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Velichko Minekov’s monument to Ivan Vazov disproportionately surprises
For ten years, a Bulgarian statue stood in the center of Rome, disproving the proportions of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.
Wherever you look, from above, from below or from the side, the 2.60 m high bronze statue of Ivan Vazov in the park “Villa Borghese” surprises with a disproportionately small head attached to an elongated body. And all this, on a 2.20 m pedestal, which makes it look even smaller.
In a figurative sense, the sculpture by Velichko Minekov,
it seems
pin
in a pencil
– This is my personal opinion as a person who has not studied sculpture, but for more than 20 years passes daily by ancient Roman statues and masterpieces by Canova, Bernini and Michelangelo.
Of course, no one claims that the Vase Balton has folds like the ones sculpted by Canova on the Paolina Bonaparte statue (located in the Borghese Gallery). The little that we would like as Bulgarians are the statues that have been presented to us for centuries to have at least decent proportions, because in Italy they know from high school that the size of the entire statue should be up to eight heads. The vase has at least nine heads, which means the head is too small or the body is too long. And all this
in the village of
The longest
concentration of
perfect statues
of all ages
To many, this may seem insignificant, and the fact that we have a Bulgarian monument in Rome, where our delegations will lay wreaths once a year on May 24, may weigh more. However, the Roman, used to aesthetics, which also means proportions, had not heard of May 24. For him, the statue is a symbol of Bulgarian art.
If the controversy over the installation with glasses, which represented Bulgaria at the Venice Biennale, was like our storm in a glass of water, which passed in a season, then Vazov’s ugly statue of confusing proportions is like a monument to the confusion. For the Roman who passes by the Torvaldsen Square, where the statue is, he represents Bulgaria, of which he knows almost nothing. The inscriptions on the monument are also not in harmony: they have different fonts and shades of gold. This is because initially only the names of Vazov, Minekov and the donor Petrakiev were written, but no one
was not
remembered to write
what is and
where is vazov from
Italians even thought it was Russian. A few years later, the error was corrected and a “patched up” inscription said he was a “patriarch of contemporary Bulgarian literature”.
The Roman history of the vase statue dates back to May 24, 2010. Then, with the delegation led by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, the author of the sculpture, Professor Velichko Minekov (Velislav Minekov’s father) and sponsor of the statue, businessman Bozhidar Petrakiev came to Rome. This is the time to mention another typical Bulgarian feature, transferred to Italian soil: the statue on par.
with the name of
The author is
the name is also written
of the donor
of money. You can walk through all the statues of national heroes in the park “Villa Borghese” and in Rome, but such a “detail” you will not find, because the monuments are not commercial products.
Only a small plaque with the donor’s name was placed on the Roman pyramid a few years ago, after a Japanese patron donated 2 million euros for its restoration.
As we mentioned on May 24 in Rome, it is good to add another detail: how to this day Bulgaria does not remember to put a plaque in the monastery of the church “Santa Prasede” in memory of the saints brothers Cyril and Methodius, who lived 2 years. in it (867-869). Here Cyril adopted the monastic name of Constantine, and later fell ill and died. The Slovaks came to mind instead of us. They remember with their plaque how “the Apostles of the Slavs, creators of the ancient Slavic liturgy and writing” lived in this monastery.
If you want to see a Bulgarian monument while in Rome, go up to the highest part of the Giannicolo hill, where the square and the Giuseppe Garibaldi monument are located. There, among the alleys with busts of 84 prominent Garibaldi, stands Captain Petko Voivoda. The play, written by Professor Valentin Starchev, was placed in the alley in 2004. The gaze of the voivode is focused on the most beautiful panorama of Rome possible. That’s where they look a lot
Romans who
i love to sit
on the bench next to
Captain Petko Voivoda,
to contemplate your city.
There are statues of three other foreign Garibaldi in the alley. 300 meters further down in the direction of the park “Villa Pamfili” there is a commemorative plaque “of the grateful Italy in memory of the Bulgarian Garibaldi, who with dedication and heroism fought for the freedom, unification and independence of Italy”.
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