches and willows. In the mid 20th century, further planned forestation of Ada Ciganlija included the planting of American poplars and green ash.[3] This characteristic of Ada gives its visitors an illusion of being in complete wilderness, aided by the fact that city ambient noise is completely muted by the thick forest.
Most of the forest on the island is protected, including the entire central, northern and western sections. These parts of the peninsula are entirely wild with uncultivated vegetation and very little or no human presence, making it unique compared to other European city islands and peninsulas.[2]
Part of the Ada's central forested complex was declared a protected habitat "Fungi of Ada Ciganlija" by the city on 29 November 2013. Apart from the wood fauna characterized for the wet soils, it hosts 250 species of fungi, many of which are listed on Serbian and international lists of rare or endangered species. It is the only known habitat in Serbia of Myriostoma coliforme.[16]

In terms of fauna, besides having numerous amphibians and insects, Ada Ciganlija contains several mammal species, considered special due to the setting of the peninsula in an urban area. Foxes, hares and roe deer inhabit the peninsula.[2] However, with environmentalists warning that the island's biocoenosis has been overly affected, a new population of 60 hares and 100 pheasants was introduced into the ecosystem in 2006.
Bird species include more common lapwings, mallards, quails and pheasants. Common woodland and parkland birds during the nesting season include great tit, blue tit, long-tailed tit, Eurasian nuthatch, European green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, golden oriole, nightingale, blackcap, common chaffinch, hooded crow, European magpie, common wood pigeon, feral pigeon, white wagtail and barn swallow.
Ada is also the wintering ground for some threatened migratory birds, most notably the pygmy cormorant which winters in Belgrade in large numbers. Pygmy cormorant inhabited the Pančevački Rit marshland, just north of Belgrade, in the early 20th century, but after that area was drained and urbanized, they disappeared. Several hundreds of birds in the early 1990s began spending winters on the Malo Ratno Ostrvo, in the Danube. When their number exceeded 1,000, they resettled to three new locations: first at the willow grove on the Sava's bank (Belgrade Fair) and then to the area near the tip of Ada and the neighboring Mala Ciganlija. Their number rose every year to 6,750 in 2007/08, but since then is generally reducing and in 2015 it was 3,850 which is still 5,4% of the European and 2% of the world's pygmy cormorant population. There were concerns that the building of the new Ada Bridge in 2008-12 would disturb the habitat, but the birds endured it well. Their habitat was protected by law in 2008. Any destruction, clearing or pruning of the vegetation is forbidden, so as scaring, disturbing or killing of the birds.[17][18][19]
Settlements
Partizan
The only settlement on Ada Ciganlija is in its northern section, located behind another dam. It is called Partizan, because of the nearby Partizan rowing club. City authorities plan to relocate the settlement. During the 2006 European floods, city authorities urged them to move to the mainland from the settlement, which was located almost 8m (26ft) below the dam, as the Sava reached a record height of 723cm (285in). The wall of the dam, on the brink of collapse, was hastily strengthened and elevated in an effort to prevent catastrophe, but even in these conditions, the populace refused to relocate, claiming the city to just be using the situation to relocate them.
In 1959 the construction of the settlement was suggested and the first houses were built in 1960. Those were small, serial weekend houses with an area of 12m2 (130sqft). Most of the original construction was finished from 1964 to 1966. As the nearby Ada Safari wasn't adapted yet and was a marshland, original settlers, who were from the upper classes, were leaving and instead the workers who migrated from the interior of Serbia settled in. Additional boost was an influx of refugees from the Yugoslav Wars since 1991.
As their families grew, inhabitants expanded the houses. As of 2016 Partizan had some 1,000 inhabitants in 260 houses covering an area of 14ha (35 acres). By the latest urbanistic plans, the settlement is still to be evacuated as it is built without any permits and is located in the zone of the sanitary protection.[20][21]
Old Bath
Close to the northern tip, as the northeastern extension of Partizan settlement, there is an Old Bath "Partizan" (Staro Kupatilo). Since 1983 it has been a location of an artistic colony, occupied by the painters and sculptors. In the 1980s the venue organized many artistic exhibitions. After the 2006 floods a project of reconstruction of the embankment to prevent the flooding was introduced. The embankment, which was to prevent 25 Renney water wells from being flooded, passes right through the bath building which was to be demolished so that this gap in the embankment can be filled. The gap, which is considered the weakest section of the entire embankment system on the island is just 100m (330ft) from the Partizan settlement. Next to the building is the parking for the communal vehicles used for the works on Ada. In 2011, the management ordered the artists to move out.[22] As of 2017, the building still stands.
History
Nomenclature
The etymology of the name could be Celtic in origin, which probably is the most likely scenario. Some believe that it is derived by some form of the word for Romani (cigani, "gypsies"), attested in 1717[23] as German: Zigeuner-Insel[24] when it was mentioned as a depopulated village[25] after the Austrian takeover of Belgrade.[26]
An Italian work from 1788 mentions it as Isola degli Zingari.[27] The original toponym might have been singalia, from Celtic Singi (cf. Singidunum).[28] During World War II it was renamed "Serbian Ada" (Srpska ada).[29] The first part of Ada Ciganlija's name, ada, means "river island" in Serbian, a word of Turkish origin (meaning "island"), but in landlocked Serbia it specifically denotes river islands, beside the already existing Serbian word for island, ostrvo. A river island can also be referred to as ostrvo (e.g. Veliko Ratno Ostrvo) but never vice versa.
Human history
Antiquity
The remains belonging to the Scordisci, a Celtic  tribe which founded Singidunum and Taurunum, the predecessors of Belgrade and Zemun, respectively, were found.[30]
1680s-1914

