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| The Kosmaj monument in Serbia is dedicated to soldiers of the Kosmaj Partisan detachment from World War II. |
Spomenik, The Monuments of Former Yugoslavia
The brutalist war memorials found throughout the former Yugoslavia were weird enough when they were built in the 1960s and 70s. Today, separated by the end of an architectural movement and the disintegration of the country, they seem almost alien.
Belgian photographer Jan Kempenaers captured Yugoslav monuments as artistic objects in his book, Spomenik, named for the Serb-Croat word for monument.
Thousands of the monuments were commissioned by dictator Josip Broz Tito to commemorate the resistance against Axis invaders during World War II. The abstract style stood in contrast to socialist realism and also served a political purpose.
"Tito couldn't erect figures or busts in honour of generals because he didn't want to be seen to be favouring any ethnic group, for example a Bosnian general or a Serb war hero, so instead they made these things that didn't refer to people."
Although the monuments, made of reinforced concrete, steel, and granite, used to be tourist attractions, they have receded into obscurity since the fall of the Soviet Union and the Yugoslav Wars. When Kempenaers told locals what he was photographing, he says they thought he was crazy.
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Photography © Jan Kempenaers http://www.jankempenaers.info
