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This article argues that monuments in Mostar have functioned as markers of symbolic borders and competing memorializations after abrupt changes in the political orders of the polities of which Mostar has been a part. In that sense, monuments in Mostar can be seen as manifestations of sedimentation and erosion of communities in the urban zone. For analytical purposes, the concept of monument is defined as an object that commemorates a specific event. Almost all of the monuments in Mostar can be traced according to their function, while shape and design are secondary. Four historical periods in which larger changes to ethno-religious dominance in the political and social systems took place are analyzed regarding memorialization of urban space in Mostar. These are Austro-Hungarian rule, the period during the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes / Yugoslavia, that of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the post-socialist era in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1992. Research results show how material structures, such as monuments, tell identity-based stories about the intertemporal relations of communities in Mostar, within the frameworks the wider historical and contemporary social contexts in which members of these communities have interacted.
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This content will become publicly available on February 15, 2026
Wandering Monuments of Zenica \ Lutajući spomenici Zenice
Through archival and field research in the central Bosnian industrial city of Zenica, a comprehensive list of monuments constructed between 1878 and 2023 has been established. Additionally , the study identified all of the changes affecting these monuments over the specified period, including whether they have been preserved, wandered off, completely disappeared, or been destroyed. The research also examined how these monuments were perceived in different historical periods, what was their role in constructing ideological narratives, and what was their function in hosting commemorative gatherings. Given the large number of identified monuments and their wide spatial distribution, the study focused on four specific locations that have undergone sedimentary and erosive processes over time, sometimes occurring simultaneously. Special emphasis was placed on a comparative analysis of two case studies with different outcomes to contribute to understanding why some monuments endure while others vanish. By combining historical and ethnographic research methods, the study provided an interpretation of the relationships between monuments and space, places and commemorative practices, highlighting the importance of a community's identification with symbols and narratives materialized in the form of monuments.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1826892
- PAR ID:
- 10581002
- Publisher / Repository:
- Hrčak
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geoadria
- Volume:
- 29
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 1848-9710
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 29-67
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Bosnia Yugoslavia Zenica monuments post-conflict cultural sedimentation cultural erosion cultural re-sedimentation
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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