National Museum of Serbia

Largest museum in Belgrade, Serbia

The National Museum of Serbia is the largest and oldest museum in Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the central zone of Belgrade on a square plot between the Republic Square, formerly Theatre Square, and three streets: Čika Ljubina, Vasina and Laze Pačua. Its main facade is on the Republic Square and the official address ia 1a Republic Square. The museum was established on 10 May 1844. It moved into the present building in 1950, with the grand opening of the venue on 23 May 1952. Since its founding, the museum's collection has grown to over 400,000 objects, including many foreign masterpieces. The National Museum of Serbia building was declared a Monument of Culture of Great Importance in 1979.

Before the erection of the building of the National Museum on this place was a famous tavern called "Dardanelles", meeting point of the cultural and artistic elite of the time. Demolition of the old tavern signified the beginning of the transformation of The Republic Square. The building which housed the most important museum of the Republic of Serbia today originally was built from 1902 to 1903, for the purpose of the Uprava Fondova, the oldest financial institution in Belgrade. The building was constructed according to the design of architects Andra Stevanović and Nikola Nestorović after a competition on which they received the first prize. It was one of the first buildings in which was used some form of reinforced concrete for the foundation. Actually, during the digging foundation trenches, the various pits, wells and basements were encountered because of the proximity of the former Stambol Gate. The newly built two storeyed building was a real palace of its time. Its volume conception designed in the form of a long solid block with domes over the central and lateral Rizal sites and academic façade shape was based on the principles of neo Renaissance style with neo baroque elements on the domes. The greatest attention was given to the monumental staircase and the hall with bank windows which as the basic premises of a bank was given secondary importance. Almost three decades later, the increased development of the State Mortgage Bank of Yugoslavia , the successor entity to Uprava Fondova, generated a need for a reconstruction of the building. The extension was made without competition by architect Vojin Petrović, who designed the added wing and atrium facing the street Laze Paču. The new part of the building contained the same elements of interior as the old part, and in the final image, the building got two monumental staircases and two halls with bank windows while only the upper floors form the continuous line of offices. During World War II Mortgage Bank building was bombed and the central part with the dome was destroyed. After the war, the building got a completely new purpose when one of the most important national cultural institutions moved in. Since its establishment during the Constitutionalist, until the end of the Second World War, the National Museum changed location several times. At a beginning, it was placed in Captain Miša's building (1863) and soon after it was moved into two adjacent buildings which were destroyed during World War I. At the same time, the museum art collections were seized and looted by the invaders. During the interwar period, the museum didn't get its own building. The museum was located in a rented private house at 58 Kneza Miloša street. In 1935 the New Royal Palacе became the residence of the museum and named the Royal Museum. Subsequently, it was renamed into the Museum of Prince Paul which consisted of Historical Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art (founded in 1929), which merged in 1935. In 1948 the New Palace was restored and became the administrative seat of the Republic. For that purpose, the museum was transferred into a building of the former Stock Exchange on Student Square, and partly to the Palace of Princess Ljubica. The first architectural competition for the proper National Museum building planned to be on Tašmajdan was announced the following year. The author of the design was an architect Miladin Prljevic but the Cominiform disapproved of this idea. Then the museum was transferred into the building of Mortgage Bank. After World War II, the first renovation of the bank building was done by architect Dobroslav Pavlovic in 1950 but the overall reconstruction of the building was made 1965–1966 by architects Alexander Deroko, Petar Anagnosti and Zoran Petrović. The central dome was restored and the central tract with offices and workspaces was lifted. After an adaptation, the original hall with bank windows was converted into a library. The originally main and monumental three way staircase entrance from the Republic Square received an internal character while the other entrance from Vasina street became the main entrance to the museum, which is connected directly to the other hall with bank windows was. In a functional arrangement, the building underwent upgrading doubling space and communications, while in terms of design, maintained the characteristic elements of 1902 and in terms of art as an integral unity. Interior renovation from the sixties of the 20th century was done in such a manner that it is not visible from the outside and it doesn't disturb the communications inside the museum.

