Western City Gate of Belgrade

The Western City Gate in Belgrade is not so much an actual throughway into the city as it is a massive portal that has been created by a couple of linked towers, capped with a restaurant as a crown.

Alternately known as the Genex Tower, the Western City Gate was built in 1977 as both a commercial and residential space, divided between the two skyscrapers. The towers are exemplars of the angular brutalist style and look not unlike something plucked from a sci-fi dystopia. The shorter of the two towers (at 26 stories tall) is actually home to the Genex company offices among other office space, while just across the gap is a taller tower (standing 30 stories tall) that is reserved for residential space. All said and done, the skyscraper(s) rank as Serbia’s second tallest buildings. 

The pair of towers are connected at top by a two story foot bridge that not only allows people to travel between the structures, but also provides for some amazing views of Belgrade. On top of one end of the bridge is circular revolving restaurant reminiscent of the pinnacle of the Space Needle in Seattle if that were perched atop a grim spire.

Furthermore, the sides of the well-known building are plastered with advertisements that often hang down the length of the structure. Even with these bright ads giving some color to the structure, its brutalist look manages to shine through, and this symbolic city gate remains a rather dour introduction (or final image) for the city.