SpomenikMonumentDatabase

"Spomenik" is the Serbo-Croatian/Slovenian term for "monument". These memorials were constructed throughout Yugoslavia from the 1960s-1990s, commemorating the atrocities and victory over the Axis forces during World War II. Hailing from coastal retreats to remote mountains, hundreds of Spomeniks were erected, utilizing creative combinations of concrete and steel.

作者简介

Spomenik’theSerbo-Croat/Slovenianwordfor‘monument’–referstoaseriesofmemorialsbuiltinTito’sRepublicofYugoslaviafromthe1960s-1990s,markingthehorroroftheoccupationandthedefeatofAxisforcesduringWorldWarII.Hundredswerebuiltacrossthecountry,fromcoastalresortstoremotemountains.Throughtheseimaginativeformsofconcreteandsteel,aclassless,forward–looking,socialistsociety,freeofethnictensions,wasenvisaged.InsteadoflookingtotheideologicallyalignedSovietUnionforartisticinspiration,Titoturnedtothewestandworksofabstractexpressionismandminimalism.Asaresult,Yugoslaviawasabletodevelopitsowndistinctidentitythroughthesebrutalmonuments,whichwereusedaspoliticaltoolstoarticulateTito’spersonalvisionofanewtomorrow.Today,followingthebreakupofthecountryandthesubsequentYugoslavWarsofthe1990s,somehavebeendestroyedorabandoned.Manyhavesufferedtheconsequencesofethnictensions–onceviewedassymbolsofhopetheyarenowthefocusofresentmentandanger.Thisbookbringstogetherthelargestcollectionofspomenikspublishedtodate.Eachhasbeenextensivelyphotographedandresearchedbytheauthor,tomakethisbookthemostcomprehensivesurveyofthisobscureandfascinatingarchitecturalphenomenon.Afold-outmaponthereverseofthedustjacketshowstheexactlocationofeachspomenikusingGPScoordinates.