Yugoslav Ministry of Defence building

Coordinates: 44°48′20.2″N 20°27′40.5″E / 44.805611°N 20.461250°E / 44.805611; 20.461250
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Yugoslav Ministry of Defence building
Yugoslav General Staff
Савезни секретариjaт за народну одбрану
Savezni Sekretarijat za Narodnu Odbranu
The Yugoslav Ministry of Defence building in early 2022, with most of the damage cleared away.
Yugoslav Ministry of Defence building is located in Belgrade
Yugoslav Ministry of Defence building
Location in Belgrade
General information
StatusDamaged / partially used
TypeGovernment building for the Ministry of Defense[1]
LocationNemanjina Street, Belgrade, Serbia
Coordinates44°48′20.2″N 20°27′40.5″E / 44.805611°N 20.461250°E / 44.805611; 20.461250
Construction started1957
Completed1965
Closed1999 (destroyed)
Technical details
Floor area49,235 m2 (pre-1999)
Design and construction
Architect(s)Nikola Dobrović

The Yugoslav Ministry of Defence building (Serbian: Савезни секретариjaт за народну одбрану, romanized: Savezni Sekretarijat za Narodnu Odbranu, lit. "Federal Secretariat for the People's Defense"), also known as the Yugoslav General Staff (Serbian: Зграда Генералштаба, romanized: Zgrada Generalštaba, lit. "General Staff Building") is a government building in Belgrade, Serbia, that formerly housed the Ministry of Defence of Yugoslavia.

Built in from 1957-65, the building was heavily damaged during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, and was left largely derelict. Today, only a small non-damaged portion of the building is used by the Ministry of Defence of Serbia.

History[edit]

Architecture[edit]

The building was constructed from 1957 and 1965, having been designed by Serbian architect, Nikola Dobrović.[1] It is located in the centre of Belgrade, split in two by Nemanjina Street. Its design was meant to resemble a canyon of the Sutjeska river, where one of the most significant battles of World War II in Yugoslavia was fought, with the street as a river dividing the two monumental, gradually completed tracts. As Nemanjina Street comes up the hill from the main railway station, the two parts of the building form a symbolic gate.[1]

In addition to cascading forms, facades are characterized by the application of contrasting materials - robust, brown-red stone from Kosjerić and white marble slabs from the island of Brač.[2] The most striking visual motif representing the window bars on the facades, designed in the spirit of late modernism.

The first part of the building, standing across the government of Serbia building in Kneza Miloša street, is named Building "A" and has 12,654 square meters.[3] The other part of the building, divided by Nemanjina Street, is named Building "B" and has 36,581 square meters.[3]

1999 bombing[edit]

Around midnight on the 29th of April 1999, 40 days into the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, part of a wider intervention into the Kosovo War, the military complex was bombed twice in the space of 15 minutes.[4][3] Uninhabited at the time of bombing, this bombing was largely seen as to its symbolic significance as a representation of the state, rather than merely just for immediate tangible purposes.[1] It was bombed once again nine days later, around midnight on 7/8 May 1999.[3]

Post-bombing[edit]

Severely damaged by the 1999 bombing, the building has not been repaired for over a decade and is amongst Belgrade’s most famous ruins. Since 2005, it has been the protected monument of culture.[3]

Building "B" was much less damaged during the bombings, and in the following years the entrance of the building has been removed, for the safety of the pedestrians. Part of building "B" has been used by the Ministry of Defence of Serbia.

Reconstruction

In November 2015, the reconstruction of Building A stated with a budget of 650,000 euros, aiming to stabilise the structure.[5][5] By May 2016, the central part was entirely demolished and the pillars for the part of the building close to the street were poured.[6] Around 5,000 square meters was demolished.[5]

In February 2017, the government of Serbia decided to demolish most of the building "A" construction with the hope to re-build it to its original appearance with time.[7] On 9 March 2017, the Association of Serbian Architects (an informal, private group) launched an initiative for the submission of candidature for the UNESCO World Heritage Site, also saying that the Government of Serbia wanted to remove it from the register of cultural properties, but due to the long legal procedure resorted to the reconstruction.[8] The Association condemned the decision and marked it as a "definitive loss of our culture" as it is a "monument of suffering and brutality of NATO forces".[8] In March 2015, on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of the beginning of NATO intervention, the government of Serbia organized a ceremony in front of the ruined building, which some observers interpreted as the evidence that the ruin has indeed become a de facto war monument.[9]

