Comments on: Yugoslav War Memorials

By: tiggy

tiggy — Sun, 16 Oct 2024 21:16:14 +0000

..again, if i’d have the ways and means i’d buy these and create my own “Neverland”. i’ve grown up with the “communist architecture”, it has a familiar touch, like being in a place like home. never been in Russia and it has changed too much for me or i just can’t appreciate it. it’s no more the safe place i visited in my sunny childhood days. as for a child there are no negative sides like criminality, hunger, political control, in a country. we were visiting a neighbor country that was friendly, i remember how soviet/estonian icecream tasted. paintings never really appealed to me and lately i’ve found my true love is in the sculptures. have made some by myself and would like to continue some day, and these just bring great happiness into my heart. i’m also sad they get forgotten and are unwanted and as such they will decay or get demolished. it’s also sad the modern time architects have forgotten how great stuff can be built simply by using concrete – not everything must be steel and glass. when i go to any city i only see steel and glass in the new buildings. it’s so boring. people have become scared of new ideas, new structures and really developing the city. why not build a wooden shopping center? or massive concrete building as a school? why not set a sign instead of getting lost in the mass? :/

By: Robert Day

Robert Day — Thu, 06 Oct 2024 22:49:23 +0000

Agree with many of the earlier posters. i have just finished reading a book on 1970s/80s Soviet architecture, and these monuments have a similar architectural language.

At the very least, they need to be recorded.

By: Stacey

Stacey — Thu, 22 Sep 2024 12:59:31 +0000

Wow! These are amazing works of art! Art is art, regardless of who constructed it, or what it meant to them. All art should be approached by asking “What was the artist trying to say?” “What context was the art created in (political, economic, personal, cultural, ideological, current events, etc..)?” and “What does it say to me, in my context?”

Scott: I’m not sure how you mean we have misinterpreted Egyptian monuments as well as other ancient constructs as they are considered monuments, creative efforts, and are often analyzed by experts in archaeology, art, and history within the context that they were created in (eg. The Colliseum in Rome, The Parthenon, The Temple at Angkor-Wat) As laymen, we don’t often appreciate the full significance of the monuments and art of different and past cultures, but I’m sure that those members of the academic fields who specialize in such things are quite up to date on their understanding of the significance of these ancient works of art.

As for having a miniature in my garden, or using them to shoot scenes in a sci-fi flick, I agree, they are all quite pleasing to the eye and evoke a feeling of otherworldlyness. I imagine that in the right light and weather (imagine #23 backlit through light fog as the sun rises behind it) they would seem quite alien!

Regardless, the artists that created these works were quite talented and had a vision that spoke of the great chaos of war and the resiliency of the human spirit of those who suffered under it. Out of something so horrid and unspeakable, a quiet, stoic beauty emerged throughout the slavic countryside. That in itself is quite remarkable.

By: Scott Baughman

Scott Baughman — Wed, 14 Sep 2024 13:53:58 +0000

You know, these are beautiful and majestic in a weird, derelict way. I love the way nature is encroaching on them. Do you think some of the ancient structures scientists have uncovered in Egypt, etc. were actually monuments left over like these and we’ve totally misinterpreted what they were doing there? Anyway, these are amazing and I agree someone needs to film a sci-fi epic (or even just a good Dr. Who episode) with the monuments as epic backgrounds. It would probably be pretty cheap/qualify for tax subsidies or breaks in the Balkans. They could use the economic boost, no?

By: Monoki

Monoki — Wed, 14 Sep 2024 04:53:44 +0000

Bellísimo! I feel sorry for those who can’t appreciates this beautiful pieces. Product of communism? yes, in the same way capitalism has its owns. i care about art, not ideologies.

By: Marko Jevtić

Marko Jevtić — Sun, 11 Sep 2024 19:07:17 +0000

Spomenik means monument. Simple as that. There are “spomeniks” that are predating communism, since they are simply monuments.
And yes… these are very cool. I don’t miss the opportunity to stop and visit some WWII communist monuments every time pass by all around ex Yugoslavia.