Architecture of Bus Stations in Serbia

Central Bus Station in Niš (picture from wikimapia)

I got inspired for this post by Yomadic's blog entry: http://www.yomadic.com/bus-from-belgrade-to-nis-serbia/ and his beautiful picture of the Niš Bus station.

Since in the Balkans, particularly in Serbia, Railway travelling was never so popular like traveling by bus, some Bus Stations got a lot of architectural attention when they were built.

I found pictures from some interesting Bus Stations and hope to expand this collection soon!


Niš Bus Station

Entrance of the Bus Station (picture wikimapia)

One of them is the Bus Station in Nis (Ниш) built in 1977 and one of the most modern Bus Station of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with 18 platforms. Nis-Ekspress AD was the main investor.

Ćuprija Bus Station

Bus Station in Čuprija

A lot of inhabitants of Ćuprija work as "Gastarbeiter" in Western Europe, so really lots of Bus Lines serve this little town. That explains the big Bus Station at the entrance of the town.
A close up shows the lamellar structure of the roof supported by precast columns arranged in a semi-circle.

Novi Pazar

A postcard from the 70's of Novi Pazar's Bus Station

Another interesting Bus Station  is the one in Novi Pazar built in the 1970's. The first time I visted Novi Pazar I was fascinated by it's frivolous architecture (read it in my post about Novi Pazar).

A newer picture on autobusi.net

The Bus Station fits in that style, and though it shows signs of age and people complain about its flaws it still looks charming.

Loving this combination: the bus station and his "soliter" a stand alone highrise building (from autobusi.net)

Zrenjanin

Zrenjanin Bus Station (from autobusi.net)

In Zrenjanin the Bus Station has a relief-like Fassade like in Niš. It/s not a big station, but with this detail it looks almost like an airport.

Communist Style Hotels 2

Hotel in Kolasin (Montenegro)

Last summer I posted about communist style Hotels in the Balkans with good example of state own Hotels built in the communist past. 

To the list of Hotels I'd like to visit I will add also these 6 eye-catcher:

Bianca Resort & Spa in Kolasin (Montenegro)

Bianca Resort in Kolasin: Jumbo Alpin Architecture

The Hotel also featured in this old postcard get my thumbs up for its appereance! (The main picture is from here) 

Hotel Merkur in Vrnjacka Banja

Vrnjacka Banja a Spa town in Central Serbia has a couple of cool buildings to offer. This is just one of it.

The garden side of the Hotel (Picture here)

The street side of the Hotel

Hotel Zubor in Kursumljska Banja

This building from 1982 is actually empty, as the country can not keep up with maintenance costs. 

Hotel "Žubor" in Kursumlijska Banja (picture from here)

Hotel Internacional Zenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Hotel International Zenica (picture from here)

A masterpeace of a Hotel...and it still looks good today!

The Hotel today (picture from here)

Hotel in Vranjska Banja in Vranje

Unfortunately this one never got finished, started in 1973 it was about when the economical crises stroke the south of Serbia.

Just 50% completed (picture from here)

And at the end a little interior detail of a bathroom in Hotel Slavija in Belgrade

tile paradise (picture from here)

Links to other posts about interesting Hotel Architecture in the Balkans:

Hotel Donat in Rogaska Slatina (Slovenia)

Hotel Sirmium in Sremska Mitrovica

Hotel Petrus in Paracin

Hotel Palas in Mojkovac (Montenegro)

Hotel Srbija in Vrsac

Architecture in Zajecar, Eastern Serbia

Zajecar is best known for culture, music and sports and its best value is probably the nearby Gamzigrad archeological site. So I wasn't expecting much from the city's architecture. However I was pleased to find some interesting modern buildings from the 60's and 70's in the very town center. Only a few roads away the city looks picturesque with older houses with two to three stories in warm earthy colors and a simple neoclassical style.

I took pictures of the modern buildings in the center, like this highrise building in beige, olive and brown ....

.... with its decorative fire escape stairs

 70's buildings on the way to the center

 60's architecture for the E.D. Jugoistok(electro public supply of south-east Serbia)

80's/90's buildings with asymmetrical terraces and bulging decorations

The typical "Beograd" Chain-Store in the center (I wrote about this retail-chain here)

The new facade .....and below how it looked in the past

previously this facade was in a bronzed color

This building is not an architectural highlight: ugly proportions, random postmodern details and an off-key roof make it an unattractive landmark near the main square. This building is home to Hotel "Srbija Tiš" and although it's not a pleasure from the outside, to do justice I should mention, that the interiors are spacious and renovated and they look quiet sophisticated. Thanks to the position there is also a great view from the hotel rooms.

Some impressions of the main square: the police station ...

... the national museum on the right ....

...the monument to its famous citizen: Nikola Pasic 

More posts about Eastern Serbia:
www.sajkaca.blogspot.ch/2012/09/modern-pirot-buildings.html
http://sajkaca.blogspot.ch/2012/09/traditional-pirot-ponisavlje-museum.html 

Interesting Architecture in Majdanpek

The first time I wrote about Majdanpek I had never been there. But when I found out about this town made from scratch I was so fascinated that I made it a stop during my last travel through Eastern Serbia. Here my entire collection of pictures of Majdanpek:

Majdanpek boomed because of the the copper mine. This is the administration building.

 

Majdanpek is really a big surprise when arriving from the Djerdap National Park: after a 20 minutes ride through a lush forrest in a hilly surrounding you enter the town from the top where a bunch of highrise buildings are revealed. Townplanning on a big scale!

interesting facade compositions

the youth club

very urban architecture in the middle of the mountains

The main square with the hotel and and youth club

Former Hotel Kasina (now Golden Inn)

Swanky Interiors

A consistently color scheme

Wide empty roads in the city center

The first reserves of copper ore in in the South district of  the Majdanpek mine, were found at the end of the 1953 and at that time amounted to 85 million tonnes of ore with an average copper content of 0.83 percent. Based on that, and assuming further research, the Federal Executive Council of the then Yugoslavia made on 16 April, 1954 a decision on the establishment of the "Copper Mine Majdanpek“.

The 70's style concrete constructions are present in the entire city

Mix of modern architecture with mountain pines

After founding the coppermines the numer of inhabitants increased constantly and went from 2'000 in 1948 up to 12'000 in 1991. When United Nations imposed sanctions against FR Yugoslavia in 1992 the economic situation became difficult. Since then the population is in constant diminuition.

Colored house row in the city center

Majdanpek Tourist Map

The Hospital

The Post office