Among the recent, and among the unspoiled older memorial areas in Croatia, the Park of Homeland Gratitude in Samobor (2001-2003) has a special place through the way in which the creator of it, Branko Sila|in, has responded to the challenge of a historical and temporal, as well as a spatial, context that is exceptionally complex, consistent with its dominant vocation and preoccupation: the shaping, or reshaping, of urban spaces and scenes of community.
The temporal and historical context covers a whole decade: the Homeland War (1991-1995), which was the price Croatia had to pay for quitting Yugoslavia and starting its life as an independent state, had the character of war of defence and for independence, in which patriotic impulses led members of all generations (the young in particular) and all backgrounds in Croatia to take part, thousands of them losing their lives.