Pobednik
| Pobednik | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location | Belgrade Fortress, Belgrade |
| Coordinates | 44°49′22.9″N 20°26′51.7″E / 44.823028°N 20.447694°ECoordinates: 44°49′22.9″N 20°26′51.7″E / 44.823028°N 20.447694°E |
| Height | 14 metres (46 ft) |
| Dedicated | 1928 |
| Sculptor | Ivan Meštrović |
Pobednik (English: The Victor) is a monument in the Upper Town of the Belgrade Fortress, built to commemorate Serbia's victory over Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empire during the Balkan Wars and the First World War. Erected in 1928, and standing at 14 metres (46 ft) high, it is one of the most famous works of Ivan Meštrović. It is also one of the most visited tourist attractions in Belgrade and the city's most recognizable landmark.
It is a standing bronze male figure with a falcon in the left hand and a sword in the right, modelled by the sculptor Ivan Meštrović, set on a pedestal in the form of a Doric column on a tall cubic base, designed by the architect Petar Bajalović. The statue looks forward across the confluence of the Sava and the Danube, and over the vast Pannonian plain, towards the very distant Fruška Gora mountain, towards the (at the time), Austro-Hungarian empire, it is probably the most powerful, most popular visual symbol of Belgrade.
The history of the monument goes back to the period between 1913 and 1928, even though the initial idea was born in 1912, when Serbia’s success in the First Balkan War inspired proposals for erecting a monument in Belgrade to honour the final victory over the Ottomans. In August 1913 Belgrade city council made the decision to mark this momentous event by erecting a monument to Victory. The original concept was that of a monumental fountain which was to be placed in Terazije or what then was the Square of Crown Prince Alexander. The fountain was to be built of stone in the form of an oval basin resting on the backs of four lions. At the centre of the basin was to be a marble column surmounted by the statue of the Victor. According to the city council resolutions of 4 October 1913 Meštrović was also to produce twenty masks for the rim of the basin and fifty masks for the column, all in bronze. In October 1913 the city contracted with Meštrović and he set to work on the fountain but, being an Austro-Hungarian subject, he had to leave Belgrade at the outbreak of the First World War. Background information about the fountain and its more detailed description were brought out by the newspaper Vreme:...a large basin (shell) the outer side of which would be decorated with a relief depicting warriors on galloping horses. Affixed along the rim of the shell would be lion’s heads (from the present-day jet fountain) spouting water into the shell. [...] The column would be girdled with spaced hoops to which Turkish head masks would be affixed, and each would spout a jet of water into the basin below...
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