Proposals for other purposes

There have been several other proposals for the building, including turning the building into a hotel.[10][11] Following the reconstruction of Building "A" and later proposed demolition of the most of the construction, Prime Minister of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić noted that there are plans for the construction of Monument of Stefan Nemanja and Museum of medieval Serbia on the place of the Building "A".[12][13] This idea was later abandoned as the monument was placed on Sava square.[14]

On March 13, 2024 Aleksandar Jovanović announced the signing of a memorandum giving away the location of the building to American offshore companies Kushner Realty and Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC, registered to Jonathan Kushner, cousin of Jared Kushner who is son-in-law of former president of the US Donald Trump.[15] Goran Vesić confirmed that he received authorization from the Government of Serbia at a public meeting to sign a memorandum that the location of the bombed General Staff in the centre of Belgrade be given away to American offshore companies.[16] The Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Belgrade announced that the building, has the status of a cultural property and that it had not received any official document proposing the abolition of that status.[17] On March 15, 2024 a rendering was published on Twitter proposing a luxury complex on the site of the building.[18] In response, a Serbian political party, Ecological Uprising announced the launch of a petition to prevent the building's sale, and to build a memorial centre dedicated to the victims of 1999 on that site.[19]

Gallery[edit]

Panorama of damaged Yugoslav General Staff in 2014, building "A" on the left and building "B" on the right
  • Damaged building "A" in 2006
    Damaged building "A" in 2006
  • Damaged building "A" in 2012
    Damaged building "A" in 2012
  • Damaged building "A" in 2019, showing some of the rubble cleared away as part of the post-2015 cleanup process.
    Damaged building "A" in 2019, showing some of the rubble cleared away as part of the post-2015 cleanup process.
  • Damaged building "B" in 2013
    Damaged building "B" in 2013
  • Damaged building facade in 2013
    Damaged building facade in 2013

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Milošević, Srđan (9 March 2015). "The ghosts of the past, present and future: the case of army headquarters in Belgrade, Serbia" (PDF). IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  2. ^ Petrović, M. R. (30 July 2015). "Generalštab pola šminkaju, pola ruše". blic.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Tri varijante za ZGRADU GENERALŠTABA, ali na kraju ipak MORA DA SE RUŠI". blic.rs (in Serbian). 2 March 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  4. ^ "A Kosovo Chronology". PBS. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  5. ^ a b c "Počinje rušenje nestabilnog dela zgrade Generalštaba" (in Serbian). Tanjug. 27 November 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  6. ^ Rodić, Milena (11 May 2016). "ZGRADA GENERALŠTABA podeljena na DVA DELA" (in Serbian). Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  7. ^ "Sanirali zgradu Generalštaba za 78, ruše je za 180 miliona". insajder.net (in Serbian). 28 February 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  8. ^ a b "Generalštab je obeležje našeg stradanja". novosti.rs (in Serbian). 9 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  9. ^ Ejdus, Filip (2017). "'Not a heap of stones': material environments and ontological security in international relations" (PDF). Cambridge Review of International Affairs. 30: 23–43. doi:10.1080/09557571.2016.1271310. hdl:1983/46946960-3281-4175-a8c1-6b46971a4e3f.
  10. ^ "Trump Eyes Turning Serbian Army Ruin into Hotel". Balkan Insights. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  11. ^ "Donald Trump to build a hotel in Belgrade". ExpatSerbia. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  12. ^ "Na mestu Generalštaba spomenik i muzej Stefanu Nemanji". blic.rs (in Serbian). 21 November 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  13. ^ Dragović, R. (27 December 2016). "UMESTO SRUŠENOG GENERALŠTABA: Nemanjićima muzej naspram zgrade Vlade". novosti.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  14. ^ "Generalštab ipak neće biti Muzej srpskog srednjeg veka". N1 (in Serbian). 15 September 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  15. ^ N, B. (13 March 2024). "Ćuta: Vlada poklanja Generalštab američkim ofšor firmama, na delu Beograd na vodi 2". N1 (in Serbian). Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  16. ^ "Vesić o lokaciji Generalštaba: Dobio sam ovlašćenje za potpisivanje memoranduma". N1 (in Serbian). 13 March 2024. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  17. ^ "Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture: Generalštab pod zaštitom". N1 (in Serbian). 15 March 2024. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  18. ^ Lipton, Eric; Swan, Jonathan; Haberman, Maggie (15 March 2024). "Kushner Developing Deals Overseas Even as His Father-in-Law Runs for President". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  19. ^ S, S. M. (15 March 2024). "Trampov zet objavio render za projekat kompleksa na mestu Generalštaba". N1 (in Serbian). Retrieved 16 March 2024.

External links[edit]

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