Yugoslav Ministry Of Defence Building

The Yugoslav Ministry of Defence Building (, lit. "Federal Secretariat for the People's Defence Building"), also known as the General Staff Building (), is a complex of government buildings, that formerly housed the Ministry of Defence of Yugoslavia and the General Staff of the Yugoslav People's Army, now housing the Ministry of Defence of Serbia (in the non-damaged part, tower of "Building B"). It is located in Savski Venac, Belgrade.

The complex was heavily damaged during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 and was left largely derelict.

History

The complex of buildings, intended for the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense of Yugoslavia and the General Staff of the Yugoslav People's Army, was built from 1955 to 1965.

On 29 April 1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the complex was bombed twice in the space of fifteen minutes. Deserted at the time, the bombing was largely seen as symbolic due to the complex’s representation of the state, rather than for immediate tangible purposes. It was bombed once again nine days later, around midnight on 7 May 1999.

Except for removal of the entrance annex of the "Building B" in 2014, the building has not been repaired since and is one of Belgrade’s most famous ruins.

In 2015, the clearing of rubble from "Building A" was conducted, aiming to stabilize the structure. Around 5,000 square meters of "Building A's" central structure was entirely demolished, and the concrete structural beams of the street-side face were repoured.

In 2017, the government of Serbia circulated plans for demolishing the remaining parts of the "Building A" in order to eventually rebuild it to its original appearance. The Association of Serbian Architects launched an initiative to establish the structure as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, also stating that the government of Serbia wanted to remove it from the Registry of Cultural Properties, but due to the long legal procedure chose the other path. It condemned the government decision and marked the potential demolition of "Building A" as a "definitive loss of our culture", declaring it a "monument of suffering and brutality of NATO forces". In 2015, on the 16th anniversary of the beginning of the NATO bombing of Serbia, the Serbian government organized a ceremony in front of the complex, which some observers interpreted as the evidence that the ruins have indeed become a ''de facto'' war monument.

There have been several other proposals for the building since then, including turning the building into a hotel. The Prime Minister of Serbia at the time, Aleksandar Vučić, announced that there were plans for the construction of a monument of Stefan Nemanja and a museum of medieval Serbia at the site of the "Building A". This idea was later scrapped as the monument was instead placed at Sava Square.

In March 2024, Aleksandar Jovanović stated that the government was planning to release a memorandum that would effectively give away the buildings to American offshore companies Kushner Realty and Atlantic Incubation Partners LLC, registered to Jonathan Kushner, cousin of Jared Kushner, a son-in-law of President of the United States Donald Trump. The Minister for Construction and Infrastructure Goran Vesić confirmed that he received authorization from the Serbia's government at a public meeting to sign a memorandum that the complex will be leased for 99 years to American offshore companies. The Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Belgrade announced that the building has the status of a cultural property and it had not received any official document proposing the abolition of said status. Later on, Jared Kushner published renderings that showed a luxury complex on the site of the buildings. In response, the Ecological Uprising political party announced the launch of a petition to prevent its sale, and to build a memorial center dedicated to the victims of the bombing on the site instead.

On 15 May 2024, the government approved a contract with Kushner in partnership with Richard Grenell for plans to build a $500 million luxury hotel on the site. On 15 November 2024, the government made a decision to remove the building from the Central Register of Immovable Cultural Heritage, essentially allowing the plan to move forward. The decision became effective on 23 November 2024. On January 16, 2025, Kushner announced that a Trump hotel would be built in place of the Yugoslav Ministry of Defence Building. The following day, the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments stated it would not remove the Defence Building from the Central Register, citing the law on cultural heritage, which says that for a cultural heritage site to be removed, it must either cease to exist or be completely destroyed.

On 15 October 2024, Europa Nostra nominated the building for the 7 Most Endangered monuments and heritage sites in Europe due to attempts at demolishing the remaining structure.

Architecture

The building was designed by Serbian architect, Nikola Dobrović. It is located in the downtown Belgrade, split in two by Nemanjina Street. Its design was meant to resemble a canyon of the Sutjeska river, where one of the most significant battles of World War II in Yugoslavia was fought, with the street as a river dividing the two monumental, gradually completed tracts. As Nemanjina Street comes up the hill from the Belgrade Main Railway Station, the two parts of the building form a symbolic gate.

In addition to cascading forms, facades are characterized by the application of contrasting materials - robust, brown-red stone from Kosjerić and white marble slabs from the island of Brač in Kneza Miloša Street, is named "Building A" with area of 12,654 square meters. The southern part of the complex, across the Nemanjina Street, is named "Building B" with area of 36,581 square meters.

See also

* List of buildings in Belgrade

References

External links

{{Belgrade Architecture

Buildings and structures in Belgrade
Military of Yugoslavia
Military headquarters
Ruins in Serbia
1965 establishments in Serbia
1960s establishments in Serbia
1999 disestablishments in Serbia
NATO airstrikes
Military installations of Yugoslavia
Attacks on military installations in 1999
Attacks in Europe in the 1990s
Military installations closed in 1999
Attacks on government buildings and structures in Europe
Headquarters in Serbia
Savski Venac
Building bombings in Europe
Yugoslav Serbian architecture
1999 building bombings