Famous Monuments 3

 

MONUMENT TO DESPOT STEFAN LAZAREVIĆ
Author: NEBOJŠA MITRIĆ

It is located in Upper Town of Belgrade Fortress, bronze 220 cm.
It was erected in 1982 as the gift to Belgrade, for the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the author's artistic work..

DESPOT STEFAN LAZAREVIĆ
(1377-1427), Serbian ruler

DESPOT STEFAN LAZAREVIĆ He was the first ruler who made Belgrade the capital of all Serbian countries from the Sava and Danube to the Adriatic. He became the Knez in age of 12, after his father Knez Lazar got killed in the battle of Kosovo in 1389. His mother, Kneginja Milica, provided him with good education, and he has prepared himself for military and diplomatic career. He got experienced in the major battles of the time (Rovine in 1395, Nikopolje 1396, Angora 1402), fighting on the side of Sultan Bayazit, he became independent after he had gained the Sultan's trust, and turned to Hungary. And like he had gained Peć and Priština for his services done to the Sultan, so the Hungarians have gifted him with Mačva and Belgrade, while thanks to his friendly relations with the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II he has met all the rulers of Central Europe. He has accepted their ways of rule, and inherited from his predecessors the encouragement of architecture and art. He has been highly ranked among the European knights. He has been one of the most reputed of the 24 knights of the Dragon's Order.

He kept painters and architects in his court in Belgrade, he received the most famous writers of Greece (the poet Andonije Rafail) and Bulgaria (Grigorije Camblak and Constantine the Philosopher). At the new-built Resava monastery (today: Manasija) he has founded very famous school of copying and interpretation of Greek manuscripts, received from writers the integral chronicles of national and world history. He has also written himself, and each of his charters also contains an introduction made in his easily-recognized style. He has written the "Pohvalno slovo knez Lazaru", "Natpis na mramornom stubu na Kosovu" and "Slovo ljubve", a poem which would in our mediaeval literature remain an example of higly-cultivated style, inspired and original poetry. The Serbian translation of the Greek work "On Future Times", the important allegorical poem about evil, is attributed to this ruler. Having been one of the most educated people of his time, he in fact was the representative of Serbian renaissance. It can be seen best in the voluminous work of Constantine the Philosopher "Žitije i podvizi uvek spominjanoga, slavnoga, blagočastivoga gospodina despota Stefana", a work not celebrating the ruler as a saint, but as a wise diplomat, courageous warrior and talented poet, a true lover of art.

 

MONUMENT TO KARAĐORĐE
Author: SRETEN STOJANOVIĆ

At the plateau in front of the building of the National Library of Serbia in Nebojšina Street.
Bronze 320 cm. Erected in 1979.

ĐORĐE PETROVIĆ
(Viševac near Rača Kragujevačka, 1768 - Radovanje near Smederevska Palanka, 1817), the leader of the First Serbian Insurrection

The Turks called him Karađorđe - Black Đorđe. He has been a shepherd in Šumadija, then a livestock merchant. He has spent his youth resisting the Turkish terror, at first as a haiduk (anti-Turkish rebel), and later as a courageous soldier in the company of volunteers led by captain Radić Petrović, during the Austrian-Turkish war 1788-1791.

After the return of janissaries to Belgrade he became a haiduk again, and with prominent Serbs began to prepare a large-scale resistance. He has managed to escape the slaughter of Serbian knezes, and at the gathering in Orašac in the first half of February 1804, he was elected leader of the Insurrection. He made connections with Austria and Russia and confronted the official Turkish Empire.

He led the battle on Mišar and fights for liberation of Belgrade. Immediately after the insurrection, in 1813, he went to Austria, and then to Russia. He returned to Serbia in June 1817, but in the morning of July 25, he was killed by the order of Knez Miloš Obrenović. His head was cut off and sent to the Sultan as a proof of Miloš's loyalty.

 

MONUMENT TO KNEZ MIHAILO OBRENOVIĆ
Author: ENRIKO PACI

At Trg Republike, near the street bearing the Knez's name, bronze.
Erected in 1882.

MIHAILO OBRENOVIĆ
(Kragujevac, 1823 - Belgrade, 1868), Knez of Serbia

Son of Knez Miloš and Kneginja Ljubica, came to power for the first time when his brother Milan died in 1839. The Sultan confirmed him as elected but not as hereditary Prince. In August 1842, a revolt was organized by Toma Vučić, Mihailo was forced to leave Serbia, and Aleksandar Karađorđević came to the throne. He has spent six years abroad and during that time he collaborated with many Serbs dealing with literature and helped them, too (Vuk Karadžić, Đura Daničić, Branko Radičević and others). When Miloš Obrenović returned to Serbia in 1858, Mihailo came along and took over supreme command of the army. When Miloš died, he became Prince of Serbia again in 1860. In 1861 he made extensive changes in the constitutional structure of the state: the authority of the Council for Legislative Affairs was limited and the independence of its members abolished; ministers became responsible only to the Prince; freedom of the press was abolished; and the National Assembly became only an advisory organ.

Mihailo paid special attention to military organization and in 1861 established a national army with about 50,000 soldiers in its ranks. Up to date weaponry was provided, and Serbia became the strongest military power in the Balkans. Mihailo's aim was the final liberation of his country from the Turks. He used the bombarment of Belgrade (1862) made by the Turks, and after the long negotiations he forced them to remove their garrisons from Belgrade and other Serbian towns (1867) Counting on a war with Turkey, he formed alliances and made agreements with other Balkan nations - Montenegro, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania. Just when the preparations for the war were completed Mihailo was assassinated while out walking in Košutnjak in 1868.