Architecture of Serbia

The Đurđevi stupovi monastery, near Novi Pazar (1166), UNESCO World Heritage Site

Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul is one of the few remaining building from early Middle Ages and UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. Prohor Pčinjski Monastery was founded 1067–1071 by the Byzantine emperor Romanus IV in honor of Saint Prohor of Pčinja.[1] Church architecture mostly developed under the patronage of the Serbian state. The most distinctive piece of medieval Serbian architecture was the Studenica monastery founded by Stefan Nemanja, the founder of medieval Serbia in c. 1190. This monastery also featured significant works of art including its Byzantine style fresco paintings. Its church also features extensive sculptures based on Psalms and the Dormition of the Theotokos. UNESCO added this monastery to its list of World Cultural Heritage sites in 1986. It was the model for other monasteries at Mileševa, Sopoćani and the Visoki Dečani.

The influence of Byzantine art became more influential after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 in the Fourth Crusade when many Greek artists fled to Serbia. Their influence can be seen at the Church of the Ascension at Mileševa as well as in the wall paintings at the Church of the Holy Apostles at Peć and at the Sopoćani Monastery. Icons also formed a significant part of church art.

The influence of Byzantine architecture reached its peak after 1300 including the rebuilding of the Our Lady of Ljeviš (c1306-1307) and Church of St. George at Staro Nagoričane as well as the Gračanica monastery. Church decorative paintings also developed further in the period.

The Visoki Dečani monastery in Metohija was built between 1330 and 1350. Unlike other Serbian monasteries of the period, it was built with Romanesque features by master-builders under the monk Vitus of Kotor. Its frescoes feature 1000 portraits portraying all of the major themes of the New Testament. The cathedral features iconostasis, hegumen's throne and carved royal sarcophagus. In 2004, UNESCO listed the Dečani Monastery on the World Heritage List.

There was a further spate of church building as the Serbian state contracted to the Morava basin in the late 14th century. Prince Stefan Lazarević was a poet and patron of the arts who founded the church at Resava at Morava with the wall paintings having a theme of parables of Christ with the people portrayed wearing feudal Serbian costumes.

Ecclesiastical monuments

• Petrova church, 800 AD, Stari Ras
• Đurđevi stupovi, 1166, Novi Pazar
• Our Lady of Ljeviš, 12th century, Prizren
• Studenica monastery, 1190, Kraljevo
• Patriarchate of Peć, 13th century, Peć
• Sopoćani monastery, 1265, Stari Ras
• Mileševa monastery, 1236, Prijepolje
• Visoki Dečani, 1327, Dečani
• Gračanica Monastery, 1321, Gračanica is an example of the Serbo-Byzantine Style (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
• Saint Archangels Monastery, 1343, Prizren

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  Studenica monastery (1196), an example of unique medieval Serbian architecture, UNESCO World Heritage Site
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  Žiča Monastery (1207-1217), the coronational site of the Serbian kings
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  The Patriarchate of Peć is the historical residence of Serbian Archbishops, UNESCO World Heritage Site
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  Serbian Orthodox Visoki Dečani monastersy, built in the 14th century, UNESCO World Heritage Site
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  Serbian Orthodox Gračanica monastery, built in the 14th century, UNESCO World Heritage Site

This is an ecclesiastical architectural style that flourished in the Serbian Late Middle Ages, which was developed through fusing contemporary Byzantine architecture with Raskan influences to form a new style. By the end of 13th and in the first half of 14th century the Serbian state enlarged over Macedonia, Epirus and Thessaly up to the Aegean Sea. On these new territories Serbian art was even more influenced by the Byzantine art tradition.

Gračanica, which was entirely rebuilt by King Milutin in 1321, is the most beautiful monument of Serbian architecture from the 14th century.[2] The church of this monastery is an example of a construction that achieved the highest degree of architecture not only in the Byzantine form but in the creation of an original and freestyle exceeding its models. The wall creation in steps is one of the basic characteristics of this temple. The Kings's Church in Studenica, characterized as an ideal church, was built in the first decades of the 14th century.

