Journalists were today treated to a guided visit to Assembly House in Nikola Pasic Square, where they were shown the building and had the chance to learn about its history from curators from the National Assembly Protocol Service. The building became the home of Serbia’s highest legislative body after the National Assembly adopted the Decision on Assuming Powers of the Republic of Serbia as Successor State to the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. As Assembly Chairman Markovic had announced at his regular press conference held earlier, all interested journalists were given the chance to apply for a guided visit to Assembly House; today saw the first such visit.

Assembly House was built near the spot where, on 30 November 1830, the Hatt-i Sharif, or ‘solemn decree’, of Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II was read out; the document guaranteed the Serbian people’s right to liberty, and affirmed Prince Milos’s right to hereditary rule over Serbia. Construction of a National Assembly edifice to plans of architect Konstantin Jovanovic was proposed as early as 1901; however, it was only in 1907 that building actually started, to designs of Jovan Ilkic, with the laying of the foundation stone by King Petar I Karadjordjevic. Construction lasted until 1936. Two sculptural groups, ‘The Dance of the Dark Horses’, cast in bronze in 1939 by Toma Rosandic, adorn the building’s main entrance.

From 1941 to 1944 the building housed the headquarters of the German army of occupation; after World War II, it was home to Yugoslavia’s highest government bodies: successively, to Parliaments of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. It is now home to Serbia’s National Assembly, a century after construction started.

Journalists toured the central lobby, the Lesser Chamber, the Greater Chamber, the library, and the Prince Pavle Salon; they also visited all three levels of the building, housing Assembly support services, meeting rooms, deputies’ club rooms, the library, and reception rooms. The National Assembly is to offer guided visits to all interested journalists and members of the public.