Whatever your opinion on communism, many people across Eastern Europe and the wider world have a romanticised view of the former Yugoslavia’s grand leader Josip Broz Tito.

His mausoleum, known as the House of Flowers (open from 10am-6pm), is located on the grounds of the Museum of Yugoslav History, commonly referred to by its old name, the Museum of the 25th May, which remains to this day one of Belgrade’s main attractions. Thirty years after his death, the mausoleum has not lost its fascination and the place still has the same intense atmosphere as it must have had thirty years ago when Tito died.

Tito was born in 1892 in Kumrovec, northern Croatia, and by the time he died in 1980 had ruled Yugoslavia for over 35 years. The Secretary General of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the leader of one of two resistance movements during WW2 and a founder of the Non-Aligned Movement. There have been few leaders who incorporated as many roles as he did, in his political as well as in his private life. Tito was a womaniser, who according to some rumours fathered as many as sixteen children. He did not reserve his charm for the ladies and counted many of the world’s most famous leaders of the 50s, 60s, and 70s among his friends.

He managed to balance the act of being a communist leader with enjoying close relations with countries all over the world. His funeral at the House of Flowers Mausoleum, drew the greatest number of world leaders in history to the country. Time magazine wrote in 1980 that “Official mourners came from 123 countries: four Kings, 32 Presidents and other heads of state, 22 Prime Ministers, more than 100 secretaries or representatives of Communist or workers parties.”

These days the House of Flowers, located in Dedinje (Boticeva 6 - you can reach it by Trolley Bus 40 and 41 from the city centre) only faintly shimmers of the glory that it must have had when hundreds of thousands of people gathered for Tito’s funeral on May 4th 1980. These days the Mausoleum which was only opened for visitors a decade after his death, has around 15,000 visitors every year but since tourists have started to return to Belgrade, the figure is slowly on the rise.

The atmosphere of grandeur still exists. When you enter the Mausoleum, you walk across a red carpet towards the grave and people still only dare to whisper in here. Tito himself requested to be buried here, a place he had ordered constructed in 1974 as a winter glass house which he used for work and leisure.

The exhibition of gifts given by the people to their beloved leader has anything from paintings and love letters to crocheted tablecloths and handkerchiefs. The museum also has his collection of over 100 international and local decorations and as another highlight, a collection of over 22,000 relay batons. Organised mass youth races across Yugoslavia began in 1945 as part of Tito’s birthday celebrations. The relays took place until 1987. Regional relay batons were presented at a closing ceremony of each of the races at the Stadium of the Yugoslav People’s Army in Belgrade. Allegedly, by 1950 he had received more than one million batons.

Unfortunately the museum does not offer guided tours but your imagination will suffice to guide you through this place of historical importance.

The ticket for the museum which costs approximately €2 also includes entry to the Yugoslav History Museum which regularly hosts special exhibitions.

One of this year’s highlights at the museum is the exhibition ‘Yoko, Lennon, Tito - a conceptualised action’ starting on August 1st, 10am – 10pm. It displays letters written by peace activists, such as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, in 1969 that were sent to world leaders calling for peaceful political actions and which asked them to plant the acorns enclosed with the letters in their gardens.

Another exhibit currently at the museum is ‘Zenska Strana’ (The Woman’s side) in corporation with the museum of contemporary art. It shows the position and role of ‘liberated’ women from socialist society across different periods of time. The curators Ana Panic, Marija Djorgovic and Una Popovic examine the role of women in post-war Yugoslavia as a form of political, economic and educational emancipation as well as the changes that occurred in the private sphere through the analysis of official documents, photographs, art works, TV and movies.

This article is courtesy of Balkan Insight, the online publication of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, which contains analytical reports, in-depth analyses and investigations and news items from throughout the region covering major challenges of the political, social and economic transition in the Balkans.


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