Ahmed Ibrahimpašić
(DE)CONSTRUCTION OF MONUMENTS: IDENTITY CRISIS IN THE BALKANS AND ITS SPATIAL MANIFESTATIONS
1
2
Identity Crisis in the Balkans and its Spatial Manifestations Ahmed Ibrahimpašić
Metropolis Program in Architecture and Urban Culture - Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona - Barcelona 2012 3
4
Content Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 7 Contextualisation of the Balkans.......................................................................................... 9 Imagining the Balkans Ethnic Deterritorialisation Periphery of the Periphery
Monuments in Socialist Yugoslavia ................................................................................................ 17 Brotherhood and Unity Modern Architecture Monuments (Spomeniks) Bogdan Bogdanović
End of an Era ....................................................................................................................... 39 Fall of Berlin Wall Dismantling Lenin Rise of Nationalism Conflict and Destruction of Material Culture Townhall of Sarajevo
Identity Crisis ....................................................................................................................... 51 ‘New’ Mosques Hyper-politized Space Demarcation of Space
Turbo Sculptures .................................................................................................................. 65 Bruce Lee Monument Jesus in Split Turbo Sculptures
Antiquisation of Macedonia .............................................................................................. 73 Kenzo Tange Masterplan Skopje 2014 Unfinished Modernisation
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 81 Bibliography, References, Quotes, Credits ........................................................................ 86 5
6
Introduction
Identity crisis
Spatial manifestations
With the fall of communism and paradigm change, the supranational Yugoslav identity based on the credo of “Brotherhood and Unity� was confrontated with the nationalistic ideologies and politics, marking the beginning of the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
By trying to understand how collective memory is being spatially erased and reinvented, the paper examines the meaning of monuments and architecture in the near past, concentrating on the period of Yugoslav socialism, events in 1990s and period of post-socialism.
The transformations of the political, ideological and economic system, division to the national states, ethnic homogenization and series of military conflicts caused an ongoing identity-crisis of all the succesor states and ethnic groups.
By investigating the visual and spatial controversies of the religious and national revival in newemerged states of former Yugoslavia, the paper investigates whether the newly built mosques, churches and monuments are manifestations of ongoing identity-construction processes and are they places where the new post-socialist, balkanized nations are spatially and symbolically expressing themselves.
Transformations One of the most evident aspects of multiple transitions in the countries of former Yugoslavia, the one very noticeable to the naked eye, is its implication on the physical environment. These transformations can be observed as a kind of visual manifestations of many of the social, political and economic, phenomena of the post-socialist reality. They testify about the ideological shift a society experienced after the fall of socialism and indicate the new relations that have been established ever since. Furthermore, the impacts of these transformations are sometimes so extreme, that they challange the traditional comprehension of the space and its social dimensions.
7
8
Contextualization of the Balkans
9
„Metabalcanico“ 1995, Vlado Martek
10
Imaging the Balkans
The Balkans is always somewhere else. For Slovenias it starts with Croatia, the Slovenian nation is part of civilized Central Europe, so called Mitteleuropa, and not part of the wild Balkanian tribes. For Croatians the Balkans begins further east, with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. Croatians see themselves as a part of civilized catholic Europe, more connected to Italy and Austria, rather then with their southslavic family. For Serbia, the Balkans begins further south, with Kosovo, Albania. Serbians in their eyes are the last bastion against the Orient and islamic civilisations...
Balkanism In the Imagining the Balkans, the author Maria Todorova is exploring the relationship between the reality and constructed reality, investigating the construction of intellectual traditions, myths and stereotypes, to which she used the term Balkanism.
Going other way round, we could claim that Slovenia, from Austrian perspective is already the Balkans. Slovenians are seen as part of slavic hordes, to which the Austrians doesn´t have any connections. For Germans, Austria with its strange mix of people and questionable identity represents the threshold of the Balkans. For French people, the Germans always had something dark in themselves, something balkanic. And to extend the concept to the its extreme limits, we could claim that the whole European continent represents the Balkans for the English, with the Brussels as the new Constantinopole. It is clear that the Balkans is a term very hard to define, one could claim that is a rather political term, than a precise geographical one. 11
Ethnic map of the Balkans 1991
12
Ethnic Deterritorialization
The Balkans has been a region of strong migration processes also before the Ottoman occupation. Demographic changes increased under the Ottoman rule; repeating migrations and military colonization transformed the Balkans into a strongly inter-mixed ethnic region. Ethnic variety was enhanced by the Ottoman political and economic system, promoting the economic specialization of specific ethnic groups, particulary Greeks, Jews and Armenians; as well by the series of Habsburg-Ottoman-Russian wars during the period of late 18th and throughout the whole 19th century. These repeating conflicts generated anarchy in Ottoman administration and great movements of population, especially of the border regions between the empires that served as a combat area, stretching all the way from the Caucasus to Southern Bukowina and to the Krajina military border (Militärgrenze in german). The result of the Ottoman rule in the area of the Balkans was therefore the deterritorialisation of specific ethnic groups, which slowly lost their territorial compactness, spreading accross the Empire according to the role they had in imperial system. One of the most negative associations of Balkanism was especially the ethnic diversity of the area, called by Joseph Roucek “the handicap of heterogeneityâ€?. Middle class notions of order, regularity, and decorum saw ethnic confusion and disorder, not a desirable richness. 1 13
14
Periphery of the Periphery
The Balkans were periphery of a periphery, marked by a delayed beginning of the modernisation process, the incompletion of which has continued to this day. The countries were throughout almost the whole history parts of bigger systems, supranational empires, with its centers elsewhere (Istanbul, Vienna, Venice). Croatian archeologist and art historian Ljubo Karaman was theoretizing about three distinct geo-political spaces of artistic production: that of center, periphery and province. While he left the theoretization of the center to center, he was exploring the the theoretical framework of province and the periphery. The artistic production of the periphery stands under direct influence of one distant center, from where it recieves art object, inputs and master. The periphery, on the other side, stands under influence of multiple cultural centers, allowing local artists access to these centers and at the same time is giving possibility to combine influences and develop original and independent approach. Karaman called this effect “the freedom of periphery�. This freedom is at high cost nevertheless, since the polycentric political influence means constant state of instability and absence of strong local and foreign benefactor. 2 Although the Balkans are an religiously, ethnically and culturally heterogenious region, all countries of the Balkans share historical fate common to border areas between antagonistic empires. 15
16
Socialist Yugoslavia
17
Official amblem of Socialist Yugoslavia representing unity, as six flames (six official nations) are joining one
18
Brotherhood and Unity
After World War II, or better to say during, a new South Slav state was created in southeastern Europe. It emerged from a pan-yugoslav partisan fight during the Second World War, but it was at that time the Second Yugoslavia, as between two World Wars the Kingdom of Yugoslavia existed.
