ОФИЦИРСКИ ДОМ

The Great Hall of the Officers’ Home – the building was built in 1890 next to the Nišava quay (28a Orlovića Pavla Street) as a ground-floor catering facility called “Bulevar”. The city’s military command purchased this facility in 1903 and named it the Officers’ Home. The facility was built in an eclectic spirit with a row of large windows on the front and a developed gable above the main entrance. The project is attributed to the architect Ivan Kozlić (1839–1903). The Officers’ Home building is a monument of exceptional historical value as the center of political and parliamentary life in Serbia at the beginning of the First World War. It was here that the “Niš Declaration” (December 7, 1914) was voted on at a session of the Serbian National Assembly, by which Serbia defined its war goals and decided to unify Serbs, Croats and Slovenes into one state. The building changed its purpose several times in the second half of the 20th century. Extensive reconstruction and adaptation work was completed in 2016, when the inner courtyard was covered, creating the so-called large hall, with an area of ​​260 m2. With minimal adaptation, this hall was converted into an exhibition space in June 2017 and given to the GSLU Niš instead of the “Serbia” gallery.