The Pavilion in the Fortress – is the first exhibition space allocated to the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts for the purpose of organizing exhibitions. It is located at the entrance to the Niš Fortress complex, in the immediate vicinity of the Stambol Gate. It is a former Turkish Arsenal, or rather a warehouse for storing weapons, which, as evidenced by the preserved marble slab above the entrance, was built in 1273 (1857 according to our calendar) by the Muteseli of Niš Ismail Pasha during the reign of Sultan Abdul Mejin I.16 The building has a rectangular base, a massive structure, built of hewn and unhewn stone, and covered with a hipped roof made of ceramic tiles. Since 1957, exhibitions have been occasionally organized in it by the National Museum, the Cultural Center of the Workers’ University, and since 1966 by the Cultural Center. Extensive works on the renovation and adaptation of the Arsenal were carried out during 1970 and 1971 according to the project of experts from the Niš Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments. The main designer was architect Danica Janić. The interior decoration according to the project of architect Zoran Radović involved the installation of plaster walls at a distance of half a meter from the original stone walls of the building and the installation in the middle of four pairs of square-based columns that support a ceiling structure with lighting. Thanks to these works, the Pavilion in the Fortress became the first modern exhibition space in Niš. Its area is 240.70 m2, monolithic wall surfaces without windows, with ceiling lighting. In 2003, heating was introduced and the previous floor was replaced with artificial granite slabs, and in 2018, the original neon lighting was replaced with LED bulbs. In front of the Arsenal, to the left and right of the entrance, there are three connected, deep niches covered with a semicircular vault. Conservation and restoration works, which included the construction of the floor structure, glazing and the construction of the portal, were carried out in 1976/1977. One of these spatial units belongs to the National Museum and the other to the Gallery of Contemporary Fine Arts.
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