Architecture of Yugoslavia

Yugoslav architecture emerged in the first decades of the 20th century before the establishment of the state; during this period a number of South Slavic creatives, enthused by the possibility of statehood, organized a series of art exhibitions in Serbia in the name of a shared Slavic identity. Following governmental centralization after the 1918 creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, this initial bottom-up enthusiasm began to fade. Yugoslav architecture became more and more dictated by an increasingly concentrated national authority which sought to establish a unified state identity.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSqoDQAAQBAJ|title=Nationalism and Architecture|last=Deane|first=Darren|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2016|isbn=9781351915793}}

Beginning the 1920s, Yugoslav architects began to advocate for architectural modernism, viewing the style as the logical extension of progressive national narratives. The Group of Architects of the Modern Movement, an organization founded in 1928 by architects Branislav Đ Kojić, Milan Zloković, Jan Dubovy, and Dusan Babic pushed for the widespread adoption of modern architecture as the "national" style of Yugoslavia to transcended regional differences. Despite these shifts, differing relationships to the west made the adoption of modernism inconsistent in Yugoslavia WWII; while the westernmost republics of Croatia and Slovenia were familiar with Western influence and eager to adopt modernism, long-Ottoman Bosnia remained more resistant to do so. Of all Yugoslavian cities, Belgrade has highest concentration of modernist structures.{{Cite journal|last=Đorđević|first=Zorana|date=2016|title=Identity of 20th Century Architecture in Yugoslavia: The Contribution of Milan Zloković|url=https://journals.cultcenter.net/index.php/culture/article/download/279/241/|journal=Култура/Culture|volume=6}}{{Cite journal|last=Babic|first=Maja|date=2013|title=Modernism and Politics in the Architecture of Socialist Yugoslavia, 1945-1965|url=https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/23716/Babic_washington_0250O_11912.pdf?sequence=1|journal=University of Washington}}

{{Gallery|File:Skopje, razglednica so Gradska bolnica, 1930.jpg|City Hospital (1930) designed by Drago Ebler in Skopje|Ivan Zemljak Elementary School.jpg|Modernist school (1930) designed by Ivan Zemljak in Zagreb|Pabellón_Mestrovic,_Zagreb,_Croacia,_2014-04-20,_DD_01_Cropped.png|Meštrović Pavilion art gallery (1933) designed by Ivan Meštrović in Zagreb|View_of_court_skola_Egon_Steinmann.jpg|Secondary school (1933) designed by Egon Steinmann in Zagreb|Kompleks Banovine (3).jpg|Danube Banovina Palace (1939) designed by Dragiša Brašovan in Novi Sad|D.Brašovan Zgrada BIGZ-a 2.JPG|BIGZ building (1941) designed by Dragiša Brašovan in Belgrade|title=Interwar modernism in Yugoslavia}}

File:Arhitektura_8-10.jpg

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.{{Cite book|url=https://www.academia.edu/1614921|title=Modernism in-between : the mediatory architectures of socialist Yugoslavia|last=Vladimir.|first=Kulić|date=2012|publisher=Jovis Verlag|isbn=9783868591477|oclc=814446048}}

{{Gallery|Nikola Pašić (Marks i Engels) tér, szemben a Jugoszláv Szakszervezeti Székház (Dom sindikata Jugoslavije). Fortepan 31525.jpg|Dom Sindikata in Belgrade by Branko Petričić in 1947, in the socialist realist style||Jože Plečnik's unrealized plan for Slovenian parliament (1947)|title=Socialist realist architecture in Yugoslavia|Sarajevo Tram-Line Higijenski-Zavod 2011-10-31.jpg|Public Health Institute (Higijenski zavod, 1950) by Tihomir Ivanović in Sarajevo}}

File:SIV Building, 20120506 2.jpg (1950) by Potočnjak and Janković, Belgrade]]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. 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).{{Cite journal|last1=Alfirević|first1=Đorđe|last2=Simonović Alfirević|first2=Sanja|date=2015|title=Urban housing experiments in Yugoslavia 1948-1970|url=http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/1450-569X/2015/1450-569X1534001A.pdf|journal=Spatium|issue=34|pages=1–9|doi=10.2298/SPAT1534001A|doi-access=free}} 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.{{Cite journal|last=Kulić|first=Vladimir|date=2012|title=An Avant-Garde Architecture for an Avant-Garde Socialism: Yugoslavia at EXPO '58|journal=Journal of Contemporary History|volume=47|issue=1|pages=161–184|doi=10.1177/0022009411422367|issn=0022-0094|jstor=23248986}}

