The monument was created as an entry in a competition from 1959. In it, the architect reached for a form characteristic of the era: rising above the plinth is the low mass of a simple square volume. In its elementary force, it is possible to discern an overcoming of previous historicist ornament with a lapidary geometric shape. Because of political objections, Kuzma could only return to the project in 1963. However, his own talent was closer to a sculptural form, and so in conceiving a more definitive form of the work he joined with the young sculptor Jozef Jankovič. Jankovič’s suggestive sculpture ‘The Victims’ Warning’ became the central accent of the entire building (after the Soviet invasion in 1968 it was moved to Kališť, and returned to the monument only in 2004 for commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the uprising). The aesthetic effect of the building is grounded on the force of the exposed concrete, from which the two shell-segments are formed from the horizontal base. Inside of them are the main spaces of the museum of the Slovak anti-Fascist partisan movement from 1944. The monument is composed of the horizontal base and the sculptural mass sliced in two through the centre. The sides of the incision are of glass; the ceiling slabs in both volumes are freely suspended. At the centre of the composition is the ‘memorial entrance hall’ in the ground floor, with wood flagging. In the ground-floor mass are a research archive, lecture hall, toilets, storage and depository areas. The monument is a listed national landmark. 

Literature:
CHOVANEC, Jozef: Súťaž na pamätník SNP v Banskej Bystrici. Výtvarný život 2, 1957, 7 – 8, p. 276 – 277.
ZÁRIŠ, František: Súťaž na pamätník SNP v Banskej Bystrici. Projekt 1, 1959, 8 – 9, p. 111 – 117.
KUSÝ, Martin: Pamätník SNP v Banskej Bystrici. Projekt 6, 1964, 8, p. 172 – 175.
LACKO, Jozef: Pamätník Slovenského národného povstania v Banskej Bystrici. Projekt 11, 1969, 11 – 12, p. 205 – 213.
KUZMA, Dušan: Slovo autora. Projekt 11, 1969, 11 – 12, p. 213.
KAPASNÝ, Ladislav: Debnenie výstavnej časti pamätníka SNP v Banskej Bystrici. Pozemní stavby 18, 1970, 12, p. 347 – 349.
Monument de la Révolte Nationale Slovaque – Banská Bystrica. L'Architecture d'aujourd'hui, février – mars 1972, 160, p. 72.
KUSÝ, Martin: Architektúra na Slovensku 1945 – 1975. Bratislava, Pallas 1976. 286 p.
PECHAR, Josef: Československá architektura. Praha, Odeon 1979. 474 p.
SEDLÁKOVÁ, Radomíra – KUZMA, Dušan: Pamätník – múzeum Slovenského národného povstania v Banskej Bystrici. Projekt 30, 1988, 10, p. 4 – 9.
DULLA, Matúš: Architektúra šesťdesiatych rokov. In: Šesťdesiate roky v slovenskom výtvarnom umení. (Katalóg výstavy.) SNG, Bratislava 1995, p. 304 – 319.
Dušan Kuzma architekt. Ed. Katarína Kuzmová. Bratislava, SAS – Jaga 2000. 94 p.
DULLA, Matúš – MORAVČÍKOVÁ, Henrieta: Architektúra Slovenska v 20. storočí. Bratislava, Slovart 2002. 512 p.
SNOPKO, Ladislav a i.: Obete varujú. Paralelné príbehy. Banská Bystrica, Orman a Múzeum SNP 2004. 92 p.
Architektúra na Slovensku. Stručné dejiny. Ed. Henrieta Moravčíková. Bratislava, Slovart 2005. 182 p.
ANDRÁŠIOVÁ, Katarína: Dušan Kuzma. In: Šedesátá léta v architektuře očima pamětníků. Zborník rozhovorov. Petr Urlich, Petr Vorlík, Beryl Filsaková, Katarína Andrášiová, Lenka Popelová. Praha, Česká technika – nakladatelství ČVUT 2006, p. 294 – 303.
Pamätník Slovenského národného povstania. DOCOMOMO národný register: Slovensko. Architektúra & urbanizmus 40, 2006, 3 – 4, p. XVI.

Photo:
Ján Sláma
Ground plan:
Projekt, 1969, 11 – 12