VISIT TO THE NATIONAL BANK OF SERBIA

Belgrade, 24 March 2005 – HRH Crown Prince Alexander II accompanied by Mr. Dragomir Acovic, member of The Crown Council, visited today the National Bank of Serbia .

Mr. Radovan Jelasic, Governor of the National Bank of Serbia, with his closest associates, wished a warm welcome to the guests and introduced them to the rich tradition of this institution during a brief conversation. Governor Jelasic presented the working plan of the National Bank of Serbia for the following period; the effort will be directed to the supervision of institutions and the creation of a group of banks that will inspire the confidence of the citizens with their quality of service and tradition in operations.

After the conversation with the Governor and his closest associates, The Crown Prince was introduced to the long and rich tradition of the National Bank of Serbia.

The Construction of the Privileged National Bank of the Kingdom of Serbia, which was the name of the National Bank of Serbia at the time, lasted from 1888 to 1890, when the Governor at the time Aleksa Spasic, who was a Minister without portfolio up to this point, moved in. The bank was organized on the model of the Belgian National Bank, which was, at the time, viewed as the paragon of a modern banking institution. The project of this purpose-built edifice in Kralja Petra Street was drawn up by a well-known Viennese architect, Konstantin Jovanovic, son of Anastas Jovanovic, the first Serbian lithographer and the majordomo at the Court of Prince Mihajlo Obrenovic. For this monumental work in the neoclassic style which, which in the words of Felix Kanic, “would be the pride and joy of any metropolis in the world”, he received a high state decoration in 1890.

In the continuation of the visit, The Crown Prince and Mr. Acovic visited the exhibition of the drafts for the proposed works for the central hall of the new business building of the National Bank of Serbia at Slavia Square, the vault of the bank, the numismatic cabinet, as well as the exhibition of money from the Greek, Roman and Byzantine period in the hall of the building. The most interesting part of this exhibition is the collection of Middle Age Serbian money made of silver from our mines. HRH Crown Prince Alexander II was particularly interested in the exhibition area where the machine for detecting falsified money is exhibited, as well as in the section with the coins made for special occasions and important dates in our history from 1963 until today.