Nikola Samardžić
occupants order to defend at every opportunity that
does not necessitate a true mobilization. One of the
key figures responsible for the new militaristic image
and spirit of Belgrade was Nikola Dobrović, the first
post-war director of the Urban Planning Institute
and chief architect of the city.^7 Upon his decision
the central city area Terazije, a charming and elegant
prewar urban ensemble with fountains, chandeliers,
etc., was cleaned on the eve of May Day parade in
1947, and turned into a military training ground
“under the dictate of modern life.”^8
Dobrović has also offered the basics of the urban
structure and the construction plan of New Belgrade.
His most personal touch, which also marked the
new militaristic concept of the city, was the General
Staff building. “A large complex in the center of
Belgrade, known as the General Staff, where the
Federal Ministry of Defense and the Yugoslav army
headquarters moved to, became immediately
accepted as the anthological work of the Yugoslav
architecture; when the country broke up, it got even
more prominent position in the history of Serbia’s
modernism. But, although its canonical status has
never been disputed, it seems that the building
still avoids easy classification and its interpretation
encourages controversy. Built between 1954 and
1963, during the time heavy burdened by ideological
shades of the specific Yugoslav communist path,
Dobrović’s General Staff allowed many readings
ranging from the denunciation of the project
as an expression of the ruling ideology to the
interpretations that attributed it a more autonomous
expression of architectural value. After the fall of the
communism, this ambiguity became untenable: the
building and its architect were too important to be
disrespected, but the associations to the previous
system were no longer welcome.”^9 The General
Staff was partially destroyed in the 1999 NATO
intervention. The ideological particularities of this
unfortunate event probably were not accidental,
nor illogical. The former Yugoslav army and the even
allegedly pro-democratic governments after 2000
sought to preserve the ruins as a reminder of the
conflict with NATO, and an eloquent self-speaking
symbol of the anti-Americanism.
Fig. 6
The complex of the General Stuff after the
destruction during the NATO intervention, 1999.
(Archive Samardžić)Fig. 5
The newly accomplished building complex of the General Stuff.
(Archive Samardžić)