A monumental stainless steel sculpture, located on the slopes of Papuk near the village of Kamenska. The monument was the work of renowned sculptor Vojin Bakić. It was unveiled in 1968 and, at the time of its installation, it was the largest postmodernist sculpture in the world.
The monument was erected in honor of the fallen partisan fighters and victims of fascist terror from the Slavonia region, and it was officially dedicated to the Sixth Slavonian Corps of the People’s Liberation Army of Yugoslavia (NOVJ). Papuk, along with the other mountains surrounding the Požega Valley (Psunj, Dilj, and Krndija), was a stronghold of the partisan movement and served as a safe zone for thousands of civilians. The armed forces of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and the German Wehrmacht made several attempts to destroy the partisan-controlled territory in Slavonia, with one of the fiercest attacks occurring in March and April of 1943, during the so-called Papuk-Psunj Operation.
Work on the monument began in 1957, after Bakić won the competition. The monument stood 30 meters high, and its durability and strength were tested by military experts from the Valjevo munitions factory “Krušik.” The monument was officially unveiled by the President of the SFRY, Josip Broz Tito, on November 9, 1968.
