National Museum of Serbia

About

The National Museum of Serbia (Serbian: Народни музеј Србије / Narodni muzej Srbije) is the largest and oldest museum in Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the central zone of Belgrade on a square plot between the Republic Square, formerly Theatre Square, and three streets: Čika Ljubina, Vasina and Laze Pačua. Its main facade is on the Republic Square and the official address is 1a Republic Square. The museum was established on 10 May 1844. It moved into the present building in 1950, with the grand opening of the venue on 23 May 1952. Since its founding, the museum's collection has grown to over 400,000 objects, including many foreign masterpieces. The National Museum of Serbia building was declared a Monument of Culture of Great Importance in 1979.

Before the erection of the building of the National Museum on this place was a famous tavern called "Dardanelles", meeting point of the cultural and artistic elite of the time. The tavern's demolition signified the beginning of the transformation of The Republic Square. The building which housed the museum originally was built from 1902 to 1903, for the purpose of the Uprava Fondova, the oldest financial institution in Belgrade. The building was constructed according to the design of architects Andra Stevanović and Nikola Nestorović after a competition on which they received the first prize. It was one of the first buildings in which was used some form of reinforced concrete for the foundation. During the digging of foundation trenches, the various pits, wells and basements were encountered because of the proximity of the former Stambol Gate. The newly built two-storeyed building's volume conception designed in the form of a long solid block with domes over the central and lateral Rizal sites and academic façade shape was based on the principles of neo-Renaissance style with neo-baroque elements on the domes. The greatest attention was given to the monumental staircase and the hall with bank windows which as the basic premises of a bank was given secondary importance. In the 1930s, the increased development of the State Mortgage Bank of Yugoslavia ( Serbian : Državna hipotekarna banka ), the successor entity to Uprava Fondova, generated a need for a reconstruction of the building. The extension was made without competition by architect Vojin Petrović, who designed the added wing and atrium facing the street Laze Paču. The new part of the building contained the same elements of interior as the old part, and in the final image, the building received two monumental staircases and two halls with bank windows while only the upper floors form the continuous line of offices. During World War II, the Mortgage Bank building was bombed and the central part with the dome was destroyed. After the war, the building was purpose when the museum moved in.

Since its establishment during the Constitutionalist era, the National Museum changed location several times. At a beginning, it was placed in Captain Miša's building (1863) and soon after it was moved into two adjacent buildings which were destroyed during World War I. At the same time, the museum's art collections were seized and looted by invaders. During the interwar period, the museum did not have its own building. The museum was located in a rented private house at 58 Kneza Miloša street. In 1935 the New Royal Palacе became the residence of the museum and named the Royal Museum. Subsequently, it was renamed into the Museum of Prince Paul which consisted of Historical Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art (founded in 1929), which merged in 1935.

The museum avoided destruction during the initial Nazi bombing of Belgrade in April 1941. Professor and major Johann von Reiswitz [ sr ] noted this in his 1941 report. He was head of the Referat for the Protection of the Cultural Values in Serbia, a local offshoot of the German Kunstschutz. Von Reiswitz inspected the museum, noting that 100,000 exhibits are preserved, except for some items which went missing in the initial stage of the war: some one hundred coins, eight archaeological artefacts, and two paintings "without greater value".

In 1948 the New Palace was restored and became the administrative seat of government. For that purpose, the museum was transferred into a building of the former Stock Exchange on Student Square, and partly to the Palace of Princess Ljubica. The first architectural competition for the proper National Museum building planned to be on Tašmajdan was announced the following year.

The author of the design was an architect Miladin Prljevic but the Cominform disapproved of this idea. Then the museum was transferred into the building of Mortgage Bank. After World War II, the first renovation of the bank building was done by architect Dobroslav Pavlovic in 1950 but the overall reconstruction of the building was made 1965–1966 by architects Aleksandar Deroko, Petar Anagnosti and Zoran Petrović. The central dome was restored and the central tract with offices and workspaces was lifted. After an adaptation, the original hall with bank windows was converted into a library. The originally main and monumental three-way staircase entrance from Republic Square received an internal character while the other entrance from Vasina street became the main entrance to the museum, which is connected directly to the other hall with bank windows. In a functional arrangement, the building underwent upgrading doubling space and communications, while in terms of design, maintained the characteristic elements of 1902 and in terms of art as an integral unity. Interior renovation from the 1960s was done in such a manner that it is not visible from the outside and it does not disturb the communications inside the museum.

In 2003, the permanent exhibition was dismantled and the building was closed for reconstruction, but the process dragged on for years, including gaps when nothing was done at all, and by January 2018 the museum was still not open.