Area of Ostružnica, near the southern tip of Ada Ciganlija, was a location of the Long Bridge, the first permanent bridge in Belgrade's history. As the opposing, Syrmian side across the Sava was a vast marsh at the time (modern New Belgrade), the bridge didn't stop at the bank but continued for some length above the swamp. Because of that, the people also called it the Bridge above the marsh (Most preko močvare). The bridge was built by the Austrians to help them conquer Belgrade from the Ottomans during the 1688 Siege of Belgrade. According to the records, a seasoned Belgrade master craftsman Đorđević "in only one month, with the help of his 400 workers, built the Long Bridge, using 2,000 tree trunks, 1,100 wooden piles, 15,500 bundles of palings and 12,000 palisade pickets." Right next to it, bit closer to Ada Ciganlija, the Austrians constructed another, classical pontoon bridge, which "leaned on the Long Bridge".[31]
The Romani settlement which existed on Ada in the 17th century was displaced from the island to the Sava's right bank, at the mouth of the Topčiderka, before the Austrian occupation of Belgrade from 1717 to 1739. It is not known whether it happened some time before or during the fighting from 1716 to 1718. One map from the Austrian period shows a Romani settlement with 24 houses at the mouth of Topčiderka. Maps also show that the settlement existed during the next Austrian occupation from 1788 to 1791.[32]
When the Austrian army attacked Belgrade in the 18th century, the Ottomans expelled Serbian population from the city, so they temporarily settled on Ada. When Belgrade was liberated by the Serbian rebels in the First Serbian Uprising, leader of the uprising, Karađorđe, granted the island to Mladen Milovanović, the first city chief. After the collapse of the uprising, Milovanović fled to Hungary, but returned in 1813 and unsuccessfully tried to find the gold which he has dug and hidden somewhere on Ada.[33] The importance of Ada Ciganlija can be traced back to 1821, when it was declared a protected public domain by then Prince of Serbia, Miloš Obrenović.[2]
Neglected since then, Ada came to the spotlight in 1908 when the Society of the Belgrade's journalists organized the first journalists' ball on the lower tip of Ada. In 1911, the first Serbian feature-length motion picture, The Life and Deeds of the Immortal Vožd Karađorđe was filmed on the island.[33]
World War I
On 28 July 1914, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, thus triggering the World War I, Serbian forces spread over the island to prevent Austrians to use it as the starting point of entering Serbia. Two major battles ensued, on 22-24 September 1914 and in September 1915. In an effort to exploit the withdrawal of the Serbian army from Syrmia in September 1914, Austro-Hungarian Lieutenant field marshal Kasimir von Lütgendorf decided to conduct the feint attack on the Sava rivers (Ciganlija and Međica) which was to be followed by the landing operation on the Serbian side of the river, conquering of the neighborhoods of Banovo Brdo and Topčider and then, using the western route, entering downtown Belgrade. Attack began on 22 September when the first group of the Austrians attempted to land on the southern tip of Ada. The location was defended from the blockhouse "He-goat", across the river in the Makiš forest. Under strong fire from the blockhouse, Austrians landed more to the north, in the area which Serbs didn't even defend because it was the plain marsh and it was thought that no one will land there. That way, Austrians successfully landed on the island without much resistance. Major Dobrivoje Mojsilović, acting commander of the Ada's defense, engaged the Austrians in an effort to force them to retreat across the river. Serbian reserve was sent to the battle and major Mojsilović, who was wounded, was replaced by major Svetomir Đukić. After several charges which resulted in hand-to-hand combat, Serbs cornered Austrians on the Ada's northern tip. During that time, behind Serbian back, Austria landed more troops from Međica so the Serbian forces ended being encircled. They managed to break out but by that time they were attacked from the flank by the new Austrian forces. Serbs retreated to the easternmost section of the island and started to dig in. On 23 September Austrians conducted three charges on Serbian positions, coming close to only 30 steps from the trenches, but were backed off. As Austrian army had problems with the invasion of western Serbia and attack on Šabac, General Alfred Krauß asked from the commander of the forces for the entire Balkans, Oskar Potiorek, to send him two regiments from Lütgendorf. Potiorek not only agreed but he ordered Lütgendorf to reroute all forces to Šabac. On 24 September the Austrians withdrew. Serbs followed them to make sure it is not another ploy, but the withdrawal was complete. Serbs lost 1 officer and 17 soldiers, while the Austrian fatalities included 4 officers and 310 soldiers.[34]
