BELGRADE'S COMMUNIST UTOPIA - Exploring the Brutalist Bloks with Marina of Yugotour
A Film for Lovers of Yugoslavia, Lovers of Belgrade, and Lovers of Brutalism!
In post-war Yugoslavia, under the gaze of President Tito, there was a desire to develop a new way of living with an approach to architecture and planning that was a radical break from the past. gargantuan Bloks housing thousands of people that would provide for a family’s every need. The objective was a communist utopia. Nowhere in the country epitomised these ideals more than Yugoslavia’s capital, Belgrade, where a whole new city was laid out on the west bank of the Sava river. It was called New Belgrade and these days it is a district renowned for some of the world’s best examples of the forms of architecture known as brutalism and modernism.
For a trip back in time to Yugoslavia what better than a Yugo (courtesy of Yugotour). Now the Yugo was regularly voted the worst car in the world. And for good reason. Luckily I’m not driving it - Marina (architect and fan of brutalism) is far more used to the challenge of driving this car.
Come with us as we visit the Western Gate (Genex Tower), Blok 23, the Contemporary Art Museum, the Palace of Serbia and the Eastern Gate. Learn how these Bloks really did try to enhance the lives of their thousands of residents during the communist times - when social clubs were preferred to shops, common areas were kept tidy, and graffiti was unheard of.
Communism, Tito and Yugoslavia have all drifted into the history books. New Belgrade may not quite have delivered the promised utopia but thousands of residents are still proud to call these bloks home.
For your own tour of Belgrade in a Yugo check out the tours offered by Yugotour on their website - www.yugotour.com
Filmed - May 2024
Jonathan Wheeler
Travel Obscurer
KZread, FB and Instagram
(see also Eye Scotland YT channel)
Music licensed through Artlist
Drone footage from Envato
#brutalism #bloks #brutalistarchitecture #belgrade #communistarchitecture #modernism #yugotour
Пікірлер: 49
Well, apart from some confusion concerning the cars, there are other common misconceptions about these blocks. First of all, they were made to be practical, not aesthetically pleasing. However, there was a certain level of modernist appeal to them. The reason why it's mostly gone now is the lack of good maintenance. The privatization of public ownership eliminated the vast majority of state-run and -funded systems that were supposed to take care of the blocks, as well as upgrade them. All that is now in private hands, leading to a quite obvious lack of collective(ist) urban planning.
I'm not from Belgrade, but been to Belgrade quite a bit. Last time I was accomodated in Block 22, opposite of Block 23 and I had an opportunity to explore this area... even that this was built in a communist time (and the general opinion is that communism was bad, but that's whole another debate) it's still relevant to this time, lot of green areas, basketball courts on every 500m, even full scale football field can be found in the Blocks, parking space still let's say available and traffic not congested (exept the transit highway that goes here), lot of shops for everyone not just grocery but barbers, pharmacies that works 24/7, cafes, restaurants, pizza places, book stores, electronics stores, malls and larger stores like Dechatlon in the nearest Blocks etc, and because it's green and spacious you can feel the calmness even that you are in a 2 milion people European capital city. You can hear the sounds of kids playing under the apartments buildings, you can feel the nature in a way... it still looks somehow organized. You say "utopia" but this looks usefull and relevant even for today standards having the fact that it was built 50 years ago
Also, urban planning for New Belgrade was inspired, or taken by Le Courbusier's "futuristic city" plans, they were nothing like Soviet or Eastern European urbanism. I was in both Soviet and of course Belgrade block and they feel different.
An interesting look at Titoist Belgrade made more entertaining by the guiding of an engaging and intelligent young woman! Some locals from near my own home went back recently to visit the wife's cousins in Belgrade. Unfortunately I've not had the chance to hear her impressions of the place.
THIS is an insult of our great architects of former YUGOSLAVIA! This article should be banned from KZread!
When I was a kid in the 1970s we called Zastava 101 Stoyadeen (Stojadin). It's a Serbian spin of the word Sto yedan (101) and Stoyadin is a typical Serbian rural name. It is documented in the pop culture, movies and lyrics of the 1970s and 80s (Šarlo Akrobata: "da operemo našeg Stojadina" etc.). In the late 80s and later young people started changing the name of that car into Kec (ace, or number one in Serbian slang)
Terrible architecture. They are big buildings, but that doesn't mean they are nice. Grey, depressing, and not maintained.
Why is it "most important" that the building was designed by a woman? A meaningless statement. The first woman who graduated in architecture and work in Belgrade was Jelisaveta Načić back in 1900.
Cool video! Good view into how 15-minute cities will never work.
Few years ago I hit a girl from Block 23 at here place. For some reason, I woke up at 6 AM the next morning. With nothing else to do, I wandered into the kitchen to make some coffee. Her kitchen windows were positioned similarly to the ones shown at the
As someone who has lived in New Blegrade all my life (block 38 for my childhood and teens and now block 37 where I live with my financé, both are just next to Genex tower), I just love them.
Are these drone shots yours? If so, they're a nice addition.
🫣
Preko. Nekad. Genkeasa. Fireme
THIS ARTICLE IS A GREAT SPIN! This is not "brutal communist utopia" it is a type of architecture produced under the influence of top architects from the world, like LE CORBUSIER! THIS IS NOT NICE TO SAY ABOUT OUR ARCHITECTURE! You are a disgrace!
You are not even architects!
marina sounds so obnoxious because of her lack of speaking ability
The blocks are not crumbling. Why did you say "crumbling blocks"? tf