Croatia’s iconic Vukovar water tower blazes as symbolic unity flame

The bullet hole-ridden water tower of Croatia’s eastern city of Vukovar is among the most famous symbols of the city’s suffering during the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s. This Tuesday the tower became a flaming torch, in celebration of the completion of the first phase of its restoration.

Rival ultra groups Bad Blue Boys (Zagreb), Armada (Rijeka), Torcida (Split) and Kohorta (Osijek) joined together to light the tower with flares, transforming the water tower into a kind of unity torch.

These typically hostile football fans put aside their rivalries to mark the end of the first phase of the restoration project, which will see the site not returned to its original state, but rather turned into a memorial area.

The devastation of the Vukovar water tower became an emblem of the city’s suffering at the hands of Serbian forces during the 1991 Battle of Vukovar.

Source: Croatia Week