Belgrade — a fortress rebuilt more than forty times

Belgrade has been settled since the Neolithic Vinča culture, roughly 5500 to 4500 BC, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in Europe. Celtic tribes built the first fortress here, calling it Singidūn; Rome later took it as Singidunum, a garrison town on the Danube frontier. That strategic position at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers made Kalemegdan — the fortress overlooking the meeting point of the two rivers — one of the most fought-over citadels on the continent: historians count more than 115 battles here, with the fortress destroyed and rebuilt over 40 times as Byzantines, Ottomans, Austrians and Serbs traded control across the centuries.

That layered history sits alongside a more recent landmark: the Church of Saint Sava, begun in 1935 on the spot where Ottoman authorities burned the relics of Serbia's patron saint in 1595. Construction was repeatedly interrupted by war and consecrated only in 2004, and its dome — weighing an estimated 4,000 tonnes — took 40 days to lift into place in 1989, making it the largest Orthodox church in the Balkans.

What the camera shows

Belgrade beyond the webcam

Kalemegdan Fortress: Belgrade's central park and citadel, layered with Celtic, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian fortifications above the river confluence.

Knez Mihailova: the city's pedestrianised main street, lined with Art Nouveau facades between the fortress and Palata Albanija.

Skadarlija: Belgrade's bohemian quarter, its cobbled lanes once home to the city's writers, musicians and artists.

When to watch

Daylight hours: for the clearest views of the city's streets and skyline before evening traffic builds.

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Getting there: Belgrade sits at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, with Kalemegdan Fortress overlooking the meeting point from the edge of the Old Town, Serbia.