Brutalism in Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital of Yugoslav brutalism, a tradition that developed its own identity between Eastern and Western blocs. The planned district of New Belgrade, laid out on the marshland across the Sava, became a laboratory for concrete housing at scale, with Aleksandar Stjepanović contributing to celebrated blocks such as Block 23. On the eastern approach to the city, the three leaning towers of the Eastern City Gates by Vera Ćirković form one of Europe's most dramatic residential silhouettes. Ljiljana Bakić and Dragoljub Bakić designed the Aleksandar Nikolić Hall, the basketball arena at the heart of Yugoslav sporting culture, while the Avala Tower by Uglješa Bogunović, destroyed in the 1999 bombing and later rebuilt, remains a symbol of the city.