Momir Korunović

Momir Korunović , was a Serbian architect associated with the Serbo-Byzantine Revival style, and was sometimes called the 'Serbian Gaudi'. Although he designed many buildings in Belgrade and the rest of Yugoslavia between the two World Wars, many of his works were substantially altered or destroyed during World War II and the communist period, resulting in him being largely forgotten today.

Biography

Early life and education Momir Korunović was born on April 17, 1883, in Jagodina, Serbia. He was raised in the village of Glogovac, where his father Prota Petar Korunović served as a priest.

Korunović finished his higher education in Belgrade and undertook postgraduate studies at Czech Technical University in Prague, funded by a scholarship from the Ministry of Education of Serbia. During his studies he created a distinctive style that he continued to develop throughout his career. , Korunović was also a prominent member of the Pan-Slavic organization Sokol, becoming head of the Belgrade Sokol Society "Matica" and responsible for the construction of about 30 Sokol movement buildings in Serbia. He also designed "Sokol Stadium" for the 1930 Sokol "manifestation" in Belgrade, which was located on the site of today's Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

In 1922 Korunović was entrusted with the task of renovating the marshal's office of the Yugoslavian Royal Palace so it would be suitable for guests coming to Belgrade for the royal wedding of King Alexander I Karađorđević and Princess Maria of Romania. The semicircular wings were kept as accommodation while the rest of the building was assigned to the Marshal of the Court. The building was demolished in 1953 as it blocked the view of the Parliament. The old Post Office was also altered beyond recognition, as the then-new communist authorities considered its façade "too bourgeois". They removed the remains of the façade and reconstructed the building on the skeletal architecture under it in the more simplified style being pushed by the government in the immediate post-war period.

Selected works