By way of introduction to Zenica’s place in Yugoslav pop-culture we make a stop at the Bare graveyard on our way out of Sarajevo. This graveyard is mentioned along with Zenica’s notorious prison in the cult song Zenica Blues by YU-rock band Zabranjeno Pušenje. The second verse opens with: “Zenica, I hate every stone of you”, but the last verse admits that from Zenica prison you can at least return while Bare is a more permanent type of “address”.

In Vogošća we make a stop at a typical example of a so-called Spomenik, a modernist Yugoslav memorial which honours the Yugoslav Partisan resistance of WWII. These modernist Spomeniks were constructed on a colossal scale in Yugoslavia with the aim of not only honouring the past but also articulating a utopian vision of a new tomorrow. This Spomenik in Vogošća was co-designed by the architect Zlatko Ugljen whose work we will also find in Zenica.

This immense residential skyscraper, known as “Lamela”, is the most significant brutalist symbol of Zenica. Lamela was built on the banks of the Bosna river in the first half of the 1970s, at the peak of Zenica’s expansion as an industrial city and when it was completed it was the highest building of Yugoslavia with a total height of 101m. The locals were so proud of their new skyscraper that they named it Zenica’s Empire after the Empire State Building in New York.

The Yugoslav vision of a modern industrial city also aimed to make culture, arts and entertainment available for the working class. That’s why the Zenica city center was equipped with this state-of-the-art theater designed in modernist style by the architects Zlatko Ugljen and Jahiel Finci. This architect duo won several awards for the building’s pioneering design and upon its completion in 1978, it was the largest theater in Yugoslavia.

Along the same central square as the Bosnian National Theater we find the brutalist style “Gradska Kafana” (City Coffeehouse). This building was neglected for years but has been stylishly renovated as a new meeting place for the people of Zenica. Gradska Kafana thereby serves as an example of how brutalist architecture can be successfully adapted to today’s standards. We make a coffee or lunch stop here

The futuristic Šerefudin’s White Mosque in Visoko was also designed by architect Zlatko Ugljen and opened in 1980. The architect used the traditional layout of a Bosnian mosque but applied avant-garde geometries and an unusual quarter shaped roof with five skylights representing the five pillars of Islam. We make a photo stop here on our way back to Sarajevo.