The flowery meadows surrounded both the Kijevski Potok and Topčiderka, which in turn were bordered by the oak forests and agricultural fields.

[4] The Straževica slopes are made of rich deposits of sandy-detrital silicified limestone, which are even today exploited in the Kijevo Quarry, which was originally open to supply the railroad company, but also became the main stone source for Belgrade.

Kijevski Potok, which originates under the hillock of Mačkov kamen, between Kneževac and Rušanj, cut through the Kijevo valley and often flooded it.

During his 1905 visit to the botanist Nedeljko Košanin, chief of the Belgrade's botanical garden Jevremovac, the Einsteins were driving the boat and swam in the lake.

[5] In 1937-38 Stefanović's nephew, who inherited the business, parceled the remaining land into lots with the view on ada and sold them for the construction of the family houses.

New authorities tried to clean an dredge the bottom of the valley, but ultimately gave up and the lake completely drained through the Kijevski Potok into the Topčiderka by 1947.

Immediately after the war, one of the brothers fell under the train in dubious circumstances (he was in the company of the representatives of the new government) and the other emigrated to the United States.

The only remaining property of the Stefanović family economic complex is one low, abandoned building full of rubbish, at the edge of the former court.

Svetozar Stefanović, industrialist who founded the first canning factory in Serbia, in Kragujevac, moved to Belgrade and bought the land at the mouth of the Kijevski Potok into the Topčiderka and planted fruits and vegetables, including the large fruit plantation on the slopes of the west bank of Kijevski Potok.

The factory was nationalized after the World War II by the new Communist authorities, renamed to "Prvi Maj" and moved to Čukarica in the late 1950s.

His villa was later adapted into the first Kijevo elementary school and after the World War II became the seat of local branch of OZNA (Yugoslav security agency) for a while.

[5] Apart from Stefanović, fast industrial development of Kijevo included the entrepreneurs Parapid, Tomić and Marković who founded the quarry, while a major landowner of the time, Fotelić, owned a large land complex on the southern and southeastern slopes of Petlovo Brdo.

The confiscated land on the eastern and southern slopes of Petlovo Brdo, in the alluvial valleys of both rivers, was parceled and sold to the employees of the railroad company.

[6] Next wave of settlement in Kijevo began in 1953, coinciding with the massive shift of the local agricultural population which was settling in Belgrade.

As the municipality issued the building permits, the settlement spread from the originally drier sections of the lower and eastern slopes.

Such a strong and fast development, despite being planned, had its setbacks, especially concerning the lack of compatibility with the rational building of the settlement which raised the price of both the construction and the communal grid.

[6] The GUP envisioned the urban joining of Kneževac-Kijevo and Železnik, along the Kružni put road, creating a secondary center of Belgrade.

The city was to have numerous business buildings, department stores, hotels, educational facilities, scientific venues and medical institutes.

Kružni put or "circular road" which rounds through the entire southern outskirts of Belgrade passes here, also with a tunnel in Kijevo.