[Spomenik] Exploring the Petrova Gora Monument

A Monument to the Uprising of the People of Kordun and Banija [Petrova Gora]

In the final years of WW2, the newly formed ‘Independent State of Croatia’ was openly working with the Nazis and targeting ethnic-Serbians for deportation. Having witnessed the deportations in the Plitviče area, about 2500 ethnic-Serbian peasant farmers in the nearby Kordun and Banija regions organized a resistance.  Their headquarters was located at the summit of the Mali Petrovac hill in the Pertrova Gora mountain range where they built infrastructure, defenses and even a military hospital. On March 19th, 1942, the Ustaše militia began ‘Operation Petrova Gora’ whereby they attacked the ethnic-serbs on the mountain.  Fighting lasted for several weeks and in a momentary lapse of defense, the offensive broke through and killed around 300 ethnic-Serbian peasants inside the compound who were armed with little more than shovels and pitchforks. This is where Petrova Gora’s Monument to the Uprising of the People of Kordun and Banija is located today.

The monument at Petrova Gora is what’s known as a ‘Spomenik’ – Serbocroatian for ‘monument’. Between the 1960’s-1990’s, hundreds of these massive, abstract and often Brutalist style Spomenik structures were erected across former Yugoslavia (today Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia) in locations of bloodshed, to commemorate lives lost to fascism.

The Petrova Gora monument building was designed in the 1970’s by Yugoslav Vojin Bakić, who based it on his abstract art piece called ‘sliced segments’. Construction was finished in 1981. The retrofuturistic masterpiece housed a congress hall, library and museum which contained relics of the struggle that ethnic-Serbians in the region have faced throughout history. In 1991, during the breakup of Yugoslavia, memorial complexes across the country were being neglected and by 1995, the monument at Petrova Gora had already been abandoned; only 14 years after it’s opening.

Finding the Monument on Petrova Gora Mountain

It was raining like it had been all weekend but we were committed to visiting the monument on our way from Zagreb down to Plitviče in April of 2018. As we began up the mountain, we passed a small house with a messy pile of logs standing higher than the little cabin’s roof; the aroma of a burning wood was in the air. We drove slowly over the flooded dirt road, frequently encountering large branches and boulders which blocked the road, threatening to destroy the car if we weren’t careful. Soon there were large stacks of lumber at the edges of the path and as we climbed higher, the narrow roads began to wind at the edge of cliffs, giving a spectacularly sad view of clean-cut forest. It was so quiet and abandoned, yet we had the feeling we weren’t supposed to be there. After creeping around the eerily silent landscape for over half an hour, we began to get the impression that we just weren’t in the right place. I remember seeing pictures online of people at the monument looking over lush forest as far as the eye could see… and we were hoping that this wasn’t it.

The mistake we had made was following our GPS to ‘Petrova Gora’ not realizing that this is only the name of the mountain range, not the monument which is actually called the ‘Monument to the Uprising of the People of Kordun and Banija’. There were several forks in the road where we thoughtlessly followed the directions of the GPS, and now we were on our own. We backtracked to the last fork after doing a very difficult turn-around and followed the alternate road to a roadblock with a no trespassing sign – usually a good sign when looking for abandoned places. However, we wouldn’t be able to bring the car, it was pouring rain and there was something in our gut telling us that this wasn’t the way – so we decided to check out the previous fork as well before committing to who-knows-how-long of a hike. As luck would have it, shortly after embarking down one more fork, we spotted the looming memorial on a distant peak of the mountain! Our choice of road led us straight to it and there was even a parking lot.

Simply otherworldly.

The memorial swallows you whole.

Ominous and Alluring

The monument at Petrova Gora is beautiful for all of it’s contradictions. It’s hostile windowless and cold metal exterior is somehow made to feel alive by it’s organic shape and reflective siding that interacts with the light of the movement of the trees and clouds. The strong winds from the rainstorm were pressing and popping the stainless steel panels making noises that were indistinguishable from the thunder; the building spoke to us. It beckoned us to come inside.

Inside the Petrova Gora Monument

Entering the building was extremely easy given the human sized hole in the fence just to the right of the front door. Inside was wet and there was an omnipresent sound of dripping raindrops, rushing water and the loud, irregular booms of the metal panels popping whenever the wind would blow – everything echoed. Luckily, the interior is completely concrete, so everything felt sturdy and safe. I’d read about a massive basement, but given the literal waterfall rushing through the elevator shaft, it was completely flooded when we visited. It was bright inside and the function of the buildings form became clear to me; the offset slices make room for skylight windows. Everything about this building feels so intentional. We made our way towards the top but decided against seeing what promised to be a spectacular view on the rooftop, for fear of being struck by lightning – maybe next time.

Light source of a windowless building.

Concrete Curves

A Timeless Building with a Sadly Relevant Message

In my opinion, the best modern architecture comes from the 80’s. They were so creative and keen to build something weird and novel and new. Some  tried to predict or influence the future of architecture; hence the term Retrofuturism. But here, I think Bakić nailed it. The Monument to the Uprising of the People of Kordun and Banija has stood the test of time and even in it’s dilapidated state, it still commands respect. It’s fitting, I think that such an architecturally timeless monument also stands for a relevant message that is still, sadly, so important to be heard today. The Petrova Gora memorial along with the other Spomenik structures are symbols against the walls, racism and hate so rampant in the world around us even now. What a truly inspirational place.

I encourage you to visit the Spomenik Database to learn more about their engaging history and maybe even visit a few yourself.

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