By the end of the third decade of the 14th century the Patriarchate of Peć had finally been shaped. The exterior of the Patriarchate is a vision of shapes characteristic of contemporary Serbian architecture. On the major part of the outer walls paint decoration was used instead of stone relief and brick and stone decoration. A typical Serbo-Byzantine church has a rectangular foundation, with a major dome in the center with smaller domes around the center one. The inside of the church is covered with frescos that illustrate various biblical stories and portrays Serbian saints.

The territory of what is now the Republic of Serbia was part of the Ottoman Empire throughout the Early Modern period, especially Central Serbia, unlike Vojvodina which has passed to Habsburg rule starting from the end of the 17th century (with several takeovers of Central Serbia as well). Ottoman culture significantly influenced the region, in architecture, cuisine, language, and dress, especially in arts, and Islam.

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  Bajrakli Mosque, Belgrade, 1575
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  Altun-Alem Mosque, Novi Pazar, XVI century
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  Mehmed Paša Sokolović's Fountain, Belgrade, 1576/77
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  Islam-aga's Mosque, Niš, 1720
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  Pasha's house, Vranje, 1765[3]

A number of historically important buildings influenced by the Western architecture can be found in Sremski Karlovci

During the short-lived Austrian rule over Belgrade, a Baroque quarter was built, with a square and several monumental buildings.[4] After the reconquest of city by Ottoman Turks, all Baroque buildings were demolished.[4][5] Most Serbian Orthodox churches were built with all the characteristics of Baroque churches built in the Austrian administered regions. The churches usually had a bell tower, and a single nave building with the iconostasis inside the church covered with Renaissance-style paintings. These churches can mostly be found in Zemun and Vojvodina province.

The XIX century was a time of development of Serbian nationalism, which sought to develop a "national style" in architecture too, in line with national romanticism ideas. Within the broader movement of historicism, in parallel to neoclassical architecture, Serbia saw the development in particular of a Byzantine Revival architecture style. Other types of historicisms have had less of an impact in Serbia, though there are some examples of Gothic Revival architecture such as the Kapetanovo castle from 1904.

Serbia's modern sacral architecture got its main impetus from the dynastic burial church in Oplenac which was commissioned by member of the Karađorđević dynasty in 1909.[6] With the arrival of Russian émigré artist after the October revolution, Belgrade's main governmental edifices were planned by eminent Russian architects trained in Russian Empire.[7][8] It was King Aleksandar I. who was the patron of the neobyzantine movement.[9] Its main proponents were Aleksandar Deroko, Momir Korunović, Branko Krstić, Petar Krstić, Grigorijji Samojlov and Nikolay Krasnov. Their main contribution were Beli dvor, the Church of Saint Sava, St. Mark's Church, Belgrade. After the communist era ended Mihailo Mitrović and Nebojša Popović were proponents of new tendencies in sacral architecture which used classic examples in the Byzantine tradition.[10]

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  St. Mark's Church, Belgrade, 1835
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  House of Vuk's Foundation in Belgrade by Branko Tanazević, 1879
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  Crypt of Oplenac mausoleum by Nikolay Krasnov, 1910
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  Old telephone exchange in Belgrade by Branko Tanazević, 1923
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  Old Post Office by Momir Korunović, 1929

The Art Nouveau and Vienna Secession style flourished in the north of the country at the turn of the XX century, when the Vojvodina region was still part of the Hungarian kingdom under the Habsburgs. Subotica and Zrenjanin host particularly remarkable buildings from the period. Novi Sad[11] and Belgrade were not immune from the architectural novelty either.

• Novi Sad: Bank of Vojvodina (1904), Novi Sad Synagogue (1909), Tomin's Palace (1909)[12]
• Subotica: Synagogue (1901), City Hall, City Library, Raichle Palace

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  Bank of Vojvodina (1904)
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  Novi Sad Synagogue (1909)
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  Subotica Synagogue (1902)e Interior during renovation
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  Raichle Palace, Subotica (1904)
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  Subotica City Hall (1910)[13]

• Zrenjanin: Lipot Goldšmit's House,[14] City Hall, Dunđerski Palace, Bence House, Small Bridge,

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  Lipot Goldšmit's House, 1870s
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  Zrenjanin City Hall, 1890
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  Palace of the wealthy Dunđerski family, 1906
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  Bence House, Zrenjanin, 1909
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  Small Bridge, Zrenjanin 1910

• Belgrade: Hotel Moskva (1908), Vučo’s House on the Sava River (1908), Uros Predic's Studio (1908), Mika Alas's House (1910),

