Belgrade Trip – Pobednik (Victor Monument)

Located within the Belgrade Fortress, this is the not inconsiderable Victor monument which stands where the Rivers Danube and Sava meet. Incidentally, I thought that the statue leaning was more evidence simply of my photographic prowess, but it is genuinely leaning which is sub-optimal for the city engineers. Like many things in the city, there were lots of arguments about this monument and where it was going to go. Designed by Ivan Meštrović, it’s not of any one particular person, it instead represents some sort of mythical being who has won the war and is now leading the city into peace. The monument wasn’t meant to be placed here (it was instead meant to be at Terazije which is in the city centre), but there were arguments that the lack of clothing meant it wasn’t suitable in case ladies looked at it, so it’s been moved out here.

As a quick timeline, the idea for such a moment came in 1913 following the Serbian victory in the First Balkan War when the Ottomans were defeated. The Hercules type statue was designed, but then World War One broke out and that caused somewhat of a delay, even when the conflict was over. Eventually, the monument was delivered to the city in 1923 and it was then put in a shed for four years whilst the authorities worked out where to put it. Bored of argument, a final decision was made in 1927 and this is where the monument was plonked down.

There he is, defending Belgrade. The monument is cracked and the whole lot has had to be repaired several times to stop it falling down, but it looks quite majestic today.

And that’s the view that he’s looking out onto. Some have suggested he isn’t guarding the city, but simply after all of the arguments the authorities wanted it looking away from the city centre so they didn’t have to look at him. Either which way, it’s quite an impressive monument.