Kada je kroz Beograd 1850. godine prošao Siegfried Kaper, češki književnik i putopisac, od obližnjeg Zemuna – tada u drugoj državi – do Beograda putovao je dva sata brodom. Prtljagu mu je nosio crnac - oslobođeni rob, na ulicama je sreo bijesne pse, a od neljubazne gazdarice iznajmio je najbolju sobu u Beogradu koja je, osim parketa i dvokrilnih vrata, imala samo rasklimani krevet. Usamljen i neraspoložen pogledao je kroz prozor: Pred mojim očima širio se Beograd, čineći neku, ne toliko impozantnu koliko šarenu, čudno grupiranu panoramu. (...) U toj novoj varoši sve ukazuje na neki početak i počinjanje, sve je tu tek u zasnivanju. Varoš po sebi ne možemo za ništa drugo smatrati, već kao obilježenu osnovu neke buduće velike varoši, neke buduće prijestolnice...
(...)

When Siegfried Kaper, the Czech author and travel writer, passed through Belgrade from nearby Zemun – at that time in another country – in 1850, it took him two hours of travel by boat to reach Belgrade. His luggage was carried by a black man – a released slave – he came upon mad dogs in the streets, and he rented the best room in Belgrade from an unamiable landlady, a room which, apart from parquet and a double door, merely had a rickety bed. Lonely and in a bad mood, he looked out of the window: Belgrade spreads before my eyes, creating some sort of, not so much grandiose as colourful, weirdly grouped panorama. ... In this new town everything indicates a new start and beginning, everything here has only been in the nascent stage. The town itself cannot be perceived in any other way than as a marked basis of some future big town, some future capital....
(...)