Monuments at the Belgrade Fortress

The Monument to the Victor was erected in 1928 in the Upper Bourg of the Belgrade Fortress, on the tenth anniversary of the breakthrough of the Salonika Front. The monument consists of a bronze male figure, the work of Ivan Meštrović, sculptor, and the plinth conceived as a Doric column with fluting, placed on a high cubic base. The sculpture itself was made in 1913 as the final motif of a monumental fountain, planned for the Terazije Plateau.

Meštrović conceived the fountain as a monument to freedom and liberation from the five centuries long Ottoman rule. The final works were postponed because of the beginning of WWI, so that the figure was eventually erected on the Upper Bourg plateau and its  silhouette is visible from everywhere. The name of the monument has its origins in its dedication to the Salonika Front and the victory of the Serbian army in WWI. Its original title was The Harbinger of Victory.

Its pedestal is made of stone, while the sculpture representing a man with an pigeon is made of bronze (14 metres high). “Victor” was unveiled on the Upper Town’s plateau during October 7–8th, 1928 to commemorate the decennial of breaking through the Solun front.

The Gratitude to France monument, the work of Ivan Meštrović, sculptor, was erected at the end of the main path of the Kalemegdan Park on November 11, 1930, as a symbol of friendship and cooperation between Serbia and France in WW I. The monument was financed by the Friends of France Society and the Society of Former French Students.

The monument consists of a female figure in bronze, a representation of France offering help to Serbia with martial enthusiasm, a high, simple marble plinth with two low reliefs chiseled in its lower part. The west side shows French and Serbian soldiers, while the east side bears a personification of Sorbonne as a young woman surrounded by students.

These reliefs in art deco style were made after Meštrović’s drawings by sculptors Frano Kršinić and Antun Augustinčić. The remaining two sides bear the following inscriptions: We love France as France loved us, and A la France. With this work Meštrović introduced a new concept of public monuments in our culture, memorials which are monumental and expressive, and openly transmit a particular idea.

Fountain “Awakening” is located in front of the “Cvijeta Zuzoric” Art Pavilion. It was made by sculptor Dragomir Arambasic in 1936.

The bronze figure of a man with a cloak is a monument paying tribute to the famous Serbian ruler, writer and builder Despot Stefan Lazarevic, during whose government Belgrade became the capital of Serbia for the first time.

It was unveiled in 1986. It has inscriptions on both Serbian and Hungarian language. It was dedicated to the successful defence of the Castle of the Belgrade Fortress against the Turkish attack in the night between July 21st and 22nd, 1456. Even sultan Mehmed II was injured during this attack, so he ordered his army to retreat. As a result, Belgrade became “Antemurale Christianitatis”, i.e. the rampart of Christianity.

The memorial of the symbolic delivery of city keys was erected at the place when on April 6/19, 1867 the firman of Sultan Abdul Asis was read. By the edict the fortresses of Belgrade, Šabac, Smederevo and Kladovo were handed over to Prince Mihailo Obrenović and the Serbian people. According to historic sources, the place is situated on the right side of the main Kalemegdan avenue. This event marked the new stage in the development of the Princedom of Serbia that led to state independence.

The monument was erected in 1967, on the occasion of the centennial of the historic event. It is a stone block on which sculptor Mihailo Paunović carved a relief with representations of the delivery of the keys, after the drawing by Adam Stefanović, a  contemporary to the event. The relief shows the Ottoman pasha handing over the keys to the Fortress to Prince Mihailo, with the Clock tower in the background and the minaret of the mosque which then stood in the Upper Town of Kalemegdan.

It's nearby the Fisherman's Fountain. The construction of the pavilion was financed by the City of Belgrade. The project was developed by the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Belgrade (architects Aleksandra Sevic and Ljiljana Kontic). It was inaugurated on 16 August, with a concert by the Police Orchestra. The tradition of beautiful sound in Kalemegdan Park continued. JP "Belgrade Fortress" organizes concerts of promenade music every weekend during the summer months in the summer months in the pavilion.