Reporting from the heart of Yugoslavia in the 1970s, the Washington Post correspondent Dusko Doder describes Yugoslavia as a “vague country” with a problematic identity and for an American visitor an especially confusing “landscape of Gothic spires, Islamic mosques and Byzantine domes.” 5
Yugoslavia as an idea of a single state for all the South Slavs arose in the late 17th century and originated from Pan-Slavism ideologies. It gained popularity in the 19th century Illyrian Movement. The name was coined from the Slavic words “jug” (south) and “slaveni” (Slavs). 3
Architecture was used here as a visual translation of the country’s complexity, and as the last sentence of the text concludes: “No record could express more vividly Yugoslavia’s contradictory social, social and cultural aspects than does its building pattern.”
Yugoslavia was a very complex and heterogeneous country with two alphabets, three religions, six official nations, three official languages and over fifteen recognized minorities with its languages.
Yugoslavia was not easy to classify in many ways. From any perspective it could be seen as “same” or “other,” depending on the agenda of the viewer. 6
Yugoslavia has always been an area of very diverse population, both in terms of ethnic and religious affiliation. Of the many religions, Islam, Roman Catholicism, Judaism and Protestantism as well as various Eastern Orthodox Churches composed the religions of Yugoslavia, comprising over 30 in total. The religious demography of Yugoslavia has changed dramatically since World War II. With postwar government modernization and urbanization programs, the percentage of religious believers dramatically decreased. Connections between religious belief and national feelings represented a serious threat to the post-war Socialist government’s policy on national unity and state structure. 4 19
20
visit Yugoslavia!
21
Belgrade, view on the headquaters of CK (Central Comitee) of Communist Party, 1980s
22
Modern Architecture
Socialist Yugoslavia emerged from the World War II as an ally of the USSR that imitated the Soviet system in almost everything. In 1948 after TitoStalin conflict it was excluded from the community of countries dominated by the Soviets, so called Warsaw Pact. Yugoslavia sought help from the United States and the West, and, in respond, Yugoslav communism reformed, tolerating a certain degree of intellectual freedom and opening doors to cultural colaboration with the West. By underlying its distinctness from the Sovietdominated countries, Yugoslavia strengthened its newly obtained international position, a process in which art and architecture had a valueable role. After the Tito-Stalin conflict any trace of Socialist Realism quickly disappeared as an unsuitable notice of the Stalinist past. It was replaced by a revivifiaction of native modernist traditions in combination with an influence of the International Style, promoted by Western cultural doctrine. 7 The use of Modern architecture and was based on the ideology of international, and on the whole, with few examples, it did not target at any represenation of the national. The aim was to put transnational identity above national and thus keep the balance among its nations.
The connection between Yugoslavia’s modern architecture and its foreign policy was very precisly expressed by famous journalist Harrison Salisbury, writing in the New York Times in 1957: “To a visitor from eastern Europe a stroll in Belgrade is like walking out of a grim barracks of ferro-concrete into a light and imaginative world of pastel buildings, “flying saucers,” and Italianate patios... Nowhere is Yugoslavia’s break with the drab monotony and tasteless gingerbread of “socialist realism” more dramatic than in the graceful office buildings, apartment houses and public structures that have replaced the rubble of World War II... Thanks in part to the break with Moscow and in part to the taste of some skilled architects no Stalin Allées, Gorky Streets or Warsaw skyscrapers mar the Belgrade landscape.” 8 Couple of years after Stalin’s death the country normalized its relation with USSR. At the same time, other communist countries awaked their modernist traditions, thus Yugoslavia ceased to differentiate itself through its architecture. Nested in the void between two blocks, for the next three decades the country will be associated eithe with the West or East, but its architecture will no longer be given a special place only for its style. 9 23
Hotel Solaris, Šibenik, Croatia, 1968, Boris Magaš
Cultural Centre, Kolašin, Montenegro, 1976; Marko Mušić
24
The Revolution Square, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 1960-1980, Edvard Ravnikar, Anton Bitenc, Miloš Bonča
Children Health Resort, Krvavice, Croatia, 1961, Rikard Marasović
25
Bubanj Memorial Park near Niš in Serbia, 1963, Ivan Sabolić
26
Monuments - Spomeniks
As every successful nation-state Yugoslavia had to develop vital and siginificant civil religion. Civil religion is a fuse of myths, quasi-religious symbols, rituals, cults, beliefs and practices that secure the nation’s validity and convince the people that the system is “good.” Characteristically, civil religions involve a myth-narrative about the origin of nation, usually through struggle and martyrdom; cults of “founding fathers, liberators and heroes”; a sense of “exceptionalism,” and victory, success or redemption. Commemorations, monuments, patriotic rituals, and the phenomenon of sport foster civil religion as a spiritual force. 10 The Yugoslav civil religion of brotherhood and unity consisted of the several main components. The myth of the origin of the nation during the World War II Partisan struggle (1941–45) and the repositioning of the nation after the anti-stalinist Cominform affair (Tito-Stalin split) of 1948 were its essence . Secondly, brotherhood and unity of all nations and minorities, notably the “Yugoslav spirit,” as one of core values. The cult of Josip Broz Tito as the nation’s founding father, war hero, and successful world statesman wes not less important part of it. 11 After the communist consolidation of power and the launching of the revolution, the Partisan Struggle became the founding myth and core of the new patriotism.
