Belgrade Institute conservators against changing status of former military HQ

They believe that cultural heritage is “an irreplaceable resource, and with its loss, the permanent universal values of the total heritage on a national and broader level disappear.”

“We align with the position of the conservators of the Serbian Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments regarding the removal of the immovable cultural property status for the General Staff building,” they said in a press release.

The conservators of the Belgrade City Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments added that, by amending or revoking decisions related to this will jeopardize or threaten the value that these buildings have as cultural monuments.
They emphasized that both professionals and citizens stand to permanently lose evidence of a significant aspect of their history, adding that “the state, administrative, and military center of Belgrade, which developed in this area from the beginning of renewed Serbian statehood, will lose its unique character.”

In an open letter, the conservators of the Serbian Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments also publicly opposed the removal of the status of immovable cultural property of the buildings comprising the former military HQ complex in central Belgrade.