The Ministry of Finance of Serbia Building ( sr-cyr, Зграда Министарства Финансија Србије) is a building of the Ministry of Finance of Serbia, located in

Savski Venac Savski Venac ( sr-cyr, Савски Венац, ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade. According to the 2011 census results, the municipality has a population of 39,122 inhabitants. It is one of the three municipal ...

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

, Serbia.

Architecture

It is the work of Russian architect Nikolay Petrovich Krasnov, the most important representative of the academic historicism in the Serbian interwar architecture. Due to the importance that the building has as an anthological work of Belgrade academic interwar architecture, it represents the immovable cultural property as the

cultural monument A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage regist ...

. The building was constructed between 1926 and 1928, after the design by the architect Nikolay Krasnov, as the author of the original design of the building, and the later addition of the third floor from 1938. The building is conceived as the monumental object at the crossroads of the busy Knez Miloš Street and Nemanjina Street. It has the square-shaped basis with the spacious inner courtyard. The interior was designed according to its purpose. The exquisite artistry of the facades reflects in the richness of the decorative architectural plastic, a number of details, studied ratio between the masses. The dynamic facades, designed in the style of аcademism, have massive

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s, between the first and the second floor windows. The most luxurious is the corner part of the building, where the vertical effect is underlined by the

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

with the bronze sculpture on its top – the personification of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

(later renamed and representing the personification of

Mother Serbia Mother Serbia ( sr, Мајка Србија / ''Majka Srbija'', Србија мати / ''Srbija mati''; ), Serb Mother (Serbian: Српска мајка / ''Srpska majka'') or Mother of All Serbs (Serbian: Мајка свих Срба / ''Majka ...

). This sculpture, as well as other free standing sculptures on the facades of the building, Fertility with cornucopia, Crafts, Industry and Mercury were the works of a sculptor Đorđe Jovanović.I. Grgurić and S. Čamber: Еlectronic catalogue of the exhibition number 185, Đorđe Jovanović (1861–1953), Novi Sad 2011 The choice of motifs and the symbols of the facade sculptures was determined by the institution located in the building. The symbolism of the motifs was determined by the activity of the institution the object was initially intended for. The Ministry of Finance of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Building was designated as the cultural property. In 1999 during the

NATO bombing of Yugoslavia The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...

, the building was bombed and damaged, but renovated after the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

ended. Today, this building is a site of the Government of Serbia.

References

External links

Republički zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture – Beograd/Baza nepokretnih kulturnih dobara

Lista spomenika
{{Belgrade Architecture Government buildings in Serbia Buildings and structures in Belgrade Office buildings in Serbia 1928 establishments in Yugoslavia 1920s establishments in Serbia Buildings and structures completed in 1928 Savski Venac