Proslava ob 120-letnici Napoleonove lIirije 1929

The Vodnik Monument ( sl, Vodnikov spomenik) or Valentin Vodnik Monument (), is dedicated to the Carniolan priest, poet and journalist

Valentin Vodnik Valentin Vodnik (3 February 1758 – 8 January 1819) was a Carniolan priest, journalist and poet of Slovene descent. He was active in the late Enlightenment period. He is well known for his contributions in writing materials that lifted the p ...

(1758−1819). It stands at

Vodnik Square Vodnik Square ( sl, Vodnikov trg) is a town square in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It spans the area from the Dragon Bridge across Pogačar Square () to the Triple Bridge. It is named after Valentin Vodnik, a Slovene priest, journalist, ...

() in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

, the capital of Slovenia, in the immediate vicinity of the

Ljubljana Central Market The Ljubljana Central Market ( sl, Osrednja ljubljanska tržnica) is a market in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The riverside market building, sometimes referred to as Plečnik's Market ( sl, Plečnikova tržnica), was designed by Jože Plečnik between 193 ...

. The idea for the statue was put forward by the politician

Lovro Toman Lovro Toman (10 August 1827 – 15 August 1870) was a Slovene Romantic nationalist revolutionary activist during the Revolution of 1848, known as the person who in Ljubljana, at the Wolf Street 8, raised the Slovene tricolor for the first tim ...

on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the poet's birth and was organised by the Writers' Support Society in collaboration with the

Slovene Society The Slovene Society ( sl, Slovenska matica,The name Matica can be literally translated into English as the "Queen Bee," which is a metaphor meaning "the parent body of the Slovenes." also ) is the second-oldest publishing house in Slovenia, found ...

. It was made from 1887 to 1889 in bronze and with a simple stone pedestal in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

by the young sculptor (1859−1935) and was unveiled on 30 June 1889 with a three-day celebration as the first public Slovene national monument. The monument has a bronze verse by Vodnik on its back side and the bronze inscription ''Vodnik'' on its front side. The verse is written in Slovene and says: "No daughter no son, to come after me, enough memory done, my songs sing of me." Because Vodnik was an ardent supporter of the Illyrian Provinces, which he saw as fostering Slovene linguistic development, the letters ''R'' and ''F'', meaning ''République Française'' (a reference to the First French Republic), as well as a

laurel wreath A laurel wreath is a round wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel (), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen, or later from spineless butcher's broom (''Ruscus hypoglossum'') or cherry laurel (''Prunus laurocerasus''). It is a s ...

, a sheaf and a swearing arm above it, and the inscription ''A Vodnik'' below the wreath, were added to the pedestal in 1929, soon after the 120th anniversary of the establishment of the Provinces. These are all made of bronze. They were a gift by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and were also decorated with the

French tricolour The national flag of France (french: link=no, drapeau français) is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue ( hoist side), white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the ''Tricolour'' (), although the flag of Ireland ...

References

External links

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{{coord, 46, 3, 2.9, N, 14, 30, 34.33, E, type:landmark_region:SI_dim:10, display=title

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

Monuments and memorials in Ljubljana 1889 sculptures Illyrian Provinces Statues of writers