Reconstruction begins at National Museum

BELGRADE - The reconstruction of the National Museum in Belgrade, which has been closed to the public since as far back as 2003, began on Saturday.

Serbian Minister of Culture Ivan Tasovac visited the museum, announcing that the country's oldest museum institution will reopen in the spring of 2016.

Despite the fact that it does not have a permanent exhibition, the National Museum remained active throughout the period - this year alone, it has hosted 18 exhibitions featuring authors such as Piet Mondriaan, Henry Moore, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Peter Paul Rubens and others.

During a tour of the museum, Tasovac told reporters that the exact amount of funds to be earmarked for the reconstruction will be known once the 2015 budget has been adopted, but said that the money has already been secured.

The minister also announced that a representative exhibition of the Russian avant-garde, including Kazimir Malevich's Black Square, will be held in 2015 to mark the 80th anniversary of the artist's death.

The exhibition will be displayed in only three countries - Switzerland, Monaco and Serbia, Tasovac noted.

The National Museum in Belgrade has been closed to the public since June 1, 2003 due to inappropriate conditions for keeping and displaying works of art.

Established on May 10, 1844 by a decree of then Minister of Education Jovan Sterija Popovic, the museum, named "Muzeum serbski", was intended to gather antique items in one place and preserve them for posterity.

Photo Tanjug/Danilo Peternek