Freedom Hill

In the middle of the town of Ilirska Bistrica rises the Hill of Freedom, on which stands a monumental monument, the work of academic sculptor Janez Lenassi and architect Živa Baraga. It is part of a park that commemorates the fallen in the final battles for the liberation of Ilirska Bistrica and its surroundings, as well as all the overseas troops who fought in the Second World War.

The monument was created in the style of socialist modernism, commissioned by the Socialist Republic of Slovenia in cooperation with the local community. The monument was unveiled in 1966. In that year, Janez Lenassi was awarded the Prešeren Prize for the monument.

Since its creation, the Memorial Park, which also houses the Tigr Monument and other memorials, has remained an important building block of local identity, and its significance transcends local boundaries. Between 15 July 2018 and 13 January 2019, it was featured in the exhibition Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948 - 1980, at MoMA, New York. It has also been featured in foreign literatures on socialist modernism, such as the Atlas of Brutalist Architecture and Donald Niebyl's review monograph Monument: Monument Database.