Western City Gate

The Western City Gate (), also known as the Genex Tower () is a 36-story skyscraper in Belgrade, Serbia, which was designed in 1977 by Mihajlo Mitrović in the brutalist style. It is formed by two towers connected with a two-story bridge and revolving restaurant at the top. It is tall

One of the towers was occupied by the state-owned Genex Group. The tower got its popular name "Genex" after this group, while its official title remains Western City Gate. The second, taller tower, is residential. The tower formerly occupied by the Genex company is empty, while the residential tower is still home to scores of people. The revolving mechanism under the restaurant on top never became operational.

In November 2021, the building was declared a cultural monument and placed under protection. The declaration refers to the building as an "urban lighthouse" and calls it the most striking motif of New Belgrade, and a visual benchmark for the entirety of the capital.

Location

The building is located in the municipality of New Belgrade, in the 41-43 Narodnih heroja Street. It is actually situated at the corner of the street and the European route E75. West of the gate are the neighborhoods of Studentski Grad and Tošin Bunar, while Fontana is to the north. In the New Belgrade's blocks numeration system, the building belongs to the Block 33.

History

Construction

In the late 1960s, architect Mihajlo Mitrović was given a task of projecting a 12-floor building and the head offices of the local community of Sutjeska, a sub-municipal administrative unit, on Narodnih heroja Street. Mitrović suggested two connected and much taller buildings which would make a recognizable symbol of the capital city. A fierce opposition, disagreements and disputes ensued, but Mitrović was persistent in his idea, giving detailed and exhaustive explanations in front of the numerous commissions. He was finally given the green light and the foundations were laid in 1971. The towers were built by the "Rad" construction company.

Nevertheless, the project met with distrust and was disputed all the time the construction was on. The opposition continued in the next years. Even in the 2010s, a famous caricature by Ivo Kušanić in the daily Politika is still being mentioned and reproduced. It shows a gallows next to the building and the text: Who are these gallows for? For the architect!

By the end of 2022, with the third sale attempt—and the property now listed for RSD 834.6 million dinars (€7 million or €400 per m<sup>2</sup>) — scheduled for 6 February 2023, residents, citizens and public figures began to protest the sale, offering ideas for the building's future. Building manager, and a group of architects and economists, proposed that state takes over the building due to its importance, and to transform it into the Tesla Tower, "oasis of spirit, culture and architecture". Five floors were adapted into the Nikola Tesla Museum, which would move into the building. With added science and technology centers, libraries, concert halls, galleries and bookshops, it would make a cultural and educational "Disneyland", opened non-stop. Proposition includes adaptation of the surrounding plateau, which covers , into the urban garden, theme gardens, park of friendship, outdoor gym, with pedestrian footbridge and revitalized fountain and amphitheater. A group of electrical engineers suggested addition of Mihajlo Pupin to the joint museum with Tesla, creation of experimental labs and recreation of the Wardenclyffe Tower at the top of Western City Gate. Do not let Belgrade drown political party also supported state ownership of the building. Residents announced blockade of the city's central bridge, Gazela, protesting the sale.

At the public sale on 6 February 2023, the commercial part of the property was purchased by the Belgrade-based hospitality entrepreneur Aleksandar Kajmaković, nicknamed Aca Bosanac, for RSD 2.4 billion (~€20 million), three times its listed price. Kajmaković's company Eureka bar, which reportedly outbid six other entities vying for the property, owns numerous hospitality venues around Belgrade such as the traditional Skadarlija kafanas Tri šešira, Dva jelena, and Zlatni bokal, eatery Boutique, and Lafayette cabaret nightclub. Police had to intervene as few members of the opposition hеckled the bidding.

Kajmaković is connected to major criminal clans in Serbia, being a right-hand man of the "controversial businessmen" . He was also apprehended by the police as part of the process against the top Serbian gang kingpin for suspicion of Kajmaković acting as the legal owner of Belivuk's properties which were safeguarded by the Belivuk's gang members, and for money laundering. A bomb was placed under Kajmaković's car in 2002 in Budva, Montenegro. Because of his history, the opposition considers Kajmaković a front for the real owner, and called for the annulment of the sale due to the general infringement of the entire process.

Last day to finalize the purchase was 4 April 2023, but "Eureka Bar" filed an extension motion. This was denied and they made the final payment on the last day, becoming official owners of the building. Otherwise, they would also lose the €7 million deposit they had to pay in order to compete in the selling. Tenants of the residential part of the building announced lawsuit against the purchase.

Characteristics

Architecture

The two towers are not the same height and serve different purposes. The taller tower serves as a residential tower with 30 floors while the shorter tower houses businesses within its 26 floors. A bridge connects the two at the 26th floor. The building is tall.

The building was designed in the brutalist style, with some elements of structuralism and constructivism. It is considered a prime representative of the brutalist architecture in Serbia and one of the best of its style built in the 1960s and the 1970s in the world. The treatment of the form and details is slightly associating the building with postmodernism and is today one of the rare surviving representatives of this style's early period in Serbia. The artistic expression of the gate marked an entire era in Serbian architecture.

However, when the residents moved in, it turned out that despite the supreme quality of the exterior design of the double tower, the building was not much resident friendly. Problems included the capacity and malfunctions of the elevators, clogged garbage chutes, bad thermal and sound isolation, and lack of flexibility of the concrete panels which were the main construction material. Similar problems, even worse so, were in the gate's eastern counterpart. This raised a question whether people should live in the buildings designed as the symbols and landmarks.

The mural was commissioned by Mitrović and coincidentally served to commemorate the visit of François Mitterrand, then head of the French Socialist Party, to Yugoslavia. The mural has been described as an "ornament of the tower".

There is another work of art in the building, the sculpture "Bird" by Miloš Šobajić. and 5,187 in 1991. By the time of the 2002 census, it was renamed to the Local Community of Western Gate, after the building, and had a population of 4,278. It was later annexed to the neighboring local community of Fontana.

Gallery

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Genex Tower (кула Генекс, Западна капија Београда).jpg

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