Belgrade Youth Center

History

At the corner of the Dečanska and Makedonska streets, where the youth center is today, was the location of the kafana "Ginić". One of the most popular kafanas in Belgrade in its heyday, it was a gathering point of the journalists and reporters from the Politika daily, which was located nearby. The satirical magazine ** ("shaved hedgehog") was founded in the venue. Next to "Ginić" was another kafana, "Prozor". The ground floor houses were demolished to make way for the much taller Youth Center building.

From 2006 until 2011, the Belgrade Youth Center building underwent reconstruction.

Overview

The center was founded on 18 October 1964 It is organized as a city owned company, under the auspices of the Secretariate of Culture of the City Assembly of Belgrade, which provides the main funds for the center.

The DOB organizes numerous programs in the area of contemporary art and culture, as well as educational-debate programs. It aims to encompass all art forms: prose, poetry, music, theatre, film, visual arts, new media and others. It functions as a platform for promoting new artists, ideas and initiatives. Additionally, Belgrade Youth Center is a meeting point for domestic and foreign artists. DOB is a member of local, regional and international cultural networks. Some 1,500 programs are organized in the institution per year, with 400,000 visitors annually.

The venue was known for rock performances and a disco cub in the 1960s and the 1970s. The first exhibition of Marina Abramović was held here, so as showings of the erotic movies within the FEST film festival. Belgrade Jazz Festival was founded in the DOB in 1971. Despite this liberalism in venue's operations, Communist President of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito visited the locale. In the 1990sm after the reintroduction of the multi-party political system, many parties held their founding congresses in the Youth Center.

Organization

DOB's activities are organized in five centers:

• Center of Music Development,
• Center of Visual Arts and Multimedia,
• Center of Education and Interactive Communication,
• Center of Publishing, and
• Laboratory of Initiatives – Art & creativity unlimited.

Venue

Dom omladine is located in the center of Belgrade, near the Republic Square. For its programs, it maintains:

• Big hall (520 sitting places or 1200 standing places),
• Americana Hall (300 sitting places or 800 standing places),
• Club (100 sitting places or 300 standing places),
• Art Gallery,
• Debate room (60 sitting places), and
• American Corner.

Separate from this building, the DOB also has the Magacin on Kraljevića Marka Street, a former warehouse near the city center with over 5,000 square meters of available space.

Some 30 m under the building is the main collecting well for the underground waters in this part of Belgrade. It is operated by the electrical pumps. It was estimated that in the case of power shortage or pumps defect, in less than three hours water would flood the building, up to the third row of seats in the Big Hall.

The building was fully renovated in the early 2010s and re-opened on 12 March 2011. The edifice has several valuable works of arts. They include the monumental façade mosaic by Lazar Vozarević, a 7 by painting of Mića Popović and semi-precious brown stones, gift from Africa. On the façade, there is also a sculpture "Sun" by Dušan Džamonja.

Plateau of Milan Mladenović

In July 2011 First phase, which included the paving with the granite slabs and planting an avenue (consisting of birch and liquidambar trees) was finished by November 2017.

References

References

1. "Belgrade Youth Center". City of Belgrade.
2. Goran Vesić. (14 September 2018). "Прва европска кафана - у Београду". Politika.
3. Miloš Lazić. (28 June 2021). "Letovanje u Bermudskom trouglu". Politika.
4. (24 December 2010). "Završena poslednja faza renoviranja Doma omladine". blic.rs.
5. "Belgrade Youth Center".
6. Daliborka Mučibabić. (9 October 2022). "Velika sala Doma omladine ponovo radi od 15. oktobra"). Politika.
7. Lj.Perović. (13 March 2012). "Rođendan obnovljenog Doma omladine". [[Politika]].
8. The elevated section in front of the "Sun" in time began known as the "Zidić" ("Small wall"), where musicians performe outdoors live.. J.N.C.. (29 August 2020)
9. Daliborka Mučibabić. (8 August 2017). "Majstori na Platou Milana Mladenovića". Politika.
10. Dejan Aleksić. (18 November 2017). "Nikao novi drvored na platou kod DOB-a". Politika.