Bogdan Bogdanović (; 20 August 1922 – 18 June 2010) was a Serbian and Yugoslav
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
,
urbanist and
essayist. He taught
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...
at the
University of Belgrade Faculty of Architecture, where he also served as dean. Bogdanović wrote numerous articles about
urbanism, especially about its mythic and symbolic aspects, some of which appeared in international journals such as ''
El País'', ''
Die Zeit
(, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles.
History
The first edition of was ...
'',
and others. He was also involved in politics, as a
Yugoslav Partisan in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, later as
mayor of Belgrade. When
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...
rose to power and
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
gained ground in Yugoslavia, Bogdanović became a
dissident
A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 2 ...
.
Bogdanović is best known for designing monuments and memorials commemorating victims and resistance fighters of World War II built all over
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
from the early 1950s to the 1980s. In particular, the monumental
concrete sculpture titled ''Stone Flower'' near the site of
Jasenovac concentration camp
Jasenovac () was a concentration camp, concentration and extermination camp established in the Jasenovac, Sisak-Moslavina County, village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in occupied Yugoslavia durin ...
gained international attention.
Life
Bogdanović was born into a family of
leftist intellectual
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...
s. His father
Milan Bogdanović was a literary critic, long-time president of the
Association of Writers and director of the
National Theatre.
Beginning in 1940, Bogdan studied architecture at the University of Belgrade. He participated in World War II ("a bit" in his words
) as a
partisan, becoming a member of the Communist Party, and was seriously wounded in eastern
Bosnia. Despite his injuries, he continued his academic career after the war, graduating in 1950, becoming a teaching assistant at the department for urbanism (from 1953), then a
docent in 1960, extraordinary professor and president of the Yugoslav Union of Architects in 1964, dean of the
Faculty of Architecture and a corresponding member of the
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) in 1970, and full professor in 1973. In 1981 he resigned from SANU, and he was conferred
emeritus
''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus".
In some c ...
status in 1987.
Being an ardent leftist, Bogdanović opposed the increasing nationalism espoused by state leaders since the early 1980s.
Nonetheless, he became
Mayor of Belgrade in 1982 on the initiative of
Ivan Stambolić, then chairman of the
League of Communists of Serbia
The League of Communists of Serbia (, abbr. SKS), known as the Communist Party of Serbia (, abbr. KPS) until 1952, was the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Serbia, political party of Socialist Republic of Serbia, Serbia from 19 ...
. Bogdanović served one term in office, until 1986. During this time, he organised an international competition for the complete redevelopment of
New Belgrade
New Belgrade (, ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality of the city of Belgrade. It was a Planned community, planned city and now is the central business district of Serbia and South East Europe. Construction began in 1948 in a previously un ...
, a planned area on the left bank of the
Sava
The Sava, is a river in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reac ...
river. All submissions to this competition have since disappeared.
After his term of office, he was appointed by
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...
as a member of the
Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, the party's supreme governing body. He accepted the post under the condition that he would not be required to attend committee meetings because he "had more important things to do". In the following year he sent Milošević an anti-nationalist letter over 60 pages long, including a ''Stalino-dictionary'', an appendix satirising the recipient's nationalist rhetoric, and the famous ''Lamentation for Serbia'', which discussed the theme of Serbia "being tired" (of its leaders). The Central Committee replied, "You can send the letter, in which you criticise the work of the eighth meeting and which has not reached us, to the Central Committee if you consider it necessary". The letter, in combination with other remarks about Milošević, led to attempts of breaking into Bogdanović's apartment, death threats, and his exclusion from the Central Committee.
This, however, did not prevent him from renewing his anti-nationalist statements when the
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...
started at the beginning of the 1990s, once more turning Bogdanović into a target for violent attacks and a defamation campaign run by the Serbian state media.
In 1993, Bogdanović went into self-imposed
exile
Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...
to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
with his wife Ksenija. However, since the Yugoslav
émigré
An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social exile or self-exile. The word is the past participle of the French verb ''émigrer'' meaning "to emigrate".
French Huguenots
Many French Hugueno ...
circle there had strong nationalistic tendencies,
the couple moved on to settle in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
upon invitation of his friend, the writer and translator
Milo Dor.
Bogdanović died in a hospital in Vienna on 18 June 2010, following a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
.
He was cremated in Vienna, and his urn was sent to Belgrade. Although the city offered a grave for him in the
Alley of the Greats at the
Belgrade New Cemetery, upon his wife's request, and the approval of the Jewish community, Bogdanović's remains have been placed in the
Sephardic cemetery where his monument to the Jewish victims of fascism and fallen soldiers stands.
Teaching
At the University of Belgrade, Bogdanović held the lecture course ''The development of housing schemes'' (later called ''History of town''), starting in 1962. As professor and dean, he tried to reform the teaching of architecture and introduce
grassroots democracy at the university, but the party forced him to abdicate before he could put his plans into practice.
In 1976, he began to teach in an abandoned village school in
Mali Popović near Belgrade to realise an alternative project, namely his "village school for the philosophy of architecture".
