Milan Kapetanović

Milan Kapetanović (Belgrade, 10 September 1854 – Belgrade, 26 June 1932) was a Serbian architect who lived through the decades of the Belle Époque (1870–1914), Art Deco and Art Nouveau..^[1]

Biography[edit]

Milan Kapetanović was born in Belgrade on September 10, 1854. The family was Serbian of the Hebrew faith who lived in the Jewish neighborhood of Jalija in Dorćol. As an excellent student and state scholarship holder, Milan graduated from Belgrade's Realka in 1879, and in 1883 from the Technical Faculty of the Grande école. In July 1883, he was appointed sub-engineer of the second class of the Architectural Department of the Ministry of Construction, and he remained in that position until December of the same year. In the Ministry of Construction, Kapetanović worked with the architect Svetozar Ivačković on plans for the construction of village churches in the Serbian-Byzantine style. When he received the award for the Saint Sava theme in January 1884, Kapetanović was already on a state scholarship at the Technical University of Munich, where he took post-graduate studies in architecture. He designed the Serbian Pavilion ^[2] with Milorad Ruvidić at the Exposition Universelle (1900).

Milan Kapetanović was the Minister of National Economy in the Government of the Kingdom of Serbia from 1911 to 1912 and then the Minister of Construction from 1918 to 1919. He was also the head of the Reparations Service in Berlin and Wiesbaden until 1927 and the dean of his alma mater (Visoka škola) in Belgrade from 1901 to 1902.^[3]

He was also remembered for the fact that Archibald Reiss died of a stroke as a result of a bitter quarrel with Kapetanović, who was his first neighbor. According to some testimonies, Kapetanović cursed and hit him.^[4]

Works[edit]

Kapetanović was the first to start arranging the Kalemegdan Fortress. He built the first Sephardic synagogue in 1908, which was located on the site of today's Gallery of Frescoes and was built in the Moorish style. King Peter I of Serbia laid the foundation stone. The synagogue was destroyed in the bombing of Belgrade by the Lufftwaffe in the Second World War.

Among the works of Kapetanović that are still in Belgrade today are:

• Dorćol primary school, which was built in 1893 and which, at that time, was one of the most modern in Serbia (the building is today on the list of cultural monuments of the city of Belgrade)
• The home of Jevrem Grujić (constructed in 1896) is characteristic of this type of architecture and is on the list of cultural monuments of the Republic of Serbia and the city of Belgrade due to its architectural value.
• According to his project, the House of Beta Vukanović and Rista Vukanović was built in 1901 (in Kapetan Mišina Street No. 13) to serve as a residence and gallery for these painters (this house is also protected).

Family[edit]

The Kapetanović family lived in Dorćol. Milan Kapetanović's father Dimitrije (1820–1866) was engaged in trade. Mother Pijada (1826–1913) was a teacher in the Jewish women's primary school in Jalija, from the founding of the school in 1864 until her retirement in 1881. Dimitrije and Pijada Kapetanović had four children: Katarina (1845–1921), Đorđe (1846–1867), Nikola (1854–1932) and Milan.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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