MONUMENT OF THE BATTLE OF SUTJESKA

Installed halfway up the Sutjeska Valley, this monument (Spomenik Bitke na Sutjesci/Споменик Бици на Сутјесци) is one of the strongest works of socialist Yugoslavia. Modernist in style, it pays tribute to the fallen partisans in 1943 during one of Tito's great "victorious retreats." Also known as the "Tjentište monument" (Tjentište Spomenik), the work is very impressive and has a beautiful setting. It is part of the "Valley of Heroes" memorial complex consisting of eighty installations throughout the national park.

Main Monument. It was erected from 1969 to 1971 under the direction of the Serbian sculptor Miodrag Živković (1928-2020). The reinforced concrete structure is 19 m high and 25 m wide. Installed on a median at the top of two semicircular staircases, it consists of two large "wings" with angular contours. For its designer, these wings represent both the breakthrough and the victory of the partisans at the end of the battle: they managed to break the encirclement by passing between the enemy lines, represented by the two wings, which are also an evocation of victory, traditionally represented under the features of a winged woman in ancient Greece. The angular shapes inside the wings represent the partisans who by their sacrifice made the breakthrough possible. An important place of celebration until 1991, the monument was targeted by Bosnian-Serb soldiers during the last war. It resisted well to the explosives and was restored in 2017.

Valley of Heroes (Dolina Heroja). Within a 10 km radius of the main monument, in places marked by the fighting and accessible only on foot, there are 79 small monuments to the partisans. For example, there is a plaque at the place where Nurija Pozderac, Tito's right-hand man, fell in Dragoš Sedlo, in the primary forest of Perućica, or the Monument of the 2^e dalmatian Brigade, on a plateau at 1,400 m above sea level (GPS: 43.3215, 18.6331).

Memorial House (Spomen Kuća). Located below the main monument, this reinforced concrete building with pointed roofs is due to the Serbian-Montenegrin architect Ratko Radović (1935-2005). Completed in 1975, it took five years of work. The interior is decorated with a cycle of macabre frescoes by Croatian painter Krsto Hegedušić (1901-1975). Further down, a museum traces the various phases of the battle.