Updates
6. September 2025.
How we brought the Vladičanski Dvor back to life from the dust
In the Buda settlement of Taban, after decades of hard work by Serbs living in Hungary, in 1897, the bishop's residence was built, one of the most beautiful buildings on the right bank of the Danube, the work of the famous architect Vladimir Nikolić. This representative building of exceptional cultural and historical importance was significantly damaged during the bombing of the city towards the end of World War II, and was completely razed to the ground in the 1950s. One blurry photo of the building from before the bombing and two photos of the already damaged building, the projects kept in the Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Archives of the City of Budapest (the projects are not complete and do not contain all the details) and two monographs – on the Taban settlement and on the architect Vladimir Nikolić, were the only sources of information for this undertaking. Based on the collected archival material, an analysis of the original project was carried out, an analogy was made with other works by Vladimir Nikolić, and then the elaboration began, drawing details. The actual proportions, bases and sections, cornices, plinths, railings, pilasters, columns, balconies, capitals, garlands, window and balcony door frames, balusters, einfort, lanterns, consoles and rosettes began to emerge from the ashes, and thus an ideal reconstruction was created in which not one of the hundreds of details was arbitrary or unfounded. Based on the ideal reconstruction project, three-dimensional models of the facades were created using the "Rhinoceros 3D" software, which enables three-dimensional printing. The project for the reconstruction of the former Bishop's Palace is accompanied by a bilingual catalogue with an accompanying description and history of both the building itself and the circumstances of the creation and construction of this magnificent residence, seen through the prism of the life of Serbs in the then Buda. Aleksandra Pekez, an architectural technician-conservator, participated in the implementation of the project, who elaborated the original project in detail, thus reconstructing the building. Art historian Katarina Dobrić elaborated on the historical background of the story along with descriptions of the residence and wrote the text of the accompanying catalogue, while Miloš Platiša, a graduate of digital media, created a three-dimensional model of the facade.
