- The 21st of October Museum within the memorial park was opened to the public in 1976, the same year the city of Kragujevac celebrated the 500th anniversary since its founding.
- The building was designed by eminent architect and academic Dr. Ivan Antić and architect Ivanka Raspopović. Construction of the museum complex took nearly five years to complete.
- The designers incorporated the symbolism of the October tragedy into their architectural design.
- The museum building itself is a monument with many layers of symbolic meaning. It was built using red brick, which symbolizes the blood of the innocent victims. The building is covered with 33 dome-capped towers of varying heights symbolizing the 33 mass graves in the area of Šumarice and the neighboring villages.
