Soak up the atmosphere of a unique historic house in the heart of Belgrade, one that perfectly reflects the duality of traditional Ottoman and 19th century European influences that battled for supremacy in Serbia at that time.
The Princess’s Residence was built in 1831 for Princess Ljubica who was the wife of the first Prince of Serbia, Milos Obrenovic, who secured Serbia’s independence from the Ottomans. The house is located in the heart of Belgrade squeezed between St. Michael’s Cathedral, the Patrichast and the oldest kafana in Belgrade. The front garden is large and the position is such that the house would have had a beautiful view of the confluence of the Danube and Sava from its back garden. The architecture is a mishmash of traditional Ottoman style and then modern European neo-baroque, Napoleon III and Altdeutch styles.
My feeling is that the rooms of the Residence were used according to the guests – if someone very European-orientated entered the house then they would be taken to some of the many European style rooms, decorated with oval wooden tables and comfortable hand made chairs where afternoon tea would be served, while anyone with a Turkish background would be taken to the main lounge set in the typical Ottoman style with wooden benches covered in thick, soft velvet and served Turkish coffee with rahtluk (Turkish delight). A clever arrangement as Serbia wasn’t yet totally free of Turkish claws but was desperate to be seen as European.
There are ground and first floor set in the same layout with the size of the rooms the same on both floors. The present-day ticket office used to be a waiting room for visitors. From there you are led into a spacious lounge which is in a typical Ottoman style. The room on the left is set in the European style and has a small en-suite bathroom which was very modern at that time in Serbia.
This room is connected to one of the best preserved hammans in Belgrade which leads me to believe this part of the house was the
princess’s private quarters, but today the room looks like a modern European meeting room. On the wall you can see portraits of the Obrenovic family and the most interesting one is of Milos Obrenovic, the first Prince of Serbia, with a medal depicting the head of the Sultan, signifying that Serbia was still part of the Ottoman Empire.
Opposite the lounge in the right-hand corner is a room set in the Turkish style covered in hand-made carpets and wooden benches set below big windows opposite the entrance. There are wardrobes which were used to store bedding and linen. Strangely enough there are no bedrooms because they apparently slept on the floor.
On the right side of the main lounge or divan there is another room in the typical Turkish style, minimalist, with lots of benches along the main wall, and woodwork decorated with shells, and a Turkish smoking pipe. The walls are bare, there are no portraits or mirrors. The middle of the room is empty except for the big thick carpet. It seems like another meeting room but a bit more exotic.
In the left corner of the house there are two rooms which appear to be the private family quarters where less formal meetings would take place. To get to the first floor you have to walk up the best preserved wooden staircase in Belgrade, with wide, carved treads.
The first floor is the same as the ground floor – a mix of different styles and with rooms in the the same position as on the ground floor. There is a big basement too which is used by the National Museum to host some of their many exhibitions. They are free to visit.
Princess Ljubica’s Residence is a historic monument of the Obrenovic Royal Family, conveniently located and a great place to spend an hour or two to get the feel of the era between the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires. It’s a shame there is little information on the person the house is dedicated to – Princess Ljubica herself.
