Tjentište War Memorial

Architecture has played a big role Yugoslavia, especially during the decades after the Second World War and around the Yugoslav War. 

From 1960 until 1980, the leader of the Yugoslavia-Josip Broz Tito, commissioned more than 100 monuments commemorating the victims of fascism. These monuments remind of future of freedom, equality, independence, progress and a better life for everyone – a future that could only exist thanks to the fact that others had given their life. 

Each monument is a tombstone that reminds visitors of the land that used to be called Yugoslavia. One of the monuments is the Battle of Sutjeska memorial monument located in the Valley of Heroes near the Bosnian village of Tjentište. Opened in 1974, this monument pays tribute to those who lost their lives in a bloody WWII battle between May and June 1943.

The monuments, along with their often natural surroundings, were designed to become public spaces where people could hike or simply lounge. Yearly student excursions to these monuments were organised, where they learned about the history and the origin of Yugoslavia.