There was a year long shootout between the two armies, with long calm periods in between, before the German army interfered and began non-stop heavy artillery beating of the island in the late September 1915. Hand-to-hand battle ensued and the German fighters pushed the Serbs from the island. Serbian loses were heavy, turning effectively Ada into an open graveyard, earning a moniker "Island of death".[35]
Interbellum
During Interbellum, Ada wasn't the most popular recreational area as the major beach area was across its northern tip, in the Gospodarska Mehana section of the Senjak  neighborhood. Still, even then, one of major Serbian writers Branislav Nušić, nicknamed it Vodeni cvet (watery flower) because of its beauty.[1] In 1936 city government adopted a new general urban plan which projected Ada as the "sports island".[35]
World War II and after
Until 1941, a prison was located on Ada Ciganlija.[36][37] On the night of July 17, 1946, new Communist authorities executed a number of former politicians on Ada Ciganlija, while military officers were tried as collaborators with the Nazis during World War II, including Chetniks leaders Draža Mihailović and Kosta Mušicki, and ministers in the government of Milan Nedić: Tanasije-Tasa Dinić, Đura Dokić and Velibor Jonić. Despite other plans, Ada was a prison from 1928 to 1954 and was nicknamed the "Little Serbian Alcatraz". It was established on the notion of the king Alexander I of Yugoslavia and the prisoners include Milovan Đilas, Moša Pijade and Borislav Pekić.[33]
For decades, Ada Ciganlija was popular among loners and fishermen, including the famous actor Pavle Vujisić. After his death in 1988, it was proposed that the access road to Ada should be named after him, but another street in the new neighborhood of Altina in Zemun was later named after him. Other famous bohemians which dwelled occasionally on Ada after the 1960s were actor Dragan Nikolić, writers Momo Kapor and Zuko Džumhur and opera singers Živan Saramandić and Milka Stojanović. Nobelist author Ivo Andrić called Ada the "Boka Kotorska of Belgrade" and the "Green jewel of our Pannonian rivers".[33]
In 1957 city government decided to put in order the neglected, feral island. The beach was gradually prolonged as the overgrowth and trees were cut and cleared, under the strict control by the experts from the University of Belgrade Forestry Faculty.[33] Works on transforming the island began in 1960.[38] By September 1961 an embankment on the outer side of the island was finished. It is 6km (3.7mi) long, 8m (26ft) wide at the crown and prevented the Sava to flood the island every spring, like it used to do. Already at the time, Ada was the largest and the most visited swimming and excursion site.[39] Milan Pećinar, engineer and a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts suggested the dual solution for Ada, as both the source of the drinking water and a sports and recreation center. His plan was conducted by 1967 when Ada was connected to the mainland on both the north and south tips, and the Sava Lake and the settling basin Taložnik.[33] An underground pipeline was built in 1969 which conducted water from the river into the newly formed lake. The water is being purified in the Taložnik, before being conducted further into the lake and to the Belgrade's major water facility in Makiš.[38]
In the late 1960s and early 1970s the first sporting championships were organized, such as the kayaking championships in 1971, prompting the construction of special facilities. The popularity of Ada was further increased in the 1980s with the music and entertainment show Leto na Adi ("Summer on Ada"), televised live by the Radio Television of Serbia. Makiš side was officially declared a swimming area in the season of 2010.[40] In June 2017 construction of two new pipelines which would increase the amount of water transferred from the Taložnik to the water treatment facility in Makiš began. As a result, during the works in the off-season 2018-2019, the lake level was significantly lowered.[38]
Ada Ciganlija is today managed by the municipal government via the Public Enterprise "Ada Ciganlija" (), which maintains the grounds of the recreational areas and, especially, the beach and Lake Sava.  It is responsible for cleanliness, maintenance such as trimming of the underwater algae, public safety (lifeguards), and so on.  Even though the island is a public asset, the island itself is not exclusively managed and owned by the city.  There are numerous private entities that administer businesses and recreation facilities, such as the golf course. Notably, many famous Serbian sports personalities have invested in the area.
Facilities, activities and tourism

