The House of Flowers: Tito’s Myth and Mausoleum

Hi,
I visited Tito's tomb in February 2006, I was the only visitor and, to be honest, it is as if modern Belgrade has forgotton he ever existed. Whatever anybody now thinks of Tito and his regime, it is clear that his legacy will live long in all the former parts of Yugoslavia. I know several Slovenes, Croats and even one or two Serbs who remember a time when a Yugoslav Passport enabled them to visit both the 'west' and 'east'. But, i guess, it is a different world now

To Anthony Shelmerdine,
Please do not talk about what you have no clue of. The U.S.A are the real tyrants, crossing borders and not following human laws. You take time to criticize a man who had to terminate individuals who sought to divide the Yugoslavs by religious grounds.. Yet you have no time to mention what type of country you live in. Your president is the tyrant, not Josip Tito.. Tito is a man who defines freedom in every sense.

Nice story, even though I was born after Tito's death (so I didn't live in that area) I wish I'd lived that time, I'm alb. from Kosovo and Tito was the best time we ever had and probably will ever have.
good education, good health system, etc (stuff that many western countries don't have and are keen to).

I hear some ppl here saying that Tito was tyrant, no my friend Tito was not such (and I can freely say that one has no knowledge about that time if one makes such an assumption), but now YU is broken and you can say anything you want to. But we ppl from former Yu deserve this "now" situation prosperity cuz it was us that broke our own country, now what is left are scraps which equal to 0 - NULL!

Thankyou Nate for your support. To Publious i would like to point out that i certainly know more about Broz than you. The reason why i was born and brought up in the UK was because my grandfather was exiled in 1945 by Tito. Exiled on lies and trumped up charges. However, whilst you were born in a country ruled by a dictator, with constant control over your news and media, rivers of money being poored in to your economy, in a ethnic muddle acting out some Shakespearean illusion that 'Yugoslavia' was a utopia... i was being brought up in a true democratic, wealthy and respected state.

I support Serbia and argue her cause through the UK media. I have called Tony Blair an 'idiot' on BBC national radio. However, this has not resulted in me being harmed in any way. To call Tito and idiot on national radio would have been a suicide note.

The place may reveal little about 'the man' but without communist progaganda to hide behind 'the man' was a tyrant. Hopefully people will remove the rose tinted glasses and reject the absurd cult of Josip Broz and learn that he replaced a monarch with a more autocratic and despotic monarch... himself.

All the killings post 1945 seem to be forgotten. All the peasant vendetta's, murder, theft, gulags. It wasn't Ceausescu's Romania but it certainly wasn't the utopia that some believe.

Tito the Croat was one of the worst criminals ever lived. He was like Stalin or Hitler, his troops killed thousands of civilians, especially serbians, muslims, italians, bosnians, etc, even some soldiers from new zealand. Priests, families and children were thrown inside the ''foibe''!!! And this event took place during (1943) and after the war (1945). Everyone knows that. Everyone but the Croats, who are physically responsible for those crimes and continue to modify wikipedia to defend Tito.

Hi lucy, could you please please explain to me the difference between Museum of Yugoslav History and 25th May Museum. Are they both the same or...? Also, according to my mum, when she was younger the 25th May museum featured a history of yugoslavia, what's happened to that exhibition? it's really hard to find info regarding the museums in English, any help would be great appreciated. I visited the place last year and all they had were afew of Tito's cars and that's it. Regards

gemma_brewertons@yahoo.com.au

The Yugoslav History Museum and the Museum of the 25th of May are jointly operated, but neither offers a permanent exhibit. The Yugoslav History Museum is in the center of town in Nikola Pasic square and houses rotating exhibits. Despite its name, exhibits there do not always pertain to Yugoslavia. For instance, the museum is currently hosting an exhibit on Chinese bronze work.

The Museum of the 25th of May is located on the same grounds as the House of Flowers. The museum also does not have a permanent exhibit, except for the cars you saw displayed at the entrance to the building. Exhibits in the Museum of the 25th of May tend to draw from a collection of items received by Tito during his presidency, but do not always. The most recent exhibit displayed holiday greeting cards sent to Tito over the years, but the upcoming exhibit features a Croatian photographer.

You're right, there is not much information available in English. The museum website does provide one English page though (www.muzejistorijejugoslavije.org.yu) and a contact email address for further inquiry.

