BELGRADE – Kitsch or an extraordinary piece of art? Depends on who you ask. Serbia’s president attended the unveiling on Wednesday night of a grandiose monument to a medieval monk and historic ruler which has come under fire from critics who call it oversized and kitschy.
President Aleksandar Vucic’s allies say the 23-meter-high (75-foot-high), 70-ton bronze sculpture of the legendary founder of the Serbian state, Stefan Nemanja, placed on a gilded egg-shaped pedestal in downtown Belgrade will be a new landmark of the Serbian capital.
Opponents think the monument is a megalomaniacal and pricy token of Vucic’s populist and autocratic rule that should be removed.