The course was called ''Symbolic forms'' in allusion to
Ernst Cassirer, had no fixed timetable and employed the invention of new
writing system
A writing system comprises a set of symbols, called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. The earliest writing appeared during the late 4th millennium BC. Throughout history, each independen ...
s, the interpretation of non-existent texts, as well as methods akin to
free association and
gematria
In numerology, gematria (; or , plural or ) is the practice of assigning a numerical value to a name, word, or phrase by reading it as a number, or sometimes by using an alphanumeric cipher. The letters of the alphabets involved have standar ...
. Fourteen years later, when henchmen of Milošević raided the school in the aftermath of Bogdanović's letter, much of the collected material – the documentation of the lessons, drawings, audio- and videotapes, optical devices – was destroyed.
Works
The architectonic and literary work of Bogdanović is characterised by an abundance of
ornaments. It is influenced by
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
and
Victorian architecture
Victorian architecture is a series of Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the st ...
,
surrealism
Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
,
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...
,
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
symbolism and
Kabbalah
Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of Mysticism, mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ...
. Bogdanović has opposed the architectural theories of
Adolf Loos developed in the essay ''
Ornament and Crime'', and argued for the "
semantic
Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...
dignity of the ornamental sign".
Memorials

In 1951, Bogdan Bogdanović won a competition for the design of a memorial to the Jewish victims of fascism, to be built on the
Sephardic
Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
cemetery in Belgrade.
Although not religious himself, this contact with Jewish
esotericism
Esotericism may refer to:
* Eastern esotericism, a broad range of religious beliefs and practices originating from the Eastern world, characterized by esoteric, secretive, or occult elements
* Western esotericism, a wide range of loosely related id ...
strongly influenced his further work.
From then on until 1981, he was assigned by
Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito ( ; , ), was a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav communist revolutionary and politician who served in various positions of national leadership from 1943 unti ...
to devise more than 20 monuments and memorial places against fascism and militarism,
which were erected in all republics of Yugoslavia. To work as
cenotaphs for all victims of fascism, regardless of nationality and religion, they lack any symbols of communism or other ideologies. Instead, they rely on archaic, mythological forms, sharply contrasting with the principles of
Socialist realism. This contrast also served Tito's wish to emphasise his country's independence from the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
.
All of the memorials are built of stone, shaped by local untrained
chisellers whom Bogdanović preferred to ones with formal education, who were inflexible in his opinion. The notable exception, the
Jasenovac monument, consists of
prestressed concrete
Prestressed concrete is a form of concrete used in construction. It is substantially prestressed (Compression (physics), compressed) during production, in a manner that strengthens it against tensile forces which will exist when in service. Post-t ...
, the
formwork for which was constructed by shipwrights. Somewhat incongruously, it is known as the ''Flower of Stone''.
Examples of these monuments are:
* Memorial to the Jewish victims of fascism, Belgrade, Sephardic cemetery, 1952
* Memorial grave to the victims of fascism,
Sremska Mitrovica
Sremska Mitrovica (; sr-Cyrl, Сремска Митровица, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city in Serbia. It is situated on the left bank of the Sava, Sava river. , the city has a total population of 36,764 inhabitants, while its adminis ...
, 1960
*
Group cenotaph to the fallen soldiers of the resistance,
Prilep, 1961
* Symbolical necropolis,
Slobodište (near
Kruševac
Kruševac ( sr-Cyrl, Крушевац, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Rasina District in central Serbia. It is located in the valley of West Morava, on Rasina (river), Rasina river. According to the 202 ...
), 1961
*
Partisan monument,
Mostar
Mostar () is a city and the administrative centre of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina.
Mostar is situated on the Neretva Riv ...
, 1965
*
Jasenovac monument,
Jasenovac, 1966
* Memorial cemetery,
Leskovac
Leskovac ( sr-Cyrl, Лесковац, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Jablanica District in Southern Serbia (Geographical Region), southern Serbia. According to the 2022 census, the city itself has a p ...
, 1971
* Monument to the Massacre in Arapova Dolina, Leskovac, 1971
* Group cenotaph, Bela Crkva (near
Krupanj), 1971
* Memorial to the fallen soldiers in all wars of liberation,
Knjaževac
Knjaževac ( sr-cyr, Књажевац, ) is a town and municipality located in the Zaječar District of the Southern and Eastern Serbia, eastern Serbia. As of 2022, the municipality has a population of 25,341 inhabitants, while the town has 16,350 ...
, 1971
* Shrine dedicated to the Serb and Albanian partisans in the 1941–1945 war,
Kosovska Mitrovica
Mitrovica (Albanian language, Albanian Definiteness, indefinite Albanian morphology#Nouns (declension), form: ''Mitrovicë''; sr-Cyrl, Митровица, Mitrovica), also referred to as Kosovska Mitrovica ( sr-Cyrl, Косовска Митр� ...
, 1973
* War grave,
Štip
Štip ( ) is the largest urban agglomeration in the eastern part of North Macedonia, serving as the economic, industrial, entertainment and educational focal point for the surrounding municipalities.
As of the 2021 census, the city of Štip had ...
