Renovation details

Reconstruction |
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The renovation of the City Hall involved detailed works on all parts of the building, both indoor and outdoor, on façade, carpentry, decoration, etc.

DETAILS

Stone-cutting works on the building of the City Hall set special requirements in terms of procurement, selection, processing and installation of stone items.

In this sense, the existing stone was examined according to the positions of the installation. The test was carried out by the Institute for Materials and Structures of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Sarajevo. The given characteristic data for the stone give all relevant data for the procurement and selection of a particular stone type.

The contractor was obliged to provide adequate stone to the given types and original remains on the building, and submit it to the designer and the supervisory authority for approval. For the new selected stone types, the contractor has provided the certificates of the appropriate institutions that corresponded to the prescribed standards in the technical sheet (characteristic data for the stone).

CARPENTRY

All interior and exterior joinery is an outstanding work in oak. Other auxiliary facilities, as well as offices were treated modestly without decoration and stucco. The end of this concept is given on a rich façade, painted in two-tiered terraces, mortar stucco and decorative elements made of earthenware. As a starting point, this original concept and its materialization were accepted by the reconstruction project.


Carpentry detail

Carpentry, which represents a significant segment of total renovation, has been designed and implemented according to the original documenation of oak material, partially thermally improved according to the current requirements of noise protection as well as thermal requirements. The wooden staircase, richly carved that connects the first and second floors and forms an integral part of the general principles of architectural restoration of authentic space, has been renovated according to original designs.

FACADES

The facade of the City Hall is made in a Neo-Moorish style with rich architectural stucco with plastering and has many decorative elements of stone, earthenware and terracotta. In the previous period, before the war, it was partially renewed several times.

According to the project task, the reconstruction project - restoration and reconstruction of the facade was done on the basis of a detailed photogrammetric image of the existing facade, conducted research conservation works and available graphic and photo documentation of the facade appearance before the destruction.

The three façades described in the project task and the three towers on the corners form the total facade of the building.


South - main facade

South facade - main facade

The south facade, facing the Obala Kulina Bana Street and Miljacka, stands out from the other two, more representative architectural, plastic and painting. On the southern facade, as well as the facade of the City Hall, the façade facade is also covered with rhizalite. In the ground zone, the Rizalit consists of a scalinized coastline of two fountains above which the niches were completed by stalactites. In the upper zone there is a large loggia with arcades. The ceiling of the loggia is omalterized and decorated with a very complex floral motif from the concentric and spiral shapes of the star with the star in the middle of each grass. On the wings are a series of windows, of which, with more detailed processing, a wall from the first floor window (piano mobile).

The aesthetic concept of the facade is characterized by an emphasis on all three forms of visual art: architectural, plastic and color elements. Unique architectural and plastic forms have fountains, niches above them, balconies, fields around and above the windows on the first floor, as well as vertical-risal verticals. Synthesis of plastic painting shows the fields above the balcony and arcade loggia. It also ends with a luxurious frieze of stalactite of rooftop and stone flowers. On the other hand, the upper shape represents the metal crown of the dome. The entire facade, like the other two facades, is decorated with lots of yellow and red strips (imitation rows of rocks) made of plaster in color. In the upper zone, Arab fields above the balcony, the balcony and around the balcony are decorated with glazed ceramic panels - a ceramic pot - produced in Pec in Hungary.

View from gallery

Northeast facade

On this facade the rizalit consists of a portal on the ground floor and a series of large windows in the Council of the City Council, on the first floor. All windows have double-lane frames that form Arab fields around and above the windows, especially developed over large windows. The northeast façade has architectural and plastic profiles and decorated ornaments. The frieze of the interlaced floral motif is painted on the back, with square plastic colors as segmental arches decorated with plastic capitals. Colored geometric-floral motifs are performed in triangular fields. Everything is framed with a double plastic tape that forms a plastic tail in the tail.

