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Zeleni Venac or colloquially Zelenjak (Serbian Cyrillic: Зелени Венац or Зелењак) is an urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in downtown Belgrade, just few minutes away to the east of Terazije, the designated center of the city.

The name of the neighborhood means the green wreath. Venac is usually used in Belgrade's geography in term of a round street (Obilićev Venac, Kosančićev Venac) or a rim of the river (Savski Venac, Dunavski Venac). However, in this case, it is used in the word's initial usage, meaning wreath. On the location of the present McDonald's restaurant in the Brankova street, for decades there was the kafana Zeleni venac whose logo was a green wreath. Belgrade historians still debate whether the neighborhood was named after the kafana or the opposite.

The major feature by which Zeleni Venac is known today is the open market of the same name (Serbian: Pijaca Zeleni Venac, Cyrillic: Пијаца Зелени Венац), one of largest in Belgrade. Also one of the major terminal stations of the city's public transportation, with almost 20 bus lines beginning there, is located next to the market.

The market was opened in 1924 and was intented to be the central city open market, being closest to the city center. A thorough reconstruction of the market, which gave back the market its original looks, began in June 2005 and was recently completed. After the completion, the market became multi-leveled, two-stored complex with lowest section partially below the ground. The communal infrastructure is completely renewed, a special parking lot is built and the area will is protected from future mass wasting.

(Wikipedia)