{{main|Yugoslav World War II monuments and memorials}}

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.{{Cite journal|last=Kulić|first=Vladmir|title=Edvard Ravnikar's Liquid Modernism: Architectural Identity in a Network of Shifting References|url=http://apps.acsa-arch.org/resources/proceedings/uploads/streamfile.aspx?path=ACSA.AM.101&name=ACSA.AM.101.109.pdf|journal=New Constellations New Ecologies|access-date=2019-02-01|archive-date=2019-02-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201120314/http://apps.acsa-arch.org/resources/proceedings/uploads/streamfile.aspx?path=ACSA.AM.101&name=ACSA.AM.101.109.pdf|url-status=dead}}

{{Gallery|title=Spomeniks of Yugoslavia|Da.se.ne.zaboravi.jpg|Šumarice Memorial Park (1953) designed by Miodrag Živković in Kragujevac|Spomenik revoluciji-Podgaric.jpg|Monument to the Revolution of the people of Moslavina (1967) designed by Dušan Džamonja in Podgarić|Kosmaj spomenik2.jpg|Monument to Kosmaj Partisan Detachment (1971) in Belgrade|Kosovska Mitrovica monument.jpg|Miners' monument (1973) designed by Bogdan Bogdanović in Kosovska Mitrovica|Споменик „Илинден“ - Крушево.JPG|Makedonium (1974) designed by Jordan and Iskra Grabuloska in Kruševo|Kadinjača 028.jpg|Memorial (1979) designed by Miodrag Živković and Aleksandar Đokić in Kadinjača}}

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.{{Cite journal|last=di Radmila Simonovic|first=Ricerca|date=2014|title=New Belgrade, Between Utopia and Pragmatism|url=https://web.uniroma1.it/dottcomparch/sites/default/files/25Simonovic.pdf|journal=Sapienza Università di Roma|access-date=2019-02-01|archive-date=2019-12-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223064909/https://web.uniroma1.it/dottcomparch/sites/default/files/25Simonovic.pdf|url-status=dead}} Brutalism's growing influence in the nation was most prominently exemplified in reconstruction efforts of Skopje following a destructive 1963 earthquake.{{Cite journal|title=Brutalism, Metabolism and its American Parallel|journal = Fabrications|volume = 25|issue = 2|pages = 152–175|last=Lozanovska|first=Mirjana|date=2015|doi=10.1080/10331867.2015.1032482|s2cid = 143092905}} Japanese architect Kenzo Tange played a key role in pushing for Brutalism in the city, going so far as to propose a full redesign of Skopje in the style.{{Cite web|url=https://post.at.moma.org/content_items/1161-curating-the-yugoslav-identity-the-reconstruction-of-skopje|title=Curating the Yugoslav Identity: The Reconstruction of Skopje {{!}} post|website=post.at.moma.org|date=August 2018 |access-date=2019-02-01}}{{Cite web|url=http://architectuul.com/architecture/reconstruction-plan-for-skopje|title=Reconstruction Plan for Skopje|website=architectuul.com|access-date=2019-02-01}}

The architecture of the city is compiled in Kenzo Tange's Masterplan of Skopje City 1963 with a collaboration led by the UNs teams of international architects.

{{Gallery|title=Brutalism in Yugoslavia|Students' dormitory Goce Delčev Skopje 1.jpg|Student dormitory (1971) by Georgi Konstantinovski in Skopje ||Memorial to Case Black (1975) by Ranko Radović in Tjentište|Свјетлопис Источне капије Биогрда, грађене у масонском пирамидалном стилу.jpg|Eastern City Gate (1976) by Vera Ćirković in Belgrade|Genex Tower 18.jpg|Western City Gate (1977) by Mihajlo Mitrović in Belgrade |Beograd, 2013-07-23 - panoramio (4).jpg|Sava Centar (1979) Stojan Maksimović in Belgrade|Užice, June 2013 (1).JPG|Hotel Zlatibor (1981) by Svetlana Kana Radević in Užice}}

File:Palace Hotel, Malinska 2009-07-19 13.jpg (1971) by Boris Magaš on Krk]]