West facade

On the western facade, it is not expressed as a rational like the other two, and the size and representativity of the rizalite gives the main step-step degree of three steps, leading from the aula to the floor. On Rizalito there is a portal and a big bifur with stone rosette and stained glass. The portal has a rich plastic decoration on three levels. The first one is a monochromatic glass of stalactite; in the second level, a combination of a flat cover, decorated with a shallow arabic in terracotta and a segmented loose bow, with two plastic symbols - a sword with a shield. In the third level, the frieze is an Arabic - geometric motif with zigzag strip. All surrounded by plastic strips. A similar motif has a frieze above the bifur in which the details of stone and sapphire are incorporated.

Facade detail of tower

Facade tower

The three facades of the Hall building end with stretched towers at the corners. Like the other facades, the front of the tower is in a series of red and yellow tape. In the upper zone, they are finished with a frieze of stalactite, roof crown and concrete flowers in red color. The windows on the façade of the towers are located in deep niches on three levels. They are usually framed with belts in a noble mortar. The lower row of windows, terrain and mezzanine is especially treated with a richly profiled shaft and line profiling. The upper level of the window is individually processed. On the first floor there are doors with stone balconies and decorative red pillars in the decorative greenhouse back. A common niche with a facade opening on towers was completed with a rich profiling of stalactites in a curved niche.

PLASTER DECORATION IN THE INTERIOR

Painting and plaster decoration of the City Hall is a significant element of its identity. Its values stem from specific circumstances in BiH at the end of the 19th century, which resulted in a neo-Moorish style in the field of culture and politics of the then government. The hall is in its entirety - by function, architectural design and decoration, perhaps the best example of this style. At the same time, the Hall is an example of romanticism and historicism, the phenomena that affected the European art of the second half of the 19th century. No less important is its image and existence in the awareness of the citizens of Sarajevo, and those who visit Sarajevo at least once. Painting and plaster decoration was developed in the interior and on the facades of the City Hall. Painting and plaster in the interior were destroyed mostly by fire caused by inflammable grenades from aggressor positions around Sarajevo. Only the fragments that were recorded and which are elements for restoration and reconstruction were preserved.

Interior decoration detail

Painting and plastic decoration was performed on the most important areas that best present the style and time of construction, starting from the entrance hall, through the aula and the main staircase, the first floor gallery, festive rooms, saloon and small hall sales. The rest of the workshops in the City Hall were treated in the process itself with simple treatment of walls and floors. Investigations on the remains of the painted layer are not the subject of this project, and they need to be planned, executed and documented before the beginning of the realization of this project.

Unfortunately only a small part of the plaster and mortar decoration was preserved after the burning and destruction of the building. By closing the building, works 1996-1997. In the past year, fragments of gypsum decoration were saved on the main festive staircase, as well as part of the gypsum decoration in festive salons. Research works on existing mortars (mineralogical and chemical) and works on determining the quality of the remains of existing mortars were carried out by the Institute for Materials and Structures of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Sarajevo. A conservatory survey of the remains of mortar and plaster decoration was carried out, taking the sections and detailed dimensions contained in the paper by Ms. Esad Vejzović.

INTERIOR

The editing and furnishing of the Hall is a specific task and, besides its cultural and historical importance, it has specific requirements of a functional nature for the modern use of the space of several users and functions. In addition to the functional-dispositional conditions given in the project task, forms, materials, surface treatment and the construction of embedded and mobile equipment must also be in the context of the basic idea of a project of reconstruction of the City Hall in material and design sense. For this reason, a large amount of equipment and lining, especially on the first floor, is renewed according to original designs and photodocumentation, should be made in materials that are projected and described by the project.


Carpentry detail

Furthermore, serial production equipment intended for everyday use of the users of the content of the space is expressed by positions in the floors, its dimensions are given for all rooms per floors and is summarized for future users.

Also, serial production equipment is described in the project by position and its choice is to be performed by more than one supplier and manufacturer and with the necessary sample and prospect material that proves the quality, type of material and processing and in the formal view it should reflect the classical line of furniture from the period of construction of the City Hall with elements for modern use.