Vodnik Monument

[1] It is dedicated to the Carniolan priest, poet and journalist Valentin Vodnik (1758−1819), a major figure in the Slovene National Awakening.

The monument was proposed by the politician Lovro Toman on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the poet's birth; the effort to erect it was organised by the Writers' Support Society in collaboration with the Slovene Society.

The bronze statue was cast in bronze by the young sculptor Alojz Gangl [sl] (1859−1935)[1] between 1887 to 1889 in Vienna, and was unveiled atop a simple stone pedestal on 30 June 1889 with a three-day celebration as the first public Slovene national monument.

...meaning: Neither daughter nor son shall come after me but memory suffices; my songs sing of me.

To commemorate the 120th anniversary of the establishment of the Provinces,[1] France donated[4] a bronze decoration for the pedestal in 1929; this comprises the letters RF (for République Française) flanking a fasces surmounted with a hand with two fingers extended in a blessing (a reference to Vodnik's clerical vocation), all enclosed in a laurel wreath, over a scroll with the inscription "A Vodnik".