Construction of Staro Sajmiste Memorial Center Announced for Next Year – Decades Old Idea Finally to be Realized?

The Staro Sajmiste Memorial Center (Old Fairground Memorial Center), as a joint project of the Ministry of Culture and Information and the City of Belgrade, should start being built next year, as announced by the mayor of Belgrade, Zoran Radojicic, Beoinfo reports. The Law on the Staro Sajmiste Memorial Center has come into effect, creating the conditions for this project to be realized.

– At the moment, the project documentation for the reconstruction of the Central Tower facility within the Staro Sajmiste complex in Belgrade is being prepared and should be completed by the end of this year. Based on this documentation that we are preparing, we expect the works to begin in 2022. We need to preserve the memory of important historical events, which we mustn’t forget. The Memorial Center will have a research part, a part for the archiving of the documentation and its presentation, where various events will be organized so that we would preserve the memory of the tragic victims of a wrong ideology – Radojicic said.

In a statement for RTS, he specified that the plan was for the Central Tower to be reconstructed first and that the property issues were expected to be solved before the construction works begin.

Decades old idea

The Staro Sajmiste complex was pronounced a cultural monument as “Staro Sajmiste – Gestapo Concentration Camp” by decision of the City Assembly of Belgrade adopted on July 9, 1987.

The idea of building the Staro Sajmiste Memorial Center dates back to nearly a decade and a half ago. In 2007, it was announced that the Memorial Center preserving the memory of the more than 48 thousand killed there during the Second World War would once again consist of the Central Tower, Italian, Czech, Hungarian and Turkish pavilions, which were to be reconstructed, and the buildings of the Sajam management and the Spasic pavilion where the “Posejdon” club is located. The plan at the time was for the central pavilion, the Romanian pavilion, Shoresman pavilion, the “Filips” pavilion, the German pavilion and five Yugoslav exhibition pavilions to be rebuilt, and the works were announced for 2008.

In 2012, the plan of the reconstruction of the monument complex Staro Sajmiste was presented. It was also announced that the first structures within the Staro Sajmiste memorial complex would be completed in 2013.

Announcements of tenders for the reconstruction of the Central Tower and preliminary design contests also followed in 2013, 2014 and 2016.

I. M.

Ministarstvo kulture Republike Srbije

Grad Beograd

Intellinea doo Beograd

Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Grada Beograda

Ministry of Culture and Information

City of Belgrade

Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Belgrade

Zoran Radojicic

Law on the Staro Sajmiste Memorial Center

Staro Sajmiste

Staro Sajmiste Memorial Center

Staro Sajmiste Central Tower

repaid of Central Tower at Staro Sajmiste

Old Fairground

preparation of technical documentation

Staro Sajmiste Concentration Camp