The backdrop of Serbian statehoods: morphing faces of the National Assembly in Belgrade

Abstract

The mixture of neo-Renaissance and neo-Classical forms of the National Assembly in Belgrade was to become a visual paradigm of the democratic course and national sovereignty of the Kingdom of Serbia, affirming the status of this newly born nation-state in nineteenth-century Europe. Yet, the interpretation of political messages associated with the building's nineteenth-century architectural features is still in progress. The aim of this paper is to explore how the image of the National Assembly developed into the visual repository of different ideological connotations depending on the character of public events being organized, in the building or in the space in front of it either to support state ideologies or to fight against them. In addition to ideological settings of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this research will focus on political meetings and public gatherings of the post-WWII state constructs, from the socialist federation of Marshal Tito to the more recent emanations of Serbian statehood. Along with analyzing the architectural forms of the building serving in different political contexts, this discussion will illuminate the appropriation of space in front of the building by examining the overall staging of public events which have become embedded in the contrasting layers of a collective memory associated with the same image: the National Assembly as the backdrop.

Keywords:

• collective memory
• architectural iconography
• public events and architecture
• Marshal Tito and Historicism

Notes

The Building of Skadar (Shkodra) is a Serbian epic poem, a metaphor for unachievable construction: “The full brothers were building a city.… They were building for full three years, for three full years with three hundred masons, but they could not lay the foundations.… What the masons built by day, the highland oread destroyed by night” (translation in Banac 1988, 406).

Literature about Konstantin Jovanović includes Babić (1961), Nikić (1976, 127–30), and Gordić and Pavlović-Lončarski (2001).

Jovanović's proposal dates back to 1895, when the idea of building a cathedral dedicated to the first Serbian Archbishop, Sava Nemanjić, was initiated. St. Sava Cathedral was to be located at the spot where his relics were burned by Ottoman authorities, on the 300th anniversary of that event. Although it is considered a key architectural symbol of national “rebirth,” the cathedral's construction is still in progress (discussed in Damljanović 2005, 125–35).

The Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences was never completed under Jovanovich's name. As with the project for the Assembly, it was considered too expensive for realization. After Jovanović's death, a building with a facade strikingly similar to his design for the Academy was completed in Belgrade: the Technical University by Nikola Nestorović and Dragutin Đorđević.

Konstantin Jovanović was born in Zürich and attended the Eidgenöβische Technische Hochschule while Semper was teaching there (discussed in Damljanović 2002, 145–51).

Since Carl E. Schorske's pivotal chapter, “The Ringstraβe, Its Critics, and the Birth of Modern Urbanism” (1980), political interpretations of the Rinstraβe architecture have been discussed by Ákos Moravánszky (1998, 25–62) and Anthony Alofsin (2006).

Serbian scholars consider Jovanović a native Serbian architect, while Bulgarians recognize his Bulgarian ethnic origins.

Intriguingly, the first sketches for the Bulgarian Parliament, kept in the Belgrade City Museum, show a similar spatial concept, but with different stylistic features from what was executed in Sofia. The proposal in the first sketch is closer to Jovanović's later neo-Renaissance realizations in Belgrade.

The transformation of “the aesthetics of rule” are discussed in Geertz (1977), reprinted in Wilentz (1985).

Jovanović visited the USA in the 1880s and spent some time at Cornell University. This segment of his life has still not been researched. It would be hard to prove if Jovanović tried to connect the symbolism of the Parliament dome in Belgrade to its earlier American counterparts.

The idea of the Serbo-Byzantine style was reaffirmed in an essay by Škalamera (1969) and later elaborately presented by Aleksandar Kadijević (1997a).

The architectural debate about national origins found either in the medieval Gothic or classical sources dominated nineteenth-century architectural theory in regions of Europe in which the Gothic style was associated with the birth of nations.

A certain number of schools and the Ministry of Education were designed in the Serbo-Byzantine style, which developed as a local response to the more general neo-Byzantine mode seen in Vienna. The founder of Serbian literacy was recognized in the medieval figure of the first Serbian Archbishop, St. Sava. Schools in Serbia celebrate St. Sava as their patron. This link between the school system and the cult of St. Sava explains why the medieval references were seen as appropriate architectural sources for educational programs.