Good luck with your search.

Josip Broz Tito was foremost a Croat who with the help of "Serbian" communists created false nations and false republics at the expense of the Serbs. Face it people. It wasn't the Serbs who wanted out of Yugo. It was all the others Serbs thought were their bretheren. That was Tito's plan. It is a result of his policy that Serbs are today fighting to keep their land and identity. Only, the Serbs didn't realize this until the breakup of Yugo....A plan that was a long time in the works.

I was there in October 2006 and there was hardly anybody except some other (i think japanese) tourists and the staff offcourse. I can imagine that a lot of people have bad memories of the man. But neglecting that the man ever existed is not a good way to deal with the past. I don't know if this is the reason for most people not visiting the museum, but visiting out of 'interest' doesn't harm anybody.. The man is history!! ;)

I just read some of the comments regarding the Museum and Josip Broz Tito's Life. My son Alexei and I just visited the House of Flowers.The May 25th museum was currently working on a new exhibition to be opened at the end of June,2009.We have seen some additions and nice updates to the House of Flowers.They now charge a fee to get in and I have seen more and more people every time I go and visit. People even after all these years remember that he was a charismatic and great leader
of YUGOSLAVIA (* yes, not perfect) but who is ? Jovanka Broz lives just around the corner opposite of the Beli Dvor. Does anybody know of a good site dedicated to her?

a.sz.

Thanks for that Lucy!

To Publius-

Big surprise, you reflect everything in Anthony's sentiment about Tito. Silence all dissent and criticism while trying to deflect the conversation elsewhere. There are two sides to every coin and underneath Tito's carefully managed PR exterior was an ugly underbelly of despotic rule.

And trying to compare Tito and Bush are ludicrous. Tito defines true freedom? At least if you criticize Bush, you don't get shipped off to a "work camp" or disappear mysteriously. I dislike Bush as much as the next person, but saying that he's worse than Tito is laughable.

I visited Tito's tomb in 2001 with my cousin. I think we were the only visitors that day. Quite frankly, I think it is a waste of space. The Serbs should sell Tito's remains and crypt to Croatia. Serbia will never move on until it rids itself of the memory of that man.

Josip Broz Tito was foremost a Croat who with the help of "Serbian" communists created false nations and false republics at the expense of the Serbs. Face it people. It wasn't the Serbs who wanted out of Yugo. It was all the others Serbs thought were their bretheren. That was Tito's plan. It is a result of his policy that Serbs are today fighting to keep their land and identity. Only, the Serbs didn't realize this until the breakup of Yugo....A plan that was a long time in the works.

I visited Tito's tomb in 2001 with my cousin. I think we were the only visitors that day. Quite frankly, I think it is a waste of space. The Serbs should sell Tito's remains and crypt to Croatia. Serbia will never move on until it rids itself of the memory of that man.

To Publius-

Big surprise, you reflect everything in Anthony's sentiment about Tito. Silence all dissent and criticism while trying to deflect the conversation elsewhere. There are two sides to every coin and underneath Tito's carefully managed PR exterior was an ugly underbelly of despotic rule.

And trying to compare Tito and Bush are ludicrous. Tito defines true freedom? At least if you criticize Bush, you don't get shipped off to a "work camp" or disappear mysteriously. I dislike Bush as much as the next person, but saying that he's worse than Tito is laughable.

Tito the Croat was one of the worst criminals ever lived. He was like Stalin or Hitler, his troops killed thousands of civilians, especially serbians, muslims, italians, bosnians, etc, even some soldiers from new zealand. Priests, families and children were thrown inside the ''foibe''!!! And this event took place during (1943) and after the war (1945). Everyone knows that. Everyone but the Croats, who are physically responsible for those crimes and continue to modify wikipedia to defend Tito.

The place may reveal little about 'the man' but without communist progaganda to hide behind 'the man' was a tyrant. Hopefully people will remove the rose tinted glasses and reject the absurd cult of Josip Broz and learn that he replaced a monarch with a more autocratic and despotic monarch... himself.

All the killings post 1945 seem to be forgotten. All the peasant vendetta's, murder, theft, gulags. It wasn't Ceausescu's Romania but it certainly wasn't the utopia that some believe.

