BELGRADE

by Norris, David

  FROM “ALBANIA” TO “MOSCOW”

  The twelve-storey building known as the Albania Palace (Palata “Albanija”) dominates the bottom of Terazije. Before, a kafana with the name Albanija, built in typical Balkan style, occupied the site from the nineteenth century. It may not have been pretty to look at, but it was a firm favourite of its clientele. The playwright Branislav Nušić said of it in 1929:

  There stands even today, as a reminder of old Belgrade, and will continue it seems for centuries, the kafana Albanija, a blot on the face of Belgrade, but El dorado to all its customers. There isn’t a kafana which spends less on its comforts and has more trade; nor is there one which has such a varied and mixed public.

  Unfortunately, this view of its attractions was not shared by all, and for some years there was pressure on the city authorities to pull it down and replace it with something more appropriate. Urban planners and architects wanted a modern showpiece, which led to the Modernist design of the new Albania Palace in 1938. It was the tallest building in Yugoslavia and the iconic image of Belgrade, but stories circulated about the dangers were it to fall down. In fact, during the Allied bombing of the city in 1944 it was hit and damaged but was quickly and successfully repaired with no hint of it collapsing.

  Between the Albania Palace and the Hotel Balkan is a fairly new block of shops and commercial premises built in 1964. No. 12 Terazije was the site of an old kafana, the Golden Cross (Zlatni krst), in which the first moving picture show was screened in Belgrade. A film industry appeared and grew very soon after this event. The Hotel Balkan on the corner is also a twentieth-century construction, from 1935, although there was an older hotel of the same name here for decades before. Across the road, the Hotel Moskva, or Moscow, was constructed in its monumental style between 1905 and 1907. Unfortunately, the house next door is not of the same distinctive architectural style and reduces the overall effect provided by the grandeur of the hotel.

  Lena Jovičić, brought up in a bilingual home with her Serbian father and Scottish mother, describes Belgrade in the early part of the twentieth century in her book Pages from Here and There in Serbia (1926). She writes of the modernity of the Hotel Moskva:

  The Belgrade of to-day is an agglomeration of Easter and Western ideas moulded and adapted to meet the requirements of this corner of the world. The contrast between the old and the new town is thus accentuated. Buildings of more than two or three stories high were few and far between in the beginning of this century, when the Hotel Moskva—so obviously Russian in design—seemed like a pelican in the wilderness. Twenty years have brought about many changes in Belgrade.

  The progress that has been made since the work of reconstruction began in 1919 is little less than marvellous. In a remarkable short space of time new, modern buildings have been erected to take the place of those destroyed by the bombardment. On every hand there is evidence that Belgrade has risen like a Phoenix from her ashes.

  The literary Phoenix involved the Moskva where, after the First World War, a group of artists, musicians, writers, poets and sundry bohemians began to meet in the kafana of the hotel. They did not form a coherent school or movement, but their meetings, discussions and polemics over the nature of art provided an engaging and stimulating atmosphere for a younger generation of Modernist writers amidst the Belgrade ruins. Miloš Crnjanski, Rastko Petrović, Momčilo Nastasijević and others cut their first literary teeth in this company.

  A group of buildings on the wide pavement of Terazije beyond the Hotel Moskva are representative of Belgrade’s trajectory from a small Balkan town to a major European city. The Athens Palace (Palata “Atina”), at 28 Terazije, was built in 1902 as the family home of Đorđe Vučo, with commercial premises on the ground floor and living accommodation on the upper two storeys. It is an example of balance and harmony in an architectural design with features of the Italian neo-Renaissance set off by the two small cupolas on either side.

  A somewhat earlier house, Krsmanovićeva palata, is at 34 Terazije, constructed about 1885 by Joca M. Marković but which he soon had to surrender to Aleksa Krsmanović because of a debt. Krsmanović lived here until his death in 1914. The front of the building facing Terazije is not in itself particularly remarkable, but behind the house is a large semi-circular terrace overlooking a family garden. Built on a slope, the house actually has two floors at the back—a feature not evident from street level. It has had many different owners and functions. At the end of the First World War, because of the extensive damage to both royal palaces, Alexander Karađorđević took up residence here. He proclaimed the unification of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in one state in the large reception room facing Terazije after which he gave a speech from the window to the crowd gathered outside. Between the two world wars the house was used by the Yugoslav Autoclub while the ground floor at the back was an exclusive shop selling oriental carpets. During the Second World War it became a canteen for officers of the German administration in Belgrade. After the war it was nationalized and used in turn as a youth centre, a diplomatic club, the offices for the government protocol section, and a bank.

  The small but elegant structure at 40 Terazije was built in 1911 as a studio for the photographer Milan Jovanović (1863–1944), with his initials in relief above the entrance. His studio was on the first floor, the wall of which and most of the roof were all in glass, offering a very distinctive appearance from the main street at the time. Jovanović trained in Vienna and Paris before practising in Belgrade where he photographed a large number of famous people from the worlds of culture and politics.

