October 21st Museum
Brief Details:
Name: October 21st Museum [Muzej 21. oktobar/Музеј 21. октобар]
Location: Kragujevac, Serbia
Year completed: February 15th, 1976
Designers: Ivan Antić & Ivanka Raspopović
Coordinates: N44°01'16.7", E20°53'39.5"
Dimensions: 36m wide x 48m long and 23m tall
Materials used: red brick & reinforced concrete
Condition: excellent
History:
This first section examines the inception, creation and construction of the October 21st Museum in Kragujevac, Serbia. Within this analysis, we will investigate the architects behind the design of the museum and its eventual unveiling in 1976, while also looking at the museum's history through the Yugoslav-era up to the present day. Finally, we will look at the symbolism of the museum and how its shape and form express the history of the massacre that occurred here in 1941.
Museum Construction
The creation of the October 21st Museum was initiated as a project meant to house and memorialize the history and heritage of the massacre that occurred in Kragujevac on October 21st, 1941 during WWII, where +2,300 innocent civilians were killed by Nazi soldiers. For more info about this massacre, see the main Kragujevac page HERE. In 1953, a memorial park called "Šumarice" was established to commemorate the area within which this massacre occurred, though, while the committee in charge of the park, the City National Committee and the League of Fighters of Kragujevac, recognized in 1953 that a memorial museum would be needed, efforts towards creating it did not begin until the early 1960s. In 1964, the committee reached out to the renowned architect team of Ivan Antić and Ivanka Raspopović, who had just recently been lauded for building the visionary Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade. The following year in 1965, Antić and Raspopović submitted to the committee a conceptual model of their plans for the museum (Photo 1).
Photo 1: The conceptual model for the museum presented by Antić and Raspopović
Their concept was subsequently accepted by the committee and fundraising for the museum's construction began in 1966. The largest component of the museum's funding came from the local automobile factory "Zastava", whose workers offered up two daily wages per year between 1966 and 1970. Once full funding for the project was complete, Antić and Raspopović signed a contract with the committee in 1971 towards the museum's construction. On-the-ground work for the museum lasted four years (Photos 2 & 3), with construction efforts being fully completed in 1975. The facility's interior arrangement took another year, with the final unveiling of the October 21st Museum taking place on February 15th, 1976 (according to the museum's official website). Situated within the grassy landscape of Šumarice park, the museum is composed of 33 red brick towers (each roughly 3m x 3m) which all rise to various heights from 4m up to 23m tall. The form of the museum is streamlined and modern (towering in its monumenality), yet, the traditional red brick facade lends to it an atmosphere of traditionalism and speaks to the local architectural vernacular. It is crystalline and geometric, while, at the same time, it flows and undulates with the rolling Šumadija landscape. The exterior walls of the complex have no windows, with only square domed plexiglass skylights at the top of each brick tower allowing light into the museum. The interior of the museum is enclosed within walls of the same red brick as the exterior (stylistically connecting both the outside and inside of the building). These interior red brick walls form an angular dynamic space, 450 sq m, for various displays, artwork and museological content. The floors are paved with a polished black stone with veins of white throughout.
Photo 2: An early 1970s view of the October 21st Museum under construction
Photo 3: An early 1970s view of the October 21st Museum under construction
The exhibition space consists of two levels, across which are displayed paintings and sculptures memorializing the massacre, as well as interpretive displays and educational placards. At the time it was built, the exhibits inside the museum employed state-of-the-art audio-visual technology to tell the story of the massacre in the most interactive way possible. A semi-circular staircase with black stone treads connects the two levels, with each level having separate entrances. On the upper level, there is a permanent exhibition titled "The Tragedy of Kragujevac in 1941" that explores in detail the horrific nature of the massacre that occurred here in 1941 (created by Staniša Brkić, Nenad Đorđević and Milan Koljanin). Meanwhile, the lower level is dedicated to a cycle of 27 memorial paintings titled "Kragujevac 1941" by Serbian artist Petar Lubarda. A space at the northeast edge of the museum was originally meant to house a theatre/presentation auditorium, however, it was ultimately instead developed into a three-level square annex (clad in pink glass) reserved for administrative needs. Meanwhile, the grassy grounds in the direct vicinity around the museum are populated by a series of memorial sculptures that speak to the history of the WWII massacre that occurred here, including a memorial flame element.
