Nebojša Tower ( Serbian : Кула Небојша , romanized : Kula Nebojša ; Greek : Πύργος Νεμπόισα ) is the only surviving mediaeval tower of the Belgrade Fortress . Built in the 15th century, it was the major defensive tower of the fortress for centuries. Later it served as a dungeon and in 2010 it was adapted into a museum . The tower is located near the confluence of the Sava into the Danube .
63-550: The name of the tower, nebojša , means "fearless" in Serbian . In medieval Serbia it was a common name of the tower which was most forward from the fortress. The custom of naming the towers this way can be found among other Slavic people , like Slovaks . In modern Serbia, Nebojša became a common male name, so people began to occasionally call it Nebojša's Tower ( Serbian : Небојшина кула , romanized : Nebojšina kula ), as if it's being named after someone named Nebojša, which
126-538: A Slavic language ( Indo-European ), of the South Slavic subgroup. Other standardized forms of Serbo-Croatian are Bosnian , Croatian , and Montenegrin . "An examination of all the major 'levels' of language shows that BCS is clearly a single language with a single grammatical system." It has lower intelligibility with the Eastern South Slavic languages Bulgarian and Macedonian , than with Slovene (Slovene
189-720: A local military-cameral administration. Following the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718), the Habsburgs established the Kingdom of Serbia and appointed the first command cadre of the Serbian National Militia , composed out of two obor-kapetans , ten kapetans , two lieutenants and one major. The obor-kapetans were Vuk Isaković "Crnobarac" and Staniša Marković "Mlatišuma" . During the Austro-Russian–Turkish War (1735–1739) ,
252-449: Is a rare example of synchronic digraphia , a situation where all literate members of a society have two interchangeable writing systems available to them. Media and publishers typically select one alphabet or the other. In general, the alphabets are used interchangeably; except in the legal sphere, where Cyrillic is required, there is no context where one alphabet or another predominates. Although Serbian language authorities have recognized
315-630: Is also the basis of standard Croatian , Bosnian , and Montenegrin varieties and therefore the Declaration on the Common Language of Croats, Bosniaks, Serbs, and Montenegrins was issued in 2017. The other dialect spoken by Serbs is Torlakian in southeastern Serbia, which is transitional to Macedonian and Bulgarian . Serbian is practically the only European standard language whose speakers are fully functionally digraphic , using both Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet
378-624: Is considered a father of football in Serbia. Being from a well known Jewish Buli family, he perished in the Holocaust , in the Sajmište concentration camp sometime in 1941-1942. Preparing the invasion of Belgrade, Austro-Hungarian army across the Sava conducted the heaviest bombardment of Belgrade on 6 October 1914, starting at 14:00. Around 30,000 grenades were fired all over Belgrade. On 7 October, at 2:30, Belgrade
441-525: Is held in August-September. 44°49′39″N 20°26′52″E / 44.827365°N 20.447883°E / 44.827365; 20.447883 Serbian language Serbian ( српски / srpski , pronounced [sr̩̂pskiː] ) is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs . It is the official and national language of Serbia , one of
504-418: Is incorrect. As a common noun , nebojša is sometimes used as a Serbian translation for the daredevil . The tower was originally called the "White tower" ( Serbian : Бела кула , romanized : Bela kula ) and is mentioned under this name in 1572. Later, it was named " Timișoara Tower" ( Serbian : Темишварска кула , romanized : Temišvarska kula ) and after the original Nebojša Tower
567-522: Is part of the Western South Slavic subgroup, but there are still significant differences in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation to the standardized forms of Serbo-Croatian, although it is closer to the Kajkavian and Chakavian dialects of Serbo-Croatian ). Speakers by country: Serbian was the official language of Montenegro until October 2007, when the new Constitution of Montenegro replaced
630-517: Is shows that it was in accord with its time; for example, the Serbian Alexandride , a book about Alexander the Great , and a translation of Tristan and Iseult into Serbian. Although not belonging to the literature proper, the corpus of Serbian literacy in the 14th and 15th centuries contains numerous legal, commercial and administrative texts with marked presence of Serbian vernacular juxtaposed on
