Belgrade Cooperative, Karađorđeva 48
 Belgrade Cooperative, Karađorđeva 48 |
|
| Data | |
|---|---|
| place |
 Belgrade , Serbia 
|
| opening | 1882 |
The construction of the new facility of the Belgrade Cooperative took place immediately after the changes at the top of Serbia, when the Karađorđević dynasty came to power after the murder of Aleksandar Obrenović , which led to a change in the system of rule. The autocratic system was exchanged for the liberal bourgeois regime of Petar I, and with civil liberty came a general economic boom.
history
"The Belgrade Cooperative for Mutual Aid and Thrift" was founded in 1882 on the initiative of a group of Belgrade traders with the aim of financing economic activities. At that time it represented a more modern way of lending and, within the framework of a capitalist economy, a further developed way of stimulating the exchange of goods and the market. Since 1897, when the insurance department was founded, the cooperative has increasingly developed into an insurance company alongside its banking activities. As such, it did business until 1944, making it one of the most important institutions of its kind. Among the presidents of the Belgrade Cooperative stand out prominent figures of the economic and financial life of Serbia: Luka Ćelović, its organizer and main driving force of the majority of the business and the later founder and patron of the Belgrade University; Kosta Taušanović and Lazar Paču, leading financial experts of the then Serbia, civil servants, eminent politicians and state figures; as well as other well-known Belgrade economists, including Georg Weifert and Dimitrije Ćirković. At the ordinary meeting of shareholders of the cooperative in 1897, it was decided that a new building would be built and that the property of the brothers Krsmanović, brothers Gođevac, Belgrade Municipality, Vuja Ranković and Luka Ćelović in the area of the former Small Market on the Sava should be bought up. Construction began in spring 1905 on the cooperative's own initiative and was completed in 1907.
The building
.jpg)
The building was built according to the plans of the then leading Belgrade architects, university professors Andra Stevanović and Nikola Nestorović. For the most part it was built on the old embankment, and since the ground was swampy due to its proximity to the Sava, the foundations of many of the walls were first built with reinforced concrete in Belgrade, but with iron, which was used for clamps after it was closed in Belgrade there was no round iron at that time. The contractors for the construction work were the Štok brothers. All stone carving work was carried out by the company “Industrija ripanjskog granita” (Granite Industry from Ripanj). The decorations on the facades and the decorative and stucco work inside was carried out by the sculptor Franja Valdman, and the decorative painting of the main entrance was done by Bora Kovačević and Andrea Domenico, while the stained glass was done by R. Marković.
The Belgrade cooperative moved into the building immediately after the work was completed in 1907 and stayed there until it was closed. The building was later used by the geological-geophysical institute "Jovan Žujović".
The social position of the Belgrade Cooperative determined representativeness and monumentality as the only possible architectural concept. The academically shaped building found its role models in the eclectic academic as well as the modern secession architecture. On the given irregular parcel, a three-armed construction was realized in the plan and in the room, which expresses the basic architectural program simply and directly. The accentuated and fragmented central part with the main facade facing Karađorđeva ulica street is the most representative, and this is where the public spaces are housed, while the wings facing Travnička and Hercegovačka streets with work spaces are processed in a uniform, calm rhythm. The wings of the building are constructed differently in terms of height. The middle wing has two floors in the front part facing the street - the entrance and the ballroom, and in the middle there is a vestibule that extends through both floors, and in the back a one-story counter hall, while both side wings consist of a ground floor and consists of two upper floors. On the first floor of the side wing there were once shops and on the upper floors administrative offices of the Belgrade Cooperative, namely in one wing that of the banking department and in the other wing that of the insurance department.
It was bricked with mixed techniques. The cellars, which extend under the entire building, were made of reinforced concrete with Prussian capped ceilings. Most of the building is bricked using the traditional method, with bricks and lime mortar, and only partially with reinforced concrete. The bridging takes place through lower beams in the side wings and through lower beams and arches in the middle wing. The construction of the lantern above the central staircase is in the form of a triangular metal grid. The roofs have a superstructure, small slopes and domes. The outer facades facing the streets are clad in the base area with stone slabs and processed in artificial stone. The inner ones facing the courtyard are plastered. The supporting structure for most of the yokes is made up of arches and marble columns. The stairs are three-way, made of stone or marble, while the auxiliary stairs are spiral stairs made of iron. The interior walls are plastered and painted, and the representative rooms are decorated with wall paintings and imitation marble, pilasters with gilded capitals and applied polychrome decorative women's masks. The floors are made of parquet or terrazzo. Decorative works are made in artificial stone on the facades and in stucco and plaster inside.