Yugoslav-era to Present Day
The October 21st Museum in Kragujevac was one of the most visited memorial institutions in Serbia during the Yugoslav-era, where nearly every school child in the republic (as well as many from the others) would have visited the museum at least once during their youth. With the WWII massacre at this location so painfully involving school children who were killed by the Nazi occupiers, it served as a visceral lesson to young people about the horrors of the war that connected to them directly. Even up to the present day, it is rare for anyone to visit the museum without seeing bus-loads of school children attending field trips to tour the facility. The legacy of the museum was further solidified in 1979, when the museum was designated and protected by the Serbian government as a cultural property of great importance. In fact, the entire Šumarice Memorial Park area serves as a verdant social space and cultural/historical repository for not only the city of Kragujevac but also all of Serbia.
Photo 4: A vintage 1970s photo of the October 21st Museum
Meanwhile, on the exterior of the red brick facade by the entrance to the museum is a raised letter Serbian Cyrillic inscription that is a poetic verse by the Serbian poet Branko Miljković (a literary figure often referred to as the "Serbian Prince of Poetry"). The inscription is a stanza his from his poem "Tjentište" (about the 1943 Battle of Sutjeska), featured in his 1959 book "Death Against Death/Smrću protiv smrti". As translated by Aleksandra Milanović, it roughly reads in English as:
"...and may it be the beginning and the end of the world which would have their name and our hands, here where history spoke out loud, here where they left their blood to glow, here where earth and water and air live off of their death..."
While the museum is reported to have received minor damage during the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia, this was quickly repaired and the complex restored to its original condition. Today, the October 21st Museum resides in good condition and receives hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.
Symbolism
The choice of form, materials and layout integrated into the October 21st Museum by its architects Ivan Antić and Ivanka Raspopović is replete with symbolism and historical meaning. Firstly, let us look at the primary facade material used in the museum: red brick. As previously mentioned, while the red brick does stand as a reference to the local architectural vernacular, it simultaneously symbolizes the blood of those innocent people that was spilled at this site during the 1941 massacre.
Photo 5: A view looking up through one of the brick towers
Meanwhile, the number of the red brick towers that make up the museum combines to 33 in total. This number represents the 33 mass graves scattered around Šumarice Memorial Park that contain the mortal remains of the massacre victims. The heights of each tower vary from 4m tall up to 23m tall, a feature which testifies to the fact that those who were killed during the massacre came from all age groups, from young children up to old and feeble individuals. The red brick towers contain no windows along their facades, a feature that speaks to the darkness and hopelessness these massacre victims endured in their moments before death. The only light that penetrates into the building is from skylights at the top of the towers. When looking up through these towers at the skylights from inside the museum, one gets the impression of looking down the barrel of a long gargantuan rifle, as if you yourself are about to face execution from above (Photo 5). As such, the building itself puts you in the shoes of the victims. Alternatively, this tunnel view through the towers looking up at the light could also be interpreted as a vision from the bottom of a deep dark well, hopeless and with no way out.
Sculptures inside the Museum:
Within the October 21st Museum is a series of memorial sculptures that speak to the bloody massacre that occurred here in Kragujevac during WWII. The primary large-scale sculptural works here were created by the artists Nandor Glid and Oto Logo. Within this section, each of these sculptures will be examined in detail, looking at their form, symbolism and history.
