Monument of Gratitude to France

Origin In the decisive days of the war after the epic battles of the Serbian Army, its perilous withdrawal across Albania and the almost inconceivable feat of breaching the enemy lines on the Salonika front, a military alliance and friendship between two countries had been forged. After the war, Serbian intellectuals gathered around the Association of French Schools Alumni and the Society of Friends of France initiated erection, in Belgrade or Paris, of a monument to France, as a token of gratitude for her military and educational aid during and after the war, and of the friendship built in the days of greatest trials. After the war, the Kingdom of Serbia ceased existing as such, becoming part of a newly created complex state, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, subsequently Yugoslavia, and Belgrade, as its capital, saw a period of reconstruction and embellishment. On 17 December 1921 Belgrade City Council made the decision to erect a gratitude and honor memorial to the French soldiers who had lost their lives defending Belgrade in 1915. The French Schools Alumni and the Society of Friends of France started the official initiative in May 1924. In the summer of 1924 the Committee for Erecting a Monument chaired by Niko Miljanić, a physician, one of the founders of the Belgrade University School of Medicine, was set up. The Committee succeeded in raising considerable funds within a short span of time. built in 1928–32). France responded to this gesture by setting up monuments to King Peter I the Liberator and King Alexander I the Unifier in Paris, memorials in Orleans and Marseilles, and by naming one of central Paris avenues after King Peter I of Serbia. These initiatives weren't state ones, though, but also initiated by various private organizations. Monuments to Serbian kings were built 6 years after the monument in Belgrade was dedicated. on the former site of the monument to the leader of the First Serbian Resurrection against Ottoman rule, Karađorđe, erected by the Ministry of War in 1913, after the victories in the Balkan Wars, to mark the 100th anniversary of the creation of a regular Serbian army by Karađorđe. In 1916 the occupying Austro-Hungarian force blew up the monument with dynamite in order to replace it with a colossal bronze statue of Franz Joseph. After the liberation of Belgrade, this statue was found on a Sava barge, melted down and reused for bells for Serbian Orthodox churches, the largest of which was donated to the church popularly known as Ružica, in Kalemegdan. The initiative to erect a monument to Karađorđe launched in 1857 falls among the earliest activities relating to the practice of producing public monuments in Serbia. Meštrović's monument set up in its former place took advantage of the powerful symbolism of the fortress as a battlefield site and its remarkable location above the two rivers, overlooking the national and historical significance of the location originally intended for the memorial to Karađorđe. The final decision was confirmed in municipal council on 19 September 1930. During the reconstruction several discoveries were made. There were many cracks, up to long, in the lower section. Concrete partially filled the sculpture so it had to be precisely chiseled. The couplings, as the monument is made from several parts, weren't welded, but instead were riveted and fastened with the bolts. The quality of the bronze used was bad. Instead of having less than 5% of zinc, it contained 13-24%, meaning it had probably been obtained by the melting of cannon shells. The result of an error during the original casting, there are visible remains of over 50 holes on the cast, especially on the thigh section, which were originally filled with the bits of bronze and then forged in situ. It took 2 months to remove the soot from the outer side of the monument. Instead of concrete, the reconstructed monument, will be fastened with a construction built from stainless steel. The original Sorbonne and the Warriors bas-reliefs will be stored in the Museum of Belgrade, while the replicas, done by sculptor Goran Čpajak, will be placed on the monument instead. The sculpture was returned to its original place by August 10, and by September the area surrounding the pedestal was returned to its original, 1930s look. == Description ==

The design of the monument was entrusted to the world renowned Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović, who made a model in his Zagreb studio (MeštrovićGallery). The sculpture was cast in fourteen pieces at the Art Foundry of the Academy of Fine Arts using the lost wax technique. The pieces were joined to form two halves of the vertically divided sculpture, transported to Belgrade and assembled together on the site. The monumental figure, over high, represents France rushing to Serbia's aid. on the Triumphal Arch in Paris; in Eugène Delacroix's famous painting Liberty Leading the People; or as the great mother feeding her children in Daumier's study Republic from the Musée d’Orsay. These and similar allegorical depictions of France as a determined female figure with the characteristic Phrygian bonnet are clear historical references of relevance for Meštrović's conception of the monument in Kalemegdan. The manner of formal stylization and the force of movement bring the figure close to the Sezession style. The logic of its vigorous forward motion, which can be traced back to late Hellenistic sculpture, is based on placing the entire weight of the figure on the left foot and establishing static equilibrium between dominant planes: between twisted masses of the upper body with the jutting right shoulder and the long taut arc of the right leg, and the cumulative mass of the drapery and left arm. The arrangement of the main planes and the lateral location of reliefs shift the beholder's viewpoint to the sides of the monument. Even though the side aspect is visually richer, Meštrović established the (ideal) frontal viewpoint in order to emphasize the dignity and importance of the central figure. A shift away from naturalism and elements of modern inspiration are most readily observable in the treatment of drapery, which assumes a fantastic shape which, viewed from the rear, makes the figure almost unrecognizable. The fusion of the left arm with the drapery serves to produce an almost aerodynamic form, with the horizontal lineation of the drapery folds suggesting the force of movement which almost lifts the figure into the air. The use of the drapery folds suggests the author's idea to evocation of wings, thereby coming closer to the ideal of victory, the famous late Hellenistic winged Nike of Samothrace. The central bronze figure is tall, wide and weights 4 tons. == Importance ==

The Monument of Gratitude to France belongs to the post-World War I phase of Meštrović's oeuvre which produced the largest number of his monumental works marked by a lessening concern with detail and the emphasis on the underlying idea. The monument introduced expressiveness instead of the hitherto usual realistic and narrative concept, contributing to the evolution of public monuments in Belgrade. Based on its cultural and historical value, it was designated a cultural monument in 1965, and a cultural monument of great significance in 1983 (“Sl. glasnik RS”, no. 28/83). == Controversies ==

1999 In March 1999, France joined the NATO attack on Serbia. As a consequence, a group of young citizens covered the monument with black cloth and placed a writing "May there be eternal glory to the France that doesn't exist anymore". By 2010, some of the historians concluded that the 1930 legacy has passed and that the only thing that remained to memorialize the great friendship between France and Serbia are the monuments. A day later, the recently renovated monument was vandalized, with the black X marks sprayed over the writings on the monument. The lower section was wrapped in plastic sheets, but the graffiti were cleaned soon and the plastic was removed. Members of the city communal police patrolled the area for a few days. French ambassador to Serbia, Frédéric Mondoloni, publicly apologized on TV for the sitting schedule, but even the suggestions of renaming the streets named after France and Paris appeared in public. == References ==

• CHPIB Documentation • Svetislav Marodić, “Spomenik zahvalnosti Francuskoj”, B.O.N. no. 21, 21–22 Nov. 1930 • “Pred svečanost otkrivanja Spomenika zahvalnosti Francuskoj”, Politika, 9. Nov. 1930 • “Osvećenje crkve Ružice”, Politika, 12 Oct. 1925 • Mila Jeftović, “Spomenik Karadjordju Paška Vučetića”, Nasledje 3 (2001)