The General Staff is not losing the cultural property status - Sheik or another investor interested in the construction will have to adapt

As eKapija finds out at the Ministry of Defense, it is about the planned demolition of the entrance at the B building. Although the decision on recovery of the building is made, the part would be removed anyway for the safety reasons.

- We started preparation works on cleaning the B building, scaffolding and soon the machinery for removal of unnecessary parts and plants will arrive.We will pave with concrete one part while the other will be poured with humus and the greenery will be planted. We will install also promotional billboards for our campaigns. The expert teams from the ministries estimated it will take 70 working days to remove damaged parts - Jovan Krivokapic, a mayor, says in his interview for eKapija.

The works will total RSD 38 mil and, as our collocutor says, the funds have already been set aside from the budget for this and the next year.

Krivokapic told us they have the approval of Republic Bureau for the cultural monuments which the institution also confirmed.

A view from the hotel over the Government

In 2005, the Republic Bureau for Cultural monuments protection proclaimed the General Staff a cultural property, four decades since after it was built and six years after being damaged in NATO bombing.

In February, the Ministry for Constriction and Planning initiated that the buildings of the General Staff of the Army of Serbia should be deleted from the cultural property registry in order to undertake necessary recovery measures. This was initiated after the announcement of the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, that sheik Muhamed bin Zajed is interested in construction the hotel at the location of the General Staff.

The Association of the Architects of Belgrade point out it would be a mistake if the building of the architect Nikola Dobrojevic, who is the “proud of Serbian modern”, would be deprived of the protected cultural monument status.

- The external facility should be restored because it is a masterpiece and it is a shame it has been left in ruins for 15 years. The best thing would be to announce an international architectonic competition for reconstruction.This would generate terrific solutions and it would be a world sensation. The facility interior could contain numerous facilities. The place is most likelymost convenient for governmental services. It was not a pointless thing having all institutions - an architect, Ivan Raskovic, says for eKapija.

This professor from the Architectonic faculty in Belgrade estimates that the location in Knez Milos street is not a convenient place for the hotel because the hotel rooms would directly overlook the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs and the Government, which brings the safety of the institutions into question.

As for the comments that the facility was protected after it was demolished, architects point out that many buildings in the history were demolished and after that they obtained the cultural property status.

Experience with protected facilities in Italy

In other countries, the practice is that facilities of historical importance are turned into commercial facilities, but not be demolished.

Bojan Starec, director at ItalianaCostruzioni Balcani, a part of the leading Italian company in thesector of recovery of architectonic cultural property, says.

- In Italy no one came to an idea to demolish these kinds of facilities. If a hotel is planned, it could be adapted within the existing General Staff building. Commercialization of many things is necessary to survive. For example, the project we work on in Monza-based Villa Reale was agreed with the owner that one part will be rented and exhibitions will be organized. Also, monumental railway stations in Italy,such as buildings during the fascism, are considered a part of cultural heritage and some commercialization was carried out to some extent so there are shops, restaurants and office premises.

According to our collocutor, the Italian company would gladly join large projects of cultural property recovery in Serbia.

Nothing has happened as of February, i.e. sheik focused on investing in other fields of Serbian economy. These days, there was information that Donald Trump, an American businessman, is interested in the construction of a hotel in Belgrade but no one confirmed whether exactly this location in Knez Milos Street interests him.

It has not been decided yet what will happen with the demolished buildings of the General Staff. The Ministry of Defense only uses the facilities and is not accountable for speaking about plans and the Directorate for Property which owns the facility has not had an answer to our question of what they are planning with it for months. It is obvious that the Government of Serbia will have the final say for the buildings which found a place in all world architectonic encyclopedias and remained one of the key monuments of post-war architecture.

Suzana Obradovic