Architect Marko Mušič imagined the Nikšić House of the Revolution as the "blue diamond", but in the city under Trebjesa, it was never finished. Instead., the building became known as the "blue tomb" because of the 17 people who tragically lost their lives there, while dozens of others were injured, reports Vijesti on March 15, 2018.
After almost three decades from the cessation of works and more than 40 million German marks invested back then, the first phase of reconstruction finally began. The beginning of restoration was initiated by the Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism Pavle Radulović, the President of the Municipality Veselin Grbović and the Director of the Directorate of Public Works Almer Kalač.
"We gathered here after a long time to start rebuilding a project that was in the center of Nikšić, which ruined the image of the city. It started with great ambitions and with the donation of citizens, but from 1989 the work on it stopped, and since then it has been in such a state. I hope, according to the project, we will succeed in putting this space into the best function of the municipality of Nikšić and all citizens," said Grbović.
The first phase, according to Grbović, implies cleaning the building, fixing about 2,000 square meters of flat roofs, and paving around 800 square meters of outside space with granite cubes.
"The area of the cafeteria of about 200 square meters will be reconstructed, then about 2,000 meters of internal walkways will be fixed. Aso, the metal construction and recreational fitness area of about one thousand square meters, and a significant part of the area at Njegoševa street will be safe and put to use," Grbović said and expressed his hope that after the end of the first phase investors will be interested in continuing their work.
Minister Radulović said that initially, for the first phase, about 450 thousand euro was planned, but with the involvement of the city administration, they managed to squeeze out about 350 thousand euro more to complete additional works.
"The people of Nikšić have always been brave people. This object represents serious courage for me, whoever started it, whoever did it, and those who are now creating it must have serious courage. I believe that I would not define this period by time because I do not have that much courage. I can only promise that we will work as hard as we can to make this building the kind that Nikšić citizens need," Radulović said.
Director of the Public Works Directorate, Almer Kalač, said that citizens of Nikšić know best how important the beginning of reconstructing the House of Revolution is.
The deadline for completion is in July of this year, and the contractor is the Nikšić firm "Stambeno". The estimated value is 784 thousand euro.
The Slovenian-Swiss-Montenegrin team Sadar + Vuga from Ljubljana, HHF from Basel, and Arhicon from Podgorica won the competition for the architectural solution to reconstruct and revitalize the House of Revolution, which was announced by the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism in 2015.
The winning conceptual solution implies that the reconstruction and revitalization of the House of the Revolution are based on the methodology 10 + 20 + 70. The first part includes the completion of 10 percent of the total area (21,738 square meters), and in the activated spaces there will be catering facilities, an auditorium, premises for students and NGOs, commercial spaces and a fitness center. The second part consists of 20 percent of the open-space area around the promenade, the covered city areas that connect the complex into a whole and which are the extension of the streets inside the building. The remaining 70 percent of the space would be a potentially active space whose fate is yet unknown for the future and can be phased out and, if necessary, put into use.
The total budget for the project, according to project estimates, is around 11 million euro.
The building of the House of Revolution, projected by the Slovenian architect Marko Mušič, was intended to represent the socio-political structure of Nikšić, Montenegro and then Yugoslavia as a whole and it should have been the most significant monument to the national liberation war. The foundation stone for the House of the Revolution was initially planned at around 9,000 and later enlarged to about 22,00 square meters, was put on the Day of the Municipality of Nikšić, on September 18, 1977, by folk hero Veljko Zeković. Construction started next year. After the abolition of self-propaganda, during which the citizens were paying out three percent, the construction of the House of the Revolution was interrupted in 1989 due to a lack of money.
The president of NGO "Alpha Center" Aleksandar Dedović, an organization that has pointed out the problem of the House of the Revolution to be resolved for a decade, and who has repeatedly organized cleaning actions and performances to draw the attention of the authorities, said that he hopes that "all the machinations, promises and manipulations around the House of Revolution."
"Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of euros of citizen money was wasted on making various drafts, feasibility studies, master plans, strategies and contests for any conceptual solutions, while this dangerous area was unsecured and without a fence for two decades, costing several thousands of euros. Over 30 generations of Nikšić citizens grew and developed in and around this concrete jar, which certainly left a mark on their mental complex, psycho-social and social habitus, as well as their attitude towards themselves, the community and life in general," said Dedović.
He is convinced that citizens will continue to follow the continuation of the works with curiosity and interest to follow the continuation of the works, and expects them to be interested in "transparent and responsible distribution of the built capacities that must be done in the greatest interest of the citizens of Nikšić."
This article was translated from an article by Svetlana Mandić on Vijesti.me: After nearly three decades of cessation of work: Reconstruction of the first phase of the House of the Revolution in Nikšić has begun
