Memorial park to the Uprising and Revolution, Grahovo

Getting there

Grahovo is on the road that climbs from Risan on the Bay of Kotor over the mountains to Nikšić. By car it is 31.4 km and about 39 minutes from Risan, 45.7 km and about 57 minutes from Nikšić, 45.8 km (about 1 hour 2 minutes) from Herceg Novi, 48.1 km (about 1 hour 4 minutes) from Kotor and 96.6 km (about 1 hour 57 minutes) from Podgorica. The times are free-flow driving times without traffic. The park is in the open, with free street parking near the village's main shop.

What to see

• The statue, about 7 m of bronze on a pedestal. From a distance it reads as a cluster of abstract blocks; closer, the blocks resolve into the figure of Kovačević.
• The inscription naming 13 July 1941 and the first shots of the Grahovo Partisans.
• The terraces along the stone-paved path, with 276 concrete cubes bearing names: 230 local Partisan fighters and 46 civilian victims. The park covers about 7,500 m² and was restored in 2020.

History

Sava Kovačević was born near Grahovo in 1905; his birth house stands at Nudo. On 13 July 1941 the armed Partisan uprising against the Italian occupation began in Montenegro, and the inscription on the monument claims the first shots for Kovačević and the Partisans of Grahovo. The date is now Montenegro's Statehood Day. In the 1970s a competition for a memorial was won by the Belgrade sculptor Miodrag Živković; building began in 1977 with the architect Ivan Vuščić, and the park was unveiled on 13 July 1978. Over the decades the complex fell into neglect. A restoration of about €100,000, coordinated by the Centre for Conservation and Archaeology of Montenegro was finished in summer 2020 and presented, again, on 13 July.

Nearby

• Memorial on Trebjesa in Nikšić, to the 32 shot there in 1942.
• Bedem fortress, the Ottoman fort in the centre of Nikšić.
• Orjen, the mountain between Grahovo and the coast.
• Risan, the Roman town on the bay at the foot of the road.

Questions

Who was Sava Kovačević?

A Partisan commander born near Grahovo in 1905. The monument is dedicated to him and to the Grahovo Partisans, whom its inscription credits with the first shots at the occupier on 13 July 1941.

Who made the monument?

The sculptor Miodrag Živković, who won the design competition, with the architect Ivan Vuščić. It was unveiled on 13 July 1978.

Is it worth a detour?

It needs none if you are driving between the Bay of Kotor and Nikšić: the road passes it. From Risan it is about 39 minutes, from Nikšić about 57.