693-708: Is the "identity script" of the Serbian nation. However, the law does not regulate scripts in standard language , or standard language itself by any means, leaving the choice of script as a matter of personal preference and to the free will in all aspects of life (publishing, media, trade and commerce, etc.), except in government paperwork production and in official written communication with state officials, which have to be in Cyrillic. Traffic signs and directional signs, and place names, on main or international roads are to be written with both Cyrillic and Latin script To most Serbians,
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#1733084776934756-435: Is the only general historical dictionary of Serbo-Croatian. Its first editor was Đuro Daničić , followed by Pero Budmani and the famous Vukovian Tomislav Maretić . The sources of this dictionary are, especially in the first volumes, mainly Štokavian . There are older, pre-standard dictionaries, such as the 1791 German–Serbian dictionary or 15th century Arabic-Persian-Greek-Serbian Conversation Textbook . The standard and
819-767: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Serbian, written in the Cyrillic script : Сва људска бића рађају се слободна и једнака у достојанству и правима. Она су обдарена разумом и свешћу и треба једни према другима да поступају у духу братства. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Serbian, written in the Latin alphabet : Sva ljudska bića rađaju se slobodna i jednaka u dostojanstvu i pravima. Ona su obdarena razumom i svešću i treba jedni prema drugima da postupaju u duhu bratstva. Article 1 of
882-530: The Belgrade New Cemetery and Topčider Cemetery. The tower was reconstructed in 1963. The Nebojša Tower belongs to the oldest type of the early artillery cannon towers. When built, it represented an important achievement in the architecture of the time. It has a regular octagon base, with 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) thick walls. It has a ground floor and three storeys, with the total height of 19 m (62 ft) All floors have embrasures , or
945-639: The Holy Roman Empire nor the Kingdom of Hungary . The actual administration of the province was in the hands of an appointed governor. Not all the Serb-inhabited territory south of the Sava and Danube rivers that was conquered by the Habsburgs in 1718 was included in the Kingdom of Serbia. A large eastern area was administratively separate as part of the Banat of Temeswar . After a new Austro-Turkish War (1737–39) ,
1008-614: The Hungarians , who ruled Belgrade at the time. When it was built, it was located at the entrance into the city's "Danube port", in the Lower Town of the fortress and was part of the defense system which was protecting Belgrade from the Ottoman invasion after the Siege of Belgrade in 1456 . During the 1521 Siege of Belgrade , cannons from the tower successfully defended the city from July to August, until
1071-603: The Manasija monastery , which was also founded by Stefan Lazarević . That tower was destroyed during the Siege of Belgrade in 1690 , when Ottomans regained control over Belgrade from the Austrians . The siege lasted 8–14 October 1690 and was finished when the Ottomans ', during the shelling of the fortress, hit the Austrian main powder magazine. The explosion destroyed the large part of
1134-619: The Proto-Slavic language . There are many loanwords from different languages, reflecting cultural interaction throughout history. Notable loanwords were borrowed from Greek, Latin, Italian, Turkish, Hungarian, English, Russian, German, Czech and French. Serbian literature emerged in the Middle Ages , and included such works as Miroslavljevo jevanđelje ( Miroslav's Gospel ) in 1186 and Dušanov zakonik ( Dušan's Code ) in 1349. Little secular medieval literature has been preserved, but what there
1197-495: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Kingdom of Serbia (1718%E2%80%9339) The Kingdom of Serbia ( Serbian : Краљевина Србија , romanized : Kraljevina Srbija , German : Königreich Serbien , Latin : Regnum Serviae )
1260-464: The bunker which covers 200 m (2,200 sq ft) was finished. The tallest point of the bunker is the cannon dome which was used for the artillery and military units. Abandoned later, it was adapted for the tourists and opened in December 2012. It has parts of the authentic inventory from the 1950s: safety doors, beds, ventilation, water tanks, etc. The present Nebojša Tower was built c.1460 by
1323-586: The Constitution of 1992. Amid opposition from pro-Serbian parties, Montenegrin was made the sole official language of the country, and Serbian was given the status of a language in official use along with Bosnian , Albanian , and Croatian . In the 2023 Montenegrin census, 43.18% declared Serbian to be their native language, while Montenegrin was declared by 34.52% of the population. Standard Serbian language uses both Cyrillic ( ћирилица , ćirilica ) and Latin script ( latinica , латиница ). Serbian