The new civil religion established its altars and memorial sites commemorating battles and sites of martyrdom from World War II, such as Sutjeska and Neretva (sites of large-scale battles between the Germans and Partisans); Jajce (the birthplace of the Socialist Republic); Drvar (temporary base of Tito, attacked by German paratroopers in 1944); Šumarice (a hill close to town of Kragujevac where 7000 civilians were executed by Germans as a revenge for Partisan strikes), Jasenovac (biggest extermination camp of Ustaša regime) and so forth. 12 The monuments were erected on sites where concentration camps had stood, where battles had taken place, or alongside the war cemeteries. Their impressive grandeur should also symbolize the unity of all the South Slavs. Contrary to average war monuments of Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe, the Monuments of Socialist Yugoslavia were abstract, non-figurative sculptures and not busts of war heroes or patriotic workers. 13 Socialist monuments in Yugoslavia attracted millions of visitors throughout the 1970s and 80s, most of them were students and school children who visited the sites as part of their patriotic education, others were war veterans and sorrowing relatives who had lost family membres during the war. Nowadays, they are barely visited at all. These structures today can be seen as fossils of the 20th century and testimonials of lost unity. 14 27
Makedonium Monument, near Kruševo in Macedonia
28
Bogdan Bogdanović, Monument dedicated to the Serb and Albanian partisans, Kosovska Mitrovica, 1973
29
30
Sutjeska Battle Monument, Miodrag Živković, 1971
Sutjeska Battle Monument Situated in TjentiĹĄte in Sutjeska Valley in eastern Bosnia. It commemorates the Battle of the Sutjeska, which took place between May 15 and June 16, 1943. The goal of the offensive by the Axis forces was to destroy the central Partisan formations and capture their commander, Josip Broz Tito. The failure of the attack meant a turning point for Yugoslavia during the Second World War. More than 6000 partisans and 2000 civilians were killed in the battle. 31
Bogdan Bogdanović in his studio, Belgrade 1970s
32
Bogdan Bogdanović
One of the most imporatant architects of Yugoslav national memory was Bogdan Bogdanović. He was Belgrade-born architect, essayist, urbanist, thinker, and, as he always stated, above all a cosmopolitan. He taught architecture at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Architecture, where he also served as dean. He was also involved in politics, as a partisan in World War II, later as mayor of Belgrade. The architectonic and literary work of Bogdanović is characterised by an abundance of ornaments. It is influenced by Romanticism and Victorian architecture, surrealism, metaphysics, Jewish symbolism and Kabbalah. 15 In 1951, at the age of 29, Bogdan Bogdanović won a competition for a memorial to the Jewish victims of fascism, to be constructed on the Jewish Sephardic cementary in Belgrade. Even though not religious himself, the contact with Jewish esotericism made a strong influence on his further work. Since then until 1981 he was commisioned by Yugoslav Government to work on more than 20 monuments and memorial places against fascism, scattered in all republics of Socialist Yugoslavia. To create cenotaphs of all the victims of fascism,
regardless of religion or ethnicity, they were made without any symbols of communism or other ideology. Instead, they follow mythological, archaic forms, in the strong contrast to the principles of Socialst realism. This difference also served Tito’s goal to underline Yugoslav independece from the Soviet Union. 16 His frequent criticism of nationalism, and in particular its violent and “anti-urban” side, earned him hostility from the nationalist serbian government. Beginning of 1990’s, at the outbreak of war he fled into exile to Vienna, on invitation of his friend Milo Dor. In the year 2010 he died in Vienna, visiting his native Belgrade only two times in his 20 dissident years. 17
33
Flower of Stone, monument to the victims of Jasenovac concentration camp, unveiled in 1966
34
35
“Above all, the majority of my monuments were in honour of victims, not victors. As they commemorated the pain of a country’s civil war, there was little risk that they would be hijacked by national triumphalism.”
Group cenotaph of victims, Travnik, 1975
36
„And to be perfectly frank, I must say that my monuments… were not real monuments. At least, they did not have the appearance of monuments. Rather, they were stories, interesting objects, fantastical ones, and much visited, especially by young people.“
“Beyond that, my philosophy was very abstract, inspired by the ancient dualist thinking of good and evil. My constructions represented the struggle of these two principles, something that everyone could interpret differently: it was not for me to define good or evil.”