"Kragujevac October":
Photo 6: A view of the 1974 sculpture titled "Kragujevac October" by Nandor Glid. Credit: personal photo
In the main entrance foyer on the upper level of the October 21st Museum is a large memorial sculpture which is titled"Kragujevac October", but also known as the "A Bloody Fiarytale/Krvava bajka", which was created by the sculptor Nandor Glid and unveiled here in 1974. This work sits just beneath the "Enough Blood, Enough Killing" painting by Petar Lubarda (Photo 6). The sculpture consists of, at its center, a bronze relief of suffering victims of the massacre, with their agonized crying faces flanked by outstretched arms writhing in pain. It is a symbolic "pit" of despair and horror. These faces and hands are all pierced with gunfire, adding to the grisly and macabre visuals of the relief. Hands pierced by holes no doubt lends a level of easily understood Christian iconography to the scene. Meanwhile, around this relief are a circle of rifles, machine guns and bayonets (all scavenged armaments from the war) pointed directly at these helpless writhing victims, all manned by the disembodied Wehrmacht helmets of the Nazis. These helmets are empty and faceless, communicating the machine-like and depersonalized nature of the massacre. In the 2012 Nandor Glid monograph, Glid is quoted as remarking on sculpture "I separated the shooting victims from the executioners even formally - they were made of different materials", an attempt to convey the humanity and inhumanity of the two distinct subjects (faces of the victims are seen but the perpetrators are NOT). The confining encirclement of the victims speaks to their helplessness and oppression, leaving them no path to escape. Glid's sculpture is powerful and invokes the dreadful feeling of despair. It is most certainly a sobering and befitting work to include as an introduction piece to this museum.
"Breakthrough to the East":
Photo 7: A view of the 1975 sculpture titled "Breakthrough the to East/Prodor na istok" by Oto Logo. Credit: personal photo
In the upper level of the museum, there is a second sculpture posited on the high corner of the red brick wall that is titled "Breakthrough the to East/Prodor na istok" which was created in 1975 by Serbian sculptor Oto Logo (Photo 7). Crafted from galvanized sheet metal, this dynamic sculpture depicts a large imposing eagle form that symbolizes the intimidating stature of Germany at the beginning of WWII. With its wings spread out wide and its tail feathers extending downward like invading tendrils, the sculpture is unsettling in its craftsmanship, characterized by its sharp edges and piercing features. At its mid-section appears an arsenal of firepower pointed at the viewer, demonstrating the violence and oppression with which this fearsome foe descended upon Yugoslavia in 1941.
"Death of the Mastodon":
In the same upper-level foyer as the above-described "Breakthrough to the East" sculpture is displayed is yet another 1975 sculpture by Serbian sculptor Oto Logo that is titled "Death of the Mastodon/Smrt mastodonta" (Photo 8). Suspended from the ceiling beneath one of the domed plexiglass skylights, this sculpture serves as a foil to Logo's previous work. While "Breakthrough to the East" depicts Germany at the beginning of WWII, "Death of the Mastodon" shows Germany at the end of WWII, represented here as a heap of disheveled broken parts settled in a great heap, all rendered in polished galvanized sheet metal. The most conspicuous aspect of the sculpture is the three long-barreled artillery cannons lying flat beneath the viewer, with them all being stamped with a Partisan star. This element illustrates that their vast firepower has been overcome and co-opted by the communist forces. Through this sculpture, Logo displays Germany as a smoldering heap, a defeated incapacitated version of its previous incarnation, which seemed before so insurmountable and invincible.
