Jelisaveta Načić (31 December 1878 in Belgrade – 6 June 1955 in

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranea ...

) was a notable Serbian architect. She is remembered as a pioneer who inspired women to enter professions which had earlier been reserved for men. Not only the first female graduate in architecture in Belgrade, she was also the first female architect in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

Biography

Born in Belgrade, Načić matriculated from school with excellent results in 1896. She went on to study architecture at the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac- ...

School of Architecture This is a list of architecture schools at colleges and universities around the world. An architecture school (also known as a school of architecture or college of architecture), is an institution specializing in architectural education. Africa ...

at a time when it was felt that women should not enter the profession. At the age of 22, she was the first woman to graduate from the Faculty of Engineering. She sought employment at the Ministry of Construction but was unable to become an official as there was a requirement for military service to have been completed. She did however succeed in gaining a position as an architect with the Municipality of Belgrade where she became the city's first chief architect. In 1903, she designed the Little Staircase in Belgrade's Kalemegdan Park. Her most notable work is the well proportioned school building she completed in 1906, now known as the Kralj Petar I (King Peter I) elementary school. She also designed churches including the Moravian-styled Alexander Nevsky Church (1929) in Belgrade and a smaller church in Kosovo. The hospital she designed was destroyed during the Second World War but many of her residential buildings from apartments to distinctive private homes, some with

art nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ...

elements, still stand today. The first collective housing building for workers on Balkan was designed by Jelisaveta Načić. During the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, she was interned in a camp in Hungary, bringing her artistic career to an end. It had lasted no more than 16 years. After the war, Načić moved to Dubrovnik with her husband Luka Lukai whom she had met in the camp. She was awarded a state pension for her life accomplishments. She died in Dubrovnik in 1955. Katarina Marković, "Jelisaveta Načić (1878—1955)"
''Riznicasrpska.net''. Retrieved 20 March 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nacic, Jelisaveta Serbian architects University of Belgrade Faculty of Architecture alumni 1878 births 1955 deaths Art Nouveau architects Serbian women architects

Biography

See also

References