Old building of the General Staff of the Army and Navy of Yugoslavia (Stara zgrada Generalštaba — "Stone Palace") or Baumgarten Palace in Belgrade was built between 1924 and 1928 according to the design of the Russian architect Vasily (Wilhelm) Fedorovich Baumgarten, who came to Yugoslavia as a Russian emigrant during the years of the October Revolution of 1917.

The monumental building, constructed from 1924 to 1928, is one of the best and most beautiful public buildings built in Belgrade between the two world wars in the spirit of academicism. The building was erected for the General Staff of the Army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and after World War II it housed the General Staff of the Yugoslav People's Army. The majestic building is executed in a strictly academic style with sculptural decoration on the roof, bas-reliefs and high reliefs on the facade. Above the windows of the top floor are figures depicting heroic scenes from historical chronicles, and the high reliefs show knightly armor.

This was the most monumental military facility ever built in Belgrade.

Between the two wars, Belgrade began intensive construction and expansion, and monumental architectural structures confirmed and materialized the new social reality that arose after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After World War I, the concentration of state administration in Belgrade made it the political and administrative center of the entire Kingdom; one after another, government ministry buildings grew on Knez Miloš Street, each subsequent one larger and more expensive than the previous.

At the time of its construction, the General Staff building was one of the most modern buildings of its kind in Europe, and in 1937 it was recognized as the most beautiful building in Belgrade. The palace houses the famous Large Military Hall, located on the mezzanine floor of the palace, in room number 49. Important state decisions were made in this hall, ceremonial military balls were held, and governments convened there. The interior of the large military hall is a genuine masterpiece, featuring magnificent pilasters, columns topped by a gallery with arched openings, where a choir once stood when necessary.

The building of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Royal Army was one of the few buildings to survive the April bombing of Belgrade in 1941, although one of the bombs from the first wave of the capital's bombing fell just a few meters from the former building of the Ministry of War.

From a technical point of view, this building is flawlessly executed. The author of this project, Vasily Baumgarten, also completed a number of other important works, especially between the mid-1920s and mid-1930s. Besides the General Staff building, which remains his key work, he also built the Russian House on Queen Natalia Street, the Officers' House Palace in Skopje (destroyed by the 1963 earthquake), and the Officers' House building in Bitola.

The facades are tightly composed and emphasized by a rhythmic series of columns with Corinthian capitals, divided into corner risalits. These columns span three floors and support a massive architrave that runs along all facades and significantly projects from their plane. On the corner risalits above the architectural crown, decorative constructions representing warriors and scenes from a warrior's life were placed. The groups generally consist of two figures and depict: a battle of warriors, a warrior and a wounded man who kills a woman and himself, as well as an archer and a warrior with a sword. Each group is repeated three times, so groups of four sculptures were placed above the corner risalits on all three corners of the visible facades. The sculptor is architect Ivan Rik, a good connoisseur of ancient sculpture of the classical period. The interior of the General Staff building is rich and carefully decorated. Various materials and decorative elements were used in the treatment of floors, walls, and ceilings, mostly drawing from the epochs of antiquity and the Renaissance. Stylistically, the interior is closest to the Russian Empire style, which dominated artistic circles in the first half of the 19th century. Although the old General Staff building was designed more than a hundred years later, this influence is more than obvious. Most likely, Vasily Baumgarten was inspired by some palace or public building of Tsarist Russia.

The entrance, vestibule, and ceremonial hall are richly decorated. The central staircase at the entrance is surrounded by parapets from which rise two double columns supporting a coffered ceiling. The coffers are filled with floral rosettes. The ceiling in the long corridor is decorated with stucco and painted decor with motifs taken from the decorative program of the Renaissance era; the ceiling above the grand two-level staircase is adorned with medallions and floral ornaments. The central decorative motif of the entrance area is the monumental composition of the entrance door to the ceremonial hall. This entrance is crowned by double columns made of roughly hewn stone, with a tympanum above which is installed a figurative composition representing Samson and the Lion. It was created by Vladimir Zagorodnyuk, the author of decorative sculptures on many other objects in Belgrade. The Samson and Lion composition symbolizes strength and struggle, thematically appropriate in this space.

The ceremonial hall — the "warriors' hall" — has side windows among which is a row of rhythmically arranged columns with Corinthian capitals supporting an architrave crown. Above the crown were placed busts of warriors. The ceiling of the ceremonial hall is decorated with medallions with floral elements similar to the ceiling in the vestibule. Above the entrance door to the ceremonial hall is a cartouche with soldiers' insignia and two female figures. All interior finishes of the building were done by the workshop of Spasa Petrović. The rich finish and use of luxurious materials testify to great attention to the treatment and decoration of the hall, which is one of the most beautifully decorated halls in Belgrade of its time.

In the large corridor of the palace, above the entrance to the large military hall, is the sculpture "Samson kills the Lion" by the Russian sculptor Zagardny. The lion motif is very common in this building. In the large military hall, there is a handmade chair with "lion's paws" on the armrests. On the palace ceilings, one can see plaster coats of arms of the SKG army from the kingdom era and coats of arms from the SFRY period.

Today, this palace is an important cultural and historical monument and has been included in the List of Cultural Monuments of Serbia since 1984. In 2008, the reconstruction of the palace facade began, lasting two years, which eliminated traces of bombings during the NATO aggression against the FRY.

Sources:

https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_General_Staff_Building