Monument of Gratitude to France

Monument of Gratitude to France (Serbian: Споменик захвалности Француској, romanized: Spomenik zahvalnosti Francuskoj)[1] in Belgrade's Veliki Kalemegdan Park was formally unveiled on 11 November 1930, the 12th anniversary day of the end of the First World War, in the presence of King Alexander and Queen Maria, the royal government, the delegation of the French government, Serbian war veterans, distinguished citizens, associations, schools, and a large crowd of people.

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.

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 permission was asked from the Parisian Municipal Council, which granted the erection of the monument thanks to the mediation of Émile Dard [sr], French ambassador to Belgrade.

Historically, it was a "time when French influences became the domineering component of cultural, economic and political life in the capital of the newly formed Yugoslav state".

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.

He opted for the monumental form in the Art Deco style, quite popular at the time: a female figure with massive body, stepping out strongly, with a determinedly extended arm and proudly raised head.

Serbian side was represented by the highest officials, including King Alexander, Queen Maria, Prince Paul and Princess Olga.

Especially endangered were the two side reliefs ("Sorbonne" and "Warriors"), while the figure itself had a big crack on its right foot which developed in the early 1990s due to the effect of the temperature difference on bronze.

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.

[12] The design of the monument was entrusted to the world renowned Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović, who made a model in his Zagreb studio (MeštrovićGallery[13]).

[2] The expressive movement of the allegorical female figure, an important motif in Meštrović's sculptural work, evokes and glorifies the national spirit of France, suggesting energy, leadership, courage and faith.

Monumentality, typical of Meštrović's sculptural expression, is emphasized by mounting the massive form of the central female figure on a seven-metre-high pedestal made of blocks of Brač “marble” (in fact, grey Adriatic limestone turning white with time).

The reliefs were executed after Meštrović's drawings by the sculptors Frano Kršinić, who oversaw the work, and Antun Augustinčić, as well as Grga Antunac, Šime Dujmić and Orlandini.

The repetitive row of figures in the scene known as Warriors on the left side follows the principle of isocephaly on the model of the bas-relief depicting Assyrian archers, a motif Meštrović elaborated in relief and lithography.

On the opposite side, the more softly modelled allegory of the Sorbonne alludes to the French educational aid extended to Serbian youths during and after the war.

[2] The original sketch for this relief, depicting France as a woman breastfeeding Serbian children (now kept at Meštrović Gallery), was altered at the suggestion of the Director of the French Institute in Zagreb (Raymond Warnier).

After the revolution and the overthrow of the monarchy, the female figure of Marianne, national symbol of the triumph of French republicanism, found expression in many works of art: she is shown as a leader singing the Marseillaise in Francois Rude's Departure of Volunteers[14] on the Triumphal Arch in Paris; in Eugène Delacroix's famous painting Liberty Leading the People;[15] or as the great mother feeding her children in Daumier's study Republic[16] 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 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.

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.

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".

As Serbian army had a pivotal role in forcing out of the war both Bulgaria and Austro-Hungary, the most extensive casualties compared to the population number and historical friendship with France, placing of Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić away from the central seats and placing there representatives of the states which were on the opposing side in the war or didn't even exist as separate states at the time, was taken as an insult in Serbia.