Author — Dushan Jamonia

Location – Kozara National Park, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dimensions and materials – 33 m high, 8 m wide. Concrete, rebar, steel panels

What is the monument of the revolution dedicated to

The monument, memorial wall and museum were built to commemorate the Kozaro offensive in the spring of 1942, during which more than ten thousand partisans and civilians were killed.

History of creation

On January 26, 1962, during the competition, out of 49 submitted works, the committee chose the concept proposed by Dušan Jamonya. Construction began on 2 August 1971 and was funded almost exclusively by donations. A year after the completion of construction, the monument immediately became one of the most significant memorial objects in all of Yugoslavia. There was even a saying in the country that its inhabitants were divided into three categories: “those who went to Rome, those who went to Mecca, and those who went to Kozara.”

Due to its remote location and protected status within a national park, the monument has escaped major damage and vandalism since the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Symbolism

The central monument of the memorial complex is a cylindrical monolith about 33 meters high. It consists of 20 vertical ribs with discontinuous curved ridges, the outer edges of which are covered with strips of polished stainless steel.

Dušan Jamonia wanted to create an ambivalent structure with a rhythmic profile in which “positive” projections and “negative” recesses alternate, as a symbol of the antagonism of life and death.