On 25 January 2012, after ten years of the National Museum being closed to the public, Vladimir Bogdanović of the leading Serbian media outlet Press wrote an article called A decade of cultural genocide against the Serbs, commenting on the need and importance of a working national museum. He also criticized the preservation of the art in the museum. The façade was finished in 2015 and had to be reconstructed to its original look as the building is under state protection. In mid-2016 the works on the interiors began. The entrance into the museum from the Vasina Street remained the main entry point, while the exit doors that lead to the Square of the Republic, with its architectural staircase, were adapted as the exit point.

The new permanent exhibit represented the cultural development in this part of Europe from prehistory to the 20th century, with an emphasis on the Serbian cultural heritage. The 18th and 19th centuries art was exhibited on the first floor, along with the 20th-century Yugoslav art. In the atrium of the building, there are vaults, left from the period when the venue served as a bank, which were adapted into the exhibition depots. The look of the vault was preserved and utilized for the presentation of the museum numismatic collection, from the beginning of the coin minting to the 20th century. In addition, a collection of the medallion art was also exhibited there.

The construction works should be finished by March 2018, when the preparation and setting of the collections should start.

On 18 June 2018, 10 days before the scheduled opening, reporters from the daily Politika visited the museum. They reported that the venue does not look like something to be open in several days, and the employees confirmed that it would take at least six more months to complete everything, but that the museum will be open as scheduled. The reporters were not allowed to photograph everything. Even though the reconstruction projects, by architects Milan Rakočević and Vladimir Lojanica, envisioned several major changes (including the reconstruction of the glass roof and a dome destroyed during the heavy 1944 Allied Easter bombing of Belgrade ), nothing was actually changed so after 15 years the building wasn't thoroughly reconstructed as announced, but only refurbished. This way the capacity of the exhibition space wasn't enlarged, so the permanent exhibition will have 3,000 pieces, out of 400,000.

The large mural by Mladen Josić, painted in the 1930s and located on the wall of the mezzanine, was preserved. Josić painted another mural, close to the former dome, but was destroyed in the 1944 bombing. One of the remnants of the 1966 reconstruction, when the museum was managed by Lazar Trifunović, is a window decorated with the wrought iron. The window was originally facing outside until 1933 when the annex was added to the building.

The National Museum in Belgrade was officially re-opened on 28 June 2018. The grand re-opening ceremony included projections on the building's facade, as well as a promotional video featuring famous Ukrainian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin.

The National Museum in Belgrade was renamed as the National Museum of Serbia on 8 April 2021.

The National Museum of Serbia is a representative public building, monumental in size and volume, as well as its external shape and style. That is especially visible in the entrance area with twin columns and magnificent dome. All the facades characterized by polychrome ornaments neo-Renaissance origin. Monumentality is also reflected in the interior with rich decoration done by famous artists of the time: Andrea Domenico (also known as a painter of decorative wall painting that is in the interior of the building of the Old Palace), Franz Valdman and Bora Kovacevic.

In 2003, the permanent exhibition was dismantled and the building was closed for reconstruction, but the process dragged on for years, including gaps when nothing was done at all, and by January 2018 the museum was still not open.

On 25 January 2012, after ten years of the National Museum being closed to the public, Vladimir Bogdanović of the leading Serbian media outlet Press wrote an article called A decade of cultural genocide against the Serbs, commenting on the need and importance of a working national museum. He also criticized the preservation of the art in the museum. The façade was finished in 2015 and had to be reconstructed to its original look as the building is under state protection. In mid-2016 the works on the interiors began. The entrance into the museum from the Vasina Street remained the main entry point, while the exit doors that lead to the Square of the Republic, with its architectural staircase, were adapted as the exit point.

The new permanent exhibit represented the cultural development in this part of Europe from prehistory to the 20th century, with an emphasis on the Serbian cultural heritage. The 18th and 19th centuries art was exhibited on the first floor, along with the 20th-century Yugoslav art. In the atrium of the building, there are vaults, left from the period when the venue served as a bank, which were adapted into the exhibition depots. The look of the vault was preserved and utilized for the presentation of the museum numismatic collection, from the beginning of the coin minting to the 20th century. In addition, a collection of the medallion art was also exhibited there.

The construction works should be finished by March 2018, when the preparation and setting of the collections should start.

On 18 June 2018, 10 days before the scheduled opening, reporters from the daily Politika visited the museum. They reported that the venue does not look like something to be open in several days, and the employees confirmed that it would take at least six more months to complete everything, but that the museum will be open as scheduled. The reporters were not allowed to photograph everything. Even though the reconstruction projects, by architects Milan Rakočević and Vladimir Lojanica, envisioned several major changes (including the reconstruction of the glass roof and a dome destroyed during the heavy 1944 Allied Easter bombing of Belgrade ), nothing was actually changed so after 15 years the building wasn't thoroughly reconstructed as announced, but only refurbished. This way the capacity of the exhibition space wasn't enlarged, so the permanent exhibition will have 3,000 pieces, out of 400,000.