Vukovar nocturne is a faithful reflection of what was experienced.
It is a story of love and courage, strength and pain, human dignity and victory of life.
The story of a tragedy of a nation, on victims, heroes, defiance and pride was passed on to Vukovar nocturne which joins all places in town
that bear the remembrance of the Homeland war.
The place of remembrance – the Vukovar hospital 1991 is a tragic truth about struggle between good and evil, about humanity and care for every wounded. Faithful reconstruction of life of a few hundred wounded during several months long occupation of the town can be found in the hospital’s basement premises, along with chronologically organized events from the memory of dr. Bosanac and hospital staff, that are placed on the walls. Here, in Vukovar hospital, you get caught by the power of feelings. After the hospital...
Memorial Center Ovčara. Hangar where the victims, the wounded and medical staff spent last hours of their lives was open as a Memorial Center in 2006. In mass grave at Ovčara, the sacred place in Croatia, 261 persons lost their lives. From Ovčara towards Vukovar you arrive to Memorial Cemetery of Homeland War Victims, the biggest mass grave in Europe after the Second World War. The youngest victim was only 6 months old. With its 938 white crosses that spread indefinitely, it is considered one of the most beautiful graveyards in Croatia.
An impressive cross was erected at the mouth of Vuka into Danube. Here in the center of town, with the view to a wide and powerful river, with a verse by the Lord Fran Krsto Frankopan “Navik on živi ki zgine pošteno“ (Forever lives he who dies honestly) engraved in old-Croatian Glagolithic, we remember all those who gave their lives for Croatia. As a crown to all these events a Center of the Homeland War was opened in Vukovar barracks with a display of hundred days of town siege and concentration camps. A Memorial Center in the form of tightly pressed fist, as a symbol of the strength that defended this town was erected in the honor of Croatian defenders at Trpinjska cesta (Trpinjska road) in the place of former post-office where in 1991 the headquarters of a part of Vukovar was. In the center of it there is an abyss with a dome from destroyed former Yugoslav army tank, and around it you can see the names of all killed members of the 204 Vukovar brigade. Like in life, when sorrow and joy, ups and downs continually twine, it is also the same in Vukovar.
The town went through its ordeal, it has its nocturne, but also Danube and Vuka, Adica, sights, famous citizens, Vučedol and the Vučedol dove, as a synonym of peace and life continuity. Full of impressions and feelings you are surely going to return to this town, because people from Vukovar say that Danube smells here as nowhere else in the world.
Sights and more
You can start your visit to memorial places in Vukovar hospital. Continue to Ovčara, mass grave and Memorial Center, and on your way back to Vukovar visit Memorial Cemetery of Homeland War Victims. In Memorial Center of the Homeland War you will learn about the chronology and events that occurred in Croatia at that time, and in Memorial Center of Croatian Defenders you will admire their courage and their wish to defend the town. You can end the tour by visiting the impressive Cross at the mouth of Vuka to Danube.
Walking along Danube, which is especially wide, powerful, but silent and peaceful in Vukovar, you can feel connection to nature, but also to other European Danubian countries.
