SERBIAN OSSUARY OF BELGRADE DEFENDERS 1914-1918

A decade after the establishment of Serbian military cemeteries in Belgrade, the Association of Reserve Officers and Warriors, along with its women’s section “Fidak”, initiated the first major effort to create a common ossuary in Belgrade in 1926. It was planned that the remains of soldiers who died defending Belgrade would be transferred to a large ossuary to be built at the New Cemetery in Belgrade. The Belgrade Municipality, led by President Kosta Kumanudi, provided the land for the ossuary and took responsibility for transferring the remains from various plots of the New Cemetery where the majority of soldiers’ graves were located, to the common gravesite – ossuary. The foundation of the ossuary was laid in 1927, and in the same year, the exhumation of soldiers’ plots at the New Cemetery took place. However, the remains of the fallen warriors were left exposed in sacks at the bottom of the unfinished ossuary, as the excavation was completed before construction was finalized.

The transfer of the soldiers’ remains from the plots to the ossuary also freed up space for the burial of other Belgrade residents, which was a utilitarian motivation for the municipality’s quick decision to provide land for the ossuary and proceed with the exhumation. The ossuary was completed in October 1928, and on Remembrance Day, November 11, 1928, Patriarch Dimitrije, with the assistance of five priests, ceremoniously consecrated it.

In addition to the internal structure and the entrance from the eastern side, the ossuary featured a square terrace of about 170 square meters above ground. The walls were built of artificial stone, and the interior was naturally lit through windows in the terrace walls. Below the ossuary, in three large crypts, lay the remains of fallen warriors whose identities were unknown. On either side of the ossuary were concrete partitions with metal cassettes engraved with the names, dates, and years of death of the fallen soldiers. On the capitals of the pillars supporting the upper structure, the heads of Serbian soldiers in helmets were carved in stone. Between these heads, swords within laurel wreaths were depicted on the sides of the capitals, while the Serbian coat of arms with a double-headed white eagle adorned the front, signifying that this was a Serbian soldiers’ ossuary. The interior, with its cassettes and memorial plaques along the walls, echoed the iconography of Orthodox temples, where martyrs for the Christian faith and Church are typically depicted. Here, they were replaced with cassettes holding the bones of martyrs who died for the state and nation.

The Association of Reserve Officers and Soldiers, led by President Milan Đ. Radosavljević, wasn’t content with just the ossuary and decided to erect a monumental monument over it. This was a precedent for marking an ossuary located in a civilian cemetery. It’s believed that, among other things, the decision was influenced by regular commemorations held at foreign cemeteries nearby.

The construction of a large memorial at a civilian cemetery caught the attention of the editorial staff at the daily newspaper “Vreme”, which sparked a discussion about the placement of the Monument to the Defenders of Belgrade. Experts argued that the monument, a work of art, should not be placed in a remote, low-profile area rarely visited by locals or foreigners. The debate, however, did not generate much interest from the professional or cultural public, as the site for the monument had already been selected and its wall erected. The monument itself did not attract significant attention. Ultimately, Milan Đ. Radosavljević confirmed that the memorial ossuary of the defenders of Belgrade from 1914–1918 was placed in the central cemetery part of Laudan’s moat, the location of the first artillery line during the defense of Belgrade, which had prevented the enemy’s advance.

The monument, weighing 2,780 kg and cast from an alloy of bronze, copper, tin, and zinc, was the largest in the Kingdom in terms of dimensions. The dedication of the monument over the ossuary took place on Peace Day, November 11, 1931, with King Alexander and other prominent state and military officials in attendance.

The monument was created based on Milan Đ. Radosavljević’s vision and designed by Roman Verhovski. The sculpture of the eagle was crafted by Roman Verhovski, while the soldier figure was sculpted by Živojin Lukić. The monument, standing 19.40 meters high and 14 meters wide at the base, was erected on the plateau above the ossuary crypt. The central element of the monument is a rock symbolizing the State. The enormous eagle crushed at its base represents the defeated enemy. A soldier, holding a flag with the national emblem on his chest and a rifle, embodies strength but adopts a non-aggressive stance, waiting in readiness.

According to the monument’s creator, Milan Đ. Radosavljević, the monumental rock above the ossuary represents the strength of the people, emphasized by the form of the two-headed white eagle carved in stone. The broken chains symbolize the slavery the Serbian people endured for centuries. The white eagle stands as a symbol of peace, freedom, and justice, while its confrontation with the black eagle represents the victory of good over evil. At the top of the rock stands a soldier, the victor, ready to defend his homeland with weapon in hand, symbolized by the flag raised high. The cross at the top, along with the soldier’s stance resembling a cross, and the cross on the monument itself, represent the suffering of the Serbian people. According to the builder’s idea, the final symbolism is “eternal glory to the weapon and the victorious hero,” in whose honor the monument was erected.

The monument’s pyramidal composition, with its rustic and massive forms, was designed to be viewed from the front, following the tradition of classical narrative memorials. Besides the symbolic figural and heraldic elements, the monument’s morphological structure also carries strong symbolism. The monumentality, solidity, and cubist form of the white eagle reflect the strength and stability of the victor—the state and its people. The figure of the Serbian soldier on top of the rock mirrors this solidity with almost cubic forms. The size of the black eagle was not diminished, as diminishing the strength of the opposing side would have meant weakening their own. This approach was closely related to the practice of erecting joint markers in the cemeteries of warring parties, demonstrating respect for the enemy. A cannon placed on the right side of the monument reflects a European memorial tradition from the 18th and 19th centuries, where original war weapons were included in memorials to evoke the authenticity of a historical event.