Photo 8: A view of the 1975 sculpture titled "Death of the Mastodon/Smrt mastodonta" by Oto Logo. Credit: personal photo
Paintings inside the Museum:
Within the October 21st Museum is a cycle of 27 memorial paintings titled "Kragujevac 1941", which were created by Serbian artist Petar Lubarda and painted by the artist between 1966 and 1968 (Photo 9a). These works were gifted by Lubarda, without any compensation, to the museum at its unveiling in 1976 under the condition that they never leave the institution. In a letter he wrote to the museum gifting these paintings, Lubarda wrote: "There are many examples of an artist recording the events of his time - shocked, horrified, sometimes joyful and amazed, but never an indifferent observer. Because it is impossible to create indifferently and heartlessly anything that would outlive its time, and thus be connected to what has passed and is coming. Is there a more terrible sight for human eyes than a handful of children being shot at by armed, terrifying figures who call themselves people?!" [source]
Photo 9a: A photo of Petar Lubarda [source]
Lubarda was invited to create this cycle of paintings by the museum's construction committee in 1965. He went on to accept enthusiastically. He worked closely with the museum's architects Ivan Antić and Ivanka Raspopović towards the creation of a space that would best exhibit his paintings. It is rare in art that you have an artist work so closely and actively with the architects of the space that will eventually display their work. The paintings were all created in a variety of sizes and were rendered in various mediums, such as tempera, oil, casein, lacquer, and even car paints. As researcher Jelena Davidović relates in her analysis of these paintings: "Together they form a kind of visual novel, on the subject of the unprecedented suffering of a city and of its proud citizens". As a collection, these paintings exist as a formative anti-war masterpiece that stands on the same level as Picasso's "Guernica", though, unfortunately, nowhere near as well known or studied. As Lubarda was held in a Nazi prison camp "Stalag 17b" at Krems, Austria during WWII himself, he was no stranger to the horrors of war and was not hesitant to depict them in his work. Within these paintings, he digests the trauma he faced during the war while interred at the camps, as well as the tragedy of the Kragujevac massacre itself. In the following section, we will examine a sample of these paintings in detail, though, sadly, I do not have enough space here to examine all 27 works individually.
"Enough Blood, Enough Killing":
Photo 9b: A view of the 1968 painting "Enough Blood, Enough Killing/Dosta krvi, dosta ubijanja" by Petar Lubarda. Credit: personal photo
The most monumental and central of the painted works by Lubarda here within the collection at the October 21st Museum is the massive mural titled "Enough Blood, Enough Killing/Dosta krvi, dosta ubijanja" [1968] (Photo 9b). Measuring roughly 3.5m x 5m in size, it hangs high on the red brick wall above the upper-level main entrance to the museum. This grand painting can be viewed as a culmination of all of the 26 other works in this collection, as many of them contain elements and/or serve as smaller studies towards the creation of this central mural. Rendered primarily with the colors black, purple and red, the composition is highly stylized with its figuration, set upon an abstracted landscape. Patches of color are scattered around the scene, while the figures themselves are outlined with thick impasto.
On the left side of the scene, we see a wall of Nazi troops, made apparent with their distinct helmets, firing their rifles and machine guns toward the innocent crowd on the right, who are outlined in white and sit in a heaping twisted pile of bodies. The Nazi soldiers are faceless, appearing more machine-like than man, an allusion to the industrial nature of their killing. Then, at the bottom left corner of the scene, a gallows is visible with a collection of dozens of bodies hanging from it. Bold sprays of red cover the canvas, no doubt symbolizing the bloody nature of the massacre, as well as that of the red muzzle blasts emanating from the Nazi rifles towards the crowd. This bright red blood across the canvas is jarring and sobering when viewing this mural, as the color stands out dramatically over the muted tones of the rest of the scene. The background is a flurry of swirls, violent brush strokes, pink smoke, and clear destruction, a dark and hopeless landscape that is punctuated only by those blood-red streaks. However, from this flurry, the faint images of a column of giant Partisans can be seen emerging from this smoky red chaos. They thrust forth a bright white hand toward the Nazi firing squad. This enigmatic hand demands an end to the killing and the bloodshed, with it, symbolizing the fight for peace and the unrelenting battle of good verus evil. Grisly and filled with pathos, this painting solemnly embodies the suffering of those who perished here in the 1941 Kragujevac massacre of innocent people and those who came forward to avenge them.