“There were always children playing on these constructions, even when it was dangerous. One day, a young Bosniak paid me the most wonderful compliment I could receive, when she admitted – a little embarrassed – that her parents had conceived her on my monument.” 18
Fragment from Partisan Memorial Park, Mostar
37
38
The End of an Era
39
40
The Fall of Berlin Wall
The Fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end of communism and block division of Europe and the world. The break down of communism in East and Southeastern Europe has introduced wide-ranging economic and socio-political changes, marked by the transition of state-economies into market economies, democratization and political liberalization, and integration into European and Euro-Atlantic security and political organizations. A significant part of the process of political transformation has been the revivification of the historical memory, particulary of those aspects suppressed by the communist regimes. 41
A scene from the movie “Goodbye Lenin”
42
Dismantling Lenin
Der Begriff „Migration“ leitet sich vom lateinischen Wort migratio ab und bezeichnet zuerst „die Wanderung von Individuen oder Gruppen im sozialen oder geographischen Raum”. Um den Begriff von kurzfristigen Aufenthalten von wenigen Tagen oder Wochen (Urlaubreisen z.B.) abzugrenzen, definiert man Migration als „der auf Dauer angelegte bzw. dauerhaft werdende Wechsel in eine andere Gesellschaft bzw. in eine andere Region von einzelnen oder mehreren Menschen“. Annette Treibel nimmt eine Differenzierung des Migrationsbegriffs unter vier Gesichtspunkten vor: In räumlicher Hinsicht kann die Migration als interne oder externe Wanderung charakterisiert werden, wobei externe Wanderung wiederum in kontinentale oder interkontinentale Wanderung untergliedert sein kann. Zeitlich kann man zwischen temporärer Wanderung (z.B. Saisonarbeiter) und permanenter Wanderung unterscheiden. Bei den Wanderungsursachen unterteilt man es in freiwillige und erzwungene Wanderung, wobei die Grenzen zwischen einer freiwilligen Migration (aus wirtschaftlichen Motiven, z.B.) und einer unfreiwilligen Migration (z.B. aus politischen Gründen) häufig fließend sind. Einzel-, Gruppen- und Massenwanderung voneinander unterscheiden.
After the upsurge of 1989, on the waves of revolutionary changes that swept the Soviet Union and countries of Eastern Europe most of the Soviet monuments disappeared. The dismantling of the statues was a strong event for itself, marking the paradigma change and therefore the change in the tissue of the cities, towns and territories. In difference to numerous Soviet monuments, the monuments erected during Socialist Yugoslavia were mostly left untact, due to its abstract and non-figurative appearence. 43
Slobodan Milošević giving a speech in front of one million people, gathered for the 500th anniversary of Kosovo Battle
„Definition of the nation“ is expressed in the terms of mithic temporality as „we were here the first“. In order to prove that, this nationalism was trying to destroy the evidences of plurality and heterogenity; to define itself with Exclusion of „the Other“. 19 “The nation is a community of people who feel they belong together in the double sense that they share deeply significant elements of a common heritage and that they share a common destiny for the future… The nation is today the largest community which, when the chips are down, effectively commands men’s loyalty.” 20 44
The Rise of Nationalism
The revivification of the historical memory has taken place in the name of the “national identity” that had been restrained for decades by the military and political supremacy. The upsurge of 1989 is seen by many scholars “as the victory of national identity against Marxism, “the finest hour of East European nationalism,” or the “Springtime of Nations.” 21 At official level, the direction of returning to the “national history” has been expressed by the revival monuments to national heroes and traditional state emblems, the inauguration of new national holidays and the re-writing of history textbooks. In the country of Yugoslavia the nationalistic ideologies and politics were set against the suprana tional Yugoslav identity based on credo of “Brotherhood and Unity” (Bratstvo I Jedinstvo).
Religion and Nation The dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1990s marked the beginning of a incoherent ideological era, where religion was now filling the ideological void left after socialism. In all successor states of the former Yugoslavia, except in Slovenia, religion became the hallmark of nationhood. With religion as the main point, the basic definition of the Balkan nation through eyes of nationalism is the exclusion of „the Other“
Symbolic nation-building Lars Erik Blomqvist has claimed that “history had produced no single society where the power of symbols has not been recognized. Power has … always made use of symbols, partly to signify its superior status and partly to forge a bond of identity between rulers and ruled.” 22 Inventing National Identity Anne-Marie Thiesse wrote in Le Monde diplomatique: “Nations are much younger than their official histories would have us believe. No nation in the modern, that is political, sense of the word existed before the ideological revolution that began in the 18th century and conferred political power on “the people”. From that time on, the nation was conceived as a broad community united by a link different in nature both from allegiance to the same monarch and from membership of the same religion or social estate. The nation no longer derived from the ruler. It is easy enough to draw up a list of the symbolic and material items which any real nation needs to possess: a history establishing its continuity through the ages, a set of heroes embodying its national values, a language, cultural monuments, folklore, historic sites, distinctive geographical features, a specific mentality and a number of picturesque labels such as costume, national dishes or an animal emblem.” 23 45
Destroyed mosque in village Ahmići in central Bosnia, 1993
46
Conflict and Destruction of Material Culture
Shortly after the international recognition of independance of Bosnia and Herzegovina in April 1992, the war in the country started. It was operated between its predominantly ethnically and thus religiously defined sides: Serbs as Orthodox Christians, Croats as Catholics), and Bosniaks as Muslims with completly contrarian views on the country’s future. The territorial separation between its three combating parties were created by methods of population displacment and so-called ‘ethnic cleansing’ – the deportation and mass killings of civilians classified as enemies on the basis of their religion and nationality – as well as the systamatic destruction of their historical traces. Beside of numerous human victims, the process of territorial „decontamination“ resulted in a catastrophic destruction of the country’s cultural heritage, including libraries, major museums, universities and significant historical monuments.
