Conservators of Republic and Belgrade Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments decidedly against demolition of General Staff building complex in Kneza Milosa Street

In open letters sent to the public and those in charge, the conservators of the Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments of the Republic of Serbia and the Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Belgrade decidedly speak against the removal of the status of an immovable cultural good from the Yugoslav Ministry of Defense (Yugoslav General Staff) building.

They say that the survival of said cultural monument has been jeopardized and note that cultural heritage is a non-renewable resource, whose loss leads to the disappearance of permanent universal values of the overall heritage on a national and wider level.

The conservators of the Republic Institute addressed the letter to the president of Serbia, the prime minister of Serbia, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, the Ministry of Defense, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Managing Board of the Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments of the Republic of Serbia, the Expert Council of the Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments of the Republic of Serbia and to the citizens and the media.

In their open letter, they remind that, in the space in which, as they have learned from the media, the construction of a new complex of buildings is planned, four immovable cultural goods have been determined.

– These are: the General Staff building, built between 1924 and 1928 according to the project of the Russian architect Vasily Wilhelm Baumgarten, designated as a cultural good in 1984 (“The Official Journal of the City of Belgrade”, no. 23/84), the Barracks of the VII Regiment, raised at the end of XIX century according to the plans of the architect Dragutin Djordjevic, designated as a cultural good in 1992 (“The Official Journal of the City of Belgrade”, no. 26/92), the Yugoslav Ministry of Defense (Yugoslav General Staff) building, raised between 1955 and 1965 according to the project of the architect, urban planner and professor at the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade Nikola Dobrovic, designated as an immovable cultural good in 2005 (“The Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, no. 115/05), and the Area along Kneza Milosa Street in Belgrade, whose development started during the reign of Prince Milos as the state, administrative and military center of the Serbian Belgrade. This area was designated as an immovable cultural good in 2020 (“The Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, no. 159/20). The construction of the planned complex is not in line with either of these four decisions and in order for it to be built in line with the law, all four immovable cultural goods would need to be deleted from the register or considerably re-designated, which would jeopardize or destroy their value as monuments – warn the conservators from the Republic Institute.

As they point out, the complex of the Yugoslav General Staff building is located on the intersection of the busiest streets in Belgrade, Nemanjina and Kneza Milosa streets, in the central part of the administrative-governance block of buildings of significance for the Republic of Serbia, and is one of the most impressive urban images of the capital city.

Republički zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Beograd

Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Grada Beograda

Ministarstvo odbrane Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo kulture Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture Republike Srbije

SANU Beograd

Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments of the Republic of Serbia

Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Belgrade

immovable cultural good Yugoslav General Staff building

residential office complex Yugoslav General Staff Belgrade

Ministry of Culture

Ministry of Finance

Ministry of Construction Transport and Infrastructure

Ministry of Defense

Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Vasily Wilhelm Baumgarten

Nikola Dobrović

Dragutin Đorđević

Barracks of the VII Regiment