Tehnički glasnik 11, 26 August 1901, 2–5.

The dynastic turnover of 1904 caused a loosening the political ties with Vienna and consequently shifted the zone of cultural influences toward anti-Austrian centers.

Pera Popović, the deputy of the Ministry of Building, explained that the original plans were meant to be altered to meet the needs of the larger group of representatives (see his letter in the archive of Savezna Skupština, folder “Ministry of Building,” document no. 3524, 17 March 1920).

About Nikola Krasnov, see Kadijević (1994, 1997b) and Toševa (2004).

Marko Popović (2002, 19) observes that the plan of the Grand Hall according to which the assembly was seated “face to face” with the government conveyed a democratic message.

Original plans in the Archive of Yugoslavia, fond Ministarstvo građevina, AJ f 626.

The act of consecrating a building is a religious ritual, conducted by priests.

The competition was open to respected artists from the entire country. The stipulations are explained in the letter by the committee for the building of the National Assembly, Archive of Yugoslavia, fond Ministarstvo građevina, letter dated 27 August 1935, AJ f 626.

Jovan Ilkić wrote about this event in his diary (Vreme, 29 October 1937), p. 11.

The parade of 1947 not only had a stiffer structure but was also held on the same day as the one in Moscow 9 May, the day of victory in World War II.

The stage for the military parade was set in front of the National Assembly for the first time in 1951 (see “Prvi Maj” 1951).

The archive of the RTS (Radio-Television of Serbia) keeps historical records of prime news by date. Parades were the key events of 1 May (parades were held every year until 1965 and every five years 1965–1985). The same archive has a significant unclassified collection of photographs of the parades. To get access to both collections, send a letter to Director Nikola Mirkov, Takovska 10, 11000 Belgrade. The photo documentation is taken care of by Violeta Rakić, who kindly sorted and supplied me with pictures relevant to my research.

Zdzislaw Mach (1993, 153) argues that the Soviet model of military parades on May Day was abandoned in favor of more “ludic and popular” celebrations because the military component had uncertain symbolical meanings – it could have stirred anti-Soviet emotions.

The exhibition May Day: Demonstration, Tradition, Representation, held in the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art in September 2010, followed the 120-year history of May Day celebrations in Vienna (Maderthaner and Maier 2010).

Documented in the Beogradska konferencija 1961 [Belgrade conference of 1961] photo album, National Library of Serbia; also in the photo archive of the Telegraphic Agency of New Yugoslavia (TANJUG). For political agendas of the constitutional summit discussed in Yugoslav literature, see Vlado Teslić (1983).

There is an ongoing debate about Nasser's hidden communist affiliation (Aburish 2004).

“The present has seen a radical ‘unbuilding’ of the geographies of imperialism, but it is also true that these new geographies do not surpass their past” (Jacobs 1996, 163).

An impressive collection of photographs taken during the summit is kept in the archive of TANJUG in folders named “Nesvrstani.” Studying the pictures in the archive is free (archive director Sava Radovanović, TANJUG, Obilićev Venac 2, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia), but scanning them is unreasonably expensive. A smaller collection of photographs of the summit exists in the unclassified archive of the daily newspaper Borba, in the care of Čobi Ždravković, who helped me in finding and scanning the photographs for this segment of my research.

Flag Code of the United Nations, amended by the Secretary General 11 November 1952.

The baton would finally arrive in the stadium for the central celebration on 25 May. The peak moment of the event was when the honored member of the Communist Youth would finally hand the baton to Marshall Tito.

The Olympic Torch Relay dates back to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin – a paradox of claiming the openness and supranational message of the torch's symbolism. The memory of the relay of 1936 could have been still vivid in Yugoslavia, because it was one of the countries on the route. The 1936 event could be a source for the later practice of Tito's baton, first run just after the end of World War II.

Documentation about the transformations of the interior for the summit in Belgrade is kept in the archive of Savezno izvršno veće III (unclassified). Contact Milomir Lukić, Uprava za zajedničke poslove republičkih organa, Nemanjina 22-26, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.

