Nikola Spasić

Nikola Spasić (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Спасић, Belgrade, 2 November 1838 – Corfu, 28 November 1916) was a Serbian businessman, benefactor, humanitarian, and one of the leaders of the Serbian Chetnik Organization in Old Serbia and Macedonia. He was the president of the Board of Directors of the Belgrade Exchange in 1903 and the initiator-founder-builder of the Nikola Spasić Endowment Building in Belgrade. He also initiated and financed the construction of four major edifices in Knez Mihailova Street, the third of which, built immediately proceeding the First Balkan War, was the Grand Passage, designed by Nikola Nestorović

Nikola Spasić was the descendant of a Serbian family, which, "desperately poor", moved to Belgrade from the countryside during the 1804-1813 First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire. Spasić trained for 15 years as an artisan and merchant before opening, with his brother, the first leather workshop and store in 1865. The shop manufactured and vended opanci (Opanak), Balkan peasant footwear similar to the moccasin; this light, leather footwear was widely accepted as part of the Serbian national costume and was worn in the 19th century both in the city and the village. By the time of the Kingdom of Serbia acquired full independence in 1878, Nikola Spasić was sufficiently rich to completely withdraw from business. The value of the property that the Endowment of Nikola Spasić had at its disposal following his death was close to that of the Nobel Foundation.

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