Nova Varoš, Podgorica

Read the street plan

Nova Varoš was laid out as Podgorica expanded beyond the older Ottoman-era Stara Varoš in the late 19th century. It was once also called Mirkova Varoš. The contrast is still useful on foot: Stara Varoš has an irregular, inward-looking pattern, while Nova Varoš works on straight streets and a rectilinear grid.

The district was heavily damaged during the Second World War. Reconstruction retained the broad logic of its street pattern, so this is not a preserved old town in the conventional sense. Treat it as the compact centre in which to read Podgorica’s successive layers: 19th-century planning, post-war rebuilding and later civic infrastructure.

Start at Independence Square

Independence Square (Trg nezavisnosti) is the practical centre of Nova Varoš and Podgorica’s principal town square. The paved space has a central fountain; the Radosav Ljumović City Library and the Art gallery are on the square.

Use it to orient yourself before walking the two pedestrian edges:

• Ulica Slobode runs along the east side and is the main shopping street.
• Njegoševa Street marks the west side.
• Bokeška and Vučedolska form the north and south edges of the square.

A pedestrian passage leads onward toward City Hall and the Montenegrin National Theatre. This is a good short route when you want to understand the district rather than collect isolated monuments.

Continue through the central grid

Leave the square on either pedestrian street, then take the parallel and cross streets rather than following a fixed circuit. Nova Varoš is most legible in these repeated, walkable blocks: low- to mid-rise buildings, commercial ground floors and civic uses sit within a plan designed around direct movement.

The northern edge reaches the foot of Gorica hill; the western side meets the Morača river corridor. These margins reveal the scale change beyond the historic core: river space and major roads separate Nova Varoš from the larger planned districts across the Morača.

Practical use

Nova Varoš is central, compact and best handled on foot. There is no district ticket or gate; Independence Square and its pedestrian streets are public space. Begin at the square, allow time for an unhurried walk through the grid, and use the river or the hill as clear orientation points.

The district is an everyday centre, not an open-air museum. Keep the focus on its layout: the square, the pedestrian axes and the unusually clear transition from older central blocks to the river corridor.