Two hours outside Zagreb on a particularly frosty and cold morning, I crested a hill and drove into the town of Podgarić. The fog had cleared by now – but trees, hills, and houses obscured my view until I pulled up in the car park.
Past a few stairs, an archway, and between landscaping that concealed earthen-crypts, stood this imposing asymmetric concrete monument. Rising from a slim base, the wings expand outwards and eye-shaped aluminium panels, look both at you and out into the valley.
The monument's wing tips, five in total, symbolize the five republics of Yugoslavia and represent the Partisan resistance's 'wings of victory' over death and defeat during WWII.
The raw concrete, larger than life size, and completely foreign feel of this Spomenik (monument) sparked in me a desire to see as many as I could on my 2023 former Yugoslavia holiday.
