# Residential complex on Džidžikovac

Residential complex on Džidžikovac (Cyrillic: Џиџиковац), is an architectural residential ensemble in a neighborhood of Džidžikovac in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is designated a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2008.

## History

The central area of the neighbourhood was designed and developed after the World War II, mostly between 1946 and 1959, while streets and areas in immediate surroundings were already developed and had many luxurious villas and buildings constructed during second half of the 19th century, in numerous styles of the era under the architect from around Austro-Hungarian Empire. Neighborhood is conceived as residential, on a steep hillside above city center with much greenery, never developed before, where, beside many small private flower gardens, also existed numerous plum, apple, cherry and pear orchard – hence the name Džidžikovac, which comes from the word "džidži" which is Bosnian pronunciation of Ottoman Turkish word "güzel", and which in Bosnian means: nadžidžan, nagizdan, gizdav, ukrašen, in English: picturesque, ornate or florid.
After the World War II, the government's main, if not only, concern in war-torn country was to provide the people with basic housings, despite the great scarcity in terms of money and material, so an architecture, in a creative sense, was relegated to the background.
The Projektantski zavod NR BiH (transl. Design Institute of the Peoples Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina) was main bureau in the design and construction of buildings in Sarajevo, whose leading architects were brothers, Muhamed and Reuf Kadić. The Kadić brothers were employed by Projektantski zavod in 1946, so their first major project resulting in notable designer performance was the Residential Complex in Džidžikovac, designed in 1947.
As the informal pre-war members of the modern movement, brothers Kadić continued to exert their influence with projects and realizations, and successfully promoted the idea of moderna's functionalism and minimalism, that form should follow function, to the regime whose urgent needs were shaped by economical and other practical constraints of post-war socialist society, with the economic moment being a decisive in the design. In this way, Kadić's succeeded in achieving valuable results in architecture, and the Residential complex in Džidžikovac was one such ecxample.

## Location

The complex of residential buildings designated as a National Monument is located in the Džidžikovac neighborhood, in central part of Sarajevo, Municipality Center. The complex is bounded by Džikovac Street from the southeast, by Hadži-Idrizova Street from the north, by Mehmed-beg kapetana Ljubušak Street from the south and towards the west, the complex is limited by another block of residential buildings.

## Features

As in many other cases around central parts of Sarajevo, neighborhood designers utilized the presence of abundant natural greenery on the location and developed designated space while preserving as much as possible. This became a characteristic of the neighborhood, one which constitutes important quality and attraction.

## National monument

In 2008 Džidžikovc was proclaimed National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina as "Residential complex on Džidžikovac – the architectural ensemble" by the Commission to preserve national monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, due to its architectural and landscaping qualities.