| 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 first Allied victory of the war, the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by the Kingdom of Serbia in the Battle of Cer. It is one of the most famous works of the Croatian sculptor, Ivan Meštrović.
The statue was originally supposed to be placed on the Republic Square, but ended up at Kalemegdan Fortress after people complained about its nudity.[1]
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 Frushka Gora mountain, is probably the most powerful, most popular visual symbol of Belgrade. |