Hotel Moskva (Belgrade)

Infobox Company
company_name = Hotel Moskva
company_
company_type = Hotel
foundation = 1906
location = Belgrade, Serbia
key_people =
industry = Hotel and Tourism
products =
revenue =
num_employees =
homepage = http://www.hotelmoskva.co.yu/

Hotel Moskva (Serbian Cyrillic: Хотел Москва; English: Hotel Moscow), is one of the oldest still operating hotels in Belgrade but also in the entire Serbia. Apart from being a hotel, Hotel Moskva is one of the most recognizable landmarks of Belgrade, a valuable architectural monument and as such, it was placed under governmental protection.

Location

Hotel Moskva is located on the Terazije square, core of Belgrade's downtown. It lies on the crossroads of three streets: Terazije, "Prizrenska" and "Balkanska". Location on top of Terazijska Terasa provides a wonderful skyline view of Novi Beograd, across the Sava river. Apart from other commercial buildings in the vicinity, two other hotels, "Balkan" and "Kasina", are located right across "Prizrenska" street and Terazije, respectively, so as the Palace Albania and the Terazije fountain, built in 1860, which is the administratively declared center of Belgrade.

History

The inn "Velika Srbija" was previously located on the lot where hotel is today. Hotel Moskva itself was built in 1906 and open on January 16, 1908. The importance it had even at that time can bee seen as it was personally open by the King of Serbia, Peter I Karađorđević. [Politika daily, January 22, 2008, p. 23] Hotel was built with the Russian capital, hence the name. Soon after it was opened, Olympic Committee of Serbia and Club of the journalists and writers moved in. In 1923 Postal Savings Bank took over the hotel, which in turn was taken over by the National Bank of Yugoslavia in 1938. During World War II, Gestapo moved into the hotel in 1941, transforming it into its headquarters, and renamed it to "Velika Srbija", after the original inn. The headquarter had its own power generators and water sources and was one of the last buildings liberated at the end of war. During German withdrawal in 1944, original master's paintings, silverware and gold-plated utensils which were in the hotel were looted and taken away. In the post war period, it became a favorite place of the cultural elite. Yugoslav Nobel laureate in literature, Ivo Andrić, had his own table at the restaurant, and poet Vasko Popa was a regular visitor.

Architecture

Hotel was designed by the architect Jovan Ilkić, in Secessionist style, quite daring for that time, giving Belgrade a modern face during the transformation it was undergoing at the turn of the century. The most impressive feature, even at the first glance, is the smooth and shiny façade, made of ceramic tiles. Originally, it had 36 rooms, but after many renovations, today it has 132 rooms (of those 40 duplex rooms) and 6 apartments.

Characteristics

Hotel Moskva is a four star hotel. It is the only hotel in Belgrade that has no room or an apartment number 13. It had over 36 million visitors in the past 100 years, including celebrities like Alfred Hitchcock, Živojin Mišić, Orson Welles, Yves Montand, Robert de Niro, Jean-Paul Sartre, Rajiv Gandhi, Yasser Arafat, Ray Charles, Richard Nixon and many others. [ [http://www.glas-javnosti.co.yu/clanak/glas-javnosti-22-01-2008/u-moskvi-spavali-sartr-arafat-nikson-gandi-hickok-kirk-daglas-de-nir Glas javnosti] ] The stocks of hotel Moskva have been rated on the Belgrade Stock Exchange since September 2005.

It is famed by its restaurant and pastry shop. Cake named after the hotel, "Moskva šnit", was introduced in 1974. Originally, hotel had combined French and Serbian cuisine, but today it offers a variety of different cuisines, being one of the rarest in Belgrade to serve vegetarian meals too. There are two restaurants (one with international and other with national cuisine). There is also a snack bar, a famous old fashioned café and a summer garden which is very popular not only with guests, but with Belgraders too.

Future

Present owner (since summer of 2005) of Hotel Moskva is the Swiss company Netwest Finance. They announced a timetable by which hotel is scheduled for reconstruction after Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in May 2008. The works are projected to last for a year, and the hotel is supposed to be renovated, expanded and upgraded one more category, to the five star hotel. Expansion would comprise building of a garage, congressional hall and shopping mall.

See also

*Belgrade
*Terazije
*Tourism in Serbia

References

External links

* [http://www.hotelmoskva.co.yu/ Hotel Moskva (Belgrade)]
* [http://www.visitserbia.org/ Book Hotel Moskva online (Belgrade)]
* [http://hotel-moskva-belgrade.booking-hotels.biz/ Hotel Moskva (Belgrade)]