The first surprise in Belgrade this time around is the number of air-conditioning units on every façade, including my father’s masterpiece, Palace Albania. The ugly boxes are everywhere. Literally so. There are hundreds and even thousands of them on some façades in the center. In fact, they have become one of the main architectural features of the city. The surprising bit is that this, as it were, epidemic is entirely new. On my last visit nine years ago, I do not remember anything of the sort. Air-conditioning leprosy, in short. On the bright side, Belgrade has become so much richer in the meanwhile. Few people could afford the ugly boxes until recently, I reckon.

Addendum (January 4, 2015)

Over lunch with Jasna and Rade Kronja earlier today, Belgrade came up in conversation. They asked me about my impressions on my visit a couple of months ago. And they were quite surprised to hear about the air-conditioning leprosy. Although both of them are architects, they have missed it entirely. It did not take us long to understand the reason, of course. They still live in the city of our youth. Rade works in Kazakhstan, of all places, but he regularly comes to see his wife and their offspring. It takes a longer absence, like mine, to notice the encroaching horror. But I was surprised when they asked me whether I had noticed anything similar in Zagreb. Of course, I have not. And my regular visits to the Croatian capital ever since my move to Motovun explain my blindness, if that is what it is. The air-conditioning leprosy may well be typical of all the countries in the Western Balkans. And all it takes to notice it is a bit longer absence.