The demolition of Hotel Jugoslavija: for years one of the most beautiful hotels in Europe

From glories to rubble: this is what happens all over the world to works of architecture that for a certain season of their lives were illuminated by the spotlight and then, due to the ups and downs of history –  from market changes, political contingencies, the whims of fashion, or more simply the inexorable passage of time without regard to their upkeep –  ended up by being wiped out by the sponge of history. And this is what happened to the Hotel Jugoslavija which, like its more famous predecessors (from Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel in Tokyo), succumbed to the brunt of the bulldozers due to obsolescence and disregard for its preservation. When it was opened in 1969, during the time of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), the hotel was among the top five largest in Europe and was considered one of the most luxurious and beautiful hotels in the world, thanks in part to its romantic view of the Danube, as well as the “flagship” of Tito's international policy. The imposing, muscular structure embraced the lexicon of royal socialism in architecture, softened inside by effortless luxury. Beneath the 40,000 crystals of the legendary Swarovski chandelier that triumphed inside (the largest on the planet, until 2010), international political summits, society parties and high-ranking guests, from Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter to Apollo 11 astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Tina Turner, took turns.

After the NATO bombings in 1999, the structure was badly damaged and only partially rebuilt in the same year to reopen for New Year's Eve 2000, perhaps in the hope of a less tormented century.  After alternating financial vicissitudes, in 2006 the “Danube Riverside” company promised to relaunch the hotel but without success, so, over time, the glories of the past faded between closing and reopening of low-cost rooms, cheap restaurants and a second-rate casino. Despite its intrinsic cultural interest, also witnessed by the documentary “Hotel Jugoslavia” by Swiss director Nicolas Wagnières, awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2018, recently the building ended up at auction and a few days ago demolition operations began, taking away the traces of a historical and emotional memory that goes beyond the architectural value of the building.