Jelisaveta Načić (31 December 1878 – 6 June 1955) 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 , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Biography

Born in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

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

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, 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 me ...

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 a professional school or institution specializing in architectura ...

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 The Kalemegdan Park (), or simply Kalemegdan ( sr-Cyrl, Калемегдан) is the largest park and the most important historical monument in Belgrade. It is located on a cliff, at the junction of the River Sava and the Danube. Kalemegdan Pa ...

. 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 ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

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 ar ...

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

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, she was interned in the Nezsider (today

Neusiedl am See Neusiedl am See (; ; ; ; ) is a town in Burgenland, Austria, and administrative center of the district of Neusiedl am See. Neusiedl am See is located on the northern shore of Lake Neusiedl. Geography Neusiedl am See is located in eastern Au ...

, Austria) concentration 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 Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...

with her Albanian husband,

Luka Lukai Luka may refer to: People *Luka (given name), a South Slavic masculine given name cognate of Luke, and a Japanese given name **Luka Dončić, Slovenian professional basketball player (born 1999) **Luka Modrić, Croatian professional footballer (bo ...

, 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