  Across the road, the Ministry of Justice at 41 Terazije is an imposing administrative building from the 1880s, although the house next door at no. 39 is perhaps more interesting. This is the Smederevo Bank (Smederevska banka) from 1910 and offers the most distinctive design features in Terazije. It has a highly decorative façade in which the vertical lines in particular are emphasized. The eye moves naturally up this narrow threestorey house whose height is extended by the central cupola at the top. The balconies give a sense of greater depth, which fills out the vertical proportions of the design.

  On the corner with King Alexander Boulevard rises the Igumanovljeva palata, named after Sime Andrejević Igumanov. Born in the southern town of Prizren, he founded a school in his home town which was to be supported by the rent from this building. He established other philanthropic foundations for education and children, and on the top of this building was placed a tall statue of him with children representing his legacy. The statue was removed in the 1960s when the city was more interested in updating its image and it was replaced by a neon advertising sign.

  KING MILAN STREET

  Terazije and King Milan Street together form a seamless flow, with the border between them marked by the colourful and highly decorated frontage of the Vuk Karadžić Foundation (Vukova zadužbina). The road was first known as the Kragujevac Highway (Kragujevački drum) when it was not much more than an elaborate and large cart track, muddy in winter and dusty in summer, until it was cobbled and planted with an avenue of chestnut trees. In 1872 it was called Knez Milan Street (Ulica kneza Milana), only to be re-christened in its present slightly different form in 1888 after Serbia’s recognition as a kingdom. The communists changed the street in 1946 to Marshal Tito Street (Ulica Maršala Tita), which it stayed until the end of the communist system when it received the title Street of Serbian Rulers (Ulica srpskih vladara) in 1991. The new name, however, lacked the kind of commemorative or memorable ring expected of a capital city’s central thoroughfare. It was felt that the old name offered a specific historical reference and a complement to the other monarchs’ monikers in the city centre, so it reverted back in 1997.

  At the beginning of King Milan Street is the red and white façade of the Vuk Karadžić Foundation. The house was constructed in 1871–72 for the judge Dimitrije Golubović but did not remain long in his possession as it was used as the Russian Consulate prior to being bought by the Ministry of Edu
cation in 1879. It remained in the ministry’s hands for over a hundred years until it became the office for the Vuk Karadžić Foundation, an organization which continues to promote his name and to work for the development of the Serbian language. The building also houses the Institute for Literature and Art (Institut za književnost i umetnost) funded by the government to conduct research in these areas. The building was given its distinctive exterior during renovations in 1912, with a heavy wooden door, dark red decoration and elongated windows on the first floor as a modern interpretation of a traditional Byzantine church design. Further down and across the street, next to the palace complex, is a small side street with a water cascade down the centre. This is Andrić Crescent, named after the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature Ivo Andrić, where there is a statue to the writer. There is now a museum at no. 8 in the flat where he lived for the last years of his life.

  King Milan Street was refurbished after the First World War and many new buildings were planned for it, all finished in a few short years. The consequent transformation produced a central avenue in the style of other European capitals fronted by tall buildings of impressive design and dimensions. The House of the Serbo-American Bank (Dom Srpskoamerikanske banke) went up in 1931 at no. 10. The Hotel London was built on the corner with Knez Miloš Street, and the name of the crossroads is still known to all as “At the London” (Kod Londona). Construction after the Second World War has produced many more newer buildings that may individually have their merits, but which rarely blend with the earlier architecture. The street has hence lost something of its coherency.

  Across the road from the palace complex is the Serbian Assembly, built 1953–54 in a modern design unlike the classical proportions of the buildings opposite. In 1963 the Chamber of Commerce (Privredna komora Beograda) was constructed on the site of the old Hotel London with little thought to the appearance of surrounding buildings. From 1969 to 1974 the city’s tallest skyscraper was constructed on the street, the Belgrade Palace (Beogradska palata)—more frequently and affectionately called the Belgrade Lady (Beograđanka). It can be seen from all over the city and defines the central skyline and, although impressive in its own way, hardly blends with the surrounding architecture. It is spread over 23 storeys with a supermarket in the basement, a department store on the first few floors, office space on the upper floors and the studios of a TV and radio company on the very top floors.

  The area around the Beograđanka was first developed by Knez Miloš as part of a military district including barracks and a powder magazine. Across the road, the Student Cultural Centre (Studentski kulturni centar) was originally built as the Officers’ Club (Oficirski dom) in 1895, part of the facilities for the army. The small statues of knights on the front betray its earlier incarnation, and it was from here that the conspirators set out on their errand to murder King Alexander and Queen Draga in 1903. Behind the cultural centre is a park bearing the name Manjež, from the French word manège, meaning both the art of horsemanship and a place for training horses. This was the site of a riding academy that Knez Mihailo added to the military complex in the 1860s as a training ground for the cavalry of the Serbian army which he was keen to develop. The need for the facilities declined after the First World War for two reasons. First, the war saw the introduction of certain technological advances which, while not doing away with the use of cavalry altogether, at least reduced their military effectiveness. Second, the National Theatre in the centre of town was damaged during the war and was not fit for staging performances. In these circumstances, it was decided that the adaptation of the Manjež, the large hall intended for cavalry drills, as a new theatre would solve one of the city’s temporary problems. This building fronted the park on King Milan Street and eventually became the home of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre (Jugoslovensko dramsko pozorište). Its most recent facelift came about following a catastrophic fire in 1997 when the whole building was reconstructed with a modern façade and interior. The theatre has an active company producing plays by modern Serbian and foreign playwrights, while the National on Republic Square tends more towards a classical repertoire.

