In addition, two municipal libraries ("Đorđe Jovanović" in Stari Grad and "Ilija Garašanin" in Grocka) have their own special children's departments and implement a variety of programmes.

[9] Ever since Belgrade had become the capital of the Principality of Serbia, its municipal authorities had been facing growing demands for building a People's House to accommodate a library and reading room.

Following the example of other European libraries of the day, books were classified and arranged according to the principles of the Universal Decimal Classification and training courses for librarians were run for the first time.

Library cards for children were embellished with an illustration by Beta Vukanović and were inscribed with an excerpt from the 1924 Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child.

The 1941 German Bombing of Belgrade caused untold damage to the library, reducing the building to rubble and destroying invaluable cultural heritage.

As a result of Nazi firebomb raids, the roof of the building that used to house the library at the time was destroyed by the flames, along with its last floor.

In October 1986, Library moved into new premises, the building of the former Serbian Crown Hotel located at 56 Knez Mihailova Street, where it is still situated.

Serbian poet Desanka Maksimović opened the new building of Belgrade City Library at an official ceremony.

In the history of Belgrade's architecture, the building of Serbian Crown Hotel marked the beginning of a vigorous process of Europeanisation of the city in the latter half of the 19th century.

During the 1983-1986 renovation of the building, remains of an even older structure were discovered due to the lowering of the level of the basement floor.

Archaeologists found that the remains were actually parts of ramparts foundation and a main gate tower of a Roman fort located in the Upper Town of Belgrade Fortress.

As a result of that important discovery, modifications had been made to the design and the Library got the Roman Hall intended for staging public events instead of a book depository.

[15] The library building has a rectangular base and is structured around an inner courtyard that was mostly covered with a roof and turned into an exhibition venue during the renovation of 1986.