The family house of Đorđe Genčić was built between 1927 and 1929, according to the design of the prominent architect Dragiša Brašovan. This was a genuine civic family house of that time and one of the most significant achievements from his academic period of creativity. Until the World War II, the house served its original purpose. The Genčić villa was declared a cultural monument in 1987. Djordje Genčić died in 1938 and he bequeathed all his property to the state. 

Thanks to the efforts of Sava Kosanović, a nephew of Nikola Tesla, the legacy of a great scientist was transferred to Belgrade in 1951. All personal documents, library and personal items are now cultural goods of inestimable value and are kept in the Nikola Tesla Museum. The Museum is a unique scientific and cultural institution in Serbia and in the world. This is the only place that preserves the original and personal legacy of Nikola Tesla, including the world’s largest collection of the documents about his life and work. Researchers from all over the world can find information in the Museum about history of science, innovations, patent rights, projects related to preservation and protection of the environment, as well as research in the field of “clean” energy sources.

The first permanent setting contained true replicas of the models made according to Tesla’s drawings. More extensive reconstructions of the permanent setting were made in 2007 and 2016. From 1969 to 2020 the founding rights were exercised by the City of Belgrade. On May 21, 2020 the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Decision on Taking Over the Founding Rights of the Nikola Tesla Museum.

The Museum owns the world’s largest collection of original documents, personal items, technical drawings and patents, original apparatuses and devices, photographs, library and newspaper clippings. In total, the collection includes over 160 000 original documents, 2 000 books and magazines, 1 500 photographs and glass photographic plates, 1 200 original technical, personal, memorial and art objects, as well as 2 000 plans and drawings.

The legacy includes Tesla’s manuscripts, notes, letters, technical drawings and patents, apparatuses and devices invented by Tesla, photographs, photographic plates and slides with the recordings of Tesla and his laboratories, a library with books and magazines, as well as newspaper articles and clippings collected by Tesla during his life. The Museum also keeps personal items, which he used in his everyday life: clothes and shoes, a bed, a refrigerator and a safe which he used in his hotel room, stationery, small items for personal use, several art paintings, various measuring instruments from the laboratory and other items.

The Museum collection is systematized in 12 collections, as follows:

1. Collection of items from the field of electrical engineering,
2. Collection of items from the field of mechanical engineering,
3. Collection of items from the field of chemical technology,
4. Collection of small technical objects,
5. Collection of personal items of Nikola Tesla made of textile and leather,
6. Collection of personal items,
7. Collection of medals and decorations from the legacy of Nikola Tesla,
8. Collection of fine and applied arts from the legacy of Nikola Tesla,
9. Collection of memorial objects,
10. Collection of fine and applied arts of the Nikola Tesla Museum,
11. Personal archive of Nikola Tesla, and
12. Personal library of Nikola Tesla.
    

The newspaper clippings and newspapers that Nikola Tesla collected and kept during his life are a valuable source of information about Tesla’s life and work. This important historical source was considered less important for many years, and thus it was inaccessible for studying. This large, completely unexplored collection represents a source of information and findings unknown up to now, and in the context with other archival material and parts of Tesla’s archive it will enable a different insight into Tesla’s life and research work. Moreover, it is likely that the articles that are no longer preserved anywhere else can be found in this collection of newspapers and newspaper clippings.

Archive – personal collection of Nikola Tesla

The largest part of the Museum’s treasures is Tesla’s personal archive with 163,911 documents, manuscripts, notes, calculations, schemes, drawings and letters. This material, created in the period from 1856 to 1943, includes documents which are extremely diverse, both in content and in form.

Among these documents there are patent descriptions, calculations and schemas of inventions, technical drawings, letters he received and concepts or copies of answers he wrote, telegrams, photographs, greeting cards, notes on pieces of paper, business cards, receipts, checks, forms, lecture texts typed on a typewriter, litigations he conducted or he was a witness in, diplomas, charters, and many other documents.

Although the papers containing the records are old and diverse, most of the material is well preserved. The archive is housed in 548 boxes and classified into seven thematic groups of documents (identity documents, legal affairs and finances related to the work of Tesla’s companies, correspondence with individuals and companies, activity that includes scientific work, patents and patent documentation, plans and drawings related to the activity, photo material containing photographs, photographic plates and slides with Tesla’s inventions, laboratories, photographs of relatives, friends and business associates).

In 2003, UNESCO added Tesla’s archive, as part of the movable human documentary heritage, to the Memory of the World Register. In this way, the archival material kept in the Nikola Tesla Museum acquired the highest form of protection. In 2005, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Resolution Declaring the Archival Material Preserved in the Nikola Tesla Museum as the Personal Collection of Nikola Tesla to be Cultural Heritage of Exceptional Importance (Official Gazette of RS, No. 44/05). The archival material from Nikola Tesla’s Personal Collection was fully digitized by 2015. Thanks to digitization, digital copies were obtained that can be used instead of the originals. In addition to scanning, microfilming of the material was also performed, in order to ensure long life of cultural heritage for the generations to come.

Today’s organization of the space in the Nikola Tesla Museum

The building has four levels, a basement, a ground floor, a first floor and a roof terrace.

In the basement part of the building, there is a depot where archival material and collections are stored, as well as the Museum’s own paper conservation laboratory and archival material treatment workshops. Also, technical rooms for the needs of air conditioning and humidity control are accommodated here. This area is not available to the public.

The paper conservation laboratory, under the expert supervision of the National Library of Serbia, is equipped with modern equipment and chemical agents and enables conservation within safe Museum space, without taking valuable material outside the Museum. The priority task is the processing, conservation and restoration of newspaper clippings from the personal collection of Nikola Tesla, that are currently the most endangered due to their organic composition.