"The Shooting":
Photo 10: A view of the 1967 painting "The Shooting/Streljanje" by Petar Lubarda. Credit: personal photo
In this next painting, we see a 1967 work by Lubarda that is titled "The Shooting/Streljanje" (measuring 24cm x 96cm) which depicts a scene of the pile of twisted bodies which settled after the Nazi massacre (Photo 10). This painting is located on the lower level of the museum. This painting appears to be a sectional study for the large central mural. The bodies are seen here outlined in a chalky white, with their forms slowly disintegrating as they approach the dark void at the bottom of the scene. In the background, we see again Lubarda's signature patches of red and purple that he carries through much of this cycle, symbolizing the spilled blood and burning ruins of Kragujevac left behind by the Nazi occupiers. Also in the background can be seen a long series of gallows rendered in a bold white line. From these gallows hang the bodies of yet more innocent people, all executed in retribution by the Nazis.
"The Executed I":
Photo 11: A view of the 1966 painting "The Executed I/Streljane I" by Petar Lubarda. Credit: personal photo
In this next painting, we see a 1966 work by Lubarda that is titled "The Executed I/Streljane I" (measuring 40cm x 64cm) which depicts a close-up scene of the tortured innocent bodies that lay in a heap on the ground after massacred (Photo 11). This painting is located on the lower level of the museum. It is the first of a two-part study for the central mural, with the second being very similar in composition and size. In this study, the bodies are outlined in black, with their forms being rendered in white. Lifeless twisted limbs protrude from the pile, laid out upon a solemn background of purple. While Lubarda refrains from using dramatic red flashes of blood here, the atmosphere of horror and despair is nonetheless apparent in the heart-wrenching grisly tangle of agonizing figures.
"1941":
Photo 12: A view of the 1966 painting "1941" by Petar Lubarda. Credit: personal photo
In this next painting, we see a 1966 work by Petar Lubarda that is titled "1941" (measuring 60cm x 148cm) which depicts a violent scene of the Nazi war machine, seen on the right, levying a fiery and devastating assault (Photo 12). This painting is located on the lower level of the museum. The form of the Nazi war machine is rendered as a German military helmet out of which protrudes a mass of rifles and artillery. These guns reign down a ruined scene of red, which can be understood as both fire (burning the city) and blood (from all those who perished in the wake). However, one is not able to make out clearly what form is burning (or bleeding), as its shape appears indistinguishable. In following the symbolic theme of the German helmet, the fiery form could be that of a Titovka, the hat worn by the Yugoslav Partisans. As such, the title of this painting "1941" could be understood as a symbolic representation of the start of WWII in Yugoslavia in 1941 where it is aggressively invaded by Axis forces.
"Resistance 1941":
Photo 13: A view of the 1966 painting "Resistance 1941/Otpor 1941" by Petar Lubarda. Credit: personal photo
In this next painting, we see a 1966 work by Petar Lubarda that is titled "Resistance 1941/Otpor 1941" (measuring 61cm x 121cm) which depicts a scene of the initial Yugoslav Partisan resistance efforts against Axis occupation and oppression (Photo 13). This painting is located on the lower level of the museum. On the left side of the scene, we see the Nazi war machine with its guns and artillery pointed toward a heap of twisted bodies on the ground, with a bold mottled red background symbolizing the bloodshed and horror that has ensued. The perpetrators of this onslaught of aggression are rendered in blackness, illustrating their descending dark force. However, from this heap of innocent bodies springs a white explosion of resistance, which itself can be seen harnessing power from the massacre victims, as its was their tragic deaths that inspired the act of rebellion. Though, in 1941, this resistance has not yet fully matured, as such, it has not yet grown enough strength to overtake the forces of evil responsible for the massacre. Though, in time, we will watch it flourish through Lubarda's cycle of paintings. "Resistance 1941" represents the nascent grassroots defiance of the Partisans and symbolizes this struggle that welled up from the domestic population in response to Yugoslavia's Axis occupation and oppression through the Partisan uprising.
