Palace of Serbia
| Palace of Serbia | |
|---|---|
| Palata Srbije | |
The Palace of Serbia, pictured in September 2006
|
|
| Former names | SIV 1 |
| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Location | Novi Beograd, Belgrade |
| Address | Bulevar Mihaila Pupina 2 |
| Coordinates | 44°49′13″N 20°25′40″E / 44.82028°N 20.42778°E |
| Construction started | 1947 |
| Completed | 1959 |
| Owner | Government of Serbia |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 6 |
| Floor area | 65,000 m2 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Mihailo Janković |
| Other designers | Vladimir Potočnjak, Anton Urlih, Zlatko Nojman, Dragica Perak |
The Palace of Serbia (Serbian: Палата Србије / Palata Srbije) is a building located in the Novi Beograd municipality of Belgrade, Serbia. The building is used by the government of Serbia and currently houses several cabinet level ministries and agencies.
The technical name of the building is Savezno izvršno veće 1 (SIV 1) as it was used by the Federal Executive Council of Yugoslavia. Later, it was informally known as the Palata Federacije (Palace of the Federation) before given its present name.
The exterior 'H' shape was designed by lead architect Vladimir Potočnjak and his team: Anton Urlih, Zlatko Nojman and Dragica Perak. Construction officially began in 1947 and progressed until Potočnjak's death in 1952. The project was taken over by Mihailo Janković who designed the interior of the structure and oversaw its construction until completion in 1959.
The building was constructed in the mixed stripped down classicist (the main structure) and modernist (the glass domed great hall with front entrance) architectural styles. Common misconception about it being in socialist realism/Stalinist style is due to lack of such buildings in Belgrade in general. Due to Tito - Stalin split occurring before major new construction began in the city, the style, with the exception of Trade Unions Building, never took hold in Yugoslavia. While it is the most monumental building of the early socialist period, unfamiliar with Soviet construction of the time, yet familiar with the term used for it, come to this obviously erroneous conclusion. Its H-shaped base covers an area of approximately 65,000 m², thus making it the largest building in Serbia by area covered. It has 744 offices, about 30 m² each, 13 conference rooms, six salons, three large halls and two garages.
The Palace was initially conceived as the part of the public ensemble of public buildings, but such programme was reduced by the adoption of the General Urban Plan of the City of Belgrade in 1950, according to which the Palace, along with the hotel “Yugoslavia”, remained secluded on the right bank of the Danube. With the decision to continue the construction, finishing the project was entrusted to the Belgrade architect MihailoJanković, and to the architectural design office “Stadion”, under which supervision the building was realized in the period from 1955 to 1961. On that covered and sandy soil, the building was constructed by the Youth work brigades from all around Yugoslavia. A four-membered team of architects from Zagreb led by Vladimir Potočnjak (Anton Ulrih, ZlatkoNojman, Dragica Perak) won the competition. After Potočnjak died in 1952, the construction was suspended only to be continued in 1956 by an architect Mihailo Janković, who significantly changed the original design by adding some new elements. The design by an architect Janković and his team brought in significant changes both in interior organization, and in the exterior shape of the building. He kept the urban disposition, basic measures and mutual relations of certain tracts from the original design, whereas the main changes concerned the interior spatial organization. According to the altered design, the central part with the Banquet Hall, all the annexes around the building as well as the façade were constructed. By shifting the main entrance to the southern side, the entire building got accentuated orientation towards the future settlement. Along with the representative hall placed on the first floor of the newly designed annex, a number of extra lounges, conference halls, twenty-eight cabinets for the members of the Federal Executive Council, about sixty offices for the administration, as well as the following space for garaging vehicles were anticipated by the new programme of the interior design.
...
Wikipedia