Page 6 - Catalogue English.cdr

INTERIOR

The building contains 6 salons (staterooms), size of artworks which classifies this building
which represent some kind of micro-muse- as one of the earliest examples of total design
ums of the people and nationalities of Yugo- in architecture of Belgrade and Yugoslavia.
slavia and symbolize the federal system of By accurately project developing the position
arrangement of the republic, 3 halls in cere- of artworks and strict criteria of selection the
monial part, 13 conference rooms and 744 idea was developed to transform the ceremo-
office spaces. The total area of the Palace is nial part of the building in some sort of XX cen-
approximately 65,000 m². tury art gallery.
Spaces in lateral wings are constructed most- Due to the size of the interior which was to
ly according to the functionalism principles be decorated as well as the deadlines for the
while the spatial concept of the ceremonial completion of the construction and furnishing
part was supposed to meet all the require- of the building, all quarries in the former Yu-
ments of monumental and representative goslavia were engaged. The most commonly
spatial planning. The central, main room used was the stone «kirmenjak», whose struc-
around which the six staterooms are located ture is such that different cutting methods cre-
is a ceremonial hall for conferences and re- ate unique natural patterns. Beside the afore
ceptions called Yugoslavia Hall (Today called mentioned “kirmenjak”, other types of stones
Serbia Hall) with area of 800 m2. The first of- came from quarries in Senta, Pek, Ripanj, Novi
ficial guests in this Hall were the participants Pazar, Kolašin, Aranđelovac, Osijek, etc. The
of the First Conference of Non-aligned Move- central staircase in the ceremonial part of the
ment held in Belgrade in 1961. Palace was made of dark marble – granite. The
The staterooms, as well as ceremonial hall, external façade was enveloped with 12-20 cm
can be entered from two spacious, represent- thick white marble from Brač (Croatia).
ative foyers with polychrome glass ceilings The collection of Yugoslav painting and sculp-
and they are directly connected with the cen- ture artworks as well as XX century applied art-
tral hall and staircase. Those foyers are also works represents a special value of the building.
communication areas with two halls for ses- The designs of the salons dedicated to each
sions of the Federal Executive Council, which of the federal republics, located in the central
were later given popular names - «Beograd“ part of the palace, is based on the emphasis
Hall and “Mostar” Hall (bearing two collo- on traditional national motifs characteristic for
quial names, “Podgorica” Hall and recently the cultural heritage of each federal unit. This
“Press Hall”. On the opposite side of the state way, within the monumental area of the pal-
rooms and Yugoslavia Hall there are the off- ace, individual spatial units were formed - mu-
ices of the president (Tito’s Office) and two seums of people and nationalities, composed
vice-presidents of the Council (Kardelj and of works of local artists and craftsmen from
Ranković’s Office) which are offices of the former Yugoslav republics.
President of the Republic of Serbia today. There are two marble sculptures of the sculp-
The interior design was supposed to express tor Sava Sandić in the entrance hall on the
the power, size and stability of the new Yu- Danube side, in the zone of the ground floor,
goslavia. The entire arrangement of interior, and a fountain made in the mosaic technique,
office space, staterooms, central hall, foyers the work of the sculptor Ratomir Gligorijević,
in front of the salons and hall in front of the located between the legs of the ceremonial
office was carried out according to the idea staircase. The entire space of the ground floor
of architect Janković, while the definition of with side foyers, filled with numerous artistic
the concept for each of the six staterooms and sculptural works, suggests the abundance
was entrusted to architects from the republic of the artistic program of the representative
to which the salon was dedicated. Every piece area of the floor.
of the furniture in the building bears the sig- The competition had two subjects: history (the
nature of the architect and his team. mosaic “Sutjeska” by Marij Pregelj) and ideology
Part of the Terms of Reference was the exact (the mosaic “Stvaranje nove Jugoslavije” [Crea-
standardization of the position, theme and tion of New Yugoslavia] by Mladen Srbinović).