Beograd - Knez Mihailova Street

Has been closed to traffic and transformed into a promenade and shopping street, now known as the korzo of Belgrade. Acquired its present name as long ago as 1872.

ihailo Obrenović (b. Kragujevac 1823, d. Belgrade 1868), Prince of Serbia, son of Prince Milo and Princess Ljubica, came to power for the first time when his brother Milan died in 1839. The Sultan confirmed him as elected but not as hereditary. Prince and, in August 1842, a revolt was organized by Toma Vučić, Mihailo was forced to leave Serbia, and Aleksandar Karađorđević came to the throne. When Milo Obrenović returned to Serbia in 1858, Mihailo came with him and took over supreme command of the army. He again became Prince of Serbia when Milo died in 1860. In 1861. He made extensive changes in the constitutional structure of the state: the authority of the Council for Legislative Affairs was limited and the independence of its members abolished; ministers were henceforth to be responsible only to the Prince; freedom of the press was abolished; and the National Assembly became only an advisory organ. Mihailo paid special attention to military matters and in 1861 established a national army with about 50,000 soldiers in its ranks. Up-to-date weaponry was provided, and Serbia became the strongest military power in the Balkans. Mihailo's aim was nothing less than the final liberation of his country from the Turks. Counting on a war with Turkey, he formed alliances and made agreement with other Balkan nations - Montenegro, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania - and Serbia thus became the centre of a Balkan alliance against the Turks. But just as he was completing preparations for the war, Mihailo was assassinated while out walking on Koutnjak in June 1868.