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| View of Belgrade from the Museum |
The
sky is cloudy. Some falling raindrops. From the House of Flowers the
whole city of Belgrade can be seen. The Saint Sava and a concrete
building monopolize the view. In front of the Mausoleum of Tito it
looks like time has stopped. A lady with a folded umbrella is reading
“Josip Broz Tito 1892-1980” in golden letter over white marble.
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| Inside of the House of Flowers. Tito's mausoleum |
At
the same time, in the current Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a sunny
sky, thousands of people from all ethnic groups take the streets.
Some go for a walk. Other for shopping. But a lot of them take part
in a demonstration. Unlike what had happen in the last years they are
not out to show the division between them but the social union. They
are workers against corruption and in favour of justice, who don't
want their public heritage to be sold any more.
And
with all that the Museum of Yugoslav History is still, like a fossil,
at the former capital, now in Serbian territory. There we will not
find a historiographical reading of any past, at least not at first
sight. Surely the effects of the war, which was over not so many
years ago, and some wounds that are still bleeding, might made
impossible an official reading without hurting any sensibilities. A
lot of their borders are still in question marks. Or maybe they
explain that to us using the silence.
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| Outside the Museum. Allegorical sculpture of Yugoslavia |
The
Museum is somehow of a cult to Tito, with his mausoleum as the
epicentre of it, surrounded by the torches that Yugoslav youth
brought there when his anniversary was near. Outside there are
statues over the grass, not only his but also with interpretations
that some artists made about his position or about the old State in
general. In the same set there are included a series of rooms with
the presents this marshal received from various countries and
regions. In addition to an interpretation centre and some rooms used
for temporary exhibition, the artists who expose today are war
orphans. They are still too young, which proves we are still to close
from the latest bombings.
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| Temporary exhibitions rooms with war orphan's paintings |
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| Actual state of Belgrade's Defense building after OTAN's bombing in 1999 |
Surely
not everyone agree with Tito's ideology. What is clear is that his
internal and foreign politics gave Yugoslavia a period that was
little expected to end as it ended, at least as seen from its context
and outdistance. Surely that cult, which still today has its
reminiscence in all Balkan republics, could explain how everything
collapsed after Tito's death, on May 4th
at 3:05pm.
Obviously
that neither explains Yugoslav history or provides any revelatory
vision of the former federation. However, if every history museum
must have and historiographical reading, this is a possible one that
we can take from the absence of it. A project that writes his history
from the figure of a leader. A mausoleum which calls himself as
museum. With the leader the ethnic tensions get to a balance position
for the collective sake and class need. With his death, his project
dies also. And it remains the House of Flowers, the Museum, as a
witness of peace, a quiet space, an oasis inside the capital,
isolated from traffic and daily headaches of such a complex big city.
Complementary
information:
Gabino Martínez
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