#Multifunctional building #Sarajevo #Bosnia and Herzegovina #1928
Kranjčevićeva 2
71000
Sarajevo,
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Public transport: Park / Hamze Hume / Skenderija
Today's use: abandoned
Description
Helen Baldasar’s architecture in the late 1920s was still strongly influenced by the constructivist forms she had encountered during her studies in Czechoslovakia. She had already completed her degree in Prague in 1921, yet she appears to have remained in close contact with architects there. Figures such as Jiří Kroha, for instance, designed comparable buildings between 1923 and 1926 in Mladá Boleslav.
Similar tendencies can be observed in the Red Cross building in Sarajevo. The façade deliberately emphasizes the horizontal elements — such as the cornices above and below the windows and the canopy over the entrance — in contrast to the pronounced verticals, including the risalits in the central upper section. This interplay of lines also reinforces the cross shape, making the symbolic form an integral part of the building’s architectural expression.
Inside, the building accommodated not only offices for the administration and public health services, but also included a public kitchen, a bathhouse, and a cinema.
During the renovation, the plaster was removed, revealing the building’s masonry construction.
Description
Helen Baldasar’s architecture in the late 1920s was still strongly influenced by the constructivist forms she had encountered during her studies in Czechoslovakia. She had already completed her degree in Prague in 1921, yet she appears to have remained in close contact with architects there. Figures such as Jiří Kroha, for instance, designed comparable buildings between 1923 and 1926 in Mladá Boleslav.
Similar tendencies can be observed in the Red Cross building in Sarajevo. The façade deliberately emphasizes the horizontal elements — such as the cornices above and below the windows and the canopy over the entrance — in contrast to the pronounced verticals, including the risalits in the central upper section. This interplay of lines also reinforces the cross shape, making the symbolic form an integral part of the building’s architectural expression.
Inside, the building accommodated not only offices for the administration and public health services, but also included a public kitchen, a bathhouse, and a cinema.
During the renovation, the plaster was removed, revealing the building’s masonry construction.
History
During the interwar period, numerous buildings for the Red Cross were constructed throughout Yugoslavia, so that all major cities came to have facilities serving similar functions, though differing greatly in their architectural design.
In 1928, Helen Baldasar was commissioned by the Red Cross to design this building. Alongside facilities dedicated to health services, the design also included a cinema hall. The building was inaugurated in 1929. Initially, films on health education were shown there, but from the 1960s onward, it operated as the Sutjeska Cinema, screening mainstream feature films. Since 2009, this building—exceptional within the architectural landscape of Bosnia—has been listed as a protected monument.
Two different terms are used for the word “cross”. Krst is the Bosnian and Serbian form, while križ is the Croatian one. When Bosnia and Herzegovina was occupied by Croatia during the Second World War, the term krst was replaced by križ. Today, usage fluctuates, as even Bosnian media occasionally employ the Croatian form križ.
History
During the interwar period, numerous buildings for the Red Cross were constructed throughout Yugoslavia, so that all major cities came to have facilities serving similar functions, though differing greatly in their architectural design.
In 1928, Helen Baldasar was commissioned by the Red Cross to design this building. Alongside facilities dedicated to health services, the design also included a cinema hall. The building was inaugurated in 1929. Initially, films on health education were shown there, but from the 1960s onward, it operated as the Sutjeska Cinema, screening mainstream feature films. Since 2009, this building—exceptional within the architectural landscape of Bosnia—has been listed as a protected monument.
Two different terms are used for the word “cross”. Krst is the Bosnian and Serbian form, while križ is the Croatian one. When Bosnia and Herzegovina was occupied by Croatia during the Second World War, the term krst was replaced by križ. Today, usage fluctuates, as even Bosnian media occasionally employ the Croatian form križ.
Sources
Sources
