Monument to Vuk Karadžić is a monument in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, Serbia, featuring a sculpture of

Vuk Karadžić Vuk Stefanović Karadžić ( sr-Cyrl, Вук Стефановић Караџић, ; 6 November 1787 (26 October OS)7 February 1864) was a Serbian philologist, anthropologist and linguist. He was one of the most important reformers of the moder ...

. The monument is located at the crossroad of Kralja Aleksandra Boulevard and Ruzveltova Street.

The erection of the monument

The idea for the erection of the monument was given by the Serbian Literary Society in 1920. The funds for the construction of this monument were collected for several years, through the donations. The monument was planned to be cast in

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

and set up on the

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

pedestal A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

, and the competition was supposed to be announced all over

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

.Documentation of the Cultural Heritage Protection Institute of the City of Belgrade. Not until 1932 was the sculpture cast in

and brought to

. The author was Đorđe Jovanović. By the first Official Decision from 1932, it was determined that the site in the centre of the park in front of the university (present Students' park), between the Monument to Dositej Obradović and the Monument to Josif Pančić, is to be conceded for the erection of the monument to

. However, in 1937, shortly before the celebration of 150 years from the birth of

, the decision about the location for the erection of the Vuk's monument was changed. The spot on the corner of Kralja Aleksandra Boulevard and Ruzveltova Street in the Ćirilo i Metodije Park was set as the new and final location. The monument is 7,25 metres tall, and was unveiled on 7 November 1937, at the occasion of the celebration of 150 years from the birth of

. The underground station was named Vuk's Monument after this structure, and the entire neighbouring part of the city is called

Vukov Spomenik Vukov Spomenik or colloquially Vuk ( sr-cyr, Вуков Споменик; ) is an List of Belgrade neighborhoods, urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located on the tripoint of Belgrade's municipalities of Zvezdara, Palilu ...

. The monument to Vuk Karadžić belongs to the group of the representative and monumental public monuments erected tin the honour of the prominent persons of the

Serbian people The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

. Although designed during the late period of the artist's opus, the monument bears the qualities of the artistic expression. Due to its cultural and historical values, the monument was declared the cultural property.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monument to Vuk Karadžić 1937 sculptures Monuments and memorials in Belgrade Monuments and memorials in Serbia Cultural depictions of Vuk Karadžić Zvezdara