Grigorije Samojlov

Grigorije Ivanovič Samojlov (Russian Cyrillic: Григорий Иванович Самойлов; Taganrog, Imperial Russia, 8 September 1904 - Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia, 15 October 1989) was a Russian architect, designer and painter who lived and worked in Serbia. He was one of the many academically trained Russian émigrés who after settling in Serbia contributed the architectural landscape of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He built in the spirit of academism, Serbo-Byzantine style, modernism and art deco. He distinguished himself not only with his high skills in designing various types of building, from monumental public buildings to family houses, but also as the author of some of the most beautiful interiors of Belgrade palaces of this period. Also, he painted the likenesses of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia, and scientist Milutin Milanković among the most notable, as well as teaching the art of design and painting. He is the author of numerous works such as the chapel of Jovan Savić at Novo Groblje (Belgrade New Cemetery), the iconostasis and interior of the former Church of the Holy Trinity (now the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Banja Luka), the Church of the Holy Archangel Gabriel at Topčider Cemetery (1939), the factory and villas…Citește mai mult

Early biography He was born on 8 September 1904, in Taganrog, a small town on the coast of the Sea of Azov, in a wealthy Russian, Cossack family. He studied painting in high school with the famous painter Serafima Blonskaya (Russian: Серафима Блонская). At the end of the Civil War in Russia in 1921, when he was 17, he emigrated with his father to the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Upon his arrival, his father died, and he then continued his education at the Don Military School in Bileća, where he graduated, after which he enrolled in studies at the Architectural Department of the Technical Faculty at the University of Belgrade. He graduated in 1930. For his diploma work, he designed the "Yugoslav Pantheon", conceived as a national monument, in a dominant place in the city, whose silhouette could be seen from a distance. The work was an example of the role of the neo-Byzantine style in forming the identity of the Yugoslav nation, by transposing the Serbian national style to all South Slavs, replacing the cross on the high central dome with a sculpture of victory, holding laurel wreaths in its hands. Although the project according to…Citește mai mult

Career in the interwar period In the beginning, he worked as an associate of the architect Milutin Borisavljević, and later he became an assistant to Professor Aleksandar Deroko in the subject Byzantine Architecture. At the same time, he worked in the office of architect Aleksandar Đorđević, then a recognized architect and representative of French academism. Đorđević hired Samojlov as an associate in the development of several large projects, such as the Belgrade Stock Exchange and the Beli Dvor. In addition, they became so close that Đorđević was the best man at the wedding of Samojlov and Danica Ljujić. He passed the state exam in 1933 when he obtained a permit for independent work. The first independent achievement of the same year was a building on the corner of Skenderbegova and Dositejeva streets in the spirit of modernism, and one of the best achievements was a villa in Pushkinova Street (then Gladstone Street) in Senjak (once owned by Ljubica Radenković, and now one of the residences of the United States Embassy) in a combination of medieval Serbian-Byzantine and Romanesque elements, for which he received the award of the city of Belgrade, as the best architectural solution. In the middle of 1936,…Citește mai mult

Second World War In World War II, the Germans captured Grigorije Samojlov near Srebrenica, as an officer of the army of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He spent four years in captivity, first in the Bad Sulza concentration camp, and then, after breaking his leg and unable to work, was transferred to the Stalag IX-C concentration camp in Buchenwald. For the needs of the Orthodox chapel in the camp, in 1943, one of the barracks was converted into a chapel for which he did the painting and woodcarving work. Oak sleepers from the old railway track were used for the wooden construction. Samojlov was assisted by inmates who renounced packages and tracks in exchange for tools made from steel scrap and horseshoes. On the iconostasis, he painted Saint Sava and Christ, whose hands were tied with ropes, but they were also separated, indicative of the upcoming liberation. After the war, in 1945, the iconostasis was transferred and placed in the chapel of the Teacher's School "Queen Natalija", later it was transferred to the Patriarchate, and in 1953 it was transferred to the Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, at the Central Cemetery. That iconostasis is now under the…Citește mai mult

Post-war period He returned from captivity to Belgrade, where after the war he became a professor and taught the basics of graphics and painting. After the liberation of Belgrade, after the Soviet army occupied the premises of the former Russian House of Emperor Nicholas II and turned it into the House of Soviet Culture, it was decided to place a massive coat of arms of the USSR behind the portal of the central hall, framed by victorious flags, designed by Grigorije Samojlov. At that time, he designed the hall for the sessions of the Council of Ministers of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia (1947) from the interior in the style of academism. During 1946–1947, he was hired several times by the Ministry of Post, both for interior works and for competitions for postal buildings. This is how the project of the Post Office building in Ohrid (1946), in Novi Sad (1947) and the Post Office II for Skopje were created. The project for works on the internal reconstruction and alteration of the SANU building, after the war destruction in the Second World War, was carried out in 1950, and in 1967 the project of the SANU Gallery was carried…Citește mai mult

Works cited Просен, Милан (2006a). "Неовизантијски елементи у стваралаштву архитекте Григорија Самојлова". In Ракоција, Миша (ed.). Ниш и Византија - Зборник радова IV (PDF). Ниш: Град Ниш. p. 443. ISBN 978-86-7455-680-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 October 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2013. Просен, Милан (2006b). Поповић, Марко (ed.). "Градитељски опус архитекте Александра Ђорђевића (1890—1952)" (PDF). Наслеђе. 7. Београд: Завод за заштиту споменика културе града Београда: 198. ISSN 1450-605X. Retrieved 1 January 2013. Милашиновић Марић, Дијана (2011). Пуцар, Мила (ed.). "Развојни токови у српској архитектури од 1945. до 1961. године" (PDF). Архитектура и урбанизам. 33. Београд: Институт за архитектуру и урбанизам Србије: 3–15. ISSN 2217-8074. Retrieved 1 December 2013.