It was erected during the major reconstruction of Smederevo that followed the explosion. Its construction was entrusted to the Extraordinary Commissariat for the Reconstruction of Smederevo. Conceptual designs for the monument were submitted by the architects Momir Korunović and Aleksandar Deroko, and Deroko’s design was chosen for construction. The works were completed on 22 July 1942.
Aleksandar Deroko, one of the most important Serbian architects and researchers of the national architectural heritage, conceived the monument as a harmonious and dignified memorial ensemble. The ossuary was built in the Old Cemetery, next to the medieval Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, with which it forms a unique historical and architectural space. To make way for it, the church’s nineteenth-century wooden narthex was removed.
The Memorial Ossuary consists of a porch with semicircular arcades on stone columns and a tall bell tower in the central part. The arcades and the bell tower are built of bright red machine-made brick, while crosses made of slabs of yellowish-white stone are set on all four sides of the square-based bell tower. Smaller stone crosses are also placed between the arched openings of the arcaded porch, and the roofs of the ossuary and the bell tower are covered with old clay tiles. The combination of different materials, the simplicity of form and the carefully measured decoration give the ensemble a solemn and dignified character.
In the portico, beneath the arcades, white marble slabs bear the names of 485 people killed in the explosion. This is not the final number of victims of the 5 June tragedy, as the exact number of those killed has never been reliably established.
On the front of the bell tower there is also a marble memorial plaque placed on the first anniversary of the explosion, dedicated to the memory of the victims and as a warning to future generations.
The original design also provided for a mortuary and a church office within the complex, but these parts of the project were never built.
Today the Memorial Ossuary with Bell Tower stands as a lasting testimony to one of the most tragic events in the history of Smederevo. At the same time, as a work by Aleksandar Deroko, it has considerable architectural and artistic value and is an important part of the city’s memorial heritage.