Embassy of France, Belgrade

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Embassy of France in Belgrade
Embassy of France, Belgrade
Map
General information
LocationStari Grad, Belgrade
Address11 Pariska street;[1]
CountrySerbia
Coordinates44°49′08″N 20°26′59″E / 44.8188825°N 20.4496643°E / 44.8188825; 20.4496643
Completed1933

The Embassy of France in Belgrade is the diplomatic representation of the French Republic to the Republic of Serbia and is located in the Serbian peninsula. Since December 2017 its ambassador is Frédéric Mandolini.[2][3]

Embassy[edit]

The embassy is between St. Michael's Cathedral, Belgrade and Kalemegdan in Belgrade, overlooking the Danube and the Sava. It hosts the Joint Management Service, the Press Service, the Diplomatic Chancellery, a Consulate, a Military Attaché, and an Internal Security Service.[4]

The building, called "Le Nouveau Banque", is on the pedestrian street Knez Mihailova. It houses the French Institute of Serbia, the Service of Cooperation, the Economic Mission, and the Regional Center for the Fight Against Organized Crime in Southern Afro-Eurasia.

History[edit]

The building was designed by French architect Roger-Henri Expert with Serbian architect Josif Najman as assistant in 1926.[5] At the time it was only the fourth purposely built French embassy, as it was usual to either rent or refurbish an existing building.[clarification needed] Construction lasted from 1929 to 1933, with the inauguration night being 21 December 1935. The party had 800 guests, including Milan Stojadinović, and all high ranked government officials led by Prince Paul of Yugoslavia and Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark. The building is a complete work of Art Deco, with everything from the facade, interior, furniture, and lighting in the style.[6]

Exterior[edit]

The slope of the site, on the front of two streets, where the building was constructed, represented the real challenge. The architect decided to solve this problem with the massive foundations, which work just like a fortification rather than the ground floor of a modern palace. . Thus, a kind of optical fault has been achieved in an effective way. On a geometrically simply defined object that has a ground floor, two floors and a loft, the middle zone is broken down by a centrally set semicircular shape, and trapezoidal shaped wings. This is also the most expansive zone of the building. On the second floor and attic facade, there is a pyramidal cascade and facade without any decoration, and the viewer's view would be fixed to the bronze group, where the crown dominates the vision of the palace with white facade marble. The style of the building is typical of the inter-war period, modern elements with monumental classicism and refinement of the sculptures.[7] The bronze finial group at the top of building represents Liberté, égalité, fraternité is 2.80m in height and was done by sculptor Charles Marie Louis Joseph Sarrabezolles. He was Experts' friend, known for casting concrete sculptures in innovative way, a method of direct carving in setting concrete, with much of his work was integrated with architecture. Side wings of facade have shallow reliefs that illustrate shortened history of France through Vercingetorix, Joan de Arc, Louis XIV and Marianne.[8]

Interior[edit]

The building has five floors, the first two being assigned to the Chancery and the last three to the Residence de France. The vestibule, reached by a large white marble staircase, is decorated with five medallions representing the rivers of France.[9] The original furniture is signed Jules Leleu and Raymond Subes; unfortunately some of the purposely built furniture was either lost or returned to France during WW2.[10]

French ambassadors in Serbia[edit]

De A Ambassadeur
Kingdom of Serbia
1907 1914 Léon-Eugène-Aubin Coullard Descos [fr]
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
1921 1922 Louis Frédéric Clément-Simon
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
1933 1935 Paul-Émile Naggiar
1936 1937 Robert de Dampierre
1937 1940 Raymond Brugère
1940 1940 Roger Maugras
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
1944 1945 Henry Gauquié[11]
1945 1950 Jean Payart[12]
1950 1955 Philippe Baudet[13]
1955 1955 Camille Coulet[14]
1955 1956 Jean Baelen[15]
1956 1962 Vincent Broustra[16]
1962 1965 Jean Binoche[17]
1965 1970 Pierre Francfort[18]
1970 1977 Pierre Sebilleau[19]
1977 1980 Jacques Martin[20]
1980 1982 Yves Pagniez[21]
1982 1985 Jacques Dupuy[22]
1985 1989 Dominique Charpy[23]
1989 1992 Michel Chatelais[24]
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
1992 1992 Alain Rouillard[25]
1996 1996 Gabriel Keller[26][27]
1996 2000 Stanislas Filliol[28]
2000 2003 Gabriel Keller[29][30]
Serbia and Montenegro
2003 2007 Hugues Pernet[31][32]
Serbia
2007 2010 Jean-François Terral[33][34]
2010 2014 François-Xavier Deniau[35]
2014 2017 Christine Moro
2017 2017 (Christophe Lecourtier)
2017 2019 Frédéric Mondoloni
2019 2021 Jean-Louis Falcon
2021 Pierre Cochard

