Kosta Šreplović

Kosta Šreplović
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Born	1836 Beograd
Died	1872(1872-00-00) (aged 35–36) Aranđelovac
Nationality	Serbian
Citizenship	Serbia
Alma mater	Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Occupation	Architect

Kosta Šreplović (Beograd, 1836 - Aranđelovac, 1872) was a Serbian architect whose life ended tragically when he fell from a building.

Biography

An important architect of the Romantic era in Serbia was Kosta Šreplović. He was born in Belgrade in 1836, where he finished primary and secondary school. His father, Gottfried Šrepla, a native of Karlovac, worked as a typewriter factor in the State Printing House. Kosta Šreplović was one of the first state cadets to study architecture abroad. As an excellent student, Kosta received a scholarship and the opportunity to study architecture in Germany. Before studying, he spent a year on practice at a construction site in Pest. After graduating from the Technical Faculty at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in Germany,he returned in 1861 to Belgrade, where he was appointed chief draftsman (designer) in the General Directorate of Construction, and in 1863 he was appointed a class II architect in the Ministry of Construction until 1866 when he became a first-class engineer.

In a short time, Šreplović made a number of important projects. In his short career, among the first works is the project for the building of the District Administration in Gornji Milanovac. It is also the first public building to be built in Gornji Milanovac. Šreplović managed to fully answer the task, and he fully implemented the idea of ​​the functionality of the space, at the same time making this building the most distinctive feature of the newly-created town.

Since the building was designed to be the District Headquarters, the architect took care to adapt the building to its purpose. The building of the District Administration gained a prominent position, namely, it was placed on the highest point, thus achieving an "enviable degree of monumentality". The building is set on the spacious square of the newly founded town of Despotovica. This building together with the church of the Holy Trinity from 1862 forms a harmonious whole. Since the city was founded during the Romantic period, its first large and significant facades were designed in accordance with the prevailing Romantic tendencies.

Constructed in the spirit of romanticism, the building of the District Administration is a school example of Central European creation of this era. The foundations were ceremoniously laid on 22 October 1853. In November of the same year, Franz Zeleni came from Belgrade, who managed the construction works. A few months later, construction began on other public facilities such as a post office, a primary school and a municipal court. The cutting of material from the nearby forests, the making of bricks, the procurement of lime, sand and stone fell on the local population. In fact, the citizens had the obligation to tower for 30 days during the year and thus build state buildings, town streets and all connecting roads that connected the city with the main roads. The construction of this building was accompanied by many difficulties, even one tragic event. Farmer Milan Bojović from the village of Gornja Gorevnica paid with his life for the beginning of works on the construction of the future District Administration. On 22 October 1853, his oxen, frightened by the multitude of people that had gathered in the square, abruptly set off and knocked down their master, who suddenly found himself under the wheels of the carriage and thus ended his life.

Šreplović gained the most important experiences in the construction of Captain Miša's Mansion under the supervision of chief architect Jan Nevole.in Belgrade, working as an assistant to the famous Czech architect Jan Nevole.As it is known, the architect Jan Nevola returned to Prague before the completion of the construction. He left it to the young architect Šreplović to complete the work on the building.

In Aranđelovac in 1868, Prince Mihailo Obrenović commissioned Kosta Šreplović to design and supervise the construction of his new mansion called Kosančićev Venac|Staro zdanje which Kosta undertook faithfully for the next several years. It is interesting to note that Prince Mihailo never lived in it.

The parallel that can be drawn between the court for the heir to the throne Mihailo, the Captain Misha's Mansion and Staro zdanje (the Old building), speak of an advanced architect of that time, not because he was educated at an advanced university but because of a special approach to architecture. Kosta Šreplović finished his career very early, he died in 1872 in Aranđelovac at the age of 37. He succumbed to the injuries he suffered when he fell from the scaffolding of Staro zdanje. He was buried in the gate of the Aranđelovac|Bukovička Banja church in Aranđelovac, where his son Petar Šreplović erected a memorial plaque.

One street in Aranđelovac, above the Izvor hotel towards the settlement around the Higher Technological School, bears his name.

References

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