This morning we set off for the Museum of Yugoslavia. It was a 50 minute walk away, but all I could find online about bus options sounded confusing, so we decided to just walk.
We were wondering why the museum was so far away, but it turns out it was because it was close by to where Tito and his wife Jovanka lived.
“Who is Tito?” You may ask. I certainly did when I started researching Belgrade and things to do here, and I stumbled across his grave and the museum. I have always known of Yugoslavia, but never really known much about it other than that the fights for independence ended in a lot of conflict.
Josip Broz Tito was the leader of Yugoslavia from 1945 until his death in 1980. Some people here think he was charismatic and amazing and miss the ‘good old days’, others will tell you he was an evil dictator. Obviously the museum painted him in the first light though!
The first part of the museum was called the ‘House of Flowers’ and is where Tito and his wife Jovanka both lay at rest. The ‘House of Flowers’ was built in 1975 for Tito to eventually be buried at. Tito died on May 5th 1980 at 88 years of age, and his wife died in 2013 (she was a fair bit younger than him). We saw both of their graves and then explored the very informative exhibitions in hallways on either side.
Tito helped to liberate this part of the world from the Nazis at the end of World War II. Previously, before the war, it had been known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After World War II, Tito helped to bring together the Socialist Federation of Yugoslavia consisting of six republics (Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina) and led the anti fascist movement. His area of rule encapsulated 24 cities at the one time. Some town names were even changed in his honour (eg Podgorica that we go to later on our tour was changed to ‘Titograd’ meaning Tito City). Over time, things like nationalisation, collection and sharing of land and resources occurred. Yugoslavia was excluded from the eastern bloc and received US aid so as to show that they were distancing themselves from Stalin. In 1955 there was a reconciliation with the USSR, but like I mentioned during the communist tour we did in Ljubljana, there was always tension.
In 1957 a tradition began, with a relay being carried out in the weeks approaching Tito’s birthday (25th May). Each year, a baton would be carried from Kumravca (where Tito was born) around Yugoslavia and taken through many towns and all of the republics, culminating in the finish at the stadium in Belgrade on Tito’s birthday, when Tito himself would receive the baton. The idea of this was to establish a direct link between citizens and the leader. This tradition continued all the way up until Tito’s death, and in fact the relay in 1980 came to a halt when participants were notified of his death. It also continued after his death up until 1987. To this day, people still create batons and send them to the museum. Many were sent to Tito during his lifetime also. A lot of these were on display. In one way or another, every third Yugoslavian participated in this tradition each year. Some of the batons given even had messages inside!
In 1962 the museum was built as a “gift” from the people to Tito for his 70th birthday. I find it pretty hard to believe that everyone wanted to give up their money and land so that a museum could be built, but take from that what you will. Everyone is equal, right? Haha. The ‘House of Flowers’ was then built later on, and on the 8th of May 1980 Tito’s funeral was held here. There was a world map sort of shaming countries that didn’t send a delegation (they were colour coded AND listed!). Don’t worry Australia, we sent a delegation. And famous faces there included Prince Philip and Margaret Thatcher representing the UK.
In the exhibition in the ‘House of Flowers’ we saw some of Tito’s marshal uniforms, as well as his desk and chair. We also learned about his blue train, the train created for him to travel around (in total 600,000km and to 71 countries). He would quite often give his speeches from the train. At one point, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip and princess Anne came and visited and rode on the train as well. Yugoslavia was the first socialist country the Queen had visited.
The second part of the museum was set up a bit like a storage facility, full of lots of items Tito has been gifted over the years. Many were from when he was alive, and others from after his death. There was everything from photos and batons all the way through to a times tables robot (and many other very strange things!!)
I also learned right at the end of the exhibition that the “.yu” for Yugoslavia on the end of website names was only abandoned in 2010, despite Yugoslavia dissolving much earlier than that.
We walked back and enjoyed a pastry from a bakery along the long, hot walk. We went to the Nikola Tesla Museum and were annoyed to find out they were closed for a couple of hours. This museum is about 20 minutes away from our hostel so it’s out of the way to get to.
Instead, we had a rest at the hostel and then went back to the fortress. We explored again at our own pace this time, and went to Ruzika and Petka churches. Both were stunning. Petka had amazing mosaics but unfortunately you couldn’t take photos inside.
We thought that we would then try our luck at the Tesla Museum for the third time. This museum to me is like Willy Wonka’s factory. To communicate with the staff, they open a small window in the door. There are no signs so the price and tour information is very mysterious, and they only let a certain number of people in once an hour. If they just put a clear sign with this information, then people wouldn’t have to knock on the door. We had to wait 30 minutes for a tour, and while we sat over the road I reckon we saw six groups of people separately go up and ask questions. Ridiculous!
Nikola Tesla was born in 1856 in the town of Smiljan which is in present day Croatia. However, the Serbs claim him as both of his parents were Serbian. In Budapest, he created his first invention, a telephone amplifier. Then he began working for the Continental Edison company in Paris, during which time he made various improvements but was not compensated. He went to New York City in 1984 to work for Thomas Edison, but clashed with him because Edison was a strong believer that DC (direct current) was the answer for electricity, but Tesla was discovering AC (alternating current). He ended up leaving Edison’s company to start his own. Westinghouse bought his patents for AC and the so called “war of the currents” began. The war was won when in 1903 Westinghouse used Tesla’s AC ideas to light up the city of Chicago, and when he was given the contract for the hydroelectric power plant to be built at Niagara Falls.
At one point, Tesla did open his own warehouse in which he conducted many electrical experiments and had other ideas such as induction motors and wireless technology include remotes. Unfortunately, he was a little ahead of his time and not all of these came to fruition. He had to close his factory in 1929 due to the Great Depression, and it wasn’t until after his death in 1943 that he was given recognition for some of the ideas he had. Even today, I hadn’t really realised what a big part in how we use electricity today he played. If we had used Edison’s DC, we would need a substation every 2 miles. AC means electricity can be conducted over 1000s of miles. When he died, he left behind 300 patents and 1000 sketches. Today, these are kept in the museum.
During our tour we got to see some working machines and “experiments” based on Tesla ideas. Unfortunately, the main coil still wasn’t working. But we got to play around with a smaller version and Mum and I even got to be zapped with it. It tickled! Then we saw some of Tesla's personal belongings including his clothes. He was 1.9m tall! We also saw the spherical urn in which his ashes are kept.
Tonight, we had a picnic in one of the parks for dinner. Our plan is to have a pretty early night because our tour starts tomorrow and we will be very busy on the tour.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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