SPORTS IN PUBLIC SPACES: A GENESIS OF THE BELGRADE SOKOL GYMS AND STADIUMS
Text topic: Critical History of Transforming Belgrade Public Spaces - from the End of the 18th Century to the Beginning of the 21st Century
- Belgrade
Text author: Владана Путник Прица
As the first sports premises built in Belgrade, the Sokol gym halls have a significant place in the urbanistic development of the city in between the two world wars. The question of building a Sokol gym hall was not only relevant to the Sokol gym society, but also to the population at large. Thanks to available archive documents and periodical magazines, we now know that the people of Belgrade took active part in building the Sokol gym society halls and stadiums. This makes research of the Sokol gym halls architecture important not only for the social history of architectural and urbanistic development of Belgrade, but also for the society history in general. In addition to the Sokol gym halls, a significant role in transformation of the public Belgrade spaces belongs to their stadiums i.e. exercising fields. Through an analysis of architectural projects realized under the auspices of Belgrade Sokol gym societies and clubs, we will try to determine their role and significance for the architecture and urban planning of the city, and also determine the manners in which these public spaces contributed to the spread of Yugoslav ideology, as part of a compulsory gymnastic culture and mission aiming at emancipation and modernization of society.