This is Monument to the December Victims, by one of the most famous contemporary artists to come out of the former Yugoslavia, Dušan Džamonja. I think his work is amazing:
What it is absolutely not is “Soviet.”
Džamonja was from Zagreb; the capital of what is now Croatia, which was formerly part of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was never under Soviet control, and in fact had a very tense relationship with the Soviet Union. Džamonja was obviously influenced by Soviet brutalism, but so were many artists, Americans included.
Calling Croatian art “Soviet” can get you cut in that part of the world. The fact that Yugoslavia never bowed to Soviet hegemony is a matter of national pride – and no small geopolitical significance.
Monument to the December Victims is also not “abandoned.” It’s in the middle of Zagreb where people see it every day, and the local municipality puts in regular effort to keep it clean of graffiti and vandalism.
You can read all about the monument, and the event it memorializes, here.
