Several historic buildings were demolished in an area listed as cultural heritage, in Braće Radić street in the city of Subotica. The Intermunicipal Institute for Protection of cultural monuments in Subotica had previously issued a permit to remove the buildings to a firm called DG Company.
The Institute’s representatives state the demolition to be unproblematic, based on their claims that the buildings were derelict and unusable. They claim that the permits for the demolition and removal of the houses had been issued following all procedures and based on the Detailed regulation plan recently adopted by the City of Subotica.
Experts in the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Serbia, however, disagree.
The changes to the Detailed regulation plan – and the permits based on it – don’t comply with a legal act of a higher legal order, namely a decision issued by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, by which Braće Radić street is recognized as cultural and historical heritage and put under state protection, art historian and conservator Vladimir Džamić stated for Radio Free Europe.
The Republic Institute urged for further demolitions to be stopped. General secretary of Europa Nostra for Serbia, Višnja Kisić, commented for RFE that this is the most recent in a line of harmful activities on the part of the Intermunicipal institute for protection of cultural monuments in Subotica. Activist groups Society and nature and Save Subotica, who have been struggling against threats to cultural heritage in one of the architecturally most interesting cities in Serbia for years, also reacted against the demolitions.
I.K.
Translation from Serbian: Iskra Krstić
This article was originally published in Serbian on Nov 2, 2019.
