Residence of Princess Ljubica
The residence of Princess Ljubica is located in Belgrade , at Kneza Sime Markovica 8 . Because of its cultural and architectural importance, the residence has been designated as a cultural monument of outstanding importance.
history
This castle was inhabited until 1829, but due to its age and decay, Prince Miloš decided to build a new residence. The New Residence, as it was called at the time of its construction, was larger and more representative than the Grand Residence, as it was also intended to be a testimony to the economic growth and consolidated power of Miloš Obrenović after receiving the Hatt-ı Şerif reform edict in 1830. Princess Ljubica's residence is one of the best preserved examples of civil architecture in Belgrade from the first half of the 19th century. It was built between 1829 and 1830. According to Prince Miloš, it should have a dual purpose: to provide living space for his family, Princess Ljubica and her sons Milan and Mihailo, the later Serbian princes, and at the same time to be the residential palace. It was built according to the ideas and under the supervision of Haj Nikola Živković , the pioneer of Serbian architecture. Prince Miloš decided to commission the architect Hajj Nikola Živković from Voden because there were no architects in Belgrade at the time, after nothing had been built for years. As a result, Nikola Živković became the first architect of the renewed Serbia and directed all construction work commissioned by Prince Miloš throughout his first reign. The excavation of the foundation began in July 1829 and the residence was completed in the late autumn of 1830. Princess Ljubica informed her husband in a letter on November 22, 1830, "that they have taken up residence in the new residence". A hammam with a one-story wing was added later in 1836.
placement
Princess Ljubica's residence is located on the corner of Kneza Sime Markovića and Kralja Petra streets, the former Bogojavljanska and Dubrovačka streets, in one of the oldest parts of Belgrade. Opposite the current Cathedral of St. Michael was the old princely palace , which stretched roughly from the entrance to the present day patriarchal palace to the garden of the present day residence of Princess Ljubica. The residence of Princess Ljubica was built in an open space, in the center of a large garden, originally fenced with a high wall, like other buildings of this type, and surrounded by greenery. It had an outer courtyard that you entered through the car driveway and a spacious inner garden facing Kosančićev venac street . The main facade, dominated by the visiting room's bay window, looks out over the Sava River .
architecture
The base of the residence is rectangular, relatively large and has three levels: basement, ground floor and first floor. The cellar has a vault and the first and second floors are built in the classic bricklaying style with bricks and a kind of half-timbered structure with a wooden structure that is filled with bricks. The hipped roof is covered with tiles and is surmounted by an octagonal dome and eight chimneys. This structure contains all the features of bourgeois houses in the Serbian-Balkan style . The ground floor and first floor have a central anteroom around which all other rooms are distributed, which is a traditional oriental room concept that arose from the former closed inner courtyards. There is a diwanhane on each of the two floors, a kind of living room and at the same time a reception salon. The diwanhane on the ground floor is separated from the rest of the room by two steps and is surrounded by wooden beams with a balustrade in between. Right next to it, a wide staircase leads into the garden and this house entrance is wider than the one on the street. The upstairs diwanhane is more intimate. It is framed by walls on the sides and has only two beams towards the central room. Their floor was in line with the surrounding floor and they were all made of planks. This diwanhane faces the street. Although its spatial concept is based on the oriental tradition, the residence of Princess Ljubica represents a turning point in Belgrade architecture, as it heralds the influence of European architecture with its exterior design and decorative elements. This European understanding is particularly evident in the fragmented facade, the broken lines of the roof, the chimneys and the dome, in the secondary details of the architectural facade processing - the pilasters, arches and window decorations, the profiled wreaths and some details of the interior design. The bay windows on the facades, which are actually typically rectangular, have a semicircular base.
Development of the residence
One of the first pieces of news that we have from Princess Ljubica's residence is a travel description by Otto Ferdinand Dubislav von Pirch from 1829: “A small part of Belgrade protrudes from the rest, and that is a small room on the south-western side the street in the upper town. (...) Although it is not the largest, it is the most beautiful building in terms of shape that I have seen in Serbia. "The new residence already differed from normal private houses in the role it was intended for, and" contains certain features that she (...) places in a row with the fortified castles of great pashas and rich beys. ”Although she was modest, Princess Ljubica wanted to organize court life on a high level. In the received correspondence from January 1, 1831 between the princess and the prince Miloš, Ljubica demands from her husband that “red socks are obtained for the court servants”. We assume that the answer was negative after the princess wrote in her letter of January 24th that “she can also help herself, without servants. “During the first reign of Prince Miloš, the main state treasury was located in the residence of Princess Ljubica. The Prince's reign, after Prince Mihailo's return to Serbia in 1840, held meetings in the residence, and Prince Mihailo lived in the residence until 1842.
From the lyceum to the gallery and the museum
After that, the Lyceum was located there, followed by the First Belgrade High School and then the Court of Appeal and Cassation. In 1912 the institute for the education of deaf and mute children and from 1929 the museum for modern art were quartered. The church museum was located in the building until April 6, 1941. From 1945 to 1947 a part of the Patriarchate was in the residence and from 1947 the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Republic. In the period from 1971 to 1979, conservative restoration work was carried out to renovate the property and renew the facades and the interior. On this occasion, the residence of Princess Ljubica, which today belongs to the Museum of the City of Belgrade, was adapted for a representative museum exhibition. The residence of Princess Ljubica was declared a cultural monument of great importance in 1979.