New Palace (Belgrade)

The New Palais

The New Palace (Serbian Нови двор / Novi dvor) is a royal residence of the Karađorđević dynasty of Serbia and later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . Today it is the seat of the President of Serbia. The castle is located on Andrićev Venac in Belgrade , across from Stari Dvor (Old Palace).

history

Construction of the palace

The New Palace, built as the new residence of the Karađorđević dynasty , is the last of the objects in the palace complex to be erected on Terazije Square. Together with the adjacent buildings of the Old Palace - to which it also represents an architectural and visual counterpart - and the House of the National Assembly , it forms a set of the most important public buildings in Belgrade and Serbia . It was built according to the original ideas of the architect Aleksandar Bugarski from the 1880s as a wing of the ambitiously conceived palace complex. According to this spatial solution, the Royal Palace, which should have been built on the site of the Old Residence (the former Simić House), should occupy the central part of the complex. The left wing of the complex consisted of the Old Palace, which was built in 1884. The left wing, on the other hand, was the castle of the heir to the throne, which was built on the site of the castle of the heir to the throne Mihailo Obrenović since the mid-1870s . Even if the opinion prevails that the project of the castle of Prince Mihailo was the architect Kosta Šreplović designed in the spirit of Romanticism, individual sources indicate that he directed supervision of the final work on the building's construction and that the plans were most likely designed by Johann Frenzel and Giuseppe Cassano, the most famous architects in the main building administration .

With the construction of this object one could already see the idea that the space of the palace complex is organized as a three-part composition. However, Prince Mihailo never lived in this building, but moved into the old residence, while the interior and foreign ministries were housed in the new building.

The idea of ​​building the New Palace was initiated after the events in May 1903 and the demolition of the Old Residence in the following year, which had been the ruler's residence until then. After King Petar I Karađorđević came to power, he lived in the old palace of the Obrenović dynasty, which in the previous period was not used as living space, but for representative purposes of the ruler. Since the room of the Old Palace was not suitable for the permanent residence of the royal family, the need arose to solve the problem by building a new residence.

The construction of the New Palace for the heir to the throne Aleksandar I. Karađorđević based on a project by Stojan Titelbah (1877–1916), an outstanding architect from the beginning of the 20th century, began in 1911. Today, the New Palace is his only known work as an architect of the Ministry of Construction. Construction of the palace was completed in 1914, but the building was already badly damaged during World War I.

In the period from 1919 to 1922, a thorough renovation took place under the supervision of a specially formed commission, which was also working on the renovation of the old castle. The commission, which was responsible for the complete furnishing of the future home of the royal family and the maršalats (an auxiliary building) of the palace, included: a. the painter Uroš_Predić , the architect of the Ministry of Construction Petar Popović and Momir Korunović.

When King Aleksandar I Karađorđević moved in with Queen Marija in June 1922 , the New Palace became the official ruler's residence.

Palace style

New palace

The architecture of the New Palace supported the idea of ​​a historical rounding off of the palace complex by designing the building itself as a unique counterpart to the Old Palace. In this way, the need to spatially and symbolically round off the whole - a connotation to the state idea itself - was emphasized. The two-story building was designed in the style of academicism, with stylistic elements mainly taken from the architecture of the Renaissance and Baroque. The most representative façade faces the garden and the corner risalit is designed in the form of a tower with a dome, similar to the solution that was used on the building of the old castle. In this way, the harmony of the palace complex and the symmetry of the overall silhouette were achieved. In the system of facade division, the ground floor and first floor, which are designed as a unique compositional unit, represent the central composition. The basement was designed in a rustic style, while the second floor with its inconspicuous facade division and less conspicuous plastic architecture was treated independently. The structure of the main facade was achieved by emphasizing the side and middle risalits, in the center of which the main entrance is located. The main entrance is highlighted by an oval threshold. According to the purpose of the building, the heraldic symbols were given a special place in the decorative facade design. In the lunette of the middle risalit was a monumentally designed, complete coat of arms of the royal dynasty Karađorđević. The highest part is also the most dominant part of the New Castle: the tower with dome and spikes, at the top of which was a bronze figure of a two-headed eagle in flight, is the main architectural element that connects the façades to the streets Kralja Milana and Andrićev venac, In addition to the heraldic symbols, the composition that was attached to the end of the corner risalit under the dome is of particular importance: two identical, symmetrically placed images of shields with cross and four fire steels, which was part of the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Serbia and later part of the Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia . The central motif of the facade composition facing Andrićev venac street is the arched risalit, above the attic of which there was a monumental decorative composition with a coat of arms in the middle.

