National Museum in Belgrade reopens to visitors after 15 yrs

National Museum in Belgrade reopens to visitors after 15 yrs

Brnabic stressed that she was "extremely happy and proud of the fact that the Museum of Contemporary Art and the National Museum have been completed in the first year of the work of the government."

"We put the culture in the place where it belongs," the prime minister said.

Director of the National Museum Bojana Boric-Breskovic pointed out that since it was founded the Museum has been witness of history that shared the fate of the people.

Today's ceremony, she added, marks the overall momentum of the endeavor that happens once in our lives.

She expressed her gratitude to the President of the Republic, the government of Serbia and the Ministry of Culture, because, as she pointed out, there would be no formal opening without joint efforts and team work. Minister of Culture Vladan Vukosavljevic said that this is a key event for Serbian culture in the last two decades, adding that the National Museum should be a lighthouse and a road sign for future times.

The official opening ceremony was attended by state officials, distinguished personalities from the sphere of art, culture and science, as well as numerous audiences. The opening of the National Museum was held at the Republic Square as a multimedia spectacle in a building that was reconstructed after fifteen years.

The museum will be open all night until 22:00 on June 28, and entrance will be free on 30 June and 1 July. The working hours will be from 10:00 to 22:00, while regular opening hours begins on July 3.

In the restored National Museum, citizens will have the opportunity to see between three and four thousand exhibits out of 400,000 artifacts that this museum owns.