Homogeneity versus Heterogeneity During the conflict cities known for its cultural diversity, like Sarajevo, Mostar, Vukovar, were especially targeted. The devastation of the mosques and churches, monuments and intitutions was aimed at a revision the Yugoslav and Bosnian collective memory of a hybrid, multiethnic and pluralist society, to three religiously and ethnically homogenized entities. This is why one can state that the nationalism in the former Yugoslavia is in its basic an antiurban tradition.
One of the main strategies of the „ethnic cleansing“ was the process of territorial and cultural “decontamination”. The result was destruction of over seventy percent of the important cultural monuments and institutions and over one thousand mosques and hundreds of churches, mostly Catholic, along with a smaller number of Orthodox ones. 47
Vijećnica in flames, August 1992
48
Townhall of Sarajevo
Destruction of Vijećnica Vijećnica (Townhall, in Bosnian) in flames is one of the most symbolic images of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina during 90’s. National library of Bosnia and Herzegowina, which was the pre-war function of the building, was set in fire in August 1992, after it was heavily bombed by Serbian forces. With the building, the fundus of over three million books desapeared in the flames. Architectonical symbol of hybridity of culture The building itself is a symbol for the hybridity of culture in Bosnia. It was purpuse-built as the city hall at the end of the 19th century by the Austrian government, which was ruling Bosnia since 1878. The edifice was built in pseudo-moorish style, for which the stylistic sources were found in the Islamic Art of Spain and North Africa. During the Austro-Hungarian era, many buildings, notably the administration buildings, were built in pseudomoorish style, trying to bridge orient and occident, thus creating a hybrid style. 49
50
Identity Crisis
51
Harem Jama mosque near Banja Luka, before the war
52
Harem Jama mosque near Banja Luka, rebuilt after the war
Containers of Symbolism
After the Dayton Peace Treaty marked the end of the war of 1992-95 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the process of country’s reconstruction began. Beside restoring its basic infrastructure and housing, a new period of mosque building started.
Religious architecture In lot of cases, new mosques highlight the return of refugees and the reactivation of Muslim communities after the war. For the community returning to its prewar settlements, the rebuilding the mosque was a method of providing a material, visual evidence of their survival, at the same time recuperating themselves from traumatic events.
The postwar political tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina among its ethnic groups, notably the Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks, are being expressed principally through instrumentalisation od the cultural heritage, religion and language. Vjekoslav Perica in Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States claims that difference among its ethnic groups is not neccesary the religion, than the myth of nation’s origin. 24
The process of reconstruction was often a bottomup process, as the villagers themselves were responsible for the (re)construction process of the mosque and thus regenerating and improving the social networks of the village.
The ethnic groups are now intensifying their own national awareness by fostering the ethnic ties within the cultural sphere. Religion becomes central for defining the nation, it becomes the “hallmark of nationhood”. Religious architecture thus not only expresses the national feelings, it also gives the cultural framework from which the national ideas can be harvested. The mosques and churches are, beside their sacral function, objects of collective memory and thus they express the myths and histories orf the ethnic groups. 25
As the “new” mosques are giving the visual sign of the presence of Bosniak communities, distinguishing their area against Chrisitan neighbors, the process of reconstruction was in many cases used to enlarge the building itself or its tower, namely the minaret.
These edifices are neither used as purely religious sites, nor are they signs of a great religious renaissance. Rather, they are manifestations of the sociopolitical transition of Yugoslavia since the 1980’s and representatives of an ongoing national and trans-national identity construction processes. 53
54
‘New’ Mosques
55
56
King Fahd Mosque
The rebuilding of the mosques was heavily funded by Islamic countries. According to a Sarajevo journal, Saudi Arabia financed the rebuilding of over seventy mosques and other religious facilities; Kuwait provided money for a hundred new mosques and religious facilities; Indonesia paid for the construction of one of the largest mosques in Bosnia; Malaysia helped the restoration of forty mosques; and so forth. New mosques financed by Arab countries are designed as “Islamic centers� with schools, kindergardens, sport facilities and restaurants. A number of segregated schools for men and women (boys/ girls) were opened, and various Muslim cultural and political organizations connected with Islamic centers were founded in Sarajevo, Zenica, Bihać, and other Muslim-dominated cities and towns. Mosque fundings highlight the growing presence of foreign Islamic countries that are spreading their cultural and political influence also by imposing architectural styles typical for the countries of origin: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Indonesia. This is a manifestation of cultural globalisation, whereas the donations and missionary programs are sometimes fully discrepant to local aspirations and mindset. 57
Tower of Franciscan monastery
58
Hyper-Politized Space
The city of Mostar went through, perhaps in the most tragic way the wars in the countries of the former Yugoslavia. This city with a rich cultural heritage, populated by all three Bosnian and Herzegovinian nations, was the most destroyed city in all the all wars happened in 1990’s. By end of the Bosnian war, the city ended up separated in two parts, divided between the two major ethnic groups, notably the Bosniak and Croatian one. Underlying the changing physical condition of the city, Croatians have erected a monumental cross on a nearby hilltop Hum. Its collosal dimensions and nightly illumination should emphesize the territorial dominance of Croatians on their side of the city. Demarcation of the Space The Franciscan monastery was heavily damaged during the war along with many other religious and cultural edificies in the city. The process of reconstruction was then the opportunity to enlarge the church tower so that it now reaches more than twice of its original height. In this context, urbanism exists as a ‘prolonging of war using different means’: each one of two ethnic groups of the city is trying to demark ‘their own’ space with ‘their own’ particularities, to ‘posses’ it even more by erecting their own cultural and religious objects and symbols. 26 59
30-meter cross on top of the hill Hum dominating the city of Mostar
60
Demarcation of Space
this is one of the most symbolic images of the war in the 90’s. It shows the National library of Bosnia and Herzegowina in the flames, after it was heavily bombed by serbian forces. With the building, the fundus of over three million books desapeared in the flames.
