By: Pavle Jeremic, associate of the Center for geostrategic studies
One of the central features of modern societies is the awareness of the importance of preserving cultural monuments. Making a serious strategy that will ensure the preservation and improvement of the state of cultural and historical monuments is an obligation of every government regardless of the ideological orientation of parties and individuals who implement the government. The degree of preservation of such buildings has a dual function – in addition to preserving the memory of the past, it also affects the increase of the tourist capacities of the city and the state. This text aims to appeal to the competent authorities to draw up a plan for the maintenance and reconstruction of cultural monuments in Belgrade and Serbia, instead of demolishing and selling them.
General Staff Building
The General Staff building is a cultural monument whose construction was completed in 1965. for the Serbian people, however, it is much more than a monument of culture. It is a memory of the suffering and suffering of a people who innocently suffered 25 years ago. Serbia was the victim of a brutal violation of international law and a completely unjustified NATO aggression that claimed hundreds of victims, including a large number of children. The material damage is still incalculable today. The aggressor did not choose the targets of the bombing, and did not hesitate to drop bombs on kindergartens, schools and colleges, which damaged a total of 122. While most of the buildings that were damaged were repaired, the General Staff Building stands as a monument that unites the memories of all the victims and material damage. The central topic in the media these days is the possibility of leasing the land on which the General Staff Building is located to an American company that would build a hotel on that site. The government took a key step towards this by abolishing the status of the cultural monument to the General Staff. The question is how can a country sell its cultural monument, especially if it is a place of suffering? This news has caused a tumultuous reaction in the Serbian public, which is mostly in favor of the restoration of the general staff, or the construction of a memorial center, or a museum. It is of great importance that objects like this remain in the hands of the Serbian people and are under strict protection of the state as monuments of great importance.
Photo: the building of the General Staff that was bombed by NATO in 1999. year
The Icarus Building
Ikarus was the first aircraft manufacturing company in the kingdom of SHS. It was founded in Novi Sad, and its seat was then transferred to Zemun. In the period of the interwar Kingdom, Ikarus produced mostly military aircraft, the same ones on which in the April War the pilots of the Yugoslav Royal Air Force offered heroic resistance to the Nazi occupier. After the war, it was nationalized and converted to civilian production, mostly buses. The Administrative Building of Ikarus was demolished in 2018 with great public outcry. years and promised to be rebuilt. However, it is still possible to place at least a memorial plaque at the site of the demolished building, as a memory of this building which had great cultural and historical importance.
Photo: Icarus building before and after demolition
The House Of Eda Lazarević
This cultural monument is located in Hilandarska Street, in the Old Town. It was once a house that adorned the appearance of the street, while today it is in very poor condition. The building is in such poor condition that even the Department of the library that was housed in it had to move out. This attitude towards the memory of the first Serbian gerontologist and great writer of Serbian realism is irresponsible, it is necessary to take measures as soon as possible in order to pay tribute to this great Serbian medicine and literature.
Photo: House Of Eda Lazarević
The house in Grozko
Started at the beginning of 19. Century as a family house of gročanski Kapetan Golubović, and today it has decayed and grown into a weed. The appearance of Vlajković's House indicates that it is almost impossible that it is a cultural monument under the protection of the state. This is one of the most endangered cultural monuments in Belgrade.
PHOTO: A House in the woods
Foundry " Pantelic”
The Pantelic Foundry is a cultural monument located in Zemun, it was an example of the development of craftsmanship in the territories where Serbs lived in Austria-Hungary. The specific production program of this company was contained in the manufacture of bells and tower clocks. The Foundry went through several stages of improvement of the production process and at its peak produced clocks and bells for schools, municipalities, courts, companies and other business entities. Today, The Foundry has failed, and day by day it is collapsing more and more. There were ideas to make it a museum of crafts, which, however, were never implemented into a work, while the objects from The Foundry are in various museums in Serbia. The reconstruction of the Pantelic Foundry could create a step towards the establishment of a museum of crafts and the creation of a representative object.
Photo: Livnica Pantelic
Old mechanics
The old mechana is located in a large village, it was built in the beginning of the 19th century. century and represents an important cultural monument as a building that represents a mix of Moravian and Vojvodina village houses. It used to be a gathering place for locals, but today it is ruined and overgrown with weeds. It is necessary to invest funds in order for this cultural monument, which is under the protection of the Institute for the protection of cultural monuments of the city of Belgrade, to shine again.
Photo: old machine
In addition to the above examples, there are many other cultural monuments that perish every day, grow into weeds and disappear. It is our responsibility to preserve them in order to honor the generations that came before us, but also to fulfill the civilizational responsibility and hand them over to future generations. Unfortunately, there is a decades-long continuity of carelessness about cultural monuments, but still the hope remains that texts like this will contribute at least a little in raising awareness of the importance of caring for our cultural monuments.
Source: Center for Geostrategic Studies
24. November 2024.