In 2003, the permanent exhibition was dismantled and the building was closed for the impending reconstruction, but the process dragged on for years, including the gaps when nothing was done at all, and by January 2018 the museum was still not open. On 25 January 2012, after ten years of the National Museum in Belgrade being closed to the public, Vladimir Bogdanović of the leading Serbian newspaper/website Press wrote an article called A decade of cultural genocide against the Serbs, commenting on the need and importance of a working national museum. He also criticized the preservation of the art in the museum. The façade was finished in 2015 and had to be reconstructed to its original look as the building is under the state protection. In mid 2016 the works on the interiors began. The entrance into the museum from the Vasina Street will remain the main entry point, while the exit doors that lead to the Square of the Republic, with its architectural staircase, will be adapted to be the exit point. The grand re opening ceremony included projections on the building's facade, as well as a promotional video featuring famous Ukrainian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin. National Museum in Belgrade was renamed to National Museum of Serbia, on 8 April 2021.

The National Museum of Serbia is a representative public building, monumental in size and volume, as well as its external shape and style. That is especially visible in the entrance area with twin columns and magnificent dome. All the facades characterized by polychrome ornaments neo Renaissance origin. Monumentality is also reflected in the interior with rich decoration done by famous artists of the time: Andrea Domenico (also known as a painter of decorative wall painting that is in the interior of the building of the Old Palace), Franz Valdman and Bora Kovacevic. Because of its architectural and cultural, urban and historical value building of the National Museum in Belgrade is established for the cultural heritage monument of great importance for the Republic of Serbia.

The museum has 34 archeological, numismatic, artistic and historical collections today.

The main collection consists of sculptures from Vinca (6th–5th millennium BC) such as Lady of Vinča and Lepenski Vir (7th millennium BC). There are also numerous sculptures, weapons, helmets and other items from ancient Rome, 1005 items from ancient Greece and various items of Celtic origin. The most valuable pieces from that period are Dupljaja Chariot (16th–13th century BC), golden masks from Trebeništa (6th century BC), household sets from Jabučje (1st century AD), the Belgrade Cameo (4th century) and a Silver belt with swastika (5th century BC). There is also a collection from ancient Egypt. The most famous piece is a rare gold sarcophagus and mummy of the Egyptian priest Nesmin.

The Numismatic Collection has more than 300,000 items (coins, medals, rings, seals). The collection is divided into ten smaller assemblies from 6th–5th century BC, and includes a collection of coins issued by Philip II of Macedon (359–336 BC) and Alexander the Great (336–323 BC). The collection also contains unique items: a golden medallion of Emperor Valentinian I, minted 364 AD, silver Dinars from the reign of King Stefan Radoslav of Serbia, and others.

The museum also holds a large collection of medieval artifacts, mostly from Europe and Asia. The most important is the illustrated 362 page manuscript of the Miroslav Gospels written in 1186 in Kingdom of Serbia (medieval). The manuscript was entered into UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in recognition of its historical value. The collection also includes the sarcophagus of Saint King Stefan Decanski from the 14th century, rings belonging to the Serbian Queen Theodora (before 1322) and King Stephen Radoslav of Serbia (1219–20), King Milutin's mantle from the 1300s, the Eulogy to Prince Lazar – Euphemia's famous embroidery from 1402, about 120 icons from 1200 to 1500, including the Ohrid collection.

The Collection of Drawings and Prints of International Artists has 2,446 items and the Yugoslav Art Collection has more than 6,000 items, including 1,700 paintings of Serbian authors from 18th to 19th century and 3,000 paintings from the 20th century. This does not include the Serbian Medieval Art Collection. The museum includes Serbian medieval, French, Dutch, Flemish, Italian, Russian, German, Japanese, Chinese (from 1644 to 1978), English, Spanish, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Yugoslav and miscellaneous art collections. In total the collection numbers some 16,000 paintings, graphics, drawings, icons and prints, plus over 900 sculptures. The French masters collection is the National Museum's most significant holding. It comprises extremely rare pieces from Matisse, Picasso, Renoir, Rouault, Degas, Cézanne and others. Most of these paintings were collected and donated by Prince Paul of Yugoslavia. Erih Šlomović, a young Belgrader born at the turn of the 20th century, became in his youth the protégé of the world's biggest art merchant, Ambroise Vollard. The connection led him to develop his own collection, comprising a total of 600 pieces by 1941. The Šlomović Collection is the largest and richest collection of French art in the Balkans, as well as one of the most beautiful in the world.