The scope of the programme is broad, with institutions such as the county hospital, the city library, its museums, veteran associations, and more all taking part. On top of the events happening in Vukovar, the official programme includes other Croatian cities where candles will be lit on the evening of the 18th of November.
Grad Vukovar
The first of the events included in the programme will be a professional meeting of the Croatian Society of Emergency and Medical Intensive Care at the National Memorial Hospital in Vukovar at 5 pm on Friday, the 11th and Saturday, 12th November. On Saturday, the 12th, the Sv. Bono Centre by the monastery will host an exhibition of artwork and models of the Vukovar Watertower and a meeting of war reporters.
On Monday, the 14th, the Municipality Museum is organising a Multimedia Exhibition of their archive photos and videos, while the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar will host an online seminar titled Vukovar Today – Memories, Experiences and the Reality of Living.
On Tuesday, the 15th, the Croatian Culture House (Hrvatski Dom) is hosting an exhibition titled Vukovar Execution Grounds, opening at 1 pm. The same venue will host the 18th Stories From My City Memorial on Wednesday, the 16th at 5 pm. The Association of Vukovar’s Women Veterans is hosting the 10th Festival of Unpublished Patriotic Poetry Grad u Školjci (The City in a Seashell), starting at 6 pm at the Ružička House.
On the morning of Thursday, the 17th, at 10 am, the associations of families of the city’s volunteers will lay roses and candles on the graves of Vukovar’s defenders. At 11 am, the Dragutina Tadijanovića primary school will host the 13th Vukovar History Lesson titled Naša pjesma, naša snaga (Our Song, Our Strength). At noon, the City Library will host a Siniša Glavašević memorial panel on the Croatian Diaspora for Vukovar, titled The City – It Is You. At 1 pm, a scientific symposium on the Vukovar’s war hospital will take place in the Sveti Bono Pastoral Centre. At 2 pm, a monument to Kata Šoljić and her four sons who have died defending Vukovar will officially be revealed at Bartola Kašića bb. At 4 pm, the veteran associations will lay wreaths and candles and say their prayers at the votive chapel Put Spasa (Way of Salvation) at Kukuruzni Put – a path through the cornfield which served as the only link between Vukovar and the territory of the Croatian army in late summer and autumn of 1991. At 5 pm, the National Police Union will pay their respects at Hrvatski Dom. Ending the day, at 7 pm, the Vukovar Hospital will be the traditional venue for a candlelit prayer, with the support of Klapa Sveti Juraj.
On Friday, the 18th, Vukovar’s pupils will traditionally light the candles along the city’s main roads in preparation for the memorial parade, whose start will be at the hospital at 10 am for the commemorative programme, and 10.30 for the parade itself. The arrival at the Vukovar Memorial Cemetery is expected at 12, with the national and city officials laying wreaths and paying their respects at 12.15, while the holy mass will take place at 12.30. At 5 pm, the Danube will become a Memorial River of Light. At 6 pm, other Croatian cities will pay their respect by lighting candles on their local Vukovar Street or the main street.
On Saturday, the 19th, the pupils will light candles in the Borovo naselje area. The memorial programme starts at 9.30 at the Borovo Commerce, which served as a war hospital and shelter. The memorial parade will pass through the Blago Zadro and Trpinjska Cesta streets, reaching the Gospa Fatimska Church for the holy mass at 11. At 12.30 pm, respects for the veterans and civil victims of the war will be paid at the bank of the Danube in Borovo Selo. The same will be done at the Lovas Farm at 1 pm, while the Vukovarske Majke Association will honour those who went missing in the war at 1.30 pm at Sportska Ulica bb in Borovo naselje.
Finally, on Sunday, the 20th, respects will be paid, and wreaths will be laid for the victims of concentration camps at the Velepromet venue in Vukovar, where the holy mass will start at 9.30 am. At 10.30 am, a memorial parade from the Memorial Cemetery to the Ovčara site will walk to honour the victims of this concentration camp. At 1 pm, wreaths will be laid there, followed by prayer. At 2.30 pm, a holy mass in honour of all the dead and missing Croatian veterans and civilian victims, as well as the victims of the Ovčara mass grave. It will take place at St Philip and James Church in Vukovar.
TCN will be in Vukovar to pay respects and walk the memorial parades on the 18th and the 19th of November. In the meantime, let us remind you that Vukovar also lives the other 364 days of the year.
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