With spectacular views of the Adriatic Sea and half-moon beaches, Kupari, near Dubrovnik, was considered Monaco, once known as Yugoslavia.
In the 1960s, the country’s communist leader, Josip “Titto” Broz ordered the construction of a vast holiday complex exclusively reserved for members of the military on this hillside on the Dalmatian coast. The top brass had individual villas. In the lower ranks, six hotels were selected, and the foot soldiers were relegated to a campsite surrounded by palm trees and lush greenery.
Tito discovered Kupari was very pleasant, so he built his holiday villa near the corner overlooking the Adriatic Sea. He and his wife, Giovanka, entertained VIP guests such as Hollywood stars Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
In the 1990s, when Yugoslavia descended into war over a decade after Tito’s death, during the battle for Croatia’s independence, the place was shelled. Today, hotels, once a high level of post-war luxury, are concrete skeletons, scattered and covered in graffiti.
Now, after 30 years of neglect, locals hope that the site will eventually return to its former glory as part of a 150 million euro 5 star development.
“It was an eye-opener for 30 years, so everyone is happy that it will be developed and provide local employment,” architect Marco Dablovich, who oversees the plan, told the observers during an exclusive visit to the fenced site. “But 10 years later, off, stop, start, it won’t happen, they’re waiting to see if it really is.”
Russian investors first approached Zagreb-based architect 3LHD, which Dablovich runs alongside three partners, and created plans for the site a decade ago, but Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions pulled the investors out. The Singapore-based consortium then took over the project in collaboration with the Four Seasons Hotel Group.
In recent years, Kupari ruins have appealed to sloppy truck tourists who have camped in abandoned corridors and corridors, composing blogs about “Abandoned Hotel Bays.”
In 2022, the biopic in which Kate Winslet played World War II photographer Lee Miller was partially shot in Kupali, which was made to look like a 1945 Normandy. And last March, popular YouTuber Beast released a video filmed here. I survived in a discarded city for seven days.
On a refreshing February morning, the Jugo winds that gave Yugoslavia its name had smashed through the windows of the Peregrine Hotel. I penetrated the window of the Peregrine Hotel. The Peregrine Hotel penetrated through the windows of the Peregrine Hotel, a trapezoidal-shaped building designed by Saraevan architect David Finch, and was praised as a masterpiece when it opened in 1963. An Olympic-sized swimming pool full of garbage.
The walls facing the sea are covered with graffiti and are covered with sh shotguns from artillery attacks by the Yugoslav Navy during the siege of Dubrovnik in 1991-92. The campaigners asked to list it as a heritage building, but Dablovich believes it cannot be repaired.
“It was architecturally interesting, but even if it could and could not be rebuilt, it would not meet modern safety standards,” Dablovic said.
Growing up in Dubrovnik, he remembers this site in his heyday. There were a lot of troops back then. It was creepy, but still a working holiday resort. ”
The historic centerpiece in Kupali was the Grand Hotel, a palace-style building built by Czech businessmen in 1923 around the ki of a former brick factory. After Tito came to power in 1945 as the leader of Life in the Socialist Federal Republic, the Grand was nationalized along with the President’s villa and new hotels were added.
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In 1971, Tito entertained Burton and Taylor in Kupali, debating how the actors would perform him in the World War II film Battle of Sutjeska. In his diary, Burton wrote: “When he (Titto) sat behind the table, he seems the most frightening. We’re experiencing a bit of tension as the servant serves us all.”
He added: “Titto and Madame Broz tell us long stories that the interpreter doesn’t allow to interrupt, as by the end of the latter they couldn’t care what the story was.
Peregrine and other buildings will be demolished, but the ground will be subject to a preservation order and will be rebuilt in its original front. The new development includes a 220-bed luxury hotel with terraced wings on one side of the bay and 32 individual villas set on the hillside, which will be sold to private owners and rented back to the hotel.
The beach will recover and a small marina will be added. The site and coastline are open to the public. The villa in Tito is in desperate need of renovations, but remains a state property and cannot be touched.
“The challenge was to integrate the new buildings into the landscape. We only build them where existing buildings are, using local materials,” Dabrović said.
In the town of Kupari, locals are panicking to begin construction. Standing on the roof of Peregrine, Dabrovic juggled calls from officials threatening to delay permitting the building, but was optimistic that bulldozers parked at the site would soon work.
“As an architect, it’s been very frustrating. No one expects to work on a project for 10 years without building one thing,” he said.
“Now everyone is waiting for that to happen in the end.”
