Vlajko Kalenić Endowment

A shoemaker with a big heart

At Svetogorska Street No. 12 in Belgrade stands a large residential building, the endowment of a humble craftsman, Vladimir Vlajko Kalenić. Vlajko was a Belgrade slipper-maker (shoemaker) who inherited an estate from his father, also a slipper-maker, and through hard work and thrift increased it considerably.

He had no children, and in 1907 he left all his property by will for charitable purposes. He established the “Fund of Vlajko Kalenić, shoemaker and economist from Belgrade” with the aim of helping poor pupils, students and humanitarian societies.

Kalenić Market

Besides the building in the city centre, Vlajko also owned a large estate in Vračar, known as “Kalenić’s threshing floor” (“Kalenića gumno”). In 1926, one of Belgrade’s best-known markets was built on that site – the Kalenić Market. The income from renting out the building and the market is still used today to provide scholarships for outstanding students of the Faculty of Economics from less well-off backgrounds.