"We should look into the future. We should walk into the future. All happier nations look into and walk into the future." - M. Crnjanski
Hotel Moskva (Beograd), 27th January 1919 - It was very cold that night on Terazije way with my blue bottoned coat. I walked up quickly the hotel stairs to find some heat.
I was about to step into the revolving door but a spot of dark coats from the inside made me hesitate. I was captured by that spot. I pushed the door and I speeded up the pace not to fall over.
I couldn't recognize any of those dark coats though.
However I decided to grab a whatever newspaper and to sit next to their table. I learned only a few years later that they were the Grupa umetnika and among them now I recognized at least one coat, that of Miloš Crnjanski.
“Волети никад није бесмислено.” - M. Crnjanski
Crnjanski was a famous Serbian novelist. He was in Belgrade during the early post-war years and with his brown coat he decided to establish this group there, at the Hotel Moskva.
The other coats, well...
Pandurović, Rastko Petrović, Stanislav Vinaver, Ivo Andrić, Momčilo Nastasijević, and Branko Lazarević, just to name a few.
Amidst the city's ruins.. this group of young artists was as a breath of fresh air, a new beginning in art and culture. They used to gather at the Hotel Moskva's kafana, because according to Crnjaski, that was "the only place with light".
And on that day...I...was there.
Jovan, the name written on the waiter's shirt, came to take my order. I took the first thing on the list, Shumadian tea. I didn't care about that actually... I was bewitched by those coats. There was a wind of change and I...was there.
It was several years before I entered again that place... this time with a red coat.
In the post World War II, the hotel Moskva was once again the centre of Belgrade's cultural life.
Hotel Moskva (Beograd), 24th March 1947
If I remember well. [to be read with a pause]
It was Spring time. [to be read with a pause]
On a Monday. [to be read with a pause]
Strangely nice and warm for the season. [to be read with a pause]
I had a meeting with my sister there for the usual weekly coffee and talks. A quick look at the very bottom of the hall and I was pretty sure to see the gray coat of Ivo Andrić [ed. 1961 Yugoslav Nobel in literature].
You know... those kinds of stories you never know whether it is a fake one or true? Well.. it seems he was a kind of creature of habit.
He used to have his own table at the hotel restaurant...with the usual cup of coffee and plate of pastries. I can't believe that there was the place where he put together all his short stories... and I...was there.
"If people would know how little brain is ruling the world, they would die of fear." - I. Andrić
Time goes by... it happened a third time to walk up those hotel stairs.
Hotel Moskva (Beograd), 2nd February 1974 - I was sitting by myself on a table next to the kitchen. I usually love to be seated there. I can admire the magic art of work.
The swinging doors - open and close.
open and close
open and close
open and close
With all this opening and closing.. you can't imagine... A woman, in her beautiful elegance, was creating what was going to become the most popular cake in Belgrade.
The Moskva Šnit, the hotel's signature cake.
That woman was Anica Dzepina.
Hotel Moskva (Beograd), Today - The Moskva pastry shop has been making Belgrade's traditional cakes and pastries for over 40 years.
- Hotel Moskva, a member of Historic Hotels Worldwide since 2016, dates back to 1906.
- Robert De Niro, Albert Einstein, Indira Gandhi, Luciano Pavarotti, Maxim Gorky and Alfred Hitchcock are famous guests who left their permanent mark - six suites are named after them.
That's all folks! Nite!
 |
| Miloš Crnjanski |
I was about to step into the revolving door but a spot of dark coats from the inside made me hesitate. I was captured by that spot. I pushed the door and I speeded up the pace not to fall over.
I couldn't recognize any of those dark coats though.
However I decided to grab a whatever newspaper and to sit next to their table. I learned only a few years later that they were the Grupa umetnika and among them now I recognized at least one coat, that of Miloš Crnjanski.
“Волети никад није бесмислено.” - M. Crnjanski
Crnjanski was a famous Serbian novelist. He was in Belgrade during the early post-war years and with his brown coat he decided to establish this group there, at the Hotel Moskva.
The other coats, well...
Pandurović, Rastko Petrović, Stanislav Vinaver, Ivo Andrić, Momčilo Nastasijević, and Branko Lazarević, just to name a few.
Amidst the city's ruins.. this group of young artists was as a breath of fresh air, a new beginning in art and culture. They used to gather at the Hotel Moskva's kafana, because according to Crnjaski, that was "the only place with light".
And on that day...I...was there.
Jovan, the name written on the waiter's shirt, came to take my order. I took the first thing on the list, Shumadian tea. I didn't care about that actually... I was bewitched by those coats. There was a wind of change and I...was there.
It was several years before I entered again that place... this time with a red coat.
In the post World War II, the hotel Moskva was once again the centre of Belgrade's cultural life.
Hotel Moskva (Beograd), 24th March 1947
If I remember well. [to be read with a pause]
It was Spring time. [to be read with a pause]
On a Monday. [to be read with a pause]
Strangely nice and warm for the season. [to be read with a pause]
I had a meeting with my sister there for the usual weekly coffee and talks. A quick look at the very bottom of the hall and I was pretty sure to see the gray coat of Ivo Andrić [ed. 1961 Yugoslav Nobel in literature].
You know... those kinds of stories you never know whether it is a fake one or true? Well.. it seems he was a kind of creature of habit.
 |
| Ivo Andrić |
"If people would know how little brain is ruling the world, they would die of fear." - I. Andrić
Time goes by... it happened a third time to walk up those hotel stairs.
Hotel Moskva (Beograd), 2nd February 1974 - I was sitting by myself on a table next to the kitchen. I usually love to be seated there. I can admire the magic art of work.
The swinging doors - open and close.
open and close
open and close
open and close
With all this opening and closing.. you can't imagine... A woman, in her beautiful elegance, was creating what was going to become the most popular cake in Belgrade.
The Moskva Šnit, the hotel's signature cake.
That woman was Anica Dzepina.
Hotel Moskva (Beograd), Today - The Moskva pastry shop has been making Belgrade's traditional cakes and pastries for over 40 years.
- Hotel Moskva, a member of Historic Hotels Worldwide since 2016, dates back to 1906.
- Robert De Niro, Albert Einstein, Indira Gandhi, Luciano Pavarotti, Maxim Gorky and Alfred Hitchcock are famous guests who left their permanent mark - six suites are named after them.
That's all folks! Nite!