VIJECNICA POSTCARD the building itself is a symbol for the hybridity of culture in Bosnia. It was purpuse-built as the city hall at the end of the 19th century by the austrian government, which was ruling Bosnia since 1878.
HOMOGENEOUS VS. HETEREGENEOUS During the conflict cities known for its cultural diversity, like Sarajevo, Mostar, Vukovar, were especially targeted. The devastation of the mosques and churches, monuments and intitutions was aimed at a revision the Yugoslav and Bosnian collective memory from a hybrid, multiethnic and pluralist society, to three religiously and ethnically homogenized entities. This is why the nationalism in Ex-Yugoslavia is in its basic an antiurban tradition.
The edifice was built in pseudo-moorish style, for which the stylistic sources were found in the Islamic Art of Spain and North Africa. (Which with bosnia, apparently didnt have much to do. During the Austro-Hungarian style, many building, notably the administration buildings, were built in pseudo-moorish style, trying to bridge orient and occident, thus creating a hybrid style.
61
Ethnic Map of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1991
62
Serbs - more than 66%
Croats - more than 66%
Bosniaks - more than 66%
Serbs - 50% to 65%
Croats - 50% to 65%
Bosniaks - 50% to 65%
Serbs - up to 50%
Croats - up to 50%
Bosniaks - up to 50%
Ethnic Map of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1998
predominatly Croat predominatly Serb predominatly Bosniak Bosniak-Croat intermixed
The ongoing tendence to monumentalize religious architecture corresponds to the radically changed demographic structure. Mosques and churches in Bosnia-Herzegovina have replaced any national flags that might have marked an ethnicity’s territorial control during and immediately after the war. 63
64
Turbo Sculptures
65
66
Bruce Lee Monument
In November 2005 in the city of Mostar a statue of Bruce Lee was unveiled. It was the first of it kind in the world, as the one in Hong Kong was uneveild a day later. The project of the statue was initiated by the youth group Mostar Urban Movement, who saw the statue as “an attempt to question symbols, old and new, by mixing up high grandeur with mass culture and kung fu.� 26 The initiators described Bruce Lee as far enough, that nobody can ask about his role during the war. And also he represented the idea of universal justice, as he was a good guy fighting against bad guys. For the malfunctional community of Bosniacs, Croats and Serbs living in Mostar the ChiniseAmerican martial-arts actor represents the bridging of cultures and the amblem of the fight against ethnic divisions, as he was the childhood hero common to all the ethnic groups. After finding a suitable location, which was neither in east part nor in the west part of the city, the problem to which side should it be orientated. The solution was found, in manner that it was orientated neutraly towards the north. The monument was vandalised just some hours after its inauguaration, it was removed for repairs and never returned to its foundation. 67
View over old town and hill Marjan, Split, Croatia
68
Jesus on Marjan
In the second biggest Croatian city, the coastal town of Split, the mayor, local sheriff Željko Kerum, announced the construction of the world’s largest statue of Jesus on the hill Marjan, a protected natural area within the city. It should be placed on the spot where, for years, the huge letters TITO stood, honoring the founder of socialist Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito. Kerum, one of the tycoons of the privatisation in Croatia and a silly political figure says that it would be a tourist attraction, a new shrine … „and that would point out that we are Catholic town and a Catholic country,” as he says. Vivid debate The idea activated a vivid debate in Croatia with many accusing Mr Kerum, of populism ahead of parliament elections. Kerum’s idea had its fans. Newspaper in Croatia published comment like ‘Bravo, Kerum, Croatia is right behind you’ and ‘Split has always been a city of believers and should back Kerum’. But there were also critical statemenets, like the cover title of an magazine saying plainly: ‘This man is crazy’. 69
Statue of Rocky Balboa, Žitište, Serbia Statue of Bob Marley, Banatski Sokolac, Serbia
70
Turbo Sculptures
In the town of Žitište, one of the poorest towns in Serbia, the locals decided to erect a stuatue to Rocky Balboa, boxing star played by Sylvestar Stallone in the movie “Rocky”. The statue should change rather negative reputation of the town.
Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan, 1950s
The statue of Bob Marley was inaugurated in the village of Banatski Sokolac, northern Serbia. It was unveiled symbolically by a Croatian and Serbian musicians during a music festival “Rock Village”. In the village of Medja, on the Serbian-Romanian border, a monument to Johnny Weissmüller, actor famous for his role of Tarzan, was announced. Beside the fact that the actor was born in the village, the argument was that Tarzan is a “fitting icon for the Serbs, because he began with nothing but menaged to survive in jungle against all odds... Tarzan, as well would serve as a symbol of fight against ethnic separation of Medja, as Tarzan belongs to everybody.” Further initiaves across the country include monuments to singer Samantha Fox, musician Tupac Shakur, actor Rob Stewert, Batman, telenovela-star Cassandra, pop-icon Madonna... Serbian artist Milica Tomić referred to these ideas as a dangerous joke, where the history is being rewritten and replaced by Mickey Mouse. 71
72
Antiquisation of Macedonia
73
In January 1965, Kenzo Tange received a telegram from the United Nations asking if he would be interested in participating in an international planning competition for the reconstruction of Skopje, the regional capital of the Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. A severe earthquake hit the city in July 1963, kiling more than 2,000 people and destroying roughly 65 percent of the buildings in the city. Reconstruction following the earthquake was carried out by the Yugoslavian government with support from foreign countries and international organizations. Tange considered this project significant not only for its international influence, but also because it would make “a model case of urban reconstruction,� so he accepted the invitation. 27 74
Kenzo Tange Masterplan
The Kenzo Tange team in front of their model of the eastern area of City Centre
75
Fragment of the monument to Alexandar the Great
76
Skopje 2014
After a devastating earthquake of 1963 Skopje was rebuilt mainly according to a master plan by Kenzo Tange, which was supported by the United Nations and partly executed by local architects. Although it was only partially realized, some iconic modernist buildings appeared in the city. The rebuilding of Skopje was largely completed by 1980. The main elements of the Master Plan were realised on the ground, creating a new city that is today spacious and generally well-organised. The earthquake itself is a distant memory, and there are few surviving signs of it. 28 Today the current right-wing Macedonian government is trying to remove all traces of this plan and rewrite Skopje as a historic city with its roots in ancient times and in the era of Alexander the Great. In city centre of Macedonian capital, construction works on monuments, neobaroque buildings, statues and fountains praising the assumed ancient roots of today’s Macedonians cluster around the main figure of the project: a 28-metre tall statue of Alexander the Great. These transformations are being made as part of a project called Skopje 2014.
Skopje will be revamped in a neo-classical style with the goal of fostering national identity, attracting foreign tourists and, according to some, provoking Greece, in the name of the argument that started when Macedonia declared independency in 1991. It marks the start of the phenomenon of Macedonia’s ‘antiquisation’, as critical voices call the country’s new-found obsession with its ancient roots. This architectural exaggeration is designed to strengthen a belief of what it is to be Macedonian but completly hiding the legacy of modernist internationalism under socialist Yugoslavia, and the memory of old Ottoman towns with their oriental charm and Albanian population. The whole project, in one of the poorest countries in Europe, was originally announced to cost around 80 million euros, but according to all current calculations the real cost will be more than 200 million.
77
Fragment of Kenzo Tange masterplan, Skopje 1960s
78
Unfinished Modernisation
Museum of History of Macedonia, Skopje 2014
795
6
Conclusion
7
„Space is fundamental in any exercise of power“ Michel Foucault
882
Ideology and Built Environment
The physical enviroment we inhabit is a strategic method in the arbitration of national identity, as the phychological characteristics cannot exist in physical reality as visible labels. Case studies presented in this essay display the many levels of production of identity through built environment and provide a fragment to understanding of a highly complex relationship between ideology, culture and built forms.
Edward Said described this aspect as a struggle over national space: „This struggle is exacerbated when dealing with national space that represents geopolitical and social order, which aims to correlate between the homogeneity of population and its collective identity and territorial borders.“ 29
Beside being political and cultural phenomenon, the process of building national identity becomes through built environment a physical structure.
Nationalism in architecture, that finds it connection in distant past overlooks the contemporary lessons that could be of advantage for the nation and thus the society. It provides a physical framework for the ideas of exclusion and inclusion.
Throughout the whole history of human kind, architecture and built forms were used by politics as a tool, from totalitarian regimes that created architecture representing authority, colonial and postcolonial government stimulated hybridity in design and communist regimes trying to built egalitarian cities. In the times of identity crisis, “national” architecture is a method of strengthening a nation’s identity by fostering authencity and historical roots, that are important factors in the self-perception of the nation. And as we see in the case of Macedonia’s “antiquisation”, it is of less importance how blurred and abstract this connection to the past is. It greatest threat is that it segragates groups in its historical imagination.
Michel Foucault was referring to postmodernist effort of redesigning architecture as dangereous.
Although continuing their paths separatly and independently, the countries of former Yugoslavia share the common linguistic and tight cultural and economical relationships. In this context, journalist Tim Judah coined a term “Yugosphere”, describing web of economic, strategic and political cooperation that resumed after dissolution of Yugoslavia. 30 Concerning “Yugosphere”, the processes of regionalisation and a future membership in European Union, the important question would be how these countries and nations will define themselves in regional relationship to each other and as possible futere member of Europe. 79 839
10 84
The Balkans as Subconciousness of Europe
As this essay of relationship between culture, politics and built envirenment goes far beyond this regional case study, in the context of the crisis of Euro and the whole idea of European Union the known concept of the Balkans as subcouncioussness of Europe seems very appealing: all the European trauma, everything that Europe is not ready or doesn’t want to admit to itself, such as brutality, militarism, antifeminism, nationalism, all that is being projected on to the Balkans, identifying the region as “subcouncioussness of Europe”.
