Before the erection of the building of the National Museum on this place was a famous tavern called "Dardanelles", meeting point of the cultural and artistic elite of the time. Demolition of the old tavern signified the beginning of the transformation of The Republic Square. The building which housed the most important museum of the Republic of Serbia today originally was built from 1902 to 1903, for the purpose of Fund Mortgage Bank, one of the oldest banking institutions of Belgrade. The building was constructed according to the design of architects Andra Stevanović and Nikola Nestorović after a competition on which they received the first prize. It was one of the first buildings in which was used some form of reinforced concrete for the foundation. Actually, during the digging foundation trenches, the various pits, wells and basements were encountered because of the proximity of the former Stambol Gate. The newly built two-storeyed building was a real palace of its time. Its volume conception designed in the form of a long solid block with domes over the central and lateral Rizal sites and academic façade shape was based on the principles of neo-Renaissance style with neo-baroque elements on the domes. The greatest attention was given to the monumental staircase and the hall with bank windows which as the basic premises of a bank was given secondary importance. Almost three decades later, the increased development of Mortgage Bank, influenced a need for a reconstruction of the building. The extension was made without competition by architect Vojin Petrović, who designed the added wing and atrium facing the street Laze Paču. The new part of the building contained the same elements of interior as the old part, and in the final image, the building got two monumental staircases and two halls with bank windows while only the upper floors form the continuous line of offices. During World War II Mortgage Bank building was bombed and the central part with the dome was destroyed. After the war, the building got a completely new purpose when one of the most important national cultural institutions moved in.