Three Scandinavian architects designed some of the most important interiors in the UN complex: Sven Markelius from Sweden, Finn Juhl from Denmark, and Arnstein Arneberg from Norway (see Glambek 2005).

“The essence of the idea was to give an impression of light, security and joy. The world we see in the foreground is collapsing, while the new world based on based on clarity and harmony can be built up,” explained Krohg himself in 1950, before adding, “Thus must the work of the UN and the Security Council provide the seeds for a new and more valuable life” (quoted in Glambek 2005, 24).

The painting by Lubarda was found in the photograph “Tito's Speech” in the photo archive of TANJUG. A similar picture exists in the archive of Borba. For its deciphering I owe a debt of gratitude to Lidija Merenik, professor of contemporary art history at the University of Belgrade. Today, Lubarda's painting is in the collection of the National Museum of Montenegro, Cetinje, and is presented in Petrović's monograph (2004, 310–11).

Petar Lubarda was presented in numerous monographs and catalogues, including Lubarda (1964), D. Đorđević (1967), and Protić-Lubarda (1969), and the more recent Petrović (2004), Đuković (2008), and Protić (2008).

For discussion of the link between art and politics during 1950–1970, see Denegri (2003).

Except for Industrialization, an exhibition with 36 paintings by Petar Lubarda was organized in the gallery of the Cultural Center of Belgrade as a special event during the summit.

Ljiljana Blagojević notes that the palace was opened for the first summit of the non-aligned; however, only the closing receptions were held there (2007, 163).

Discussed in Kulić (2009, 271–80).

The event was documented in a special edition of NIN (Nedeljne Informativne Novine) of 11 May 1980 and by all the leading newspapers in the country.

In an article titled “Tito's Epochal Funeral” (19 May 1980), Time reported: “Official mourners came from 123 countries: four Kings, 32 Presidents and other heads of state, 22 Prime Ministers, more than 100 secretaries or representatives of Communist or workers parties. TANJUG, the official Yugoslav news agency, summed it up simply as the summit of mankind.” http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924105,00.html.

“Take care of my Yugoslavia” were allegedly the last words of the assassinated king, according to Bogoljub Jevtić, a prime minister of Royal Yugoslavia 1934–1935 (Todorović 2006, 141). Also see “Dvorski voz sa kovčegom Kralja Aleksandra polazi iz Zagreba za Beograd, 15 oktobar 1934” [Royal Train with the Coffin of King Aleksandar Departs from Zagreb to Belgrade], a photograph from the commemorative album Čuvajte Jugoslaviju (Đorđević 1935). Tito's message, “Take care of brotherhood and unity,” is intriguingly similar to the last words of King Aleksandar I.

The first American president to lie in state was Abraham Lincoln.

The average time standing in line in the so-called “mimohod to Tito” was over 24 hours (see Politika, 6 and 7 May 1980).

The Protocol Office, responsible for the orchestration of Tito's funeral ceremony, included among others the executive manager, Anton Lah, and two personal secretaries of Marshal Tito, Milivoj Pisar and Tihomir Mirković (documentation in the Archive of Yugoslavia, fond Kabinet Predsednika republike, AJ f 837 / V-II-c).

The event was extensively documented in the media. The photo archives of the daily newspaper Politika and the weekly magazine Vreme hold large digital collections of unclassified pictures of the event. To access the Politika documents, contact Gorjanka Matić (Odeljenje za dokumentaciju, Politika, Makedonska 29, 11 000 Belgrade, Serbia), a prominent Belgrade photographer in charge of the photo department there. For Vreme, contact Jelena Mrđa (Foto-dokumentacija Vreme, Mišarska 12, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia).

For more about the history of Serbian heraldic symbols, see Popović (1997); also Acović (2008).

Ivo Banac uses the poem The Building of Skadar as a metaphor for the construction of the South Slavic union in general (1988, 406–16).

This is one of the most discussed themes in Žižek's writings, including Žižek (2002).

Umberto Eco defines the primary and secondary functions of architecture (1986).