Vladimir Vlajko Kalenić

A Modest Benefactor from Vračar

Vladimir Kalenić, known among the people as Vlajko, was a modest Belgrade craftsman, a cobbler and slipper-maker (papudžija). Originally from Belgrade, he spent his whole life working and saving. He inherited an estate from his father, also a slipper-maker, and by wise investment in real estate considerably increased his property.

Vlajko had no children. All of his property, including a plot in Vračar (today’s Kalenić Market) and a building in Svetogorska Street, he bequeathed in 1907 for charitable purposes. He established the “Fund of Vlajko Kalenić, Cobbler and Steward from Belgrade” to help poor pupils and students, as well as soldiers who suffered in wars.