Banovina Palace

Banovina Palace
Banovina Palace in Novi Sad, April 2022
Map
General information
Architectural style
Address
  • Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 16
  • Vladike Platona
Town or cityNovi Sad, Vojvodina
CountrySerbia
Coordinates45°15′12″N 19°50′57″E / 45.2534°N 19.8492°E / 45.2534; 19.8492
Current tenantsGovernment of Vojvodina (large building)
Assembly of Vojvodina (small building)
Year(s) built1936–1940
Construction started1936; 88 years ago (1936)
Completed1939; 85 years ago (1939) (large building)
1940; 84 years ago (1940) (small building)
Opened25 September 1939; 85 years ago (1939-09-25)
Renovated2019; 5 years ago (2019) (large building)
2020; 4 years ago (2020) (small building)
Cost58,000,000 Yugoslav dinars (1939)
Renovation cost30,175,000 Serbian dinars (2019; large building)
28,825,000 Serbian dinars (2020; small building)
OwnerGovernment of Vojvodina
Height20 m (66 ft)
42 m (138 ft) (tower)
Dimensions
Diameter185 m × 42.5 m (607 ft × 139 ft) (large building)
100 m × 57.5 m (328 ft × 189 ft) (small building)
Technical details
Material
Floor count5 (large building)
Floor area5,700 m2 (61,000 sq ft) (large building)
2,200 m2 (24,000 sq ft) (small building)
Design and construction
Architect(s)Dragiša Brašovan[1]
Other designersKároly Baranyi (relief sculptor)
Main contractorMilan Sekulić's construction company
Other information
Number of rooms569 (large building)
147 (small building)
Parking167 parking spaces (underground garage)[2]
Public transit accessJGSP Novi Sad: Lines 1, 3, 3A, 3B, 8, 9, 9A

The Banovina Palace (Serbo-Croatian: Бановинска палата, Banovinska palata, Hungarian: Báni palota, Romanian: Palatul Băniei, Slovak: Bánovinský palác, Rusyn: Бановинска палата) in Novi Sad, capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina in Serbia, is a representative complex consisting of two buildings. The larger Banovina serves as the seat of the Government of Vojvodina, while the smaller Banski dvor serves as the seat of the Assembly of Vojvodina.[3] The buildings, designed by Dragiša Brašovan, were constructed between 1936 and 1940 in modernist style (with art deco and stripped classicism elements) for the administrative needs of the Danube Banovina.[4][5]

Location

Banovina Palace complex is located in the Stari Grad neighborhood of Novi Sad, east of the City Assembly of Novi Sad and north of Isidora Sekulić Gymnasium. The larger Banovina building entrances are towards Mihajla Pupina Boulevard, Žarka Zrenjanina street and Banovina pass, also cornering Jovana Đorđevića street at its the eastern end. The smaller Banski dvor, or Većnica building is located south of Banovina, separated by the Banovina Pass thats connected to Žarka Zrenjanina and Jovana Đorđevića streets. Southern entrance of the building connects to the Vladike Platona street.

Banovina park (Serbian: Бановински парк, Banovinski park) is located at the southwestern end of the complex, with a public parking garage underneath it. The statue of Vasa Stajić, placed on 23 October 2011.[6]

Characteristics

Banovina

It was originally built as the administrative centre of the Danube Banovina.[3] The building has a closed elongated horseshoe-shaped base. The semi-circular part of the building is located on the western side, while on the opposite eastern side, there is a tower with a square base. The building consists of a basement, ground floor, and two floors. It is 180 meters long, 44 meters wide, and around 20 meters high, except for the tower, which is 42 meters high.[7][5] It is covered with white Brač island marble from the Pučišća quarry, while the interior is covered with carrara marble. Above the representative entrance facing Mihajla Pupina Boulevard, there are medallions with resemblance to Peter I of Serbia, Alexander I of Yugoslavia, Stepa Stepanović, Živojin Mišić, Radomir Putnik and Petar Bojović, all done by local sculpture Károly Baranyi.[4] Due to the buildings design resembling a large ship with a sail mast, the Banovina was also called the White Cruiser (Serbo-Croatian: Бела крстарица, Bela krstarica).[8][5]

The building consists of a total of 569 rooms and a reception hall at the center of the building, Most of the rooms on the building's 5 floors are office spaces, arranged continuously along the external façade, accessible with wide corridors oriented towards the four inner courtyards.[5]

Banski dvor

It was built as a residence for Bans of Danube Banovina, and today it contains the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The building is of a crustal base, a dimension of 57.5 to 100 meters. It's got a basement, ground floor, floor and an attic. The building has 147 rooms and an assembly hall.[8][5]

