Brutalist architecture – from Eastern Bloc communities to social housing in north London – flourished across Europe from the early 1950s to the mid-1970s. Today it is fetishised for its unavoidable presence and Instagram-friendly aesthetic, but the catalyst behind one of urban culture’s most politically driven movements can be traced all the way back to World War ll, or as it is known in Yugoslavia, the ‘National Liberation War’.

Fresh from publishers Fuel, Spomenik Monument Database by Donald Niebyl is a new publication that brings together more than 80 awe-inspiring Brutalist monuments, exploring each one’s historical value, design, construction and current status. The word spomenik is Serbo-Croatian for ‘memorial’ and, as Niebyl explains, is derived from ‘spomen-’ meaning ‘memory’. When the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by the combined Axis forces of Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary, a home-grown, anti-fascist, Communist, partisan resistant army formed, bound and led by the charisma of Josip Broz Tito. Against all the odds, with minimal assistance from the Allies, Tito’s army overcame the might of the Axis forces and ultimately succeeded in liberating their beloved region.