SANJA KIPROSKI
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy
Department of History of Art
sa.kiproski@gmail.com

ZGRADA DOMA RATNIH INVALIDA (1933–1935) U BEOGRADU: ostvarenje arhitekte Dimitrija M. Leka
THE BUILDING OF THE HOME FOR WAR INVALIDS (1933–1935) IN BELGRADE: The Work of Architect Dimitrije M. Leko

Journal 18/2022 (Museum of Applied Art), pages 51-62

Article category: original scientific paper

UDC:
725.12(497.11)"1933/1935"
72.071.1 Леко Д.

Abstract (original language):
Zgrada Doma ratnih invalida (1933–1935) predstavlja jedno od najznačajnijih ostvarenja istaknutog arhitekte i univerzitetskog profesora Tehničkog fakulteta u Beogradu Dimitrija M. Leka. Kako bi u celosti bio sagledan i prepoznat višestruki značaj ovog objekta, uvažavajući prethodne istoriografske doprinose, cilj rada jeste proširivanje i upotpunjavanje analiza o zgradi Doma ratnih invalida, gde će, uz temeljitu analizu procesa projektovanja, biti sagledan i njen položaj na međuratnoj arhitektonskoj sceni Beograda, kao i širi društveno-istorijski značaj zdanja.

Key words: (original language)
akademizam, arhitektura, Dimitrije M. Leko, Dom ratnih invalida, modernizam

Summary:
The building of the Home for War Invalids (1933–1935) represents one of the most important achievements of prominent architect and university professor of the Technical Faculty, University of Belgrade, Dimitrije M. Leko. The need to build a home for war invalids was especially relevant in the mid 1920s, and its materialisation was realised through an edifice erected in 1935 which testifies to numerous financial inconveniences that the state had encountered after World War I, but it is also a testament to the strong marginalisation of this social group carried out by the state and Yugoslav society. The first significant initiative was to build a facility that would represent a solution for accommodating the large number of impoverished war invalids, which appeared in 1928 when a competition was announced for the creation of a conceptual plan for the Home for War Invalids. This initiative was proposed by the Association of War Invalids, one of the most important organizations for the disabled in the interwar period. The building was supposed to be located on Mali Kalemegdan, on land ceded by the Municipality of the City of Belgrade. Due to an unfavourable financial situation in the state, the construction of the facility was postponed until 1933, when the location of the building was changed. The facility was to be built on one of the most important squares in Belgrade, Wilson Square (today’s “Savski Trg”). After the competition was announced in 1933, the conceptual plan of respected architect Dimitrije M. Leko was selected. Architect Leko conceived the functional floor plan of the building which united a wide range of different units: a boarding house for children with disabilities, a guesthouse for invalids, business premises of the Association of War Invalids with a printing house, premises for representative purposes, a large number of flats, offices, shops and warehouses. The facade of this four-storey building reflected the aesthetics of modernised academicism, as well as the forthcoming monumentalism. Well-proportioned, made of purified facade surfaces and without a pronounced visual dominance, this building radiates with a certain sense of the sublime, representing the personal artistic expression of the architect. As one of the significant representative works of architecture of modernised academicism of the 1930s in Serbia, this monumental palace has enriched the capital’s architecture in many ways with its harmonious and authentic composition.

Translated by the author

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