MAGISTRATE COURT BUILDING (1907)

PREVIOUSLY DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION (COUNTY)

DISTRICT COURT

1967-79 HISTORICAL ARCHIVES

The building of the Magistrate Court was designed by a prominent Serbian architect Petar Popović in 1907 and is located at the main city square. It was built by the construction company of A. Veljković, under the supervision of the engineer Stevan Burmazović. The building belongs to the cultural heritage of urban architecture and serves a public purpose.

In front of it there was a memorial drinking fountain made in honor of the soldiers lost in bloody wars in 1833, 1876/77 and 1885, and which was removed after the World War II. In the 1990s, as part of the square renovation, the drinking fountain was built again, this time closer to Hotel Serbia. It was relocated again in 2019 at the present location closer to the Magistrate Court building.

In the 19th and early 20th century the main town market, the so-called female market, was located at the main town square, in front of the Magistrate Court.

The building was designed with a symmetrical base and façade, with the main orientation towards the city square. The façade is decorated in the manner of the rich eclectic Renaissance style, while the inside spaces have nice functional arrangement.

As a monumental city public building, representative of the early 20th century architectural style, the building also has a great significance for the urban development of Zaječar, hence it is was placed under the state protection.

From 1967 to 1979 the offices of the the Historical Archives "Timok Region" Zaječar were also located in this building, while using as a storage space the former infantry barracks at the end of Ljuba Nešić Street.

SOURCES:

Archive of Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments Niš (www.zzsknis.rs)

Suzana Antić, Jelena Ilić, Nina Pogarčić: Zaječar čudesna priča – Iz života u Zaječaru 1466-2006. godine. Narodni muzej, Zaječar, 2013.

The official webpage of the Magistrate Court: www.osudzajecar.rs