Belgrade, Serbia: National Museum of Serbia

According to one source, a popular tavern used to sit on this spot around 1900. The elite of Belgrade used to hang out together there. Then came a plan to redesign the area and created Republic Square. The tavern came down, and a new building went up.

The new occupant was a financial institution, and it made a variety of changes to the place over its years of occupancy. But then World War II came along, and some bombs made even more changes to what was called the Mortgage Bank.

When it was time to fix it up, the National Museum thought it might be a good home. The cultural institution had been around since 1863. Eventually everything came together, with various restoration projects done over the years. The biggest took five years, from 2013 to 2018, before the new place was declared open for business.

These days, the place is known in part for its majestic structure, and in part for a big-league art collection.