modern kind of tree houses
25 abandoned Yugoslav monuments that look like they’re from the future
“These structures were commissioned by former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito in the 1960s and 70s to commemorate sites where WWII battles took place or where concentration camps stood. They were designed by different sculptors and architects, conveying powerful visual impact to show the confidence and strength of the Socialist Republic. In the 1980s, these monuments attracted millions of visitors per year, especially young pioneers for their ‘patriotic education.’ After the Republic dissolved in early 1990s, they were completely abandoned, and their symbolic meanings were forever lost. From 2006 to 2009, Kempenaers toured around the ex-Yugoslavia region with the help of a 1975 map of memorials, bringing before our eyes a series of melancholy yet striking images.”
This is making rounds on my dash again so I will repeat what I said a year ago: these aren’t actually abandoned. And the sentence “their symbolic meaning is forever lost” is not very well-informed, since at least one of these sculptures - the third one of the concrete flower in Jasenovac, near the site of the 1940s death camp, (also Niš, Sisak, and Knin) - still has massive cultural, historical, religious and psychological significance for all the death camp survivors and their families, and everyone who fought in any war for (or against) Yugoslavia.
This isn’t history: it’s still cultural memory, and its symbolic meanings remain present.
Saying that the Republic ‘dissolved’ is like saying that getting electric shocks to your genitals is ‘slightly unpleasant’ - the Yugoslav Wars lasted for a total of seven years (1991-1995, and then 1998-1999/2001), during which there were all the things you can find in a war with some ethnic cleansing and genocide thrown in for good measure. These sculptures date as far back as the Second World War, that much is accurate, but people still remember: a memorial ceremony is held every year at Jasenovac and other locations, because these things are kind of hard to forget, even though it’s been decades since they occurred.
This article isn’t only misinformed and inaccurate, it also doesn’t credit the original photographer, and my semi-professional opinion as someone who was born in Yugoslavia is that it’s bullshit.
The pictures are nice, though.
Re-reblogging for Lyns’s important commentary.