"A Portrait of the Enemy in 1941":
In this next painting, we see a 1968 work by Petar Lubarda that is titled "A Portrait of the Enemy 1941/Portret Neprijatelja iz 1941-e" (measuring 100cm x 85cm) which depicts a stylized vision of the rampaging Nazi war machine (Photo 14). This painting is located on the lower level of the museum. In this vision, we see what can only be described as a massive mechanical beast marching forward like an animal tank. From it extends rifles and artillery, as it is poised to stomp upon Kragujevac. In portraying the Nazi war machine as a bear-like ravaging robot monster, Lubarba communicates the inhuman and grisly means why which the Axis forces reigned terror and oppression upon the landscape and the people of the city. A single red light can be visible in the city below, possibly indicating the beast's target. Set upon a dark and foreboding background, the beast itself is highlighted only with streaks of electric blue, its inhuman character is further emphasized. In front of the beast's view is shown some nature of disembodied screen displaying a garbled nonsensical image, perhaps symbolizing that his beast was controlled from afar and given incomprehensible orders of chaos. A hint of the silhouette of this beast can be slightly seen in the final large mural painting "Enough Blood, Enough Killing".
Photo 14: A view of the 1968 painting "A Portrait of the Enemy 1941/Portret Neprijatelja iz 1941-e" by Petar Lubarda. Credit: personal photo
"Spectre of Fear I":
Photo 15: A view of the 1968 painting "Spectre of Fear I/Utvara Straha I" by Petar Lubarda. Credit: personal photo
In this next painting, we see a 1968 work by Petar Lubarda that is titled "Spectre of Fear I/Utvara Straha I" (measuring 71cm x 101cm) which depicts a scene of a terrifying monster/beast that appears to be invoking the powers of evil (Photo 15). This painting is located on the lower level of the museum. This work bears some similarities to the previous painting "Portrait of the Enemy", but while that painting showed the oppressive Nazi war machine as more animal-like, the "Spectre of Fear" painting depicts the enemy much more like a monster from the depths of hell (perhaps some sort of demon-bird). Guns and artillery emit from the chest of the spectre, while bursts of white electricity dominate the scene. Within this electric field, the spectre appears to be summoning an even greater evil which it will no doubt unleash upon the earth. Within this work, Lubarda seems to be crystalizing the fear and terror that the people of Kragujevac would have been feeling and witnessing when faced with those about to massacre them.
"Combustion":
Photo 16: A view of the 1968 painting "Combustion/Sagorevanje" by Petar Lubarda. Credit: personal photo
In this next painting, we see a 1968 work by Petar Lubarda that is titled "Combustion/Sagorevanje" (measuring 72cm x 101cm) which depicts a scene of fiery inferno and explosive chaos (Photo 16). This painting is located on the lower level of the museum. Here we see a frenetic cacophony of fire and brimstone, a dark world burning and overcome with evil. Red streams across the canvas represent not only fire but also the suffering, blood and agony of those people massacred at Kragujevac. On the left hand of the scene we can see the curved beak form of the "Spectre of Fear" standing over the destruction he has caused (rendered on the canvas in an impasto of thick resin on top of the paint). Though, just to the right of the Spectre, we can faintly see a hand forcing its way into the chaos, a prelude to the arrival of resistance against evil we see in the main mural "Enough Blood, Enough Killing".
"On the Eve of Tragedy":
Photo 17: A view of the 1968 painting "On the Eve of Tragedy/Noč uoči tragedije" by Petar Lubarda. Credit: personal photo
In this next painting, we see a 1968 work by Petar Lubarda that is titled "On the Eve of Tragedy/Noč uoči tragedije" (measuring 49cm x 71cm) which depicts a chaotic scene of pandemonium in Kragujevac just before the massacre by the Nazis is to begin (Photo 17). This painting is located on the lower level of the museum. Upon a background of muted purple and black (illustrating the fear and darkness of the scene), we see a mass of people panicking and in a fury about the tragedy that is about to befall them. An array of frenzied white brushstrokes illustrates the quick movement of people as they realize their fate, with dots of white across the canvas embodying the huge amounts of people who will fall victim to this massacre. To the left of the scene, we can see a silhouette of the "Spectre of Fear" raising one of its claws in the air. Befallen by a sense of dread, Lubara's painting is sobering to view and effectively communicates to the onlooker the horrificness of the tragedy that is about to unfold.
