In the architectural historiography of Serbia, established methodological principles are rarely reexamined, even when evidence exists to show that their cognitive capacity has been exhausted. This is ...especially true for outdated ways of classifying, periodizing and evaluating opuses, which is why it is necessary to offer more scientifically expedient methods. In the heavily framed presentation of architectural history, the biggest problem is the overemphasis of the role of key figures, schools and trends (resulting either from inertia or out of conviction), on which our understandings of the boundaries of national architectural culture rely. And, therefore, it is precisely these established and widespread constructs that should first be dismantled.
From the 19th century uprising period to the present day, Serbia has witnessed a controlled militarization of urban areas as part of its defense policy, with the army showcasing its fighting spirit ...and emphasizing its crucial role in the public security system. During peacetime, this process unfolds gradually and inconspicuously as 'peacetime protective' measures, but escalates during political crises and wars. The devastating war conflicts, resulting from geopolitical and regional crises that often spilled into Serbia's territory over the last two centuries, have had adverse effects on both military and civil infrastructure. Beyond architecture, which holds significant communicative importance, this militarization has also impacted other aspects of visual culture. Military facilities, as a means of controlling public spaces, have assumed a prominent position in Serbian cities' symbolic topographies, often occupying main squares. Their construction is coordinated with the strategies of the Ministry of the Army's (or Defense) strategies, general urban plans and Serbia's spatial development. However, conflicts between architects and military institution managers often arose during implementation, with architects striving for adherence to planned solutions and artistic visions, while clients sought adaptation to current security needs. Despite developing in a more modest form compared to major world powers, Serbia's militarization of public spaces continues to merit critical examination. Beyond the architecturally-urban perspective dominant in scientific historiography, military complexes warrant a more comprehensive analysis from a security standpoint and as a legacy of a distinct military visual culture, influenced by military hierarchy dynamics and the country's changing geopolitical position. Thus, increased openness of military institutions to research their architectural past and improved collaboration between architectural and military historians could effectively address existing knowledge gaps.
U radu se analizira djelatnost znamenitoga jugoslavenskog arhitekta Milana Zlokovića (1898.-1965.) na prostoru Hrvatske u razdoblju između svjetskih ratova (1918.-1941.). Inspiriran mediteranstvom i ...modernizmom, ostavio je nekoliko natječajnih i nerealiziranih projekata, kao i dvije izvedbe u Orebiću, od kojih svi zaslužuju podrobniji historiografski osvrt. Dokumentacija koja svjedoči o Zlokovićevu radu, odnedavno dostupna u digitaliziranom obliku, pomoći će u valorizaciji njegova djela i u drugim dijelovima bivše Jugoslavije.
This paper focuses on the architectural work of Milan Zloković, the renowned Yugoslav architect (1898-1965) who worked in Croatia between the two world wars (1918-1941). Inspired by the Mediterranean style and Modernism, he left a legacy of several competition and unbuilt projects as well as two realized projects in Orebić. They deserve to be thoroughly examined from a historiographical perspective. The archives about Zloković’s work, now available in digital format, will help to evaluate his work in other parts of former Yugoslavia as well.
As a state architect in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (since 1929 the Kingdom of Yugoslavia), who built about ninety buildings of various purposes on the territory, Momir Korunović ...(1883-1969) has left a tangible creative mark in Croatia. Besides one built and one unstructured Orthodox Church in continental Croatia, he designed four public buildings on the Adriatic coast, in the areas that belonged to the Savska and Primorska Banovina, out of which two were realized. Modestly adjusted to the architectural tradition and climate, his works in the Adriatic area did not differ significantly from the work he completed in other parts of the multinational state. Anti-modern and conservative, they contain elements of the Yugoslav unitary style (projects of the Main Post Office in Split and Student Dormitory in Šibenik), and the national style of the Orthodox churches on Vis and Sušak. For a more significant architectural result on the Croatian Adriatic coast, Korunović obviously needed to go one step further and more fully adapt to local conditions and cultural tradition. However, he was not ready for that, because in his creative consciousness he fixed a conservative matrix of neo-medieval style in the early twenties and enriched with deposits of post-secession and expressionism, which from 1928-1929 affected the promotion of integral Yugoslav ideology.
Članak analizira podružnicu Narodne banke izgrađenu 1935.-1936. na dubrovačkim Pilama. Promatra se u kontekstu međuratne arhitekture Dubrovnika, Jugoslavije i opusa Bogdana Nestorovića za Narodnu ...banku. Povremeno komentirana u znanstvenoj historiografiji, ova reprezentativna palača zaslužuje podrobniji monografski osvrt.
