The Agrarian Bank Building, located at the corner of
Nikole Pašića Square and Vlajkovićeva Street, in the territory of the municipality of
Stari Grad, in
Belgrade, has the status of a cultural monument. It was built according to the project by architects Petar and Branko Krstić.
History
The management board of the Privileged Agrarian Bank announced a competition for a new, representative building of the Bank at the end of 1930,
[М. Просен, Палата Привилеговане аграрне банке у Београду, Наслеђе 15, Београд, 2014] and the building itself was built between 1932 and 1934 as one of the last
bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Because ...
ing palaces of
Belgrade between the two world wars, which represented the political and economic strength of the country. The Krstić brothers won third prize in the competition, but the decision was still reached to entrust the construction to them, with the change of the original conception of the facade.
[М. Ђурђевић, Петар и Бранко Крстић, Београд, 1996.]
Architecture
It was conceived as a representative office building with an angular, curved façade and a monumental entrance foyer. According to its architectural characteristics, the building belongs to a group of buildings where the authors achieved compromise between the academic and modernist conceptions of
аrchitecture and can be considered a masterpiece of Serbian Art Deco.
Three-part division of the facade, revamped with a series of
Ionic columns
The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite ...
in the ground-floor and the characteristic roof cornice, gave an academic characteristic to the external appearance of the building, while the composition of the whole and functional solution reflect the preference of the author for the modernist concept of architecture. The work was done by the brothers Petar and Branko Krstić, who gave a significant contribution to the formation of the appearance of the central zone of
Belgrade with this project and is one of their most significant achievements. The building structure is made in reinforced concrete post and petrail, and the facade is lined with Belovode sandstone.
After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the building underwent some changes and it was overbuilt according to the project of Krstić brothers.
The building now houses the
Historical Museum of Serbia
The Historical Museum of Serbia ( sr, Историјски музеј Србије/Istorijski muzej Srbije, ) is a public institution dedicated to documentation of history of Serbia from prehistory up to the present. The museum was established ...
.
Sculpture
The author of the sculptures and numerous reliefs in the staircase hall of the Agrarian Bank was the sculptor
Lojze Dolinar, and the main portal and the grates in the colonnade were made by Milenko Đorđević.
Gallery
File:Beograd Agrarna banka 1.JPG, Agrarian Bank Building, detail
File:Beograd Agrarna banka 2.JPG, Agrarian Bank Building, detail
File:Beograd Agrarna banka 3.JPG, Agrarian Bank Building, detail
File:Beograd Agrarna banka 6.JPG, Agrarian Bank Building, detail
File:Beograd Agrarna banka 7.JPG, Agrarian Bank Building, detail
File:Beograd Agrarian Bank IMG 9255 CK 655.JPG, Agrarian Bank Building
File:Beograd Agrarna banka 4.JPG, Agrarian Bank Building, detail
File:Beograd Agrarna banka 5.JPG, Agrarian Bank Building, detail
References
External links
Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments – BelgradeRepublic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments-Belgrade/Immovable cultural property baseList of monuments
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agrarian Bank building
Buildings and structures in Belgrade