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  Belgrade Cooperative, 1882
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  Hotel Moskva (1908)
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  Uros Predic's Studio built in Vienna Secession style, Belgrade (1908)
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  Vučo’s House on the Sava River (1908)
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  Mika Alas's House (1910)

Immediately following the Second World War, Yugoslavia's brief association with the Eastern Bloc ushered in a short period of socialist realism. Centralization within the communist model led to the abolishment of private architectural practices and the state control of the profession. During this period, the governing Communist Party condemned modernism as "bourgeois formalism," a move that caused friction among the nation's pre-war modernist architectural elite.[23]

• Dom Sindikata, 1947

Socialist realist architecture in Yugoslavia came to an abrupt end with Josip Broz Tito's 1948 split with Stalin. In the following years the nation turned increasingly to the West, returning to the modernism that had characterized pre-war Yugoslav architecture.[17] During this era, modernist architecture came to symbolize the nation's break from the USSR (a notion that later diminished with growing acceptability of modernism in the Eastern Bloc).[23][24] The nation's postwar return to modernism is perhaps best exemplified in Vjenceslav Richter's widely acclaimed 1958 Yugoslavia Pavilion at Expo 58, the open and light nature of which contrasted the much heavier architecture of the Soviet Union.[25] A number of architects from Serbia made important modernistic buildings across Africa and Middle East.[26] Architect Mihajllo Mitrović was one of the several notable authors from the period. He is best known for modernistic buildings inspired by Art-Nouveau and Western City Gate.[27]

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  Belgrade Fair – Hall 1, Europe's largest dome and the world's largest dome between 1957 and 1965
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  Ušće Towers, 1964 and Museum of Contemporary Art (bottom left), 1958
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  Hotel Sloboda in Šabac by Slobodan Janjić, 1977
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  Beograđanka tower by Branko Pešić, 1974
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  SPC Vojvodina (Hala), 1981

During this period, the Yugoslav break from Soviet socialist realism combined with efforts to commemorate World War II, which together led to the creation of an immense quantity of abstract sculptural war memorials, known today as spomenik[28]

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  Monument to Kosmaj Partisan Detachment, Belgrade
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  Šumarice Memorial Park, Kragujevac, by Miodrag Živković, 1953
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  "Three fists" Monument, Niš, by Ivan Sabolić, 1963
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  Leskovac Memorial Park, by Bogdan Bogdanović, 1971
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  Miners' monument, Kosovska Mitrovica, by Bogdan Bogdanović, 1973
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  Shrine to the fallen freedom fighters, Vlasotince, by Bogdan Bogdanović, 1975
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  Kadinjača Memorial, by Miodrag Živković and Aleksandar Đokić, 1979

Brutalist Western City Gate (1977) by Mihajlo Mitrović in Belgrade

Brutalist Avala Tower, 1961

In the late 1950s and early 1960s Brutalism began to garner a following within Yugoslavia, particularly among younger architects, a trend possibly influenced by the 1959 disbandment of the Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne.[29] Besides numerous brutalist buildings in the capital, other notable examples can be found Požarevac, Arilje, Užice, Sremska Mitrovica and other parts of the country.[30]

• Museum of Yugoslavia (1962) by Mihajlo Janković[31]
• Novi Beograd town hall (1967) by Stojan Maksimovic and Branislav Jovin[31]
• Toblerone building (1963) by Rista Šekerinski
• 25 May Sportcenter (1975) by Ivan Antić[32]
• Belgrade's Eastern City Gate (1976) by Vera Ćirković
• Belgrade's Western City Gate (1977) by Mihajlo Mitrović
• Sava Centar (1979) by Stojan Maksimović
• Blocks 22, 23, 28, 30, 61, 62, 63, New Belgrade[31]

With 1950s decentralization and liberalization policies in SFR Yugoslavia, architecture became increasingly fractured along ethnic lines. Architects increasingly focused on building with reference to the architectural heritage of their individual socialist republics in the form of critical regionalism.[33] Growing distinction of individual ethnic architectural identities within Yugoslavia was exacerbated with the 1972 decentralization of the formerly centralized historical preservation authority, providing individual regions further opportunity to critically analyze their own cultural narratives.[15]