I had been getting ready for my travels back to Sarajevo to do qualitative research, when I was given the opportunity of going to Avala mountain a few days before my departure.
Avala mountain is about a 30 minute drive out of Belgrade Southeast, and offers stunning scenery of all the land around it. On my way to Avala mountain, I visited a World War II memorial dedicated to the victims of executions in Jajinci (a town near Belgrade) and elsewhere by German occupying forces.
Picture of the Memorial Park Jajinci, dedicated to WWII
The next stop was another memorial, one that was actually on the Avala mountain about halfway to the top. The monument is to Soviet War veterans, and is dedicated to a military delegation from the USSR which died in an airplane crash on its way to Belgrade in 1964.
Soviet War Veteran Monument
Atop the mountain there are two things of significance to be seen: WWI monument to the Unknown hero, and the Avala tower. The former is a monument which stands atop the hill. In it resides a coffin of an unknown Serbian soldier who was killed in 1915. An earlier monument was built in 1922, but this newer one made in 1938. Also, of significance are the woman surrounding the central part of the monument; there are 8 women and these are said to represent women from all over former Yugoslavia.
Monument of the Unkown Soldier
While the final spectacle atop the mountain is not in itself a monument, it still holds alot of history. The Avala tower was used as a broadcasting tower by Radio Television Serbia, until it was destroyed in 1999 by a NATO bombing campaign. It has since been rebuilt and is one of the tallest self-supporting structures in the world.
The Avala Tower