History

Plans for the construction of the Banovina Palace complex in Novi Sad started immediately after the creation of the Danube Banovina administrative region on 3 October 1929.[3] During 1930, a Yugoslav architectural competition, ratified by the first Danube Ban Daka Popović, was held for the conceptual solution of the building, which will house the administration, the great hall and the ban's residence. On 23 August 1030, despite Dragiša Brašovan's work doing poorly in that competition, due to a series of circumstances, he was ultimately entrusted to create a new project and to realize it. The conceptual plans were finished in October 1935. The architecture of the palace was meant to symbolize the economic strength and prosperity of the Danube Banovina. The cost of the construction, funded by Yugoslav Royal Banking Administration, was 58 million Yugoslav dinars, double of the previously planned budget.[8][5]

The construction started in 1936. The construction of the palace complex was done by the construction company of the architect Milan Sekulić. Over 700 builders were tasked in the construction of the Banovina and Banski dvor, of which more than 200 were qualified workers and craftsmen. During the construction of the buildings, citizens showed great interest, while newspapers regularly followed individual stages of construction.[8][5]

During the construction of the Palace it was decided that the building would deviate from its the 1935 plans in several ways. The building would cover its façade with marble and other stones, instead of the previously planned clinker bricks. It is unknown what type of brick and color of brick would have been used for the construction. The plans also intended to have an installed clock with zodiac signs on the Banovina tower, along with additional statues adorning the sides of the Banovina façade.[9] Despite the buildings still under construction, their completion was promoted to be finished for 1 December 1938, for the 20th anniversary of the formation and unification of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The Banovina ultimately completed in late 1939, while Banski dvor in early 1940.[8][5]

Until the Second World War the building had stylized national coats of arms of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia at the northern entrances to the building.[9] Between 1939 and 1941 the building complex served its original purpose as the administrative center of the Danube Banovina. During the war, the building complex was the headquarters of the Hungarian Military Administration in Bačka of General Bela Novaković and the Hungarian internal armed forces.[3] The Hungarians also removed and destroyed the relief on top of the northern entrance of the Banovina palace. Replicas of these reliefs were made and placed back in 2010.[8][5]

After the Second World War, until the mid-1950s, it was the headquarters of the National Assembly of Vojvodina (proclaimed by the Yugoslav Constitution of 31 January 1946). It also housed the military club of the Yugoslav National Army, where various cultural manifestations were held.[3]

In 2019, 80 years since the construction of the Banovina Palace complex, the façade of the Banovina building was renovated and restored. This effort was done by the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Novi Sad (Serbian: Завод за заштиту споменика културе Града Новог Сада, Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture Grada Novog Sada) and the Faculty of Technical Sciences from the University of Novi Sad. The renovation included the reconstruction of damaged or missing parts on the 10,700 square meters of the façade, cleaning the 670 square meters of entrance stone stairs and fence walls, the restoration of decorative elements, as well as placing anti-graffiti protection. The initial budget for the renovation, funded by the Government of Vojvodina, was 27,6 million Serbian dinars, but it ended up costing over 30 million Serbian dinars. The renovation started at the end of May and was finished by the start of December of the same year.[10][11][12] Renovation and restoration of the Banski dvor building was done by the end of December 2020, costing nearly 29 million Serbian dinars, with the overall costs for renovating the entire Banovina Palace complex ending up being 59 million Serbian dinars.[13]

On 14 June 2022, construction started on the public underground parking garage at the location of the Banovina park. Designed by Inobačka d.o.o, who also along with Austrian Breiteneder immobilien parking are responsible for the garage's construction. Initial plans intended the garage to have 207 parking space on two levels, but the plan was altered to have 167 due to public outcry to preserve the old trees in the Banovina park.[2] Construction was initially set to be completed by 25 December 2023, but it was pushed back to late 2024.[14][15] There were several controversies surrounding the construction of the underground garage.[16][17] During the construction, the Banski dvor building was damaged due to construction tremors that effected the buildings foundations, resulting in cracks forming on the inner and outer walls, as well as damage to water and sewage pipes. Parts of the building were off limits until the damage was repaired.[18] The garage was also publicly criticized for its location and distance from the Banovina Palace cultural landmarks, with the garage's plans and construction not following the guidelines from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Novi Sad that were done in 2009 and 2021.[19] Design for the surface level of the garage has been noticeably altered from the initial plans done by Inobačka d.o.o and Breiteneder immobilien parking after the permit for the original plan was rejected in March 2024.[20] Permit for finishing the garage's surface area, along with Banovina park and surrounding streets was given to Suuniko Solutions from Veternik in April 2024.[21] Construction of the garage was completed in May 2024 and is planned to be opened for use by mid July 2024.[22][23] Work on the Banovina park and the surrounding street infrastructure started in June 2024.[24]

