_Spomenik Kozara

The Kozara Monument (Monument to the Revolution) is located on the Kozara mountain, in the northwest of Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, near the town of Prijedor. The monument was built in honor of the Yugoslav partisans who fought in the battle of Kozara against the occupiers in 1942 and symbolizes resistance and the fight for freedom. The author of the monument is Dušan Džamonja, a great Yugoslav sculptor and member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The monument is designed to be composed of twenty vertical segments that form a cylindrical whole. Each of the segments is profiled with deep cutouts, that is, the protrusions of the motif in the negative, which in the total sum of the whole have a symbolic meaning. While the indented and shadow-covered negatives symbolize death, the positives represent victory and life. An additional impression on the positives is achieved by the incorporation of stainless steel slats, thus adding a dimension of light to life that contrasts with the negatives that are in the shadows. The horizontally placed blocks, which are placed around the central monument, symbolize the pressure and aggression of the enemy who tries with brute force, but fails to destroy the life and victory that rise to the sky, embodied in the vertical monument. The construction of the Kozara monument began in the early 1970s and was completed in 1972. It was officially unveiled on September 10th, 1972., during a commemorative ceremony marking the anniversary of the Battle of Kozara. Next to the monument is the Memorial Wall on which the names of 9 921 Yugoslav partisans from this area are engraved. The permanent museum exhibit on the National Liberation Struggle has been renewed. Among the exhibits are various German weapons, machine guns, helmets, photographs and records of the events of the World War II.