The Peak of Jože Plečnik's Ecclesial Oeuvre: the Parish Church of Saint Anthony of Padua in Belgrade

Abstract

The paper deals with the architectural evaluation of the Parish Church of Saint Anthony of Padua in Belgrade, Serbia, done by a Slovene architect, Jože Plečnik, in 1929. The study is based on a research of available historical sources with a critical approach to analysis and architectural evaluation, as well as a contemporary fieldwork and an on-site analysis. The paper offers a brief overview of Plečnik's engagements in various public projects throughout Europe, followed by an analysis of a wider historical and Lektura: Maja Bjelica Andonov Univerzitet u Novom Sadu 286 social context within which the site of the Franciscan convent and later parish church in Belgrade emerged. Furthermore, the paper provides an insight into the historical development of the site inside the framework of the Franciscan Province Bosna Argentina. It also gives a critical examination of the stylistic approach to the project for the church, and its later alterations made by Plečnik's successors. Moreover, its contribution to ecclesial architecture, significant structural novelties, interior decoration, furnishing and works of art produced for this project, according to Plečnik's ideas, are historically analysed and examined. Keywords: Jože Plečnik; Belgrade; architecture; Bosna Argentina; parish church