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#17330847769341386-667: The Habsburg monarchy lost all territories south of the Sava and Danube, including the whole territory of the Kingdom of Serbia, and Orșova north of the Danube. It retained, however, the rest of the Banat of Temeswar. The end of Habsburg rule resulted in the second Great Serb Migration (1737–1739). Serbia was jointly supervised by the Aulic War Council and the Court Chamber, and subordinated to
1449-811: The Habsburg monarchy — reforms that contributed to the growth of the Serb middle class and continued by the Ottomans "in the interest of law and order". Serbia's population increased rapidly from 270,000 to 400,000, but the decline of Habsburg power in the region provoked the second Great Migrations of the Serbs (1737–1739). In 1688–1689, during the Great Turkish War , the Habsburg troops temporarily took control over most of present-day Serbia, but were subsequently forced into retreat. The Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 recognized Ottoman authority over most of present-day Serbia, while
1512-768: The Latin alphabet whereas 36% favors the Cyrillic one. Latin script has become more and more popular in Serbia, as it is easier to input on phones and computers. The sort order of the ćirilica ( ћирилица ) alphabet: The sort order of the latinica ( латиница ) alphabet: Serbian is a highly inflected language , with grammatical morphology for nouns, pronouns and adjectives as well as verbs. Serbian nouns are classified into three declensional types, denoted largely by their nominative case endings as "-a" type, "-i" and "-e" type. Into each of these declensional types may fall nouns of any of three genders : masculine, feminine or neuter. Each noun may be inflected to represent
1575-410: The Latin script predominates, although both scripts are commonly seen. The Serbian government has encouraged increasing the use of Cyrillic in these contexts. Larger signs, especially those put up by the government, will often feature both alphabets; if the sign has English on it, then usually only Cyrillic is used for the Serbian text. A survey from 2014 showed that 47% of the Serbian population favors
1638-450: The Latin script tends to imply a cosmopolitan or neutral attitude, while Cyrillic appeals to a more traditional or vintage sensibility. In media, the public broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia , predominantly uses the Cyrillic script whereas the privately run broadcasters, like RTV Pink , predominantly use the Latin script. Newspapers can be found in both scripts. In the public sphere, with logos, outdoor signage and retail packaging,
1701-522: The Little Town section of the fortress (area between the " Defterdar Gate" and the modern Pobednik monument), including the tower itself. In 1948, after the Informbiro resolution and the ensuing Tito–Stalin split , a construction of the defensive bunker began on the fortress. In the process, the 5 m (16 ft) thick rampart of the original Nebojša Tower was discovered. It was destroyed and by 1949
1764-436: The Ottomans managed to set the tower on fire. Only then did they manage to conquer the city. One chronicler of the siege wrote: " In the lower fortification of Belgrade on the Danube towards Mustafa–pasha position there was a tower. That tower was used as a stronghold by the faithless (Christians). It prevented assault. When assault was made yesterday many of them were killed by canons from the tower. After destruction that tower
1827-478: The Sava, arranged as a wide plateau with anchored barge-restaurants ( splav ). Since 2007, the "Fish Fest", an annual festival is held on the location. It is a competition of the chefs from Serbia and surrounding countries in preparing fish courses, like fish soup or a stew. Other, local types of food are also prepared. The festival is organized like a fair, with agricultural products being displayed for selling, music concerts, workshops, children games, etc. The festival
1890-514: The Serbian Militia was divided into 18 companies, in four groups ( obor-kapetanije ). A 1720 regulation declared that Belgrade was to be settled mainly by German Catholics, while the Serbs were to live outside the city walls in the "Rascian" part. It has been estimated that the population in Belgrade in the 1720s did not exceed 20,000. The population increased rapidly from 270,000 to 400,000, but
1953-476: The beginning of the 13th century, the entire official correspondence of Dubrovnik with states in the hinterland was conducted in Serbian. In the mid-15th century, Serbia was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and for the next 400 years there was no opportunity for the creation of secular written literature. However, some of the greatest literary works in Serbian come from this time, in the form of oral literature,
