Current name: Elementary school “Hristo Botev”
Original name: Elementary school “Hristo Botev”

City: Dimitrovgrad (SRB)
District: District of Pirot, Republic of Serbia
Address: Hristo Botev 3, 18320 Dimitrovgrad

Year of construction: early 50s
Designer: unknown
Client: Municipality of Dimitrovgrad
Architectural style: social realism

Visiting interior: yes

The elementary school “Hristo Botev” – Dimitrovgrad is located in the central part of Dimitrovgrad in 3 Hristo Botev Street, on the cadastral plot No. 599/1 KO Dimitrovgrad. It represents a visually recognizable object which, due to its size, dominates the central area of the town. It is a free standing building, elevated in comparison to the main town street “Balkanska” formerly known as “Marsal Tito Street”. The main, administrative school entrance is located on the street which bears the same name -“Hristo Botev”, while the pupils use the entrance in the school yard.

The school was built in the early 50s, and it was officially opened in 1954. Architecturally, it was built in the style of “social realism”, i.e. “soc-realism”, which was the dominant trend in architecture in the post-war years. The main feature of this trend is practicality over beauty. Architects were supposed to make the most of the space and building capacities, rather than focusing on aesthetics. The architecture of social realism promotes the ideology of social equality. The regime used to limit any liberal act of creativity, while on the other hand the social realism was imposed as the best and so to speak the only artistic style.

The depersonalization of the architect in the fifth decade of the XX century, when this school was built, was followed by an ultimate limitation of artistic freedom and creativity by defining and prescribing a certain typology of facilities. The abolition of the private sector and the loss of the identity of the architects, resulted in the fact that for many buildings of that time the name of the author is not known.

It is a large building, flooring G+2, therefore until 1986 it housed a primary school – an eight-year school and a high school.

Rectangular, strict forms, without ornamentation but at the same time functional, are typical of the trend of social realism. Originally, the school was in a neutral beige-dark color that mitigated the imposition of its size in the space. Following the adaptation in order to improve energy efficiency, the school was painted in slightly lighter tones from the same palette.