Apart from the sport facilities, a 7 kilometer-long beach of Lake Sava has a closely supervised, fenced-off children's swimming area. Ada Ciganlija features a tall sports observation tower and bleachers on multiple levels which is its most prominent structure as well and one of very few permanent solid structures. One of those structures is the "Jezero" hotel at the entrance.
The northern edge of the island is lined with attached floating barges, or houses on the water owned by many inhabitants of Belgrade as a weekend refuge given the peninsula's exceptionally quiet and green environment. In addition, many city dwellers come to enjoy fishing excursions, picnics and barbecues.
From the beach, stunning views of central Belgrade can be seen, and sunsets are particularly beautiful when viewed from here.
Sport

The island has been conceptualised as Belgrade's focal point for mass sporting activity and recreation. As such, it features a great number of facilities, which get more numerous every year. They include:

tennis courts
bike paths
volleyball courts
beach volleyball courts
soccer fields
five-a-side football fields
skateboarding ramps
rollerskating paths
basketball courts
a paintball field
baseball fields
bocce facilities
Water football facilities
rugby fields
kayaking facilities
an artificial rock climbing wall
chess facilities
water slides
rowing facilities
diving range
artificial alpine skiing slope
artificial snowboarding slope
bungee jumping platform
trim trail
fishing facilities
cable skiing facilities
canoeing facilities
water polo courts
pedalos
a golf course
American football
Ada Ciganlija has in the past been a host to a number of local and international water sporting events such as competitions in rowing and kayaking. The very first golf course in Serbia has been built on this island in recent years along with a golf club house, a golfing store, golfing school and a practice range. This golf course is also the seat of the first and so far only Serbian golfing association. Also there is a separated cycling and rollerblading path that goes full circle around the lake (approximately 8km long) and is connected to the path that goes all the way by the Sava river in downtown.
The island is home to the "Rowing Sport Club" and several rowing societies like VK Partizan, VK Crvena Zvezda, and VK Grafičar. A sailing school and club, in addition to all accompanying sailing facilities, can be found on Ada Ciganlija.
Restaurants and nightlife

Belgrade has a reputation for offering a vibrant nightlife, and many clubs that are open until dawn can be found throughout the city. The most recognizable nightlife features of Belgrade are the barges (сплавови, splavovi) spread along the banks of the Sava and Danube Rivers.
The island has over 70 restaurants, bars and cafés as well as a café-cinema.
Landmarks

One of the island's most noted landmarks is the fountain, based on the famous  Jet d'Eau (water-jet), situated in Lake Geneva. The Belgrade one is also 140 metres high and it was installed in 1996. The fountain operates during the day all year round, except in case there is frost or a particularly strong wind. It also operates in the evening between spring and autumn and is lit by a set of lights. During the summer months in the later hours, the island stages a special laser light spectacle for those still present at the beach.
This Island also has an artistic sculpture workshop located at the eastern end in the direction of the city. Ada Ciganlija also has a children's theatre featuring scheduled performances, as well as a Robinson Crusoe-themed entertainment feature that stages themed performances.
Transportation

