JAGODINMALA

       St. Panteleimon's Church

A quarter in Niš on the Nišava's right bank between the Fortress and Most Mladosti (Youth Bridge) on one side and Pantelej and Nitex textile industry on the other.
The term was coined in the 17th century thanks to the non-Muslim population from around Jagodina, whom Abdurahman-effendi had settled on that very ''čifluk'' (estate) on the Nišava's right bank. The story of these "čifčijas" (peasants living on a čifluk) was unusual. During the Austro-Turkish War, sometime after 1692, the Turks deported a group of enslaved non-Muslims from Šumadija region around Jagodina and had it settled around Gallipoli. In the beginning of the 18th century, these ''Gallipoli Serbs'' tried to escape to their home country but were captured and forced to settle temporarily around Pirot. Abdurahman-effendi took one group among them and had it settled on his čifluk near Niš. It was after them that Jagodinmala got its name.

Jagodinmala is a big archaeological site: the Old-Christian tomb in the backyard of the Secondary School Students' House – the ''English House'' and a basilica with a martyry near Most Mladosti Bridge. The remains of a bridge (left-bank support post) discovered below today's textile industry are also from the antique period. There is no data about a possible medieval settlement in this area but it is known that today's St. Panteleimon's Church from 1878 stands near the foundations of Stefan Nemanja's 12th century memorial temple. At this exact spot, in 1189, Stefan Nemanja conversed with German Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa.

In early Turkish records, the quarter was mentioned as a čifluk (under its present name) in the 18th century. During the liberation from the Turks (1878), Jagodinmala was a small, isolated čifluk, reachable across the Nišava (at Rajko's willows – above today's Most Mladosti Bridge) only by a boat. Near the wharf there was an inn and the oldest part of the quarter (today's empty space and the beginning of Pantelejska Street). The road to Timočka Krajina does not pass in the line of today's street but somewhat lower, next to the Nišava. In the lower part of the quarter, on the bank of the Nišava, there was a public tannery, as the first large manufacturing facility in Turkish Niš. In the beginning of the 20th century, Jagodinmala stretched to the junction of roads to Knjaževac and Matejevac, i.e. to the tollhouse. To the east, the last building was a small textile factory owned by a man called Ristić; to the northwest, Jagodinmala was fenced by army artillery barracks built in 1882. During the 1900's, today's Pantelejska Street was cut through starting from Ristić's factory. In that period, a wooden bridge was built at the location of today's bridge, as Niš could previously be reached only via the Fortress Bridge or the aforementioned boat. At the time, the Pantelej Monastery (Church) was an isolated building outside Jagodinmala. With the explosive urbanisation of Niš after WWII, Jagodinmala found itself between two smaller quarters: Marshal Tito Quarter and Pantelej, as early as 1960-65.

MARGER

       Kafana Marger

Naziv za zgradu i topografski prostor u gornjem delu Obrenovićeve ulice. Raniji naziv za istoimenu kafanu. Do oslobođenja Niša od Turaka bio je to stari niški prizemni han zvani »Kahva Osmana Dizdarevića«. Po oslobođenju na mestu hana izgrađena je spratna kafana, u koju su uneti bilijar i domine. Zakupac (\oka) 'markirao' je piće i odigrane partije bilijara, što je doprinelo da dobije naziv »Marker«, a zatim »Marger«. Kada je kasnije postao vlasnik kafane i kafana je dobila ime »Marger«. Kasnije je postala jedna od poznatih kafana Niša, stecište umetnika (glumaca), činovnika, učitelja i profesora. Redovni gosti bili su niški boemi, Kosta Delini (upravnik pozorišta »Sinđelić«), glumac Rucković, bard naše scene Dobrica Milutinović, Stevan Sremac, Andra Petrović (sreski načelnik), Peltek, Sremčevi junaci Mikal »Kalča«, »Smuk«, »Kurjak«, i drugi. Sa novom generacijom gostiju ovde je stolovao i »čiča Ilija«, sa svojim kvartetom nastupao je »bata Laka« itd. »Marger« sa granatim dudom ispred sebe srušen je 1955. i izgrađena je višespratna stambena zgrada nazvana istim imenom. Ceo prostor i danas je poznat pod ovim imenom.

PALILULA

Naziv za gradsku četvrt u južnom kvadrantu Niša, oko Palilulske rampe i iza nje, uklučujući i podnožje Svetinikolskog brega. Palilulsko naselje je još pre spajanja s Nišom egzistiralo kao posebno naselje. Podaci o ovom naselju veoma su oskudni, ali se sa većom izvesnošću može govoriti o hramu (crkvi) na bregu. Uništena do temelja od strane Turaka na početku njihove vladavine ovim krajevima, crkva je obnovljena, izgrađena iz temelja 1722. godine. Posle povlačenja austrijske vojske iz Srbije i Niša (1737), Turci su ovu crkvu pretvorili u xamiju dodavši joj minare. Kanic je ovu xamiju 1860. zatekao polurazrušenu. »Kad sam sastrugao sloj kreča«, veli Kanic, »pokazale su se veoma stare freske«. 1864. godine Mithad-paša srušio je ove ostatke i desetak metara jugoistočno, za potrebe beogradskih Turaka izbeglica, sagradio novu xamiju.

Posle oslobođenja od Turaka objekat je opet osvećen u crkvu (1878) da bi 1926. bio temeljno rekonstruisan, dobivši današnji oblik. Uz ovu xamiju-crkvu egzistiralo je u podnožju Svetinikolskog brega – naspram Čaira – omanje hrišćansko naselje (čiflik). O ovom naselju – čifliku i trima česmama (Hajdučkoj, Palilulskoj i Terziji), koje su se nalazile u ovom prostoru ima malo podataka. Na drugoj strani Svetinikolskog brega – prema Kovanluku – zaselilo se Muhaxirsko naselje sa izbeglicama iz Beograda. Poreklo naziva Palilula nije poznato. Možda je naziv nastao autohtono i spontano iz čiflika, izletišta i odvojene gradske periferije, gde se moglo slobodno »teferičiti«, razgovarati i uz razgovor paliti lula, ali je u pitanju neka druga motivisanost. Po oslobođenju (1878), i pogotovo posle izgradnje pirotske pruge, došlo je, duž trase puta Niš-Gabrovac (Episkopska ulica) do spajanja Niša sa palilulskim naseljem u jedinstvenu celinu. Već u periodu trasiranja železničke pruge i Sremčevog Niša (krajem 19. i početkom 20. veka), Palilula je istureno periferijsko naselje na kraju Niša. U njegovom sastavu – na zapadnoj strani – nalazio se poznati šefteli sokak pominjan u Sremčevim delima. Ime je došlo iz turskog jezika: šeftelija (breskva) i sokak (ulica), dakle, breskvina ulica.