Issue: 1/2024

ON THE MILITARY IDENTITY OF THE MONUMENT TO KING PETER I THE LIBERATOR

Authors:
Dragana Frfulanović

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The representation of King Peter I in the public monument sculpture was designed to build a unique ideological symbol in the archeology of the memory of the new Yugoslav community. The visual narrative, modeled after the 19th-century model, was composed of military attributes
through the military uniform, and its implementation began immediately after the king acceded to the throne. In the Kingdom of SHS/Yugoslavia, the existing narrative was inherited with the projection of King Peter I as the Liberator of all South Slavic peoples. King Petar I was depicted in the uniform of an officer of the new kingdom, which was modeled on the uniform of the Serbian royal army, so in his visual identity, it is possible to recognize the national characteristics of the army that emerged from the Great War as a victorious army. As a tried-and-tested means of state agitation in spreading the new ideology, the festivities on the occasion of the monument unveiling with a strictly standardized program of events were also significant. The army was one of the mandatory participants whose presence confirmed the public integrity of the memorial and the ideology it carried. Public monument culture dedicated to King Peter I was most often realized through sculpture in the form of busts, standing figures of the king, and equestrian performances. Sculptures of the king in the form of standing figures are not numerous. Still, they are noticeably significant as a form of visualization in a military form with recognizable elements of modern uniform elements in the context of confirming respect for the established canon of presentation.