  Across the road from the theatre are Flower Square and the beginning of Njegoš Street. This plot was designated as a parcel of land to be developed as a market in 1843 when the first steps were taken to extend Belgrade further beyond Terazije and into the district of Vračar. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century and particularly after the announcement of Serbia’s transformation into a kingdom this district became the elite residential area. The new middle classes of merchants, professional groups, army officers and state officials moved here and built large town houses. The area bordered by King Alexander Boulevard and King Milan Street as far as St. Sava’s Church provides many examples of rapid urban development.

  The people who moved into the district proved to be the kind of articulate middle class who would get things done for themselves. They formed the Society for the Beautification of Vračar (Društvo za ulepšavanje Vračara) in 1884, and one of the amenities they pressed for was a covered market at Flower Square of the kind beginning to appear in western towns. They got their wish, and the first stand for fiacres in Belgrade was also put here in 1886 in order to help speed up the journey time to the city centre. The bottom of Njegoš Street by Flower Square was used as a taxi rank for more modern vehicles until the beginning of the twenty-first century when the area was pedestrianized.

  The house at 1 Njegoš Street has the name of the society dedicated to improving Vračar inscribed at the top, and in the hallway, just inside the front door, are four plaques on the wall listing the names of honoured (and deceased) members. It is a list of people from a wide variety of professions giving a sociological insight into that new elite: café owners, retired generals, a butcher, civil servants, a judge and many others. Many of the houses at the beginning of the street have recently been converted into small bars with outside seating, or expensive boutiques. Even so, there are still traces of the previous atmosphere. The house at no. 11 is highly decorated with many original figures in relief on the front. Behind the modern appearance at ground level facing the street, the small workshops of some craftsmen are still to be found in the back courtyards, indicated by old signs above the entrances advertising a cobbler, watch mender, or bag repairer.

  Flower Square itself has gone through various transformations and eventually became an enclosed supermarket with some flower stalls in front. The supermarket was the first self-service outlet in Belgrade, introduced by the communists during the period when the country was going through radical reform and moving away from the Soviet model of state socialism, and a sign of the gradual westernization of Yugoslavia from the early 1960s. In the early twenty-first century the supermarket became a showroom for expensive cars. There has, however, remained one constant on this little square. In front of the car showroom stands an oak tree, under the protection of the state, which has been here on this spot as a witness to all change since the time of Knez Miloš.

  PALACE COMPLEX

  There are two palaces standing side by side on King Milan Street. The first residence on this site was built by the leader of the State Council under Knez Miloš, Stojan Simić, in the 1830s, as Terazije was going through its initial building programme. His house stood just behind the palaces visible today, further back from the line of the road in the park. Knez Alexander Karađorđević bought Simić’s house in 1846 for his own use.

  In moving here, the new knez made a symbolic gesture by leaving Ottoman Belgrade for the site of the new development. The building, known as the Stari konak or the Old Residence, was used as private accommodation by all the nineteenth-century rulers of Serbia and housed administrative offices. It also was the place where princes and kings hosted celebrations and official gatherings, entertaining foreign guests and Belgrade’s elite society. It was decorated in an entirely European style with parquet floors and brightly-lit candelabras quite unlike more traditional tastes in furnishing.


  Slobodan Bogunović remarks on the modernizing influence it had on the city:

  The running of the Old Residence in terms of palace protocol, internal furnishings and organization of rooms, represented a complete contrast with those of Miloš Obrenović in the ruler’s first Belgrade residence. It was the result of social evolution and was used to encourage the adoption of cultural models other than the national. The ruling family introduced completely new types of social amusement and concepts of behaviour, which were passed on to the more prominent citizens through their required attendance at palace balls, official receptions, tea parties, concerts and other celebrations. These new forms of social ritual representing European influences slowly spread from the palace through Belgrade society.

  Not all events in the Old Residence were to be pleasurable. In 1903 King Alexander Obrenović and Queen Draga were assassinated here, and Peter Karađorđević had it demolished the following year.

  Milan thought the Old Residence inappropriate for official occasions when he became king, so he built a new palace in 1884. Having decided that a more impressive building was required, Milan hired the services of the architect who had built the National Theatre a few years before. The result was a stage on which to play his role. The grandiose palace provided offices and reception rooms, while he and his family continued to live in the smaller building behind. More modern public and government buildings were opened around the palace, giving the district an air of importance compared to the earlier and smaller constructions around the Town Gate—which lost its place as the focal point of the Serbian capital.