, 1974
*
Group cenotaph of victims,
Novi Travnik, 1975
* Shrine to the fallen freedom fighters,
Vlasotince, 1975
* Freedom monument,
Berane, 1977
*
Dudik Memorial Park,
Vukovar
Vukovar (; sr-Cyrl, Вуковар, , ) is a city in Croatia, in the eastern Regions of Croatia, regions of Syrmia and Slavonia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka (river), Vuka and the Danube. Vukova ...
, 1980
* Memorial area with mausoleum for the warriors,
Čačak, 1980
*
Garavice memorial park and with cenotaph dedicated to the 12,000 civil Nazi victims,
Bihać, 1981
* Mausoleum dedicated to the first who died in the anti-Fascist uprisings,
Popina (near
Vrnjačka Banja
Vrnjačka Banja ( sr-cyr, Врњачка Бања) is a town and municipality located in the Raška District of central Serbia. The population of the town is 9,252 inhabitants, while the population of the municipality is 25,065 inhabitants (2022 ce ...
), 1981
* Guardian of Freedom,
Klis (near
Split), 1987 (demolished in 1996)
Settlements
Bogdanović refused to participate in the planning of national housing estates which looked like "coffins of concrete" to him and had "only two types of windows".
Consequently, he built only a single settlement: a housing estate for the hydrotechnical institute "Jaroslav Černi" at the foot of the mountain
Avala near Belgrade, finished in 1953. The houses are mostly built of stone; and with their surrealistic, old-fashioned style, heavily framed windows and oversized chimneys, they are deliberately set apart from the international style that dominated in post-
WW2 Yugoslavia.
Other settlements were planned in great detail, but never really intended to be built. Among those is a town in northern
Montenegro
, image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg
, coa_size = 80
, national_motto =
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map = Europe-Mont ...
, designed for local clients,
and a mythological "town at the bottom of the lake (
Biograd)" which Bogdanović designed for his own pleasure.
Other works of architecture
Other works of architecture include the reconstruction of the villa of
Queen Natalija (
Smederevo
Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a list of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, ...
, 1961),
Adonis
In Greek mythology, Adonis (; ) was the mortal lover of the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone. He was considered to be the ideal of male beauty in classical antiquity.
The myth goes that Adonis was gored by a wild boar during a hunting trip ...
' altar (
Labin
Labin (Italian language, Italian/Istriot language, Istriot: Albona) is a town in Istria, west Croatia, with a town population of 5,806 (2021) and 10,424 in the greater municipality (which also includes the small towns of Rabac, Rabac-Porto Albona a ...
, 1974)
and the Tomb of Dušan Petrović-Šane (
Aranđelovac
Aranđelovac ( sr-cyr, Аранђеловац, ) is a town and a municipality located in the Šumadija District of central Serbia. , the municipality has a population of 41,297 inhabitants, while the town has 22,881 inhabitants.
It is situated ben ...
, 1980).
Literature
Books and essays in
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...
include:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Six of his books were published in
German by
Zsolnay and
Wieser:
* ''Die Stadt und der Tod, Wieser Verlag'', Klagenfurt – Salzburg 1993,
* ''Der verdammte Baumeister: Erinnerungen''
'The doomed architect. Recollections'' Zsolnay Verlag, Vienne 1997/2002, (a collection of essays translated into German by Milo Dor)
* '' Die Stadt und die Zukunft'', Wieser Verlag, Klagenfurt – Salzburg 1997,
* ''Vom Glück in den Städten'', Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2002,
* ''Die grüne Schachtel: Buch der Träume'', Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2007,
Of the essays written by Bogdanović, the following is available in English:
*
Memberships
Bogdanović was a founder member of the
International Academy of Architecture which was established in 1987 and a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Architecture (from 1994), a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts (from 1998), and a member of the Collegium Europaeum Jenense (
University of Jena; from 2000).
In 2002 he was elected an honorary member of the
Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Awards
Awards and prizes include:
* October Prize of the City of Belgrade (for the memorial in Sremska Mitrovica, 1961)
* Gold Medal of the City of Belgrade (October 1966)
* ''Menção honrosa'' ("honorable mention" at the
São Paulo Art Biennial, 1973)
* Seventh of July Prize (1979)
* Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia Prize (1981)
*
International Piranesi Award (1989)
*
Herder Prize (1997)
*
Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class (2002)
* Gold Medal for Meritorious Service to the Province of Vienna (2003)
* International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens (for Jasenovac Memorial Site, 2007)
References
Further reading
*
External links
Notre Europe: Interview with Bogdan Bogdanovićby Alexandre Mirlesse
Gallery with photos and Bogdanović's drawings of the ''Flower of Stone''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bogdanovic, Bogdan
1922 births
2010 deaths
20th-century Serbian architects
Architects from Belgrade
Brutalist architects
Herder Prize recipients
Mayors of Belgrade
Mayors of places in Yugoslavia
Members of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st class
Serbian architects
Serbian male essayists
University of Belgrade Faculty of Architecture alumni
Academic staff of the University of Belgrade
Urban theorists
Yugoslav architects
Yugoslav Partisans members