Monuments are monumental buildings created to preserve the memory of an event or person who became part of the collective memory of society with their life and work. Monuments are erected in memory of historical times and personalities and due to their artistic, historical or architectural significance, they represent the cultural heritage of the society.
The Greek word mnemosinon, or Latin moneo, monere, which means monument, also means ”remind”, ”advise” or ”warn”, which indicates that the monuments allow us to ”peek” into the past but also help us imagine what the future may be like.
The monument to Stefan Nemanja is located on Sava Square in Belgrade, in front of the former building of the Main Railway Station. It is dedicated to the great prefect Stefan Nemanja, the ancestor of the Serbian medieval Nemanjić dynasty, and represents the ruling figure of Stefan Nemanja in a noble uniform, with a sword in his right hand and the Hilandar Charter in his left. It is located on a pedestal that is made up of several elements. Basically, it is a cracked Byzantine helmet, as a symbol of Nemanja’s struggle for independence from the Roman Empire, from where the ruler’s scepter emerges, a symbol of the ruler’s power. On the pedestal there are reliefs from Nemanja’s life and Serbian history during his reign. The monument, together with the pedestal, weighs 80 tons and is 23.5 meters high and is the tallest monument in Serbia. It was unveiled on Saint Sava Day, 27 January 2021.
The monument is the work of Russian sculptor Alexander Iulianovich Rukavishnikov, a member of the Russian Academy of Arts, professor, master of monumental compositions and sculptural portraits. Rukavishnikov was born on 2 October 1950 in Moscow, in a family of sculptors. At the Moscow Art Institute V. I. Surikov, he graduated in 1974 in class of L. E. Kerbel with an excellent grade. He acquired the title of ”Honoured Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Republic” in 1984, and since 1993 he has been the director of the sculpture department at the Moscow Art Institute V. I. Surikov.
Artistic realisation: Miroslav Nikolić
