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Stormy public reactions to the price of the monument to the medieval Serbian ruler in Sava square
If the monument to Stefan Nemanja cost nine million euros, which the Serbian authorities still do not want to reveal, then the price is significantly higher than the official sum of 5.3 million euros reserved for the monument to the Unknown Hero in Skopje, which was also accompanied by stories of corruption. overestimation and kitsch, but also twice what the famous Statue of Liberty costs in the United States when its price is converted to current value.
Photo: Aleksandar RoknićDanas’ interlocutors believe that behind these “absurd” figures and data there is a suspicion of corruption and “embedding” of the government, and that is why we do not know what the real price is.
The monument to Stefan Nemanja at Savski trg in Belgrade, according to TV N1’s research on the basis of gift documents on the value of the embroidered parts of the sculpture, cost at least nine million euros.
The statue of the medieval Serbian ruler reaches 23 meters at the highest point and contains 80 tons of bronze and 300 tons of various other metals. The transport figures, workers’ salaries and other associated costs should be added to the figure reached by journalists in the first half.
Authorities do not yet want to disclose the full price, and the fact that the funds reserved for the monument have been marked a state secret raises additional public interest and doubt. As there have been no monuments of similar size in Serbia so far, it is difficult to compare and say if this value is realistic.
However, the public points out and compares the Stefan Nemanja monument to the “Skopje 2014” monumental complex, which has been flagged as a major issue, due to corruption indicators and amounts of up to 560 million euros for the entire project, according to a BIRN survey.
The central figure of the project in Skopje is the Monument to the Unknown Hero, or as it is supposed, to Alexander the Great, whose price, according to the first data that was officially presented, was 5.3 million euros, which is the highest amount ever. awarded in Macedonia for the monument.
It is made of similar materials, bronze, and is about the same height, 22 meters, as a monument to Stefan Nemanja in Belgrade, but the monument in Sava Square is still significantly more expensive.
On the other hand, one of the most famous monuments in the world, the Statue of Liberty in the United States, at the time of its construction in 1885 was worth $ 250,000, which becomes the current value of $ 5.4 million, or about 4.4 million euros.
Although it is difficult to compare these monuments with a significant time distance, this difference in value, at least in purely monetary terms, is not negligible.
The only thing we can say with certainty is that data concealment indicates corruption, economist Pedja Mitrovic, head of the “Freedom and Justice” committee group in the Belgrade Assembly, told Danas.
– You cannot spend nine million euros of public money and then hide the bills, the dynamics of spending money and nobody knows who the money was destined for. When things are not transparent, I say that, as someone who understands public administration, that immediately raises suspicions of corruption. It is a practice and standard throughout the world and I have no doubt that it is also in this case. If you pay for the monument many times in relation to its value, and I am sure it was overpaid at least twice, with the question of what is the artistic quality and all the errors that existed in the monument, of course, the The issue of transparency is the main one, Mitrovic said.
Regarding the artistic value and the lack of it for Danas, the artist and writer Dejan Atanacković says that we only knew a part of the guild that the citizens of Belgrade paid for the monument to the “so called Nemanja”.
– To this must be added fees, transportation, installation costs and above all millions of quotas from regime thieves who cannot even build a hospital without evaporating 40 million euros. This false Nemanja contains all the progressive mechanisms of corruption and money laundering, on the clarification of which we must persevere, Atanackovic pointed out.
Srdić: Going back several hundred years
Dragan Srdić Srka, an artist who collects discarded sculptures from the time of socialism, recalls that in Tito’s time sculptures were made ahead of their time, 100 years in advance, and the current government takes us back a few hundred with this monument.
– It is difficult to compare the value of two works of art or sculpture, especially since today there are gallery owners and lobbyists who inflate those prices. But even if Stefan Nemanja is really worth that much, the question is who is he worth. The problem here is that someone instead of us decided that he was worth so much and gave money, it was not the profession that decided, but pure politics and people who do not have the rights and education to make such decisions, says Srdić.
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