Friday, August 27, 2010

Serbia - Belgrade (4)


"Victor" symbol of Belgrade, or protector of Belgrade, part of Fortress of Belgrade.

Sent by Antal, my great friend from Hungary, who sent this postcard from Belgrade, Serbia.

This is from Wikipedia : The Pobednik (Serbian Cyrillic: Победник; English: The Victor) is a monument in the Kalemegdan Fortress in Belgrade, Serbia, erected after World War I to commemorate the Kingdom of Serbia's war victories over Ottoman Empire (First Balkan War) and Austria-Hungary (World War I). It is one of the most famous works of the Croatian, Ivan Meštrović. The statue was originally supposed to be placed on the Terazije square, but ended up at Kalemegdan Fortress after people complained about its nudity.

This statue, holding a dove of peace on one hand and a sword of war in the other hand, and looking forward across the confluence of the Sava and the Danube, and over the vast Pannonian plain, towards the very distant Fruška Gora mountain, towards at the time, Austro-Hungarian empire, is probably the most powerful, most popular visual symbol of Belgrade.

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