This paper is dedicated to the branch of the National Bank built between 1935 and 1936 in Dubrovnik. It is analyzed in the context of Dubrovnik architecture between the wars, Yugoslavia and Bogdan Nestorović’s opus for the National Bank. So far, this representative palace has been occasionally mentioned in the scientific historiography.
In the midst of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, launched at the end of February 2022, in which, in addition to countless deaths of civilians and soldiers, a large number of cultural ...monuments have been devastated, the concerned world is helplessly watching, while the destruction continues with undiminished ferocity despite the evident traumatic consequences. Although the geopolitical implications of the Ukrainian war will continue to play out for many years to come, within the cultural sector they can already be compared to those of the wars fought in the 1990s on the territory of the former SFRY, when the architectural heritage of 'undesirable' communities was brutally devastated. The position of the Republic of Serbia is multifaceted on this front, a fact that has been radically reflected in modern geopolitical changes, primarily regarding territorial integrity, historical consciousness and the situation of cultural heritage in the region.
There are few realizations in modern Serbian architecture that are as constantly written and spoken about as those of the charismatic Nikola Dobrović (1897-1967). Melded in Central Europe, and ...affirmed in interwar and post-war Yugoslavia, his works left a deep mark in all areas of the profession, from design and construction, to urbanism, theory, criticism, historiography, conservation and university teaching. As an uncompromising visionary of the democratic city, he encouraged a radical modernization of the architectural stock, setting an example for the generations that followed. In doing so, he developed an independent conception of International Modernism, the principles of which he consistently advocated. Although there are fewer and fewer contemporaries who remember him, generations of admirers and architectural historians prevent Dobrović's personality and works from being forgotten, repressed or sanitized. Hence, as part of the celebration of the 125th anniversary of his birth in Belgrade, several events of a scientific and educational character were organized.
As an omnipresent socio-cultural paradigm, globalisation affects the Serbian culture in two ways: as a communication-inducing trans-cultural ideology and as a practice limited by market criteria. ...While the first one inspires the construction design elite, the other is wearing itself out with conventional space and shape-related solutions that are tailored to the taste of the masses, causing reasonable criticism. As part of the critical adjustment to the globalisation-led changes, the national architecture theory suggests strategies for a culturally diverse, sustainable, creative and "intelligent" city that have been launched at the international level. Even though it is an incomplete and uncertain historical process, subject to conflicting opinions even outside our country, the criticism of the globalisation restrictiveness in the Serbian architecture should not be postponed, particularly since it could have a corrective effect.
The first independent work of the Viennese architect Konstantin A. Jovanović (1849-1923) in Belgrade, the house of solicitor Marko Stojanović at 53-55 Knez Mihailova Street, built in 1885, signifies ...the Europeanising surge of the secular architecture in the Kingdom of Serbia, which conclusively suppressed the Oriental architectural practices. Jovanović's father Anastas helped him develop friendship alongside the business relationship with the patron of the house. This allowed Jovanović to construct a notable privately-owned building in the city thoroughfare, thus recommending himself to the favour of wealthy investors. Often linked in historiography to Jovanović's cult of the Italian Renaissance, Stojanović's house also contains elements of Mannerism and Baroque, harmoniously combined into an eclectic whole. Adapted to the Belgrade setting as a two-storey structure built at the top of the Sava River Slope, the house is a direct interpolation of the Viennese eclectic experiences.
The term “Baltic Modernism” in the contemporary architectural historiography is used to denote a specific regional branch of international Art Nouveau movement with the centers in Saint Petersburg ...and Helsinki, that spread from Stockholm, Riga, Tallinn and other Baltic cities in the period from 1900 to 1914. Although it was a blend of Nordic and Slavic artistic components it was endowed with a stylish consistency grounded on steady personal relationships between the Baltic architects. This also accounts for the renown Russian architects, Stepan Krichinsky (Stepan Samojlovič Kričinskij) and Nikolay Vasilyev (Nikolaj Vasil’evič Vasil’ev), whose awarded competition drawing for Belgrade Palace of Monopoly Administration and the Ministry of Finance (1908) has been partially addressed in the Serbian historiography. Albite comprehensive, it has never been fully examined in the architectural context from which it was derived.
PDF
