I have passed by this building many times and admired it, even it its run down, dilapidated state.
I had no idea that it was protected, although I really feared that it might be destroyed.
It is actually one of the first houses built in Ban Milosavljević Street. Allegedly it was built in 1893.

The ground floor of this building was the first Banja Luka cinema, "Edison" and the premises of the first telegraph. However there might be some dispute about the first cinemas location.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 An Englishman in the Balkans 🇧🇦

Banja Luka's Electric Cinema

I am constantly watching so many Banjalučani (people from Banja Luka), glued to their mobile devices, consuming huge amounts of video from either youtube or facebook. Few people know that the owners of the first cinema in Banja Luka was Moritz Gottlieb, who opened the first permanent cinema in the city on May 11, 1911…

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2 years ago · David Pejčinović-Bailey

The Milanović House is built in a Neo-Renaissance style, and its corner position is dominated by the balcony, over the entrance.

There is a story associated with this house.

It all started when Savo Milanović, as a thirteen-year-old boy, came from the village of Dabrac near Mrkonjić Grad in Banja Luka, with only a few sheepskins, and went to the cattle market to sell them.  He skillfully praised his goods and did not want to give them below the price, so a wealthy merchant noticed him and offered to work for him as an apprentice.

"Great-grandfather Savo was born in 1861, which means that he came to Banja Luka in 1874.  Diligent and resourceful, he quickly learned the trade, and after about 10 years he became independent and started his own business, thus gaining the capital with which he built a family house, Rhine recalls the story of her great-grandfather, whom she listened to growing up in this  home.

Savo and his wife Jovka, nee Stojanović, had five children - Nika, Sava, Staka, Sima and Vlado.  After his sons grew up, Savo registered a company called "Savo Milanović and Sons".

Niko, Sava's eldest son, ran a delicatessen on the ground floor of a house selling luxury goods, delicacies, foreign wines…

Vlado was engaged in cinematography, he was the owner of the "Palace-ton cinema", where the first sound film was shown in Banja Luka in 1933 and was remembered as the first Banja Luka filmmaker in our city.

Before him, cinematic life existed here, but thanks to traveling screeners who came from all over the world.  After World War II, Grandpa Vlado was the director of the Palace Cinema and the Kozara Summer Cinema

The City of Banja Luka, plans to make the house a city bookstore "Banja Luka House of Books"