It is one of the most famous symbols of Vukovar and the suffering of the city in the Battle of Vukovar and the Croatian War of Independence, when the water tower and the city itself were largely destroyed by Yugoslav forces.

[1] The water tower was designed by the company Plan and built by Hidrotehna Zagreb, in the late 1960s.

[2] Until the war, the top of the tower was home to a restaurant with a view over Vukovar, Danube and surrounding vineyards.

During the Battle of Vukovar, the water tower was one of the most frequent targets of artillery.

[4] After the reintegration of Vukovar into the Republic of Croatia, reconstruction of the water tower was initiated by Croatian President Franjo Tuđman, but the process was dropped and the tower instead become a memorial area to the pain and suffering that Vukovar endured.