Belgrade » Beograd | 27 The Victor is a sculpture that has attracted great attention at all times – both at the time when it was created and at the beginning of this year, when its reconstruction was completed at my studio in Smederevo Kultura Culture timetres high and weighs about a tonne, and now – with the additional construction of 400 to 500 kilograms, it weighs about 1.5 tonnes. We took care to provide statics that would give it the highest degree of security. e entire form is now consolidated and the substructure has been strengthened internally. Interestingly, the Victor was cast in the Czech Republic, and the casting is significantly better than the Monument of Gratitude to France, the reconstruction of which I also worked on. When it comes to the damage to the Victor itself, it was damaged due to the loosening of the links in the pedestal and due to the thin cast iron plinth of the original, to which the feet of the sculpture were fastened using iron screws. e monument also had more than 30 bullet holes. us, statics were one part of the job, while repairing the holes was another. e holes were closed using materials with the same or a similar chemical composition, and it should be said that since the erection of the monument in1928 it hasnot been subjected to significant interventions of this type. IvanMeštrović started working on the monument in 1913, working on it for eightmonths. He sculpted and shaped the sculpture in the sports hall of the primary school in Kralja Petra I Street in Belgrade. Fortunately, the monument escaped being destroyed duringWorldWar I, because prior to the outbreak of war it was sent to Austria-Hungary, to the Czech Republic for casting, where it remained until the end of the war. e Victor represents liberation, victory over feudalism, slavery, while his very nakedness symbolises the entry into the Renaissance. e grey hawk on his left hand speaks of vigilance, with him making sure that the enemy does not reappear, while the sword in his right hand symbolises a new victory. e monument was ceremoniously unveiled in 1928, during the time of celebrations commemorating the tenth anniversary of the breakthrough on the essaloniki Front and Serbia‘s victory in the wars that raged from 1912 to 1918. I‘ve done many different jobs related to sculpture and restoration, but I would certainly single out my work on the Victor sculpture as being very important and somehow the most visible, and that‘s why I‘m very proud of that. Aleksandar Slavković
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