These amazing and futuristic Yugoslavian monuments were built between 1960 and 1970 to commemorate WWII battle sites and locations of concentration camps.
The first thing you notice about them is that they stand out, because they look like nothing we’ve seen before. After all that was the main purpose for their order by Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito: to express through their powerful impact the power of the nation. So why didn’t he order something a bit more normal but still as opulent? Why did they have do build such strange and futuristic monuments? The curious thing is that there were several designers like sculptors and architects so we’d expect different visions and opinions on how a soviet monument should look like. But, the fact is that these architectural sculptures look as they were designed in the same odd manner. The key to answering that question can be found by looking closer to the history of architecture. After modernism started being criticized, architects turned for a little while to futurism and utopias, designs that embrace technology, bold ideas and never seen before shapes and forms. Of course, they were never built because there was no place for them in our cities at the time. However, in this part of the world, small scale sculptures suggesting the same line of thought are able to be built with a clear purpose: to mark WWII battle sites and concentration camps. However grim and dark the things that they commemorate might be, these awesome structures attracted millions of tourists in the 80’s but after the Republic dissolved in early 1990’s, their success was lost and they became the creepy things we see today.
Only a few years ago photographer Jan Kempenaers traveled the Balkans in search of these amazing sculptures called Spomeniks. Spread all over the land, they no longer fulfill their initial purpose so one might wonder was is to be done with them. The truth is that through their shape and appearance they never would’ve managed to suggest, without a short description probably, WWII. These strange Yugoslavian monuments were inspired by flowers, crystals, and macro-views of viruses or DNA. A rather new concept in architecture. Probably their most obvious purpose today would be to present any visitor the chance of understanding our past, our history.
Photo courtesy of Jan Kempenaers
Your text is ignorant, propaganda and falls in so many ways…
1st. And most important THESE ARE NOT SOVIET monuments=spomenici they can only belong to the ppl in their respective countries and they were built by Yugoslavian government which were not soviet.
2nd. Communism=dark part of human history? And today’s capitalism is very bright part? (propaganda)
3rd. In Yugoslavia we had SOCIALISM not communism.
4th. “they no longer fulfill their initial purpose…” that would be the same as if you would tell that any other monument in the world have no meaning anymore because government and system of a country in which it is located has changed.
5th The monuments are there to commemorate victims and battles of WWII and that can never fade, how can you ever say that the monument for the victims in concentration camp lost its initial purpose? Or a monument for soldiers fell in battle to defend their country?
6th ”After all, there are no mistakes in architecture that future generations should not look back at and see that they don’t repeat them.” I don’t quite understand this but if you say these monuments are mistakes you are ignorant fool. Just because they don’t fit in your perception of monuments and what they should commemorate it doesn’t mean they are mistakes. Who the hell are you to say that we shouldn’t commemorate victims of Nazism.
7th. I can say for sure that those monuments that are in Serbia are still monuments known to ppl and are still visited on their respective dates. They maybe look creepy because Serbia is poor country and maintaining of monuments sadly it not on the top of the list…
Your article is ignorant and whit out any historical facts being checked, only thing good in it is the architecture and design of the monuments which was very futuristic for that period and even for today.
They surly cannot be Soviet if they are in Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia pursued a policy of neutrality and separated from Soviets in 1948, and it became one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Federal_Republic_of_Yugoslavia
Thank you for your comment Милан Радић! We will correct the article as soon as possible!