  • Banovina and Banski dvor, 1941
    Banovina and Banski dvor, 1941
  • Banovina, 1942
    Banovina, 1942
  • Banovina reception hall, 1942
    Banovina reception hall, 1942
  • Banovina during the day, May 2005
    Banovina during the day, May 2005
  • Banovina at night, February 2011
    Banovina at night, February 2011
  • Banski dvor southern entrance, February 2011
    Banski dvor southern entrance, February 2011
  • Banovina's Brač marble details, April 2011
    Banovina's Brač marble details, April 2011
  • Banovina southern entrance, May 2011
    Banovina southern entrance, May 2011
  • Banovina in the evening, June 2011
    Banovina in the evening, June 2011
  • Statue of Vasa Stajić in Banovina park, March 2012
    Statue of Vasa Stajić in Banovina park, March 2012
  • Banovina complex, March 2014
    Banovina complex, March 2014
  • Banovina pass, May 2020
    Banovina pass, May 2020
  • Banski dvor northern entrance, May 2020
    Banski dvor northern entrance, May 2020
  • Banovina northern entrance, May 2022
    Banovina northern entrance, May 2022
  • Banovina western entrance, September 2022
    Banovina western entrance, September 2022
  • Banovina tower, September 2022
    Banovina tower, September 2022
  • Banovina complex, September 2022
    Banovina complex, September 2022
  • Banovina complex, September 2022
    Banovina complex, September 2022

See also

References

  1. ^ "Zgrada Pokrajinske Vlade i Skupštine AP Vojvodine – Banovina" (in Serbian). Novi Sad Tourism Organization. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Bliži se kraju izgradnja garaže kod Banovine, 40 parking mesta manje da bi se sačuvao drvored" (in Serbian). 021.rs. 31 March 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Historical background of the Banovina Palace". Assembly of Vojvodina. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  4. ^ a b "80 godina od završetka izgradnje zdanja Banovine u Novom Sadu" (in Serbian). Gradnja.rs. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Zgrada ispred svog vremena" (in Serbian). nshronika.rs. 8 March 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Otkriven spomenik Vasi Stajiću". 021.rs (in Serbian). 23 October 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  7. ^ "Banska palata: simbol moderne arhitekture Novog Sada" (in Serbian). Visit Novi Sad. 19 October 2021. Archived from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Banska Palata" (in Serbian). solis-nekretnine.com. 19 February 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Tematska izložba "Banska palata – Priče iza priče" u Arhivu Vojvodine" (in Serbian). nshronika.rs. 31 May 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  10. ^ "Počеli radovi na sanaciji i rеkonstrukciji fasadе zgradе Banovinе" (in Serbian). dnevnik.rs. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  11. ^ "Posle osam decenija urađena sanacija i rekonstrukcija fasade zgrade Banovine" (in Serbian). rtv.rs. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  12. ^ "Završena obnova fasade zgrade Pokrajinske vlade" (in Serbian). rtv.rs. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  13. ^ "Završena obnova fasade zgrade Skupštine AP Vojvodine" (in Serbian). rtv.rs. 9 December 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Počinje izgradnja Javne garaže Banovina u Novom Sadu" (in Serbian). gradnja.rs. 17 March 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  15. ^ "Projekat parternog uređenja garaže Banovina u Novom Sadu na javnom uvidu" (in Serbian). gradnja.rs. 29 August 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  16. ^ Jović, Nina; Stanojčić, Nataša; Blagojević, Milica (17 April 2023). "Pukotine iz podzemlja: Oštećenjima na Banovini do novih parking mesta" (in Serbian). n1info.rs. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  17. ^ L., A. (25 April 2023). "Zajedno za Novi Sad o četiri javne garaže: Da li je na pomolu prevara građana?" (in Serbian). danas.rs. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  18. ^ Bogosavljević, Žarko (13 November 2022). "Popucali zidovi u Skupštini Vojvodine, inspekcija zabranila korišćenje dela zgrade" (in Serbian). 021.rs. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  19. ^ "Zavod: Nisu ispoštovani svi zahtevi za projektovanje garaže kod Banovine" (in Serbian). 021.rs. 5 December 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  20. ^ Bogosavljević, Žarko (6 March 2024). "Odbijena građevinska dozvola za parterno uređenje kod Banovine" (in Serbian). 021.rs. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  21. ^ Bogosavljević, Žarko (5 April 2024). "Komisija odbila prigovor na tender za uređenje okoline Banovine" (in Serbian). 021.rs. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  22. ^ "Kako izgleda podzemna garaža kod Banovine?" (in Serbian). 021.rs. 29 May 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  23. ^ "Vučević: Garaža Banovina biće otvorena u drugoj polovini jula" (in Serbian). rtv.rs. 29 May 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  24. ^ "Počinje uređenje prostora iznad podzemne garaže kod Banovine" (in Serbian). 021.rs. 17 June 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024.

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