.JPG)
All motifs of the decorative system of the Belgrade Cooperative were taken from the arsenal of the post-renaissance, predominantly the baroque styles, but are individually interpreted according to their time and adapted to the unique style expression. The frontal facade is dominated by a large glass surface above which there is a dome with a pinnacle, flanked by a sculptural group consisting of a female figure, a personification of Serbia, and four children's figures who embody branches of the economy. The figures of a woman with a beehive and a man with a scroll are placed in the niches on the side projections of the main facades. Inside the building, at the beginning of the stairs in the main lobby, there are two pendants of a young woman in the form of a candelabra, while above the gallery in the main lobby there is a group of a woman with a crown, again a symbol of Serbia, and two children's figures, which represent insurance and banking. A metal figure that was probably imported is gilded, as are all the stucco decorations. There are numerous reliefs in the form of women's masks on the tips of the pilaster strips, above the windows on the first floor and at the level of the windows on the ground floor on the side facades, while a mask of Mercury is attached above the entrance. In the interior of the Belgrade Cooperative, the ballroom, the counter hall and the lobbies, the unity of architecture and applied decorative arts, which was particularly valued in European architecture from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, and under the Name "synthesis of the arts" is known from. It is precisely this “synthesis of the arts”, which is particularly rare in Belgrade architecture, that makes the Belgrade Cooperative a unique realization. Every decorative element, such as the paintings on the walls and vaults, the free sculptures, the stucco decorations, the candlesticks or the applications on the walls, the painted glass parapets in the counter hall or the glass surfaces of the windows and the door of the large hall, testify to the A special feature that led to the building being declared a cultural monument in 1966.
reconstruction
In the course of its existence the building was adapted several times. The most important changes in the architectural structure of the building occurred in 1956/57 and 1958/59. During these years, the geological-geophysical institute first built a third floor over both wings facing Travnička and Hercegovačka streets, and then three floors in the middle wing in the courtyard around the former ticket hall. With this addition, the general appearance of the building was changed by removing the domes on the wings, converting the attics into storeys, and adding openings on the ground floor to make office windows out of doors to the premises. In addition, the dome of the main facade was reduced by removing the battlement, as well as the facade itself, from which the clock was removed. The counter hall itself inside the block is on the ground floor and remains illuminated from the zenith, but no longer directly, but through a skylight that forms the overbuilt parts.
The palace of the Belgrade Cooperative represents one of the most important works of Belgrade and Serbian architecture from the first decade of the 20th century and one of the most successful realizations by architects Andra Stevanović and Nikola Nestorović. The architectural concept, the interplay of the functional and compositional elements of the building , the rich sculptural and decorative plastic, the coherence of style workmanship, the quality of the construction work, new construction methods used for the first time, new materials and all other architectural features put this building in a row with the most representative examples of Belgrade architecture. The Palace of the Belgrade Cooperative is one of the rare objects that represents the beginning of the modern reconstruction of Belgrade on the bank of the Sava.
The Belgrade Cooperative has been declared a cultural asset of great importance for the Republic of Serbia (decision in the Official Gazette, “Službeni glasnik SRS” No. 14/79).
literature
- S. Rajić , Aleksandar Obrenović / vladar na prelazu vekova, sukobljeni svetovi , Srpska književna zadruga , Beograd 2011 .
- N. Nеstоrоvić , Grаđеvinе i аrhitеkti u Bеоgrаdu prоšlоg stоlеćа , Bеоgrаd 1937, 76
- Z. Маnеvić , Piоniri mоdеrnе аrhitеkturе Bеоgrаdа , Urbаnizаm Bеоgrаdа 16 (1962)
- G. Gоrdić , Аrhitеktоnskо nаslеđе grаdа Bеоgrаdа , 64
- Ј. Sеkulić, Ž. Škаlаmеrа , Аrhitеktоnskо nаslеđе Bеоgrаdа , II, Bеоgrаd 1966, 31 ;
- Z. Маnеvić , Srpskа аrhitеkturа 1900–1970 , Bеоgrаd 1970
- B. Nеstоrоvić , Bеоgrаdski аrhitеkti Аndrа Stеvаnоvić i Nikоlа Nеstоrоvić , Gоdišnjаk grаdа Bеоgrаdа XXIII (1975)
- D. Đurić- Zаmоlо , Grаditеlјi Bеоgrаdа , 2009
- B. Vuјоvić , Bеоgrаd u prоšlоsti i sаdаšnjоsti
- V.Pаvlоvić-Lоnčаrski , Маli piјаc nа Sаvi krајеm XIX i pоčеtkоm XX vеkа , Nаslеđе br. VI , 2005
- Dоsiје о prоglаšеnju Bеоgrаdskе zаdrugе zа spоmеnik kulturе , Dоkumеntаciја Zаvоdа zа zаštitu spоmеnikа kulturе grаdа Bеоgrаdа .