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2016-546: The bodies out of the water, so as former Italian soldiers turned prisoners by the German occupational forces after capitulation of Italy in September 1943. Bodies were buried around the tower and in the mass grave at the nearby Gate of Charles VI in the fortress' Lower Town. The mass graves are unmarked. From 1941 to 1945, some 5,000 bodies were retrieved from the Sava (of which only one person was identified), with majority being buried at
2079-405: The cannon openings, on all sides, so that invaders can be shelled whether they advance from the river or from the land. The tower used to have a leveled top with the battlements and protruded wooden corbels . When Austrians reconstructed the tower in the first half of the 18th century, the top with the battlements was replaced with the roof construction which remained to this day. Idea of turning
2142-459: The early 15th century. It was known for an open green market and a watermill . The settlement was established above the port of "Donji Grad", one of three which Belgrade had at the time (two on the Danube and one on the Sava). The marketplace was especially known as a fish market, but other goods were also traded: grains, fruits, vegetables, wool, hide, fur and wax. Today it is part of the promenade along
2205-568: The early 19th century, Vuk Stefanović Karadžić promoted the spoken language of the people as a literary norm. The dialects of Serbo-Croatian , regarded Serbian (traditionally spoken in Serbia), include: Vuk Karadžić 's Srpski rječnik , first published in 1818, is the earliest dictionary of modern literary Serbian. The Rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika (I–XXIII), published by the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts from 1880 to 1976,
2268-407: The end of Habsburg power in the region resulted in the second Great Serb Migration (1737–1739). Although the Habsburg administration over this part of present-day Serbia was short-lived, the consciousness about separate political entity was left behind by the Habsburgs, thus local inhabitants never again fully accepted Ottoman administration, which led to Koča's frontier rebellion in 1788 and to
2331-463: The history of the tower. Ground floor setup marks the prison period and the slavery in general. Hanging in the air are 150 portraits of the political prisoners. First floor is dedicated to Rigas Feraios , while the narration cites lyrics from his poems. Exhibition on the second floor is devoted to the First Serbian Uprising while the final floor celebrates the development of Belgrade after
2394-464: The liberation from the Ottomans where multimedia includes the reflection of the water on the ceiling, from the central cauldron , and video projections on the walls. In the mediaeval period, the area to the west and south-west, between the tower and the Sava , was a location of the "Water Town" ( Serbian : Водена варош , romanized : Vodena varoš ) settlement, built by despot Stefan Lazarević in
2457-588: The matrix of Serbian Church Slavonic . By the beginning of the 14th century the Serbo-Croatian language, which was so rigorously proscribed by earlier local laws, becomes the dominant language of the Republic of Ragusa . However, despite her wealthy citizens speaking the Serbo-Croatian dialect of Dubrovnik in their family circles, they sent their children to Florentine schools to become perfectly fluent in Italian. Since
2520-435: The modern, bigger cannons. At that time, the inner, war port, which was protected by the tower, still existed. In c.1725 Austrians built an arsenal at the base of the tower. It was used for cannon casting by the Serbian rebels 1807-1813, headed by Karađorđe , during the First Serbian Uprising . After regaining Belgrade in 1739, the Ottomans closed and covered the port with earth so the tower lost its military importance and
2583-407: The most notable form being epic poetry . The epic poems were mainly written down in the 19th century, and preserved in oral tradition up to the 1950s, a few centuries or even a millennium longer than by most other "epic folks". Goethe and Jacob Grimm learned Serbian in order to read Serbian epic poetry in the original. By the end of the 18th century, the written literature had become estranged from
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2646-573: The noted Belgrade merchant Edidija Buli, was a student in Germany when he brought the first leather football to Serbia. His father was hiding the ball from him, but Hugo, who was already playing football for "Germania" club in Berlin , managed to form the first football section within the "Soko" gymnastics society on 12 May 1896. On the field in front of the Nebojša Tower, the first football match in Serbia
