Hotel Avala near Belgrade

Around the Avala Region there are a few landmarks that are worth visiting: the Avala Tower that will be soon ready again after NATO bombed and destroyed the tower in 1999 (I wrote about it here) the Unknown Soldier Monument dedicated to Serbian heroes fallen in World War I (described below) and the Hotel Avala an building in modern "Bauhaus"-like style.

Placed on less then 15 minutes of driving from the center of Belgrade and only 50 meters from the top of mountain Avala, which is protected natural zone, this hotel was built in 1928 on demand of King Alexandar Karađorđević for the purposes of ministry of forestry & waterpower engineering of Kingdom of Yugoslavia. It was projected by Russian architect Viktor Lukomski

The Unknown Soldier Monument

dedicated to Serbian heroes fallen in World War I
(designed by sculptor Ivan Meštrović , erected in 1938)

The Avala is a low, type of the Pannonian island mountain, though it is actually the northernmost mountain in Šumadija. Until 600,000 years ago, when the surrounding low areas were flooded by the inner Pannonian Sea, the Avala was an island, just as the neighboring mountains (Kosmaj, Fruška Gora) , thus earning its geographical classification.

Lot of events of national importance are related with this building. One of them took place here in 1929 when the First Ski Championship of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia started from today's parking lot. Also the first Ski Championship of Serbia after World War II started from here. In may 1957 the first TV signal in Yugoslavia was sent from the roof of the hotel.

Today it's working as hotel and restaurant. Here is the website.