Nice story, even though I was born after Tito's death (so I didn't live in that area) I wish I'd lived that time, I'm alb. from Kosovo and Tito was the best time we ever had and probably will ever have.
good education, good health system, etc (stuff that many western countries don't have and are keen to).

I hear some ppl here saying that Tito was tyrant, no my friend Tito was not such (and I can freely say that one has no knowledge about that time if one makes such an assumption), but now YU is broken and you can say anything you want to. But we ppl from former Yu deserve this "now" situation prosperity cuz it was us that broke our own country, now what is left are scraps which equal to 0 - NULL!

To Anthony Shelmerdine,
Please do not talk about what you have no clue of. The U.S.A are the real tyrants, crossing borders and not following human laws. You take time to criticize a man who had to terminate individuals who sought to divide the Yugoslavs by religious grounds.. Yet you have no time to mention what type of country you live in. Your president is the tyrant, not Josip Tito.. Tito is a man who defines freedom in every sense.

Thankyou Nate for your support. To Publious i would like to point out that i certainly know more about Broz than you. The reason why i was born and brought up in the UK was because my grandfather was exiled in 1945 by Tito. Exiled on lies and trumped up charges. However, whilst you were born in a country ruled by a dictator, with constant control over your news and media, rivers of money being poored in to your economy, in a ethnic muddle acting out some Shakespearean illusion that 'Yugoslavia' was a utopia... i was being brought up in a true democratic, wealthy and respected state.

I support Serbia and argue her cause through the UK media. I have called Tony Blair an 'idiot' on BBC national radio. However, this has not resulted in me being harmed in any way. To call Tito and idiot on national radio would have been a suicide note.

Hi lucy, could you please please explain to me the difference between Museum of Yugoslav History and 25th May Museum. Are they both the same or...? Also, according to my mum, when she was younger the 25th May museum featured a history of yugoslavia, what's happened to that exhibition? it's really hard to find info regarding the museums in English, any help would be great appreciated. I visited the place last year and all they had were afew of Tito's cars and that's it. Regards

gemma_brewertons@yahoo.com.au

The Yugoslav History Museum and the Museum of the 25th of May are jointly operated, but neither offers a permanent exhibit. The Yugoslav History Museum is in the center of town in Nikola Pasic square and houses rotating exhibits. Despite its name, exhibits there do not always pertain to Yugoslavia. For instance, the museum is currently hosting an exhibit on Chinese bronze work.

The Museum of the 25th of May is located on the same grounds as the House of Flowers. The museum also does not have a permanent exhibit, except for the cars you saw displayed at the entrance to the building. Exhibits in the Museum of the 25th of May tend to draw from a collection of items received by Tito during his presidency, but do not always. The most recent exhibit displayed holiday greeting cards sent to Tito over the years, but the upcoming exhibit features a Croatian photographer.

You're right, there is not much information available in English. The museum website does provide one English page though (www.muzejistorijejugoslavije.org.yu) and a contact email address for further inquiry.

Good luck with your search.

Thanks for that Lucy!

Hi,
I visited Tito's tomb in February 2006, I was the only visitor and, to be honest, it is as if modern Belgrade has forgotton he ever existed. Whatever anybody now thinks of Tito and his regime, it is clear that his legacy will live long in all the former parts of Yugoslavia. I know several Slovenes, Croats and even one or two Serbs who remember a time when a Yugoslav Passport enabled them to visit both the 'west' and 'east'. But, i guess, it is a different world now

I was there in October 2006 and there was hardly anybody except some other (i think japanese) tourists and the staff offcourse. I can imagine that a lot of people have bad memories of the man. But neglecting that the man ever existed is not a good way to deal with the past. I don't know if this is the reason for most people not visiting the museum, but visiting out of 'interest' doesn't harm anybody.. The man is history!! ;)

I just read some of the comments regarding the Museum and Josip Broz Tito's Life. My son Alexei and I just visited the House of Flowers.The May 25th museum was currently working on a new exhibition to be opened at the end of June,2009.We have seen some additions and nice updates to the House of Flowers.They now charge a fee to get in and I have seen more and more people every time I go and visit. People even after all these years remember that he was a charismatic and great leader
of YUGOSLAVIA (* yes, not perfect) but who is ? Jovanka Broz lives just around the corner opposite of the Beli Dvor. Does anybody know of a good site dedicated to her?

a.sz.