Ostalo
The Fate of the Liberation Monument
Joško Bracanović
; Muzej hvarske baštine
Sažetak
The Monument to Liberation by Šime Dujmović was surrounded by controversies from the idea of its erection to its removal, and these controversies persist to this day. Envisioned in 1921, its unveiling was planned for 1925, when the 1000th anniversary of the Croatian Kingdom was to be celebrated. However, the work prolonged until 1927, when a dispute arose over the monument’s bare breasts—Church representatives demanded for them to be covered. The monument was erected before November 19, 1927, but it seems that a formal unveiling never took place, probably due to political circumstances. The monument was placed on land expropriated from Antun Vučetić-Orketa, intended for a carriage road from Hvar to Milna Bay. One condition of the expropriation was that nothing would be placed on the land that would obstruct the view from Vučetić’s house, located right next to the property. This condition was violated by the monument’s installation. As a result, a dispute arose between Vučetić and the Hvar municipality, which continued even after his death, when his niece Marija Sessa took up the case. The first decision to remove the monument was made in an agreement with Vučetić on May 15, 1931, and it was supposed to be relocated near the Star of the Sea Church. The agreement also provided for the construction of arcades designed by architect Silvio Sponza in front of Vučetić’s house, over which Vučetić would receive a terrace. This would have been a continuation of the arcades begun with the customs building near Vučetić’s house, intended to extend from the Arsenal to the Kovačić Hotel. The arcade elements were made but never installed. By 1939, when Sessa revived the dispute, the monument still had not been removed. A new removal decision was issued on October 6, 1940. It was carried out in April and May 1941, as Šime Dujmović himself noted in a 1945 war damage claim. He sought compensation for the violation of his dignity and honor due to the monument’s removal during the Italian occupation, attributing the violation to ustaše. The monument was dismantled, and its sculptures were stored in the warehouse of the Crafts Enterprise. In 1958, they were moved to the wine cellar of the Zaninović-Alviž family in Dolac, and from there, in 1969, Niko Duboković-Nadalini had them transferred to the lapidary of the Center for the Protection of Hvar Island’s Cultural Heritage in the remains of St. Mark’s Church. Several attempts to return the monument to public space have failed. After the sculptures were displayed at the Loggia in the exhibition “Šime Dujmović – the (Un)forgotten Sculptor” in the summer of 2024, they were temporarily relocated to the garden of Hannibal Lucić’s summer residence. The main sculpture of the monument is planned to be placed in the garden in front of St. Mark’s Church when a new local history museum project is realized there.
Ključne riječi
The Liberation Monument; Šime Dujmović; Hvar between the two world wars; ing. Silvije Sponza; dr. Josip Avelini
Hrčak ID:
337405
URI
Datum izdavanja:
1.10.2025.
Posjeta: 0 *