Novi Sad City Hall

Novi Sad City Hall
Градска кућа Gradska kuća Újvidéki Városháza Novosadská Radnica Новосадска Ратуша
Novi Sad City Hall, August 2023
General information
Architectural style	Neo-Renaissance
Address	Trg slobode 1
Town or city	Novi Sad
Country	Serbia
Coordinates	45°15′17.62″N 19°50′40.35″E
Current tenants	City of Novi Sad
Construction started	1893 (1893)
Completed	1895 (1895)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	György Molnár
Engineer	Karl Lerer Jozef Cocek
Cultural Heritage of Serbia
Type	Protected Cultural Monument
Designated	22 July 1997
Reference no.	SК 1521

The Novi Sad City Hall (Serbian: Градска кућа, Gradska kuća, Hungarian: Újvidéki Városháza, Slovak: Novosadská Radnica, Rusyn: Новосадска Ратуша) or the Magistrate is a neo-renaissance building housing the municipal institutions of Novi Sad, the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Due to its heritage value, it is listed as a protected cultural monument of the Republic of Serbia. The building is located on Trg slobode (Freedom Square), in the Stari Grad (Old Town) district. The current building has been the center of the city administration for over 100 years while the institution of the Magistrate itself dates back to 1748, the year Novi Sad gained the status of a free royal city.

History

18th century

On February 1, 1748, Novi Sad gained the status of a royal free city of the Kingdom of Hungary within the Austrian Empire, yet it lacked an administrative building.

The Magistrate was first housed in Komorska house, which was located at the site of the modern city postal building. The location was too far from the city center at the time, located next to a Jewish praying house and near the Mali Liman swamp lands. Another reason for the relocation was that the land where the Komorska house had been was ceded to the settled Armenians for the construction of their own church and parish house, as well as the removal of the Jewish praying house on the remaining land (the Jewish prayer house would later move to the location of the modern Novi Sad Synagogue).

The search process for the new City Hall took longer than expected, but in 30 years a replacement was found with the rented house of the butcher and city senator Peter Ferenci. The so-called Ferencijana was located at the site of the current City Hall at the main city square. Up until 1895, the city's administration frequently relocated (Apelacija at the location of the modern Bazar shopping center, Iron Man Palace at the main city square, Svojina at Main street, etc.), and the location of the future City Hall was a contentious issue.

19th century

Ever since 1869, when the Committee for the Construction of the new City Hall (Rathaus, Városház) was established, the construction of the new Magistrate's headquarters has been one of the most top urban problem. The Budapest State Archives preserved a plan for the construction of the City Hall, which was drawn up on 28 July 1869 by engineer Lazar Urošević. In 1855, an official competition was announced, opened for all monarchy builders, the first of its kind in this region. The most significant moment in the construction history of the City Hall is the period between 1873–1874, when a smaller, internal competition was organised for the building.

In 1873, the construction committee bought plans for a sum of 400 forint from György Molnár. There are no surviving records of what Molnár's original plan, which he built as a mature builder at the end of the fifth decade of life, looked like. But the struggle over the position of the future Magistrate's building, with the national and political background already present, has been heating up, delaying the final preparations for construction. Political disputes arose over the location where the building should be built. Svetozar Miletić proposed the Serbian National Theatre to be built on the current City Hall site while relocating the hall to the Serb majority neighborhood at Hans plaza (the site of the modern Matica srpska building), while local Roman Catholic community insisted the hall should be placed on the main square, opposite the Name of Mary Church, where the hall was ultimately built.

Taking the form from the larger cities of the Monarchy, the Novi Sad City Administration, through the Construction Committee, and adhering to the city ordinances in early 1885, organised another public competition in which 32 works arrived. The competition papers were received in code. The most notable projects were those of Budapest architects and builders, which were also the most numerous. There were local builders, too. One of them was the builder Jozef Cocek, who designed the building in a Neo-Baroque style, which the committee criticized for having an overly ornate façade. An exhibition of the works was held in May of the same year in the grand hall of the old Magistrate.

Since the commission did not select any of the submitted works as a final (performing) project, it was suggested that the first three authors be invited to put together a new project together with an architectural commission chosen by the city. Since the commission was not able to re-organise the drawing up of the plans with the bidders, it was decided that György Molnár's plans of a more restrained Neo-Renaissance façade should nevertheless be selected, with the plans being amended on the basis of the competition's experience. Molnár made the alterations very quickly and informed the Committee of this. The official decision was made as early as the autumn of 1885, when it was announced that the City Committee entrusted the preparation of the plans as well as the supervision of the masonry itself to the local architect György Molnár for a total sum of 300 forints.

Construction began in 1893 on land purchased from the Stefanović family, despite public opposition and petitions to preserve their house. However, the city administration proceeded, demolishing the house to build the City Hall. The first council session in the new building was held in 1894.

The building was completed in 1895. The building was modeled after the Graz City Hall in Styria, Austria. On 3 January 1895, the first meeting of the Assembly was held in the ceremonial hall, which would later be the gathering spot for the famous Novi Sad balls.

