Monument to the uprising of the people of Kordun and Banija

[2] By mid-1941, the Serbs in these regions were planning resistance efforts,[3] culminating in an armed uprising in the town of Banski Grabovac in Banija on 23 July, organized by Rade Končar and Josip Kraš of the Communist Party of Croatia.[5] Thousands of Serbs retreated in fear to the forests surrounding the mountain range of Petrova Gora in Kordun, seeking protection and weapons rumored to be stashed in the area.[8] By 8 or 9 August major ethnic cleansing operations had ceased in much of Croatia; however, murders continued under the direction of Ante Pavelić and Slavko Kvaternik, particularly in regions that had previously been the sites of rebellion, including Petrova Gora.[11] The following year, Yugoslav president Ivan Ribar laid the foundation for a memorial on Petrova Gora, but the project was delayed due to funding issues and insurgent activity.[13] In 1965, under the leadership of chief planner Ante Marinović-Uzelac and a team of multidisciplinary experts, the Institute of Urbanism at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Zagreb began conceptualizing a memorial area.By 1969, Marinović-Uzelac, tourism expert Dragutin Alfier, and architect Bruno Milić had developed a general plan to create protected historical and natural sites for visits and recreation.[16] Veliki Petrovac, the highest summit of Petrova Gora, was chosen as the site for its strategic and scenic location, providing a setting where the building could blend with the surrounding beech forest and be visible from far distances.[17] Participants were encouraged to create a structure that would not only honor historical battles and the liberation war but also function as a museum, assembly hall, tourist center, restaurant, and an observation point.[17] The following year, the competition concluded with 17 submissions, each evaluated by a jury led by General Colonel Rade Bulat and composed of experts from various fields, including Vanja Radauš, Josip Seissel, and Savo Zlatić.[23] However, new demands from the executive committee brought challenges; for instance, the monument's construction prevented the removal of an existing structure atop Veliki Petrovac, and the need for a scenic area also necessitated adjustments to the original solution.[25] His original proposal, which consisted of a dual-component sculpture featuring an external concrete shell that enclosed a stainless steel sphere with a museum and observatory, was recognized for its concept but criticized for not matching the quality of his previous works.[33] Reception buildings were designed as two slabs covered with earth and greenery, featuring a shell made of glass, and were decorated with oak furniture and stone, with an information counter, ticket sales, and souvenirs, enclosed by seating areas offering views of the surrounding nature.[33] Its interior was planned to house a reading room, library, and administrative offices for Memorial Park Petrova Gora, with the names of 34,392 fallen fighters and civilian victims of the war inscribed on the inner walls.[41] The interior was converted into a base that housed a signal corps, a military police company, and an air defense platoon; a training center; and a storage facility for ammunition, weapons, and explosives.[45] In 1994, Mile Dakić, the former director of the memorial park, reported to the government of the Republic of Serbian Krajina that since 1992, the destruction of buildings, inventory, books, museum exhibits, and archival materials had persisted, leaving the entire complex in a state of decay.[50] The monument was featured in Croatian artist David Maljković [nl]'s video series Scene for a New Heritage (2004-2006), and in a Museum of Modern Art photo exhibition titled Toward a Concrete Utopia from 2018 to 2019.
Serbs being led to their executions in Banija , 1942
Sculptor Vojin Bakić in 1956
The monument in 2012. Stainless steel panels are visibly missing from the exterior; many stolen since the Croatian War of Independence in 1991.
CroatiaKordunBanijaPetrova GoraMaličkaTopuskoVojin BakićCroatianmodernistYugoslav World War II memorialYugoslav PartisanUstašeWorld War IIpublic squarevisitor centersconcretestainless steellibraryJure BilićCroatian War of IndependenceYugoslav People's Armyvandalismoccupation of YugoslaviaIndependent State of Croatiaa genocideBanski GrabovacRade KončarJosip KrašCommunist Party of CroatiaIvan RukavinaAnte PavelićSlavko KvaternikVojnićZagrebIvan RibarinsurgentFaculty of ArchitectureUniversity of ZagrebBattle of Gvozd MountainMilitary FrontierGreen Cadresassembly hallobservation pointRade BulatVanja RadaušJosip SeisselSavo ZlatićurbanisticYugoslav dinarsspiralshellsGrgo GamulinVladimir BakarićVelika Kladušaobservatoryelevatorscylindersocial spacegalleriesethnographicBjelovarJadovno concentration camplandscape architecturebus stopsouvenirsgranitehorticulturalfire escapefilm screeningsSwedenJosip Broz Titosignal corpsmilitary policeair defenseoperating roomvandalizedlootedRepublic of Serbian KrajinaOperation StormSerb National CouncilCroatian Democratic UnionIndependent Democratic Serb PartyOdašiljači i vezerepeaterhigh voltagegraffitiMuseum of Modern ArtNetflixTribes of EuropaUnknown Mortal Orchestraself-titled albumList of World War II monuments and memorials in CroatiaBanski Grabovac massacreVlahovićGlina massacresBiondich, MarkOxford University PressGoldstein, SlavkoThe New York Review of BooksRamet, SabrinaIndiana University PressKlanjecJournal of the Society of Architectural HistoriansUniversity of California PressInstitute of Contemporary HistoryThe BafflerBalkan InsightNovi ListThe Architect's NewspaperJutarnji ListRTL CroatiaVečernji ListBakić, VojinFaculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb