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The Museum of Science and Technology also presented the most interesting examples of the Secession style on Belgrade’s facades at the eponymous exhibition held from May 28 -June 20, 2008, in the Gallery of Science and Technology of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The exhibition presented 40 art-documentary photographs of Belgrade’s buildings, 41 visual records that may as well be taken as the city’s trademarks, all accompanied with studious catalogues whose author is Dr. Miodrag Jovanović. This exhibition is one in a series of exhibitions dedicated to Belgrade architecture through which the Museum wants to attract attention to its values. Now, for the first time, one exhibit is dedicated to a single art style.
Secession is an important art style that surfaced in many fields of art and creative work at the end of the 19th century, but left its most important imprint in architecture. Secession brought about radical changes in the process of construction and introduced new materials (iron, especially) and a new understanding and application of the concept of space. In Serbia, it appeared at the very beginning of the 20th century and was accepted by the most distinguished Serbian architects of the time, among them M. Antonović, N. Nestorović, Đ. Bajalović, P. Popović and others.
- The interesting features of Secession, among other things, enabled architects-creators to draw inspiration from national art, actually from the art of the Medieval period. In the works of architect Branko Tanazević, for instance, we see several very impressive examples of this inspiration with national motifs, as with the building of the old Telephone Switching Station at the intersection of Kosovska and Palmotićeva streets, and the building that now houses The Vuk Foundation, once the Ministry of Education — says Jurišić.
Asked whether there are any noteworthy and remarkable facades in our city that we don’t notice, to which nobody has directed our attention?
- Certainly there are, – says Jurišić. – It is very important for us to be aware of the architectural heritage of the city and the importance of preserving it. Though it has a long history, Belgrade is a young city in architectural terms, and we can speak about a modern Belgrade only from the mid-19th century onward. We know that Belgrade was destroyed three times – in the First and Second World Wars, so more attention must be paid to its architectural values and its heritage must be cultivated so as to preserve its identity.
"The exhibition of Miloš Jurišić is dedicated to Secession in Belgrade’s architecture, a style in Serbian art that hasn’t been fully examined", says Dr. Miodrag Jovanović in the accompanying exhibition catalogue. "Having decided on photography as his means of expression, Jurišić discovered two components of his personality as explorer. As a passionate collector of old postcards, he believes in the credibility of the things documented and in communicating the power of photography. At the same time, he is a dedicated user of the creative possibilities of the camera. It is not unimportant that the oldest preserved Secession building in Belgrade, the "House of the Society for Embellishing Vračar" from 1901/1902, underwent changes between the two world wars and that restorers have only recently restored its original appearance solely on the basis of an old photograph from 1909."
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