On a hillside above western Mostar, the Partisan Memorial Cemetery is one of the most striking and least visited sights in Bosnia. Designed in 1965 by the Belgrade architect and theorist Bogdan Bogdanović, it commemorates around 700 Mostar partisans who died fighting the Axis in the Second World War. The terraces, walkways, and stone "graves" form a deliberately abstract landscape, more sculpture than cemetery.
The site was systematically vandalised in the 2000s, and most of the carved names have been chipped off. Weeds grow between the slabs, water pools in the channels, and parts of the masonry are crumbling. There is no entrance fee and rarely another visitor in sight. Wander quietly — it is one of the most atmospheric, melancholy places in the country.