2709-415: The noun they modify, but must agree in number, gender and case with the modified noun. Serbian verbs are conjugated in four past forms— perfect , aorist , imperfect , and pluperfect —of which the last two have a very limited use (imperfect is still used in some dialects, but the majority of native Serbian speakers consider it archaic), one future tense (also known as the first future tense, as opposed to
2772-517: The noun's grammatical case , of which Serbian has seven: Nouns are further inflected to represent the noun's number , singular or plural. Pronouns, when used, are inflected along the same case and number morphology as nouns. Serbian is a pro-drop language , meaning that pronouns may be omitted from a sentence when their meaning is easily inferred from the text. In cases where pronouns may be dropped, they may also be used to add emphasis. For example: Adjectives in Serbian may be placed before or after
2835-451: The official status of both scripts in contemporary Standard Serbian for more than half of a century now, due to historical reasons, the Cyrillic script was made the official script of Serbia's administration by the 2006 Constitution . The Latin script continues to be used in official contexts, although the government has indicated its desire to phase out this practice due to national sentiment. The Ministry of Culture believes that Cyrillic
2898-677: The only completed etymological dictionary of Serbian is the " Skok ", written by the Croatian linguist Petar Skok : Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika ("Etymological Dictionary of Croatian or Serbian"). I-IV. Zagreb 1971–1974. There is also a new monumental Etimološki rečnik srpskog jezika (Etymological Dictionary of Serbian). So far, two volumes have been published: I (with words on A-), and II (Ba-Bd). There are specialized etymological dictionaries for German, Italian, Croatian, Turkish, Greek, Hungarian, Russian, English and other loanwords (cf. chapter word origin ). Article 1 of
2961-456: The region of Bačka and the western part of Syrmia were assigned to the Habsburgs. Another Austro-Turkish war broke out in 1716–1718, in which Serbs massively joined the Habsburg troops. After the gains of 1718 (following the Treaty of Passarowitz ), the Habsburgs sought to integrate Serbia into their empire. The land was officially named the "Kingdom of Serbia", because it was neither a part of
3024-413: The second conditional (without use in the spoken language—it should be used for impossible conditional clauses). Serbian has active and passive voice . As for the non-finite verb forms, Serbian has one infinitive , two adjectival participles (the active and the passive), and two adverbial participles (the present and the past). Most Serbian words are of native Slavic lexical stock, tracing back to
3087-433: The second future tense or the future exact, which is considered a tense of the conditional mood by some contemporary linguists), and one present tense . These are the tenses of the indicative mood. Apart from the indicative mood, there is also the imperative mood . The conditional mood has two more tenses: the first conditional (commonly used in conditional clauses, both for possible and impossible conditional clauses) and
3150-466: The spoken language. In the second half of the 18th century, the new language appeared, called Slavonic-Serbian . This artificial idiom superseded the works of poets and historians like Gavrilo Stefanović Venclović , who wrote in essentially modern Serbian in the 1720s. These vernacular compositions have remained cloistered from the general public and received due attention only with the advent of modern literary historians and writers like Milorad Pavić . In
3213-574: The three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and co-official in Montenegro and Kosovo . It is a recognized minority language in Croatia , North Macedonia , Romania , Hungary , Slovakia , and the Czech Republic . Standard Serbian is based on the most widespread dialect of Serbo-Croatian, Shtokavian (more specifically on the dialects of Šumadija-Vojvodina and Eastern Herzegovina ), which
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#17330847769343276-541: The tower into the cultural center was announced in the late 2007. It was jump started by the €1,4 million donation from the European Centre for Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments from Thessaloniki and conducted in the cooperation of the Centre and the Belgrade city administration. During the excavations around the tower, the remains of the Austrian armory from 1725 were discovered and conserved. The revitalization project
3339-603: The tower's base, but by the morning they took over the embankment and the railway, south of the tower. Former armory was buried and effectively cut in two when the modern Donjogradski boulevard (today Vojvoda Bojović boulevard) was built over it in 1935. During the World War II , the Sava river brought dead bodies which floated all the way from the Ustaše Jasenovac Concentration Camp , almost 300 km (190 mi) upstream. The fishermen were taking
