Beauty and the beast: Brutalist architecture in the former Yugoslavia

Josip Broz Tito became leader of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslav in 1945 in the aftermath of World War Two. Faced with the task of rebuilding the cities devastated during the war, Tito often opted to create a concrete utopia of the future via massive Brutalist structures that would symbolize a virile new communist state. The above Aviation Museum was built in Belgrade in 1969.

As the population grew, so did the need for housing. Massive concrete high-rise apartment blocks sprouted across Yugoslavia like the infamous Genex Tower, a twin structure connected with a two-story bridge and on which sits a restaurant that once revolved. The higher 36-story tower has 184 residential apartments, while the lower twin stands empty today.

This memorial built on the highest peak of the Petrova Gora mountain range in central Croatia is in danger of falling into disrepair. The monument to the uprising of the people of Kordun and Banija celebrates the resistance of the civilian population against the Nazi regime.

The New York Museum of Modern Art dedicated an exhibition to photographs to Brutalist architecture in 2018, in effect rehabilitating a style of building that many would rather see disappear. The Clinical Hospital Dubrava building in the Croatian capital Zagreb has decidedly industrial overtones. The clinic has a trauma center and functions as a teaching hospital.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade opened in 1965. Its two architects, Ivan Antic and Ivanka Raspopovic, realized the design of six cubes and five exhibition levels on the basis of a public tender. The museum surrounded by nature is one of the more moderate examples of Brutalist architecture in the former Yugoslavia.

The former presidential palace, known as The Palace of Serbia, was built between 1947 and 1951 and opened in 1961. One of the largest Brutalist buildings in Belgrade, the individual rooms were each dedicated to a different Yugoslav republic and styled according to the local culture and customs. The furniture, mosaics and carpets were designed and handmade by renowned artists.

This residential complex in the Belgrade's neighborhood of New Belgrade in the Serbian capital became known as the TV Building. The district was built north of the Danube, not far from the city's Old Town where Tito once resided. Such a large new building project on the outskirts caused quite a stir internationally for its intimidating facade.

The concrete monument on the Sutjeska River in Bosnia and Herzegovina commemorates one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War. Known as the Tjentiste memorial, it commemorates the killing of 7,000 members of the Yugoslav army by Nazis bombers in 1943. Like other Brutalist relics in the region, the memorial was in a state of disrepair until it was renovated in 2018.

Hall 1 of the Belgrade Fair grounds was opened to the public in 1957 — at the time, its dome was the largest in the world. It remains a testimony to the architectural adventurism of the postwar modernists, another massive Brutalist structure that has piqued the interest of Instagram users globally, with #brutalism offering fresh perspectives on these 20th century concrete monoliths.