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Air Force Command Building, Zemun
Brašovan’s modernist icon
About Air Force Command Building, Zemun
This striking interwar building stands on Glavna, the main street of old Zemun, and its stepped tower is one of the town’s great landmarks.
The back story
In the 1930s the Royal Yugoslav Air Force was one of the most modern institutions of the young kingdom, and it wanted a headquarters to match. The site chosen was in the heart of old Zemun, on the land of the former Military Command beside Glavna Street, and the commission went to Dragiša Brašovan, one of the leading architects of Yugoslav modernism.
The building
Completed in 1935, it was hailed as one of the most beautiful and monumental buildings in the country. A four-storey block around an inner courtyard is crowned by a seven-storey tower whose stepped volumes rise like a ship’s bridge or an aircraft taking off. The great scientist Milutin Milanković made its structural calculations, and a sculpture of Icarus by Zlata Markov on the side facade speaks to the building’s purpose. It is the most important modernist building in old Zemun.
Completed in 1935, it was hailed as one of the most beautiful and monumental buildings in the country.
War
In 1945 the first medical board for pilots began work here, the start of the Aviation Medical Institute, and on 15 February 1957 the Air Force Museum was founded in the building. On 5 April 1999, at 04:18, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, two missiles struck the central section on Glavna Street and the tower, and the damage is still visible today. A memorial to the members of the Air Force and Air Defence killed in 1999 was placed in front of the building in June 2000.
The architect
Dragiša Brašovan (1887–1965), born in Vršac, designed the Yugoslav pavilion at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, one of the few avant-garde pavilions there alongside Mies van der Rohe’s, as well as the State Printing House (later BIGZ) and the Banovina Palace in Novi Sad.
Today
Part of the building was rebuilt to the original design in 2000–2001, and plans for a full restoration have been prepared. It is a protected cultural monument; see it from the street on a walk from the Zemun quay to Gardoš. Inside, the Dom vazduhoplovstva aviation club runs Galerija Ikar, an art gallery with changing exhibitions and an international watercolour festival every late summer.
Why it's on our list
- Masterpiece of interwar modernism
- Struck by NATO missiles in 1999
- Protected cultural monument
The building and its architect
From the Ministry of Defence of Serbia and the heritage record of the building.
Timeline
- 1934–35built on the site of the former Military Command in Zemun
- 1957the Air Force Museum is founded in the building
- 5 April 1999, 0418: hit by two NATO missiles
- 2000–2001part rebuilt to the original design
- 2023restoration and reconstruction plans prepared
The architect: Dragiša Brašovan (1887–1965) · 7
Born in Vršac in 1887, died in Belgrade in 1965, One of the leading Yugoslav modernist architects, The Yugoslav pavilion at the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, one of its few avant-garde pavilions alongside Mies van der Rohe’s, The building that now houses the Nikola Tesla Museum, Belgrade (1932), The State Printing House, later BIGZ, Belgrade (1934–41), The Banovina Palace, Novi Sad (1939), Hotel Metropol, Belgrade (1953)
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