The Villa Zlatni Breg (Serbian: Вила Златни брег; lit. 'Golden Hill Villa'), also known as the Obrenović Summerhouse (Serbian: Летњиковац Обреновића, romanized: Letnjikovac Obrenovića), in Smederevo, Serbia, is state representation house, owned and managed by the Serbian state. It was a private residence and summer retreat of the royal House of Obrenović from 1865 to 1903. The earliest structure originates from 1865 but was expanded and reconstructed several times since then. As it is owned by the state, it has been used for the state receptions and since 2015 is open for public.
Location The villa is situated on the northern slopes of the Plavinac Hill, overseeing the Danube from its right bank, and the Banat lowlands across the river. It is situated above the Old Smederevo road, which connected the capital Belgrade with Smederevo, a starting section of the historical Tsarigrad Road. The villa is located on the eastern outskirts of Smederevo, above which is the hill of Zlatno Brdo ("Golden Hill") which gave the name to the building.
History
Obrenović Summerhouse
Prince Miloš From 1827 to 1829, Prince Miloš Obrenović purchased the 37 hectares (91 acres) lot from a local Ottoman sipahi. The lots already had a planted vineyard, orchard, meadows, a house and steam bath. In 1831 the prince planted his own vineyards on the estate as the entire Smederevo area is well known for its grapes. The first object built was a wine cellar for the wine produced by the prince's vineyards which Miloš exported into Europe. The cellar and the neighboring konak, with one room and a kitchen, were built in 1833. In 1836 Prince Miloš sent 500 seedlings of the best Smederevo varieties of grapes to be planted around the objects as a garden. Captain Jovanča Spasić was appointed by Prince Miloš to take care of the estate. In this period, the estate had an economic, wine producing function, rather than a leisure one. The vineyards were in operation even during the 1842-58 period, when house of Obrenović was dethroned and exiled.
Prince Mihailo The original house was built in 1865, on the orders of Prince Mihailo, Miloš' son and heir. He planned it as the summerhouse for him and his wife, Princess Julia. It was a simple, one floor edifice built in the Swiss style, but the Serbian press referred to it as "palace". The summerhouse was nicknamed salon. Additionally, Prince Mihailo planted 2,000 vines of the French varieties and, as an avid equestrian, arranged the horse tracks around the house. The name of the architect is unknown, but he was probably from Vienna as the house was built in the Mitteleuropean architectural style. The central part of the front façade is flanked by the entrance with the vestibule and double stairs. The entire house is set on the high stone foundation with a cellar which was entered from the front, between two forks of the staircase. The vestibule is an entryway into the salon's lobby which was glassed in with windows. The sides and the front were glassed with 4 large French windows. Wooden, gable-shaped decorative elements above the vestibule are in the Swiss style. The windows of the ground level were decorated in the Classicistic style. Three windows on the northern side are framed with chambranles. The lintels above the ground floor windows had decorative plastics which resembles the open crown - above each window there was an arch made from the face bricks with small decorative volutes in the corners and one large with an acorn in the central part. In 1865 Prince Mihailo ordered for the materials used for the construction of his summerhouse to be transferred to Belgrade, so that First Town Hospital can be built. It is not clear whether this was concerning the leftovers of the materials remaining after the construction was finished, or that he planned to build a larger edifice but stopped it at this point.
King Milan I and Queen Natalie
The park which was formed around the summerhouse by 1878, was the first park in Smederevo. When Queen Natalie wanted to entertain a large number of guests in 1882, it had to be rescheduled as the building turned out to be "cracked a lot and prone to collapse". Apparently it hasn't been maintained well, but the vineyards were superbly cared for. During the reign of King Milan I and Queen Natalie, the royal social life was established in the villa, apparently on queen's insistence. Milan introduced the wealth and servants, and the very first courts for tennis and cricket in Serbia were built next to the villa. Queen ordered the creation of the walking paths through the park and the forest on the hill above the villa. The declaration of Serbia into the kingdom in 1882 was announced here. It served as a venue for the royal parties and gatherings of the cultural and artistic elite. Among the visitors in this and later periods were poets and writers Milan Rakić, Laza Kostić, Branislav Nušić, Stevan Sremac, Simo Matavulj and Milovan Glišić, and painter Paja Jovanović. The writing desk where Rakić wrote his poems, his bed and library are still in the house. The royal couple spent so much time in the villa that it appeared as if the court moved out of Belgrade. After king and queen divorced in 1888, the summerhouse was left aside for a while and was again in the bad shape. Natalie was banished from Serbia so Milan I, who abdicated in the meantime, remained the owner of the estate but transferred it to his only child, still minor King Alexander I. In 1895, king Alexander I invited his mother back to Serbia and she began organizing parties in the venue again. Now a queen mother, Natalie hired architect Jovan Ilkić in 1897 to upgrade and expand the building into the proper royal summer residence, which she intended to turn into the summer court for her son. Ilkić added two side avant-corps and decorated the edifice with ornaments in the style of the Swiss villas. The Queen Natalie was personally involved in the adaptation, style, setting, park arrangements and interiors, to the most minute detail. Austrian traveler Felix Philipp Kanitz, who visited the venue and described it as a "Swiss villa", depicted Natalie as a "tall lady, which had both the love of and the sense for comfortable". Later in 1897, opposing his son's relationship with her widowed lady in waiting Draga Mašin, Natalie left Serbia for good.
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