120 arhitektov bilten • architect's bulletin • 224 • 225 • 226 • 227 Arhitektura. Skulptura. Spomin. / Architecture. Sculpture. Remembrance. Spominski kompleks Jasenovac • Jasenovac, Hrvaška • Arhitekt: Bogdan Bogdanović • Material: beton, leseni pragovi, bron • Status: zaščita po Zakonu o Spominskem območju Jasenovac • Fotografije: Roberto Conte • Besedilo: Miha Dešman Memorial complex Jasenovac • Jasenovac, Croatia • Architect: Bogdan Bogdanović • Material: concrete, timber sleepers, bronze • Status: protected under Memorial Area Jasenovac Act • Photographs: Roberto Conte • Text: Miha Dešman 13_ JASENOVAC, 1965 Bogdan Bogdanović HRV 121arhitektov bilten • architect's bulletin • 224 • 225 • 226 • 227 razstava / exhibition Jasenovac je bil največje koncentracijsko taborišče na tleh Jugoslavije. Leta 1941 ga je ustanovila ustaška NDH. V njem je bilo identificiranih več kot osemdeset ti- soč žrtev, predvsem Srbov, pa tudi Judov, Romov in drugih, celo Hrvatov, ki se niso strinjali z režimom; vseh žrtev naj bi bilo več kot sto tisoč. Spominski kompleks je po načelih »land arta« oblikovan park, kjer se vsakdanje življenje obiskovalcev sreča s spominom na žrtve. V krajino ob Savi je arhitekt nežno umestil pot, ki od vhoda vodi po nasipu in se prek zavoja med dvema jezercema povzpne do monu- mentalnega, 24 metrov visokega betonskega cveta. Kompleksi nekdanjih barak so označeni s plitvimi okroglimi zemeljskimi kraterji. Brutalistični betonski cvet, ki zraste iz trave, je v kontrastu s subtilno oblikovano krajino. Simbolični pomen kra- jine je »topografija terorja«, cvet v njej pa ponazarja upanje, celo ponovno roj- stvo. Življenje premaga smrt. Bogdanović: »Pri vseh mojih projektih, še zlasti pri Jasenovcu, ideja ni nastajala linearno. Vedno sem tekal v krogih. Tu sem zasnoval celo vesolje cvetlic. Sprva jih je bilo mnogo, kasneje sem jih združil v eno samo. Analiziral sem različne cvetove, njihovo notranjo strukturo. Danes, z računalniki, bi šlo to mnogo laže, a morda bi s pomočjo računalnika postalo prelahko. Ko obkrožiš cvet, doživiš tri različne fasa- de. Oblika je matematično določena. Kipar bi naredil drugače; kiparji oblikujejo z rokami, tu pa je vse narisano, izračunano, geometrijsko določeno. Ko me ljudje vprašajo, kakšna je razlika med arhitekturnim in kiparskim spomenikom, jim od- govorim, da je arhitekturni spomenik mogoče opisati matematično. Vse, kar vidi- te, je del stožca ali krogle. Ne glede na to gre za zelo kompleksno obliko, tako da je bil opaž velik problem. Star inženir mi je svetoval, naj k delu pritegnem tradicio- nalne graditelje ladij iz Dalmacije. To je bilo ključnega pomena.« Ob obisku s študenti spomladi 2019 smo se priključili mednarodni »invaziji« mla- dih obiskovalcev, ki so se fotografirali ob spomeniku in na njem, pošiljajoč selfije po vsem svetu. Delavci so obnavljali dele poti, parkirišče je bilo polno koles, avto- domov, avtov in avtobusov. Spomnil sem se prvega obiska pred leti, ko je spome- nik sameval, trava je bila nepokošena, »spomen dom« zaprt. Betonska roža in nemirno nebo pa sta takrat enako kot danes odsevala v gladini jezerca ... Jasenovac was the largest concentration camp on Yugoslav soil. It was established in 1941 by the fascist Independent State of Croatia. More than 80,000 of its victims have been identified, chiefly Serbs but also Jews, Roma, and others, even Croats who opposed the regime - the total number of victims is believed to exceed 100,000. The memorial complex is a park designed according to the principles of land art, where the visitors’ everyday lives intersect with the memory of the vic- tims. In the landscape by the river Sava, the architect gently sited a path which leads from the entrance along the embankment and rises between two small lakes to arrive at the monumental, 24m tall concrete blossom. The former barracks com- plexes are marked by shallow round earth craters. The brutalist concrete blossom growing from the grass is contrasted against the subtly designed landscape. The symbolic significance of the landscape is the “topography of terror” while the blos- som within it represents hope, even a rebirth. Live triumphs over death. Bogdanović: » In all my projects, and especially at Jasenovac, the idea never de- veloped in a linear fashion. I always ran in circles. In this case, I designed an entire world of flowers. At first, there were many; later I condensed them all into one. I analysed different flowers, their types, their interior mechanics. Today that would have been easier to do with a computer, but perhaps the computer would make it too easy. As you go around the flower, you experience three alternating eleva- tions. There is a mathematical formula to the shape. A sculptor would have made it differently: sculptors work with their hands, whereas here everything was drawn, calculated, geometrically resolved. When people ask what the difference is between an architectural and a sculptural memorial, my answer is that an archi- tectural memorial can be described mathematically. Everything you see is a part of a cone or a sphere. Nevertheless, it is a very complex shape, so the formwork was a huge problem. An old engineer advised me to invite traditional shipbuilders from Dalmatia for the job. That was crucial.« Visiting with the students in the spring of 2019, we joined the international inva- sion of young visitors who took pictures of themselves next to and on the monu- ment, posting their selfies all over the world. Workers were renovating parts of the path, the parking area was full of bicycles, camper vans, cars, and buses. I re- called my first visit years ago when the monument was deserted, the grass uncut, the visitor centre closed. Yet then, as today, the concrete flower and the restless sky were reflecting in the lake’s surface ...