A brutalist building with an atomic bunker that served as a refuge for war victims

@ElentirENG ES 4·02·2024 · 23:40 0

In 1941, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by Germany and Italy. That implied the de facto disappearance of the country, divided into several states.

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In 1945, after the defeat of Germany, the Croatian communist Josip Broz Tito took power and established a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship, which unified the different countries into which the former Kingdom of Germany had been divided. Yugoslavia in 1941. Tito served as dictator of Yugoslavia until his death on May 4, 1980. During his tenure, one of his concerns was the indoctrination of young people into communist ideology. For this, he designed the so-called Kumrovec Political School, built in his hometown, which was inaugurated in 1974.

The school was officially called "Politička škola Josip Broz Tito" (Josip Broz Tito Political School) and was managed by the Union of Communists of Yugoslavia, the sole party of that dictatorship. The building, the work of architects Danilo Cvijetković and Miomir Lužajić, had an original brutalist style, with straight and angular shapes. It had 170 rooms, a cinema, a gym, a library, a restaurant and a nuclear bunker, the interior of which is partially flooded today.

The school closed its doors in 1990, after the start of the wars that led to the disappearance of Yugoslavia. Between 1991 and 1995 it served to house refugees fleeing heavy fighting in the Croatian city of Vukovar. Today the building is property of the Republic of Croatia, but it is abandoned and dilapidated. Yesterday, the Youtube channel Broken Window Theory published an interesting video touring this building:

You can see some screenshots of this video here. This is what the lobby looks like today. The building has been largely cleaned, but remains in a state of disrepair.

The former political school stands out for its straight lines and its combination of concrete and wood. Defenders of brutalist architecture are trying to save this building.

The old school dormitories, which served to house refugees from the Yugoslav wars.

The current state of the gym, with the wooden floor very deteriorated.

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Main image: Broken Window Theory.