Plans to demolish Belgrade’s Generalštab (General Staff) Modernist Complex and replace it with a Trump-branded development “constitute unambiguous breaches to the Serbian constitution, at least four national laws, and a series of international commitments”, the Union of Architects of Serbia (UAS) has claimed in a recent open letter.
The letter, addressed to the US president Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, follows an agreement made last year between the Serbian government and companies linked to Kushner. If it goes ahead, the deal would see the protected landmark replaced by the so-called Trump Tower Belgrade—a high-rise hotel and mix of commercial, residential and retail spaces.
Tensions surrounding the agreement have been rising since 7 November, when Serbian MPs voted 130-40 in favour of a lex specialis (special law) declaring the redevelopment of the complex to be a national priority, with public authorities “obliged to take all necessary measures” for its “timely” implementation. While Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, has said the proposed development would represent a “huge investment” that would attract tourists and “raise the value of everything in Belgrade”, the plans have proved highly controversial.
Designed by the Serbian architect Nikola Dobrović as a striking, late-Modernist statement and completed in 1965, Generalštab has been described by heritage groups as “a European masterpiece of Modernist architecture”. The complex was the target of Nato strikes in 1999 and was subsequently named a cultural monument of national importance.
The UAS’s letter calls on Kushner to swiftly remove his interests from the redevelopment project, which the architects describe as “destined to become a liability and a reputational burden to its investors”. They back up their argument with a multi-page report stating that, contrary to a “widespread misunderstanding”, the complex “is not a ruin” and remains protected by law.
This latest intervention follows a joint statement made on 4 November by four international heritage organisations: Europa Nostra; the International Council on Monuments and Sites; Docomomo International and The Architects’ Council of Europe. The groups expressed their “deep concern and firm opposition” to the special law, which they said sought to “enable the demolition” of an architectural masterpiece, “protected by law as a cultural monument of national importance”.
Speaking to The Art Newspaper, Europa Nostra's secretary general, Sneška Quaedvlieg-Mihailović, said: “The large-scale mobilisation of heritage experts, architects, engineers and civil society in defence of the Generalštab building deserves European support and solidarity since we are together defending not only cultural heritage, but also the rule of law and democracy in Serbia, an EU candidate state.”
With opposition politicians among those criticising the planned development, students and civic activists have been protesting in front of the complex, including at a mass rally on 11 November. Serbia’s Public Prosecution Office for Organised Crime is also said to be investigating what the UAS letter describes as the government’s “unsuccessful attempt”, in November last year, to remove the Generalštab complex from the country’s Central Heritage Registry.