20th century

In 1907, the firefighters of Novi Sad would place a bell at the top of the city hall's tall tower. The bell named Matilda by the locals, had a iron relief of Saint Florian, patron saint of firefighters, and was used to herald fires visible from the tower's vantage point from all across the city. The bell would be use all the way to the Second World War went it would be melted down by the Hungarian occupying force.

In 1911, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria would ceremoniously be greeted at the city hall during his visit to Novi Sad, while King Alexander I of Yugoslavia would visit in 1919 and 1933, both as regent and as king respectively.

On 22 July 1997, the City Hall would be registered as Protected Cultural Monument of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, later on of Serbia.

On 1 February 1998, several iron plaques were placed on the front façade and on the arcade entrance of the building. The left arcade plaque is for the mayor's office written in four official languages used in the City of Novi Sad (Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, and Rusyn), while the right one is a short historic summary for the City and the City Hall written in Serbian. The façade plaque showcases all the twin towns and cities at the time, such as Modena, Norwich, Dortmund, Changchun, Ilioupoli, and Budva. Timișoara, Nizhny Novgorod, Pécs, and Toluca were added later to the plaque in 2015. The façade plaque would later be replaced by a glass one in the early 2020s, updated frequently with newer twin and partner city additions.

21st century

On 13 June 2003, protests over the arrest of Montenegrin Serb officer in the Yugoslav People's Army Veselin Šljivančanin were organized by the members of the Serbian Radical Party at Freedom Square in Novi Sad, leading to clashes with the police, with at least fifty police officers injured. Projectiles and red paint were thrown at the city hall, vandalizing the exterior and interior of the building, as well wrecking several parked vehicles at the square. Among the thousand protesters were Aleksandar Vučić, Aleksandar Vulin, and Tomislav Nikolić. None of the protesters were apprehended at the time.

On 5 November 2024, protests over the canopy collapse disaster that occurred at the Novi Sad railway station were held in front of the railway station and other locations in Novi Sad such as Freedom Square, leading to clashes with police and at least twelve people, ten of whom were police officers, being injured. Projectiles and red paint were thrown at the regional offices of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party and later at the city hall, vandalizing the exterior and interior of the buildings. At least nine people were arrested, along with the former president of Inđija municipality Goran Ješić, member of Bravo movement Miran Pogačar, and member of Heroes movement Miša Bačulov. The incident prompted a visit by Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić.

Building

The representative neo-renaissance palace with the tower is one of the most beautiful and representative buildings in the city. The front façade is owned by a protruding avant-corps with strong columns decorated with plaster stucco and an arcade on the ground floor. The center of the building is designed as an atrium space, which in modern times was covered and transformed into an administrative area. The façade of the palace, especially the window frames of the first floor feature beautiful allegorical figures of Greek goddesses. The sculptures were made by local sculptors Julije Anika and Jovan Kistner. On all four corners of the palace there are four-flux domes partially sheltered by low atoms, and above the avant-corps is a penthouse flat roof. The building is dominated by a tall tower with a balcony on which is placed a replica of the Matilda bell from 1907. The courtyard façade of the building is simple, with no decorative elements, with a series of windows that allow daylight to the upstairs corridors. The layout of the premises within the facility is in the administrative business function. From a crisscrossed hall with pillars on the ground floor, a representative staircase with a walled balustrade leads to the first floor. The ceremonial hall on the first floor has a taped ceiling, with richly decorated walls with stucco-decorations and painted compositions by the local painter Pavle Ružička from 1911. The wall compositions show a variety of human activities, such as field work, chimney factories, hay wagons, craft making, and trade. The building is well preserved and maintained in its entirety throughout the centuries.

In popular media

Square of Violence is an American drama film shot in Novi Sad in 1961. The film is set in Italy during the Second World War, with major events shot at Freedom Square in Star Grad neighborhood, along with several scenes inside the city hall.

Gallery

• 
  Proposed plan for City Hall in Novi Sad by Jozef Cocek, 1890
• 
  Postcard of Novi Sad, 1897
• 
  City Hall at Franz Joseph Square (now Freedom Square), 1900
• 
  Postcard of City Hall, 1917
• 
  Mayor office written in Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, and Rusyn, November 2006
• 
  City Hall, July 2010
• 
  City Hall, September 2012
• 
  City Hall façade details, September 2012
• 
  City Hall at night, October 2016
• 
  City Hall at night, December 2019
• 
  City Hall façade details, May 2020
• 
  City coat of arms on City Hall, May 2020
• 
  City Hall entrance passage, June 2020
• 
  City Hall from Pozorišni Trg (Theater Square), June 2020
• 
  City Hall from Kralja Aleksandra street, September 2020
• 
  City Hall at night, February 2021
• 
  City Hall main entrance, October 2022
• 
  City Hall, November 2022
• 
  City Hall, April 2023

See also

• Stari dvor
• Banovina Palace

External links

• Media related to Novi Sad City Hall at Wikimedia Commons