Serbia reopens contemporary arts museum after decade-long reconstruction

People visit the exhibition "Sequences. Art of Yugoslavia and Serbia from the Collections of the Museum of the Contemporary Art" in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, Serbia, on Oct. 20, 2017. The museum is reopened for the public after a ten-year renovation. (Xinhua/Nemanja Cabric)

BELGRADE, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Serbia on Friday reopened a contemporary arts museum after decade-long reconstruction.

Opening of the refurbished Museum of Contemporary Art, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said culture and education are preconditions for advanced society with steady, sustainable development.

She announced the government would focus to finalize the reconstruction of the National Museum in Belgrade, which was closed in 2003.

Acting director of the museum Slobodan Nakarada said: "This is a great day for Serbian culture. We are officially opening the Museum of contemporary art and in the next seven days we will work 24/7, because we expect that there will be a lot of visitors."

The exhibition with which the museum reopens features artworks from the beginning of the 20th century.

The building of the Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade, work of awarded Yugoslavian architects Ivan Antic and Ivanka Raspopovic, was opened in 1965, becoming one of the landmarks of high modernist architecture of socialist Yugoslavia.

However, it was closed in 2007 as it had to be preserved and adjusted to new architectural standards and safety regulations.