The spatial organization of the New Palace building was determined according to the 1911 project in accordance with the purpose of the building. The reception hall and dining room were on the ground floor, while the area facing Kralja Milana Street was reserved for high-ranking guests. The first and second floors, on the other hand, were intended as living space for the royal family. The New Palace project did not include a space for the kitchen, as the nearby Šumadija-style house, connected by a tunnel to the basement of the palace, was used for this purpose. The entire representative interior design and the furnishing of the palace rooms with expensive furniture was done by the French company Bézier. Particular attention was paid to the design of the vestibule, the reception room, the dining room, the Bosnian room, the Japanese and English salons and the living quarters of the king and queen.

The fencing with gates and guard posts that separated the palaces and the courtyard garden from Kralja Milana Street is part of the palace complex and the element that linked the old and new palaces. The palace guard building, whose extension and facade processing was carried out by the architect Momir Korunović in 1919/1920, was given a similar function, so that it contributes to the stylistic and urbanistic link between the palaces. The gates of triumphant appearance with pronounced decorative plastic and heraldic symbols, the arched building of the palace guard and the ground floor garden with fountain between the palaces gave the entire ensemble a representative and festive appearance.

Museum of Prince Pavle

The new palace was the official ruler's residence from 1922 to 1934. Then, after the royal family had moved to the newly built castle on Dedinje, at the request of King Aleksandar, it was relinquished for the purposes of the Royal Museum, which was later renamed the Museum of Prince Pavle. The museum was one of the most important cultural institutions in the kingdom and, in the opinion of contemporaries, was on a par with the most modern museums in Europe. The most important phenomenological aspect of Prince Pavle's Museum was the exhibition itself. On the ground floor, objects of material culture from prehistory, antiquity and the Middle Ages were exhibited; the first floor was reserved for monuments of national history and for 19th century Yugoslav art; the second floor housed the collection of contemporary European art, in which works by local artists played an important role. Prince Pavle's Museum remained in the New Palace building until 1948, when it was given a different role in the new state system.

Change in appearance

The New Palace, Belgrade

The old and new palaces and their new purpose were integrated into a wide-ranging intervention to transform the former palace complex into an administrative center of the state and the republic. In the course of linking the former palace complex with the house of the National Assembly, the fence was removed, the palace guard building demolished and the courtyard garden itself redesigned into today's pioneer park. In the period from 1948 to 1953, work was carried out on the reconstruction of the New Palace building for the purposes of the seat of government of the People's Republic of Serbia according to the project of the architect Milan Minić. The property was expanded by adding a large ballroom with an accessible vestibule . The facade facing the Old Palace was architecturally completely redesigned with a prominent column of Ionic columns, while the corner fronts and the lines of the original design to the streets Kralja Milana and Andrićev venac were retained. The access to the building of the New Palace was designed in accordance with the changes to the Old Palace, on the east side, towards the Pioneer Park. The heraldic symbols, on the other hand, were replaced by emblems of the new state system. Special attention was paid to the interior design of the extension. This was enriched with works by the most important Yugoslav artists - Toma Rosandić, Petar Lubarda , Milo Milunović, Milica Zorić and others.

The New Palace building has been used to house the highest organs of the republic since 1953. It housed the Executive Council and the Assembly of the People's Republic of Serbia, the Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Serbia and, for a long time, the seat of the Presidents of the Republic of Serbia. Today, the New Palace, along with the monuments that surround it, is part of one of the most valuable areas of the historical core of Belgrade. Due to its historical, cultural, social and architectural-urbanistic value, it was declared a cultural monument in 1983 (Official Gazette of the City of Belgrade No. 4/83).

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supporting documents

1. ↑ ^{a b} А. Кадијевић, Естетика архитектуре академизма (XIX –XX век), Београд, 2005.
2. ↑ Марко Поповић, Хералдички симболи на јавним здањима Београда, Београд 1997, 75-79, 138-139.
3. ↑ Александар Игњатовић, Архитектура Новог двора и Музеја кнеза Павла, у: Музеј кнеза Павла, Београ, 2009.
4. ↑ "Службени лист града Београда" бр. 4/83

Web links

• Institute for Monument Protection, Cultural Heritage Belgrade
• Politika online
• Belgrade Tourist Organization, New Palace

Coordinates: 44 ° 48 ′ 35.6 ″  N , 20 ° 27 ′ 47 ″  E