Belgrade Cooperative
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| Formation | 1882 |
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| Purpose | Economic unity and support |
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Key people
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Belgrade Cooperative (Serbian: Београдска задруга / Beogradska zadruga) is a cooperative bank founded in 1882 to promote savings and support small enterprises, craftspeople and the poor of Belgrade. Member-shareholders have been paying membership in amount of one Serbian Dinar per week. That is the way for cooperative to become a public savings bank. Luka Ćelović was the first president of cooperative, also a first Serbian insurance group.
The construction of Belgrade Cooperative coincided with the change of political regime in Serbia. After the assassination of the king Aleksandar Obrenovic, the Karadjordjevic dynasty came to power, which led to a change in the system of governance. Autocratic regime was replaced by liberal bourgeois regime of Petar the I, the civil liberties were increased and the economic situation was improved.
"Belgrade cooperative for mutual help and savings" was founded in 1882 at the initiative of a group of Belgrade merchants, with the idea of investing into Serbia economy. This type of investment was a modern form of credit and an advanced method for reviving both the trading business and the market within the capitalist economy. Since 1897, when the Department of Insurance was founded, in addition to the cooperative banking activity, Belgrade Cooperative was increasingly developed as an insurance company. As such, it operated until 1944, representing one of the most important institutions of its kind. Some of the most important figures of economic and financial life of Serbia were once acting as a president of Belgrade Cooperative - its organizer and principal job coordinator, Luka Ćelović, subsequent donor and benefactor of Belgrade University, Kosta Taušanović and Lazar Paču, the financial leaders of Serbia of their time, public figures, prominent politicians and statesmen, as well as other well-known Belgrade businessmen, Đorđe Vajfert, Dimitirije Ćirković and others.
At the regular shareholders meeting in 1897, it was decided that a new building will be erected and so multiple properties were bought belonging to Krsmanović brothers, Gođevac brothers, Municipality of Belgrade, Vuja Ranković and Luka Ćelović, in close vicinity to the so-called Little Market on the Sava River. The construction began in the spring of 1905 and was completed in 1907.
Belgrade Cooperative Building was built according to the project by two leading Belgrade architects, University professors, Andra Stevanović and Nikola Nestorović. The majority of the building was constructed on the old embankment, and since the land was underwater due to the proximity of the river, the foundation of many walls has to be made of reinforced concrete, the first time in Belgrade, but using the iron for clamps, since there were was no round iron in Belgrade at the time.
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