Cemeteries and memorials to visit Povadarie

Built between 1976 and 1979, this beautiful white monument (Спомен Костурница/Spomen Kosturnica) houses the remains of 87 Veles partisans who died during World War II, including that of the poet Kočo Racin, who was killed under murky circumstances in 1943. Designed by Serbian sculptor Ljubomir Denković (b. 1936), the dome of the ossuary (10 m high and 15 m wide) evokes a German soldier's helmet from the ^Third Reich broken into four. Inside is the largest mosaic in the country (220^m2), the work of Macedonian painter Petar Mazev (1927-1993).

Left abandoned since independence, this monument (Цветот на Cлободата/Cvetot na Slobodata) nevertheless pays tribute to the fighters of Slavic Macedonia through the centuries. With a height of 12 m, only the metal frame remains today. Erected in 1969 near the archaeological site of Vardarski Rid, this modernist metal structure was moved here, at the top of the hill of Mrzenski (145 m of altitude), in 2005. In the shape of a stylized flower, it is the work of Jordan Grabuloski, who is also responsible for the superb Makedonium in Kruševo.