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.{{Cite web|url=https://pinupmagazine.org/articles/yugoslavia-concrete-utopia-moma-exhibition-david-huber|title=YUGOTOPIA: The Glory Days of Yugoslav Architecture On Display|last=Entertainment|first=The only biannual Magazine for Architectural|website=pinupmagazine.org|language=en|access-date=2019-02-05}} A notable example of this shift is the Juraj Neidhardt and Dušan Grabrijan's seminal 1957 publication Architecture of Bosnia and the way into modernity ({{Langx|hr|Arhitektura Bosne i Put U Suvremeno}}) which sought to understand modernism through the lens of Bosnia's Ottoman heritage.{{Cite journal|last1=Alić|first1=Dijana|last2=Gusheh|first2=Maryam|date=1999|title=Reconciling National Narratives in Socialist Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Baščaršija Project, 1948-1953|journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians|volume=58|issue=1|pages=6–25|doi=10.2307/991434|issn=0037-9808|jstor=991434}}{{Cite web|url=https://pinupmagazine.org/articles/yugoslavia-concrete-utopia-moma-exhibition-david-huber|title=YUGOTOPIA: The Glory Days of Yugoslav Architecture On Display|last=Entertainment|first=The only biannual Magazine for Architectural|website=pinupmagazine.org|language=en|access-date=2019-09-13}}

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.

{{Gallery|Andrija Čičin Šain Džidžikovac.jpg|This 1953 housing complex in Džidžikovac designed by Andrija Čičin-Šain was influenced by traditional Bosnian loggias and doksa|Iglesia de San Clemente, Skopie, Macedonia del Norte, 2014-04-17, DD 03.jpg

|The Church of St. Clement of Ohrid (1972) by Slavko Brezoski in Skopje blurs the lines between Macedonian religious architecture and postmodernism|title=|File:Šerefudin's White Mosque.jpg|Šerefudin's White Mosque (1980) by Zlatko Ugljen in Visoko references traditional Bosnian mosque architecture |National Library of Kosovo photo Arben Llapashtica.jpg|The domes of Andrija Mutnjaković's National Library of Kosovo (1982) in Pristina nod to Kosovo's Islamic heritage}}

File:Toward_a_Concrete_Utopia_video.png]]

Yugoslav architecture, particularly that of monuments, has attracted increased public attention in recent years. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Belgian photographer Jan Kempenaers released a series of photographs documenting dilapidated World War II monuments and memorials in Yugoslavia. In July 2018 MoMA opened a 6 month exhibition entitled "Toward a Concrete Utopia" that provided visitors with a large collection of images, architectural models, and drawings from Yugoslav architecture from 1948 to 1980. Meanwhile, American researcher and author Donald Niebyl has been working since 2016 to create an online educational resource to explore and catalog the history of Yugoslav monuments and architecture, titled "Spomenik Database".{{cite web |last1=Donald |first1=Niebyl |title=What are spomeniks? |url=https://www.spomenikdatabase.org/what-are-spomeniks |website=Spomenik Database}}

{{Gallery

| File:Monument of Brotherhood and Unity in Pristina.jpg

| Monument of Brotherhood and Unity (1961)

by Miodrag Živković in Pristina

| File:Muzej na sovremenata umetnost - Skopje (9).jpg

| Contemporary Art Museum of Macedonia (1970) in Skopje{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sgfc1TosZGYC&q=brutal&pg=PA54|title=Reading the City: Urban Space and Memory in Skopje|last=Herold|first=Stephanie|date=2010|publisher=Univerlagtuberlin|isbn=9783798321298|language=en}}

|File:Pošta vo Skopje, Macedonia.jpg| Skopje Central Post Office (1974) by Janko Konstantinov in Skopje

| File:Hydrometeorological Institute Skopje 2.jpg

| Hydrometeorological Institute (1979) by Krsto Todorovski in Skopje

|11=|12=|title=}}

• Architecture of Serbia
• Architecture of Kosovo
• Architecture of Croatia
• Architecture of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Architecture of Montenegro
• Architecture of North Macedonia
• Architecture of Slovenia
• Utopian architecture

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.spomenikdatabase.org/ Spomenik Database]

{{Yugoslavia topics}}

Category:Culture of Yugoslavia

Category:Architecture related to utopias