MUSEUM OF THE IMMORTAL
location: krusevac, serbia
status: diploma project, mentor: dejan miljkovic, aleksa bijelovic
#RIBA president's medals award 2013, london

The city is essentially immortal. with the impossibility of its natural death, it is on us to protect it from all the posing threats and thus sustain its eternal life. This project struggles to save the life of the city of Krusevac. It pursues its fading immortality, by grasping the light of its glorious past and channeling it into the future. Inspired by local historical events, it is located by the memorial complex Slobodište, built in 1965 by the architect and sculptor Bogdan Bogdanovic. Dedicated to the innocent killed here during world war II, it includes a huge amphitheater under the open sky, where supreme theatrical performances were held for 35 years after its completion. The country gradually got smaller and weaker, and this extraordinary space is now only used by the residents of Kruševac for recreational purposes. The city itself that once used to be a marking point on the Yugoslavian cultural map is on its verge of dying out. The design proposes an extension of the road leading from the centre of Krusevac towards the memorial, on the point where it suddenly stops and the emptiness takes over. Being the link between the two worlds, the reality of the city and the fantasy of the memory, the building introduces a gradual transition between the two. the visitor is led five meters below ground, between two massive wall like structures, forming the main body of the museum. Linear interior space ends with an underground tunnel that emerges directly into the amphitheater of Slobodiste, in this way making the crossing between the worlds complete. Museum of the Immortal aims to rebuild a path that once used to be a walk of death turned into a stride for life, and then forcefully forgotten. In the end, if history does repeat itself, we should be the ones who chose which part of it we want to be replayed in our present time. In this endless time loop, the bright spots are the ones that seek for our attention, and, after all, make us truly alive. 


Muzej Besmrtnih  reaktivira stvaralacku snagu grada Kruševca obnavljajuci njegovu vezu sa prostorom koji je skoro  cetiri decenije bio  kulturni okidac citavog regiona, a onda je naglo utihnuo. 

Memorijalni kompleks Slobodište arhitekte i skulptora Bogdana Bogdanovica, izgraden je 1965. godine u znak secanja na sve koji su tokom Drugog  svetskog rata ovde izgubili život. Memorijal cini veliki amfiteatar pod otvorenim nebom, gde su 35 godina nakon otvaranja Slobodišta održavana vrhunska scenska ostvarenja u okviru proslave Svecanosti Slobode.  Usled promene situacije u zemlji, danas ovaj prostor koriste najviše gradani Kruševca u rekreacione svrhe.  Muzej se nalazi na mestu gde je originalnim projektom planiran glavni ulaz u Memorijalni kompleks, ali nikada nije bio realizovan, na mestu gde put koji vodi iz centra Kruševca iznenada prestaje. Tokom  rata ovaj put je korišcen za vodenje nevinih na streljanje u podnožju brda Bagdala. Od 1965, potezom genija, pretvoren je u put za povorke ljudi koji u okviru Svecanosti Slobode ponosno idu ka Slobodišnoj sceni, ka svom kulturnom okrepljenju.  Ovaj projekat predstavlja ekstenziju tog puta, na ovaj nacin ga nastavljajuci ka srcu Memorijala.  Povezujuci dva sveta, realnost i fantaziju, objekat uvodi postepeni prelaz izmedu njih, mrak usled prekida jedne stvarnosti i pocetka druge. Posetilac se vodi kroz drvece, pet metara ispod nivoa terena, izmedu dva masivna zida koji formiraju osnovno telo muzeja, i, kao izdužena kapija, sprovode ga ka Memorijalu.Podzemni tunel na kraju linije kretanja izvire direktno u Dolinu živih, amfiteatar Slobodišta, na ovaj nacin zaokružujuci preces prelaska izmedu dva sveta.