Gazimestan

42°41′26″N 21°07′25″E / 42.69056°N 21.12361°E / 42.69056; 21.12361

Gazimestan is the name of a monument to the Battle of Kosovo, situated a few kilometres to the southeast of the Kosovo Polje field, situated on a hill rising some 50 m (164 ft) above the plain. It was built in 1953 under the authority of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, in the shape of medieval tower designed by Aleksandar Deroko. The Kosovo Field is traversed by the main road across Kosovo (Skopje-Kraljevo), the monument is some 500 m (1,640 ft) off the road to the east The name is from Turkish gazi ("hero"), ultimately from Arabic ghazi ("warrior"). The name Gazimestan could also be derived from the Serbian words gaziti ("walk") and mesto ("place" or "spot"). The monument was the location of the Gazimestan speech delivered by Slobodan Milošević on the 600th anniversary of that battle in 1989, an infamous speech seen by many as inciting conflict throughout the former Yugoslavia. The monument is guarded by Kosovo Police forces.

Inscribed on the monument is the "Kosovo curse" attributed to Lazar:

"Whoever is a Serb and of Serb birth

And of Serb blood and heritage

And comes not to the Battle of Kosovo,

May he never have the progeny his heart desires!

Neither son nor daughter

May nothing grow that his hand sows!

Neither dark wine nor white wheat"

This form of the curse first appeared in the 1845 edition of the collection of Serbian folk songs by Vuk Karadžić.

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