Diplomatic relations[edit]

There has always been a strong relationship between Serbia and France since the Middle Ages, however it was only in the nineteenth century that relations intensified through trade. Official diplomatic relations were established on 18 January 1879, with the opening of both legations.[36]

During the twentieth century, the relationship became more turbulent. The two countries fought together as allies in the First World War, but after the Second World war and the integration of Serbia into Yugoslavia, political relations were toned down. The cultural relationship remained strong however, due to the policy of distance from the USSR by Yugoslav state head Josip Broz Tito. Diplomatic relations broke down in the 1990s during the Yugoslav wars when France participated in the bombing of the country.

Diplomatic relations between France and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were re-established on 16 November 2000 and were the starting point for a rebuilding of ties between the two. The change of name of the State on 4 February 2003 to the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro did not alter relations between the two countries. The split of Serbia and Montenegro in May 2006 also did not end relations.

Gallery[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "La France en Serbie". Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  2. ^ "L'Ambassadeur Mondoloni a remis ses lettres de créance au Président Vučić". La France en Serbie (in French). Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  3. ^ "La France en Serbie". Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Services – La France en Serbie". rs.ambafrance.org (in French). Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  5. ^ Kadijevic, Aleksandar. "Arhitekt Josif Najman (1890-1951), Moment 18, Beograd 1990, 100-106". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ "Francusko poslanstvo u Beogradu: Ambasador francuskog ukusa". Avant Art Magazin (in Serbian). 11 June 2015. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  7. ^ "Zgrada francuske ambasade".
  8. ^ "Francuska ambasada, remek-delo art dekoa".
  9. ^ Inventaire de l'Académie d'architecture du fonds Expert, Roger-Henri.
  10. ^ Béatrice de Rochebouët, " Paris, reine indétronable de l'Art déco ", Le Figaroscope, semaine du 16 au 22 octobre 2013, p. 4-6.
  11. ^ Délégué du Gouvernement provisoire de la République française
  12. ^ Ambassadeur
  13. ^ Décret du 23 septembre 1950, Journal officiel de la République française|JORF du 23 septembre 1950.
  14. ^ Décret du 4 janvier 1955, JORF du 5 janvier 1955 256.
  15. ^ Décret du 25 novembre 1955, JORF du 4 décembre 195511744.
  16. ^ Décret du 3 novembre 1956, JORF du 7 novembre 1956 10624.
  17. ^ Décret du 31 juillet 1962, JORF du 2 août 1962 7652.
  18. ^ Décret du 3 novembre 1965, JORF du 4 novembre 1965 9723.
  19. ^ Décret du 16 mars 1970, JORF du 18 mars 1970 2603.
  20. ^ Décret du 11 février 1977, JORF du 16 février 1977 934.
  21. ^ Décret du 4 janvier 1980, JORF du 8 janvier 1980 52.
  22. ^ Décret du 4 août 1982, JORF du 11 août 1982 2561.
  23. ^ Décret du 30 avril 1985, JORF du 7 mai 1985 5232.
  24. ^ Décret du 16 février 1989, JORF 18 février 1989 2326.
  25. ^ Chargé d'affaires
  26. ^ Chargé d'affaires puis ambassadeur
  27. ^ Décret du 11 mars 1996, JORF No. 62 du 13 mars 1996 3887.
  28. ^ Décret du 17 septembre 1996, JORF No. 220 du 20 septembre 1996 14000.
  29. ^ Décret du 21 novembre 2000, JORF No. 217 du 21 novembre 2000.
  30. ^ Ambassadeur auprès de la République fédérale de Yougoslavie.
  31. ^ Décret du 17 septembre 2003, JORF No. 217 du 19 septembre 2003.
  32. ^ Ambassadeur auprès de la Communauté étatique de Serbie-et-Monténégro.
  33. ^ Décret du 4 avril 2007, JORF No. 81 du 5 avril 2007.
  34. ^ Ambassadeur auprès de la République de Serbie.
  35. ^ Décret du 25 août 2010, JORF No. 198 du 27 août 2010.
  36. ^ "Vreme - 170 godina diplomatskih odnosa sa Francuskom: Dolazak lađe francuske". 26 November 2008.

External links[edit]

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