Trg Slobode

On je već u martu 1883. godine došao u Nikšić kako bi snimio postojeće stanje i u maju iste godine i uradio isti, koji je knjaz Nikola prihvatio i sljedećeg mjeseca donio u Nikšić, gdje ga je pokazao budućim graditeljima. Na taj način stvorene su osnove za izgradnju nove varoši. Planom je predviđeno da se u samom jezgru nalazi prostorni, četvorougaoni trg i još četiri manja u ostalim reonima a koji bi bili povezani širokim, pravim i radijalno usmjerenim ulicama. Sam plan je predviđao rubnu izgradnju objekata, uglavnom prizemnih i jednospratnih zgrada, kanalizacije za odvođenje površinskih voda i podizanje drvoreda i zelenih površina.

Trg je od marta 1885. godine pa do početka Prvog svjetskog rata bio trgovački centar, pijaca i glavni pazar za sjeverni dio Crne Gore. Krajem devetnaestog vijeka na trgu je otvoren veći broj trgovačkih i zanatskih radnji a 1886. godine trg dobija i dvije kućice i to jednu za prodaju šibica, puščanog praha i fišeka, lovačke municije i oružja, soli, duvana, igračaka i drugog dok se u drugoj plaćala taksa tzv. dacija. Do pred Drugi svjetski rat pored njih se nalazila benzinska pumpa Ilije Kadovića. Kasnije su izgrađena i dva okrugla punkta sa nastrašnicama za prodaju mlijeka, bijelog mrsa i jaja. Pored svake kućice nalazio se bunar.

Trg je aprila 1944. godine kao i sam Nikšić bombardovan od strane saveznika i tom prilikom poginulo je 168 a ranjeno više od 200 ljudi.

Njemačke jedinice su u noći između 17 i 18. septembra 1944. godine odstupile iz grada ka Danilovgradu, a u Nikšić su 18. septembra ušle jedinice Šeste crnogorske brigade. Nikšić je oslobođen nakon tri godine i pet mjeseci okupacije a stanovništvo je oslobodiocima priredilo srdačan doček na trgu.

Nekoliko puta je mijenjao svoje ime. Prije Drugog svjetskog rata zvao se Karađorđev trg, a po završetku rata trg Maršala Tita, a od 1992. godine trg Slobode.

U julu prošle godine započeta je njegova dugo najavljivana rekonstrukcija koja je ušla u posljednju fazu.

                                                                            Boško Roganović

          Freedom Square

After the liberation from the Turks, in order to "put things in their place" in the plan of construction of the town, Prince Nikola invited Josip Slade to make the first regulation plan of Niksic.

In March 1883 Slade was already in Niksic to inspect the current situation, and in May of the same year he made the plan, which was accepted by Prince Nikola who brought it to Niksic the following month and introduced the future builders with it. Thus the basis for the construction of the new town was created. The plan envisaged spacious, rectangular square in the core of the town and four smaller in other regions, linked by wide, straight and radially oriented streets. It envisaged the construction of boundary objects, mostly terrestrial and one-story buildings, surface water drainage, tree rows and green areas, as well.

From March 1885 until the beginning of the World War I the square served as a shopping center, market place and the main market for the northern part of Montenegro. At the end of the nineteenth century, a large number of retail stores and craft shops were opened on the square, and in 1886 the market got two small houses, one for the sale of matches, gun powder and cones, hunting ammunition and weapons, salt, tobacco, toys and the second one for paying taxes (dacija). A gas station belonging to Ilija Kadovic was next to them until the World War II. Two round stands with canopies for selling milk, dairy products and eggs were later built. Next to each small house there was a well.

In April 1944 the square and the entire town of Niksic, were bombed by the Allies. 168 were killed and more than 200 people wounded.

In the night between 17 and 18 September 1944, German troops withdrew from the city to Danilovgrad, and on 18 September units of the Montenegrin Sixth Brigade entered the town. Niksic was liberated after three years and five months of the occupation, and the town's population organized a warm welcome on the square for the liberators.

The square changed its name several times. Before the World War II it was called Karadjordje Square, and after the war Marshal Tito Square. From 1992 its name is Freedom Square.

In July last year its long-awaited reconstruction began, which has, by now, entered the final phase.