Although there are land routes leading to the island across the artificial dams, they are seldom used due to poor accessibility to the city's main roads and public transport system. Numerous routes of the city's public transport(GSP Beograd) pass close to the eastern entrance: bus routes 23, 37, 51, 52, 53, 56, 56L, 57, 58, 88, 89, 91, 92, 511, 551 and 552, while tram lines 12 and 13 also pass relatively nearby. Due to the ever-larger number of visitors,GSP Beograd introduced special seasonal bus lines, specifically designated for transport to Ada Ciganlija from distant parts of Belgrade. They have been expanding in recent years: Ada1 (Central Belgrade and Vidikovac), Ada2 (Zemun, Blokovi), Ada3 (Konjarnik), Ada4 (Mirijevo), Ada5 (Bežanijska Kosa, Novi Beograd).[41]
There are regular ferry services to take people from Belgrade's river banks onto the island. In 2008, experimental introduction of public transport by boat began, one of whose routes is from Blok 44 (Novi Beograd)-Ada Ciganlija. There is also a small electric road vehicle that tours the island called the "tourist train". There is also an impromptu recreational marina on the island's downstream end. There are plans to expand this marina and make it permanent. Boating in the lake, as well as car traffic on land, is strictly forbidden. There is a large parking lot on the Makiš side of the river.
In 1922 company "Čavlina and Sladoljev" from Zagreb drafted the project of connecting two banks of the Sava river by the cable car. In 1928, building company "Šumadija" again proposed the construction of the cable car, which they called "air tram" but this project was planned to connect Zemun to Kalemegdan on Belgrade Fortress, via Great War Island. The interval of the cabins was set at 2 minutes and the entire route was supposed to last 5 minutes. The project never realized. Engineer and CEO of the Yugoslav institute for urbanism and dwelling "Juginus", Mirko Radovanac, revived the idea in the 1990s. After conducting extensive surveys (traffic analysis, interviews with the commuters, climatic, geological, urban and other researches), "Juginus" presented the project in 1993. They proposed that the terminuses should be at the Sports Center Košutnjak and Block 44 in the neighborhood of Savski Blokovi in New Belgrade, across the Sava. Stops in between would include the major public transportation roundabout in Banovo Brdo, Makiš and Ada Ciganlija, five in total. They called it the "ideal route". The plan also included construction of commercial areas around the terminuses, which would cover 2,000m2 (22,000sqft) and help with the profitability of the project. Apart from being ecological and an attraction, it was estimated that it would shorten the trip for 45 minutes. City government included the project into the city's General Urban Plan, which envisioned the construction in phases, the first being a 1,000m (3,300ft) long section Block 44-Ada Ciganlija. It would lay on 8 steel pillars, 35m (115ft) above the ground and the trip would last for 3 minutes. The cabins were projected to receive not just the commuters, but also the bicycles, skateboards, sledges and skis, as the cableway was planned to work year-round. The complete facility would have of 27 pillars, it would be 5km (3.1mi) long which would be travelled in 15 minutes by 2,000 commuters per hour.[42] Despite the project has been publicly revived by the mayors Dragan Đilas (2008-13) and Siniša Mali (since 2013), as of 2017 the project still didn't start.
Ada Bridge

A new cable-stayed bridge is being built across the Sava, over the eastern tip of the Ada Ciganlija. The bridge is set to be a future landmark due to its height and grandeur. The central abutment is to be 200 meters tall, carrying hundreds of cables suspending the bridge. It will provide a direct land link to the island via the elevators as well as a planned light rail station that will stop mid-bridge to service passengers to and from the island.
Social aspect
Ever since Ada Ciganlija began gaining popularity, there have been varying views of its importance. During the economic hardship of the 1980s and subsequent wars of the 1990s, it was often regarded as an "necessary evil", as the only resort available to masses of economically disadvantaged people. Use of this recreation area has always been free of charge, leading to it often being overcrowded and regarded as having poor hygiene, because, for decades, Ada had no proper facilities or institutionalised care. That has changed however, and the zone is today properly maintained, and has suitable infrastructure and appropriate commercial and recreational content. It is now possible to play sports that were not even invented when transformation of Ada began and it has become a highly popular gathering place, especially among youth, and a must-see destination for foreign tourists visiting Belgrade.[43]
See also
Sava
Belgrade
Ada Bridge

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 — Belgrade's Land Development Agency
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