About Us

The building of the “Balkan” cinema was built between 1867 and 1870. It consists of three special units between today’s streets Makedonska, Braće Jugovića and Bulevar despota Stefana.

Initially built for the hotel “Bulevar”, the presentable and academically built facility stands at the point next to which a part of the building was added, with a large hall on the ground. In 1899, only three years after the first ever film screening in Belgrade, the first film was shown in this hall.

The Belgrade Opera under the direction of Žarko Savić worked in the building of today’s cinema “Balkan” from 1909 to 1911, which is why the entire hotel became known as the “Opera”. The permanent cinema in the hotel began operating in 1912 under the name “Grand Cinema of the Gomon Family at the Opera Hotel”.

For a while, plays by the “Brane Cvetković” Theater were also performed there. The current name “Balkan” was given to the cinema at the begining of the 1928, due to the events that took place there, that were out of great importance for the history and culture of both Belgrade and Serbia. Hence, as a part of complex of buildings created jn the late 19th century, the “Balkan” cinema stands as a testimonial to the cultural, urban and architectural development of the capital, during the second half od the 19th century.