Death and state funeral of Josip Broz Tito

Funeral of Josip Broz Tito
Part of the breakup of Yugoslavia
Tito's funeral procession
Date8 May 1980; 44 years ago (1980-05-08)
LocationDedinje, Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia
ParticipantsYugoslav officials and dignitaries from 128 foreign countries
House of Flowers, Tito's mausoleum.
Tito's tomb.
Tito's grave.

Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia and President of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, died on 4 May 1980 following a prolonged illness. His state funeral was held four days later on 8 May, drawing a significant amount of statesmen from Western, Eastern and Non-Aligned countries across the world.[1][2] The attendees included four kings, six princes, 22 prime ministers, 31 presidents, and 47 ministers of foreign affairs. In total, 128 countries out of the 154 UN members at the time were represented.[3] Also present were delegates from seven multilateral organizations, six movements and forty political parties.

Tito had become increasingly ill throughout 1979. On 7 January and again on 11 January 1980, Tito was admitted to the University Medical Centre in Ljubljana, the capital city of SR Slovenia, with circulation problems in his legs. His left leg was amputated soon afterwards due to arterial blockages, and he died of gangrene at the Medical Centre Ljubljana on 4 May 1980 at 3:05 pm, three days short of his 88th birthday. The Plavi voz, Tito's personal train, brought his body to Belgrade where it lay in state at the Federal Parliament building until the funeral.

As Tito had been viewed as the central unifying figure of culturally, religiously diverse and throughout times ethnically antagonistic nations of Yugoslavia, his death is considered to be one of key catalysts for the dissolution and destruction of the Yugoslav state a mere decade later.

  1. ^ Carter, Jimmy (4 May 1980). "Josip Broz Tito Statement on the Death of the President of Yugoslavia". Retrieved 26 April 2010.
  2. ^ Vidmar, Josip; Rajko Bobot; Miodrag Vartabedijan; Branibor Debeljaković; Živojin Janković; Ksenija Dolinar (1981). Josip Broz Tito – Ilustrirani življenjepis. Jugoslovenska revija. p. 166.
  3. ^ Ridley, Jasper (1996). Tito: A Biography. Constable. p. 19. ISBN 0-09-475610-4.