114 arhitektov bilten • architect's bulletin • 224 • 225 • 226 • 227 Arhitektura. Skulptura. Spomin. / Architecture. Sculpture. Remembrance. Partizansko pokopališče Mostar • Mostar, Bosna in Hercegovina • Arhitekt: Bogdan Bogdanović • Material: kamen, beton • Status: državni spomenik BiH • Fotografije: Matej Vozlič • Besedilo: Miha Dešman Partisan cemetery Mostar • Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina • Architect: Bogdan Bogdanović • Material: stone, concrete • Status: national monument of BIH • Photographs: Matej Vozlič • Text: Miha Dešman 10_ MOSTAR, 1965 Bogdan Bogdanović BIH 115arhitektov bilten • architect's bulletin • 224 • 225 • 226 • 227 razstava / exhibition Pokopališče je, po antičnih vzorih, oblikovano v terasah, vrezanih v pobočje hri- ba. V masivne oporne stene, obložene s kamnom, so vgravirani ornamentalni sim- boli in imena približno osemsto padlih partizanov. Še nekaj sto neidentificiranih trupel počiva v skupni grobnici. Mesto mrtvih je zasnovano kot podvojitev mesta živih, z ulicami, trgi, mostovi, stolpi in mestnimi vrati. Obredna pot se v simetrič- nih meandrih vzpenja prek štirih širokih teras do vrhnje, kjer sta v zadnjo steno vdelana simboličen vodnjak in reliefni kozmološki motiv, ki spominja na predko- lumbijske rituale v Srednji Ameriki. Voda iz vodnjaka se je nekdaj v osi kompleksa kaskadno zlivala do dna spomenika, danes pa vodnjak ne deluje več. Spomenik je doživel več zaporednih vandalskih uničevanj in zatem obnov. Pred obiskom so nas opozorili, da so obiskovalci že večkrat doživeli grožnje in nasilje nacionalističnih skrajnežev. Mi te izkušnje nismo imeli, nas je pa presunil kontrast med zanemar- jenostjo, tiho lepoto spomenika in nebrzdano turistično okupacijo bližnjega me- sta z mostom, kjer je njegova lepota ponižana v slikovito merkantilno kuliso. Bogdanović: »To je spomenik jugoslovanski solidarnosti. Posvečen je mostarske- mu bataljonu. Ganilo me je, da so bili borci praktično še otroci. Njihova imena: bosanska, srbska, hrvaška. Spominjala so me na otroško križarsko vojno. Večina jih je bila ubitih. Njim so posvečeni kenotafi, simbolični grobovi. Nekaj ostankov je tu pokopanih, ne prav veliko. Spomenik je močno poškodovan, a ne da se ga poruši- ti, saj je vrezan v hrib in tako neuničljiv.« Modelled after examples from the antiquity, the cemetery is designed in ter- races cut into the hill slope. The massive support walls are lined with stone and engraved with ornamental symbols and the names of approximately 800 Parti- sans killed in action. A further couple of hundred unidentified bodies were put to rest in the communal tomb. The city of the dead is designed to duplicate the city of the living with streets, squares, bridges, towers, and city gates. The ritual path rises in symmetrical meanders across four wide terraces towards the upper ter- race featuring a rear wall with a symbolic well and a carved cosmological design reminiscent of Pre-Columbian rituals in Central America. The water from the well used to flow down to the bottom of the monument following the complex’s axis. The well no longer works. The monument was subject to several instances of de- structive vandalism and subsequent renovation. We were warned before our visit of visitors repeatedly being threatened and attacked by nationalist extrem- ists. This was not our experience, but we were appalled by the contrast between the dilapidation, the quiet beauty of the monument, and the unbridled tourist occupation of the nearby city with the bridge, its beauty having been reduced to a picturesque mercantile backdrop. Bogdanović: »This was a monument to Yugoslav solidarity. It was dedicated to the Mostar battalion. What was most touching to me was that the soldiers were practically children. Their names: Muslim, Serbian, Croatian. It reminded me of the Children’s Crusades. A huge percentage were killed. These are cenotaphs, symbolic graves. Some remains were buried here, but not very many. The me- morial is badly defaced, but it couldn’t be demolished - it is carved into the hill, so it’s indestructible.«