79 11 85
Bibliography Bogdanović, Bogdan: “Der verdammte Baumeister”; Zsolnay, 1997 Halbwachs, Maurice: “The collective memory”, New York, Harper & Row Colophon Books, 1980 Jameson, Frederic and Masao Miyoshi, Eds.: “The Cultures of Globalization”, Durham: Duke University Press, 1998. Hobsbawm, Eric, and Terence Ranger: “The Invention of Tradition”, Cambridge University Press, 1983 Amra Hadžimuhamedović: “Kulturni zaborav: nove džamije u Bosni i Hercegovini”, MFB, 2004 Perica, Vjekoslav: Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States, Oxford University Press, 2002 Todorova, Maria: “Imaging the Balkans”; Oxford University Press, 1997 Rupnik, Ivan (Editor): “A Peripheral Moment: Experiments in Architectural Agency: Croatia 1990-2010”; Actar Zhongjie Lin: “Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern Japan” Kolstø, Pal: “Nationale Symbole in neuen Staaten: Zeichen von Einheit und Spaltung”, Osteuropa 53, 2003 Noel, Malcolm: “Bosnia: A Short History” ; New York University Press, 1994 Riedlmayer, András: “Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Bosnia-Hercegovina, 1992- 1996: A Post-war Survey of Selected Municipalitiesm”; 2002 Hutchinson, John and Anthony Smith, eds. “Nationalism: A Reader”; Oxford University Press, 1994. Gillis, John, ed. Commemorations: The Politics of National Identity. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994. Leach, Neil ed. Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory, New York, Routledge, 2005 : Vale, Lawrance: “Architecture, Power and National Identity”; New Heaven, Yale UP, 1992 Kulić, Vladimir : “Shifting Otherness(es): Foreign Perceptions of Architecture in Socialist Yugoslavia”, http://a.unfinishedmodernisations.net/shifting-othernesses-foreign-perceptions-of-a Constantin Iordachi: “Entangled Histories: Re-thinking the History of Central and Southeastern Europe from a Relational Perspective”, http://www.uni-muenster.de/Politikwissenschaft/Doppeldiplom/docs/entangled%20histories.pdf Tim Judah: “Entering the Yugosphere”, The Economist, 2009, http://www.economist.com/node/14258861 Anne-Marie Thiesse: “Inventing national identity”, Le Monde Diplomatique, 1999, http://mondediplo. com/1999/06/05thiesse Alexandre Mirlesse : Interview with Bogdan Bogdanović, www.notre-europe.eu/fileadmin/IMG/pdf/RE7-BBogdanovicen.pdf
12 86
Citations, References, Photos 1 H-NET Book Review “Imaging the Balkans”, by Gale Stokes , Rice University 2 A Peripheral Moment: Experiments in Architectural Agency: Croatia 1990-2010, Ivan Rupnik (Editor), Actar 3,4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia 5 Perica, Vjekoslav: Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States, Oxford University Press, 2002 6, 7 Shifting Otherness(es): Foreign Perceptions of Architecture in Socialist Yugoslavia, Vladimir Kulić; http://a.unfinishedmod-
ernisations.net/shifting-othernesses-foreign-perceptions-of-a
8 Harrison Salisbury: Building Pattern et by Belgrade, New York Times, Aug. 22, 1957 9 Shifting Otherness(es): Foreign Perceptions of Architecture in Socialist Yugoslavia, Vladimir Kulić 10, 11, 12, 13 Perica, Vjekoslav: Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States, Oxford University Press, 2002 13,14 http://balticworlds.com/symbolism-gone-for-good/ 15, 16 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogdan_Bogdanović 17, 18 Interview with Bogdan Bogdanović by Alexandre Mirlesse, www.notre-europe.eu/fileadmin/IMG/pdf/RE7-BBogdanovic-en.pdf 19 Perica, Vjekoslav: Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States, Oxford University Press, 2002 20 Emerson, Rupert: “Nation-building in Africa” ,Deutsch and Folz, 1963, 95-116 21 Constantin Iordachi: “Entangled Histories:” Re-thinking the History of Central and Southeastern Europe from a Relational Perspective” 22 Arvidsson, C. and L. E. Blomqvist: “Symbols of power: the esthetics of political legitimation in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe”; 1987, Stockholm 23 Inventing national identity by Anne-Marie Thiesse; http://mondediplo.com/1999/06/05thiesse 24, 25 Perica, Vjekoslav: Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States, Oxford University Press, 2002 26 Nino Raspudić: “Bruce Lee monument in Mostar” ; http://www.pdfpedia.com/download/10198/bruce-lee-monument-in-mostar-pdf. html 27 http://tststsss.tumblr.com/post/8342830969/kenzo-tange-reconstruction-plan-for-skopje 28 Zhongjie Lin: “Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern Japan” 29 Edited by Haim Yacobi, “Constructing a sense of place, Architetcure and Zionist discourse”, Ashgate, 2004 30 Tim Judah, “Entering the Yugosphere”, The Economist,2009, http://www.economist.com/node/14258861
All the photos used in this paper are based on Creative Commons license, except: page 24, 24 photos by Wolfgang Thaler page 26, 28, 29, 30, 31 photos by Jan Kempenaers
79 13 87