Development of the City of Nikšić through the Planning Documentation of Croatian Architects

Abstract

The task of this work is to present three key urban plans, courtesy of which the city of Nikšić developed during its modern history. After liberation from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, Nikšić received its first regulatory plan, prepared by the architect Josip Slade Šilović (1828-1911) in 1883. The city developed according to this plan until the Second World War. After the Second World War, Montenegro became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as a republic, and Nikšić became the city with the highest degree of urbanisation in that federation. This rapid urbanisation was directed by the second urban plan, carried out by the Urban Planning Institute of the Faculty of Architecture, Construction and Geodesy, Zagreb, in 1954-1958. The author of this plan was the professor and architect, Josip Seissel (1904-1987). The third urban plan of importance for the city was carried out by the Urban Planning Institute of Croatia, Zagreb, in 1984 and was adopted in 1986. This urban plan enabled a logical upgrade of the previous two plans. A result of these three urban plans by Croatian architects is Nikšić’s unique form and urban identity.