"Study of Composition":
Photo 18: A view of the 1968 painting "Study of Composition/Studija Kompozicije" by Petar Lubarda. Credit: personal photo
In this final painting, we see a 1968 work by Petar Lubarda that is titled "Study of Composition/Studija Kompozicije" (measuring 54cm x 149cm) which serves as an exercise for Lubarda in establishing the final structure and form of the central "Enough Blood, Enough Killing" mural before it is to be completed in its full size (Photo 18). This painting is located on the lower level of the museum. Here we can see Lubarda formulating his final arrangement of the elements he had been refining during the process of creating his previous cycle of over two dozen paintings. He outlines this compositional experiment in bold hurried brushstrokes upon a black background that demonstrates confidence in his approach to the ultimate form of the massive mural "Enough Blood, Enough Killing". With a few exceptions, this study bears an almost identical format to that final grand painting. As such, this study serves as an important insight into Lubarda's creative process and shows us, through the examination of his previous paintings, that he took a thoughtful painstaking approach to discerning what was the proper arrangement to best communicate the memorial quality for this painting.
Legacy
Over the decades, Petar Lubarda's cycle of painting "Enough Blood, Enough Killing" here at the October 21st Museum has been exalted as one of the most important series of historical paintings in Serbia. In 2023 and 2024, large-scale prints of all of Lubarda 27 paintings of this cycle have been exhibited at museums and cultural institutions across Serbia, North Macedonia and Montenegro as a part of a show called "One Story/Jedna priča" that worked to further valorize and landmark these works of part of the region's cultural heritage. This exhibition coincided with the 50th anniversary of Lubarda's passing. Of all the paintings made by Lubarda during his life, this cycle is often heralded as one of his best and most influential set of works.
Sculptures outside the Museum:
In the grassy lawn around the museum are two notable sculptures that are part of the institution's memorial collection. Titled "The Destiny Tellers/Suđaje" and "Man Without Illusions/Čovek bez iluzija", these two bronze cast sculptures were the work of Serbian artist Jovan Soldatović [profile page] and were gifted to the museum by the sculptor in 1979. However, while he had gifted both of these works in 1979, Soldatović had crafted them both many years earlier. While not originally crafted for this museum, they both take on the heavy weight of new meaning and symbolism when placed within the context of this site's history.
"The Destiny Tellers":
Photo 19: A view of the "The Destiny Tellers/Suđaje" sculpture at the October 21st Museum. Credit: Marija Stojanović
In front of the museum on the grass along the main entrance road sits the sculpture by Jovan Soldatović that is titled "The Destiny Tellers/Suđaje" (Photo 19). This was a work that he originally crafted in 1970, which he ultimately gifted to the museum in 1979. While the Serbian word "suđaje" typically translates as "judge", in this case, the "Suđaje" refers to a set of three female characters from pre-Christian Slavic mythology that are the "destiny tellers" who visit upon a new-born child to determine their fate (a style of "judges", if you will). In this sculpture, we see the three women holding and looking down on a newborn infant in a blanket. The three supernatural women are rendered in Soldatović's signature elongated, distorted and inhuman form, a style for which he became well known and that imbues them here with an otherworldly atmosphere. When set within the context of the park and the museum, the symbolic intention of this sculpture becomes complex and multifaceted. When looking this newborn child (which may symbolize the massacre victims of Kragujevac or the city's future descendents), what destiny do the Suđaje see? What fate is in store? As the writer Mila Evanovich remarks in her analysis of this sculpture, "Witnessing the unfolding of events, do these women bear witness to the horrors that befell their community, or do they peer into the unfathomable depths of a future yet unknown?... [this sculpture] urges us to remember, to grow, and to create a world free from the horrors of the past. It acts not merely as a symbol of art, but as a poignant warning of the human cost of war."
