Residence of Prince Milos in Topcider

In Topcider, the valley of cannons, former meadow where the Vizier’s horses were fed and artilleries retreated, several monuments of culture, tightly related to Prince Milos, are grouped.

After Serbia was granted autonomy and Milos proclaimed the first hereditary prince, Prince Milos decided to build a new, private residence in the foot of the Topcider hill and Dedinje. Shrewd and cunning, he picked up a convenient place for his future representative residence, far enough from the Belgrade fort, which would be more comfortable for state affairs, family life and official receptions.

Intensive work to materialize Prince’s desire to make Topcider a center not only of further state independence but also of his strengthened authority, where social-political, religious and cultural life of the Principality of Serbia would be organized, began in 1831.

However, extensive construction activities that overwhelmed Serbia made the bricklayers hard to find. Two of those considered the better and more employed ones were architects Nikola Djordjevic, whom the Prince called Nikola Tzintzar, and Janja Mihailovic, called Janja the Little. Supervised by Haji Nikola Zivkovic, Prince’s official architect, they started their work, which was often controlled by Prince Milos himself, despite the fact that he had instituted an office of construction supervisor, the so-called bina-emin. The residence was built in the Balkan-Oriental style, with European styles touch.

The foundation walls were made of stone, while the ground floor and first floor were made of bricks. In the construction of the walls the so-called post and pan system was applied: in the core of a wall there were the oak stiffening girders, placed at almost every meter in a height, while the space between them was filled with bricks. The outer walls were finished with bricks only, which cover the entire construction.

The roof was constructed in a traditional way: it was the hipped one, made of oak and covered by Spanish tiles, with fine shaped and elegant chimneys.

The facade was decorated both with windows and moulded party cornice. The main, arched portal has a classicistic frame with triangle hood and semi-posts raised on the rectangle pedestal.

The construction of the residence in Topcider heralded a new era in the Serbian architecture. It not only ended the traditional Balkan approach in it but also introduced new classicistic elements.

On May 3, 1834, Prince Milos moved into the residence and appointed knez Zivko Mihailovic its majordomo. The residence in Topcider certainly was the most favorite residence of the first Obrenovics, where Prince Milos spent his last years and died in 1860.

For a while the residence was the place where the knezes assembly hold its sessions. Later on, many administrative offices were housed there; it was also used for officers’ accommodation. From 1935 to 1953 it housed the Museum of Hunting and Forestry. However, in 1953 the building was given to a Committee instituted to celebrate the 150^th of the First Serbian Uprising, and accordingly, restored for the purposes not only of an exhibition prepared on that occasion but of the Memorial Museum, which was opened the following year.

When in 1963 the Historical Museum of Serbia was established, the Museum of the First Serbian Uprising was incorporated in it. In 1968 its permanent exhibition was extended and thereafter closed in 1972 for reconstruction works on the building.

The new display, dedicated to the First and Second Serbian Uprisings was reopened in 1993 and once again closed in March 1999 due to the NATO bombing.