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Jelena Dimitrijević House

- Francuska 29 -
The two-story residential building got its current appearance in 1924 after a reconstruction executed according to the project of the Russian architects Igor Amosov and Radomir Todorović. The reconstruction was executed for the Serbian writer, philanthropist, and activist, Jelena Dimitrijević, who was born on March 27, 1862, in . She lived in Kruševac until she was nine years old, when her father Nikola died, after which she moved to , where she finished elementary school. Due to an eye injury, she suffered at the age of 11, doctors forbade her to read and write. Despite this ban, she not only continued to read and write, but continued to learn languages, and spoke French, English, Italian, Russian, and Turkish. At the age of nineteen, she married second lieutenant Jovan Dimitrijević and settled with him in , where she became fascinated by the life of women in Turkish harems. In 1894, she published her first collection of poetry. The way she spoke about Turkish women, and the fact that she signed the collection only as Jelena, led many to think that the poems were written under a pseudonym by a Turkish woman who ran away from the harem. Jelena gives a detailed description of harems, Muslim customs, and the life of Turkish harems in the book Letters from Niš about harems, which was published in 1897.
The project of Igor Amosov and Radomir Todorović
In 1898, Jelena moved with her husband to Belgrade, where she would stay for the rest of her life. She was a nurse in the and and the , and during that last war, in 1915, her husband Jovan Dimitrijević died at the front. After his death, Jelena visited Europe, America, and Africa and turned the notes from these trips into exceptional books. She died on April 10, 1945, at the age of 83, and before her death, she donated this house to the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, so that this institution would rent it, and use the money from the rent for the purpose of educating Serbian women in .
Jelena Dimitrijević
The central protruded part on top of the Art Nouveau building contains the initials of the former owner, as well as a garland wreath. The building is adorned with another two garland wreaths, both of which are embellished with a . The floral ornamentation, of which the building is decorated includes a , and the geometric ornamentation consists of circles, lines, and . Underneath four of the second floor windows, you can admire an adorned with a . The little balcony, which is placed in the central part of the building, is supported by three and secured with a wrought iron railing that's decorated by .
Jelena Dimitrijević in the building