"Man Without Illusions":
Photo 20: A view of the "Man Without Illusions/Čovek bez iluzija" sculpture. Credit: Ghulam Isaq Khan
On the side of the museum against one of its red brick walls sits yet another sculpture by Jovan Soldatović that is titled "Man Without Illusions/Čovek bez iluzija" (Photo 20). This sculpture is from Soldatović's 1962 cycle of works known as "Recording Man/Beleženje čoveka", with this work also being given the nickname by Soldatović "The Thinker/Mislilac". Thus, this work operates as a direct reference to the French sculptor Auguste Rodin's famous work of the same name. Both works depict a bronze figure in a seated position, with their heads bowed down, arms on their legs, occupied by deep thought. However, while Rodin's "Thinker" is strong, confident and robust, Soldatović's "Thinker" appears crushed, defeated and destroyed, looking as if they are pondering their inescapable predicament. The other name for this work "Man Without Illusions" is a testament to this depiction, insinuating that the figure has resigned himself to the unfortunate fate set out in front of him. As such, Soldatović's man here exists as a universal figure of despondency and despair at a tragic and heartbreaking circumstance. When viewed from the context of the Kragujevac massacre, we can, on one hand, understand him as the bearer of grief and horror, a man who knows not what to do with the grisly events that he has witnessed. Alternatively, the figure may also be understood to embody the grief of the victims themselves, waiting restlessly for the excruciated fate of execution. Either way, this sculpture serves as a somber memorial to all those lost here.
Historical/Cultural Exhibits:
Also within the October 21st Museum are a series of educational and historical exhibits that relate the sad and tragic history of the massacre that occurred here in Kragujevac in 1941. The primary presentation of this information is achieved through placards and posters that relate data about the timeline of the massacre, as well as specific information about the victims who suffered through it. This information is presented in both Serbian and English. There are specific displays about the final letters written by the victims, reactions from witnesses, legal documents of the Nazis related to the massacre, the mass graves, and much more. The most sobering exhibit within the museum is a small dark room that is populated by small lighted circular photographs depicting hundreds of the victims of the massacre (Photo 21). At the center of the room is an old school desk, referencing the children who perished in the massacre. Meanwhile, there are a number of glass display cases that contain artifacts related to the massacre, including identity cards of the victims, weapons used by the Nazis, clothing, and military medals, among other things.
Photo 21: A view of one of the museum exhibits
Additional Monuments at Šumarice Park:
Located across Šumarice Park, where the October 21st Museum is located, are a huge amount of additional memorial elements and sculptures that are dedicated to the horrific massacre that occurred here in October of 1941. These monuments are located along a loop road that circles the entire park and that starts at the museum complex. To learn more about all of these Šumarice Park monuments in Kragujevac, their history and how to visit them all, see the below link which takes you to the Spomenik Database profile page dedicated to them.
Directions:
When driving from either the A1 Motorway, via Batočina, or from the direction of Čačak, the October 21st Museum can be easily reached. When entering the city from either direction, drive towards the center of Kragujevac and turn west at Veliki Park at the access street named Kragujevačkog Oktobra. After driving approximately 1km, you will pass the city stadium on your right and arrive at the museum just as you reach a sharp left-hand turn in the road. As you go around the turn, you will see a large parking lot on your right in front of the museum. Parking here is ample and free to the public. From the parking lot, the museum is just a short 70m walk. The exact coordinates for the museum parking lot are N44°01'14.1", E20°53'38.8".
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Visiting the Museum:
The October 21st Museum is open year around 7 days a week, 8am to 3pm, though, in the late spring and late autumn it is open until 6pm. The cost for individual tickets to the museum is 150RSD (or just over 1 euro). The phone number for the museum is +381 34 335 607 and the official email is info@spomenpark.rs. The museum's official website is located HERE.
Selected Sources and More Information:
-Official "October 21st Museum" website
-Serbian Wiki article: "Спомен-музеј „21. октобар“ Крагујевац"
Comments:
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