3402-429: The typical fortified baroque city of the day and the foothold of their further military operations against the Ottomans. Belgrade Fortress was reconstructed and the new bastion fortifications were built. In that period, the Nebojša Tower was also reconstructed. The old, upper part of the tower was lowered and a new floor with the vault was built. Old embrasures were walled up and the new, larger ones were opened to fit
3465-648: Was a province ( crownland ) of the Habsburg monarchy from 1718 to 1739. It was formed from the territories to the south of the rivers Sava and Danube , corresponding to the Sanjak of Smederevo (or "Belgrade Pashalik"), conquered by the Habsburgs from the Ottoman Empire in 1717. It was abolished and returned to the Ottoman Empire in 1739. During this Habsburg rule, Serbian majority did benefit from self-government, including an autonomous militia, and economic integration with
3528-400: Was destroyed in 1690, the name was transferred to the present tower. The tower originally called Nebojša Tower was built in the early 15th century, during the reign of despot Stefan Lazarević , who ruled Belgrade from 1403 and made it the capital of Serbia . It functioned as the keep of the fortress and most likely resembled the "Despot's Tower", the keep of the fortress which surrounds
3591-477: Was devised in 1814 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić , who created it based on phonemic principles. The Latin alphabet used for Serbian ( latinica ) was designed by the Croatian linguist Ljudevit Gaj in the 1830s based on the Czech system with a one-to-one grapheme-phoneme correlation between the Cyrillic and Latin orthographies, resulting in a parallel system. Serbian is a standardized variety of Serbo-Croatian ,
3654-651: Was drafted by 148 experts from 18 institutes and companies, including the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts . The construction works lasted for 17 months, from June 2009 to December 2010. Almost 2,500 m (27,000 sq ft) of walls (including the façades) were restored or conserved, while 3,000 m (110,000 cu ft) of ramparts were revitalized. The revitalization process included embedding various materials: 100,000 hand-made bricks, 1,050 m (37,000 cu ft) of concrete, 150 tons of steel and iron while 135 m (1,450 sq ft) of glass
3717-569: Was lit by searchlights from the Austro-Hungarian side, and fire from 300 cannons, howitzers and mortars was opened on the city, turning it into the flaming torch. This was a prelude for Austro-Hungarian landing on the island of Ada Ciganlija and the Belgrade Fortress' Lower Town, at the Nebojša Tower. A total of 14 Austro-Hungarian and 6 Serbian companies were engaged in the tower sector. The invaders initially suffered heavy losses at
3780-434: Was played on 19 May 1896. The field wasn't marked with lines and had no goals, only bricks which marked where the goal should be. The players didn't know the rules, so Hugo was explaining everything. There were 50 spectators. New reports of the "gymnastics game" under the tower survived, though the newspapers referred to it as a fun, rather than as a proper sport. Hugo founded the first football association in Serbia in 1899, and
3843-465: Was put on fire today by a vanquisher. The faithless were beaten up and gave in. From the position of Mustafa-pasha an opportunity for assault was thus created." The sultan Suleiman the Magnificent ordered for the tower to be rebuilt. After Austrians reconquered Belgrade as part of their rule of northern Serbia 1718-39 , they began a massive reconstruction of the fortress as they envisioned Belgrade as
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#17330847769343906-491: Was turned into a dungeon. Due to the terrible conditions and the practice of strangling the prisoners and throwing them through the openings of the tower into the river, the Nebojša Tower became one of Belgrade’s darkest symbols. The most famous captive was the Greek revolutionary and poet Rigas Feraios , who was strangled in 1798. Methodius, Metropolitan of Belgrade was also killed in the tower in 1801. Hugo Buli (1875-1942), son of
3969-454: Was used to adapt the cannon openings into windows. Former waterfront rampart is adapted into the annex of the tower and serves as the lobby of the museum. An extension of the lobby, in the direction of the former watergate No. 2, is turned into the meeting hall with 500 seats. All sections of the exhibitions are multimedial and interactive and the audio narration is multilingual: in Serbian , Greek and English . Entry section addresses
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