Monument to Bajo Pivljanin without a mason: No company wanted the 450 thousand euro job

The Ministry of Public Works has canceled the tender for the construction of the Bajo Pivljanin Memorial Complex in Plužine, as no company was interested in the 447.167 euro job. This means that the Ministry will have to call for a new procedure for the construction of this 21.600 square meter complex in Rudinice.

The tender lasted from December 17th last year to January 19th, and the selected contractor would have three months to complete the job.

Rudinice is the birthplace of the hero Bai Pivljanin in the Municipality of Plužine, while the location of the future monument is located near the main road Nikšić - Plužine. Although the local population supported the construction of the monument, according to the then "Vijesti", since 2017 there has been division in Piva about its future location.

While the local government, the Association of Pivljana from Podgorica, which launched the initiative to build a monument financed by the former mayor Velimir Jovović, requested that the memorial to the most important Pivljana hero be erected in Plužine, the NGO "Baj's Hearth" and more than a thousand Pivljana residents who signed the petition believed that the monument to Baja should be erected in his native Rudinice.

A three and a half meter high monument to Pivljanin would be placed on a stone pedestal at the top of the complex and an oval amphitheater would be located below it, while the rest of the space would be used for cultural and other events and manifestations. The monument is being built on two plots in the cadastral municipality of Rudinice, one measuring 1.800 square meters and the other 19.800 square meters.

"In the terrain, the access road is depicted in the form of a long "cobblestone" saber, which is intersected by Baj's sword of freedom, and which also symbolizes the Turkish conquests, between which are the scabbards of the sword, as a symbol of the hajduk's struggle and the cutting of Turkish caravans and roads. The memorial complex is in fact Baj's life path, which he pierced with a sword and at the same time walked on the edge of a knife. It is also his cross. This sword of freedom starts from his ruined hearth (epic poem) in the Komarnica canyon, which is represented by the semicircular atrium at the lowest point of the complex. The sword passes through the cobblestones in the form of a saber, pierces the "ravine" and emerges on the Vrtijeljka in the form of a hill. The sword is not only a weapon but also a tool with which Baj establishes foundations and breaks through the path to glory," it is written in the main project of this monument.

Prime Minister Milojko Spajić announced at the end of January that the Government would support the implementation of the initiative of the non-governmental association "Bajovo Ognjište" to erect this monument in the town of Rudinice. He then spoke with the president of the association's Board of Directors, Radenko Damjanović, who presented the urban and architectural solution for this memorial complex.

"The synergy of the initiators, the local community and the Government is an example of a good model for implementing projects dedicated to preserving the historical and cultural heritage of Montenegro," emphasized Spajić, who also said at the end of last year that this monument would preserve the identity, history and dignity of this region.

Damjanović, as announced by the Government, said that the association "Bajovo Ognjište" provided the best location, the conceptual design of the sculpture, which received wide support from the professional and lay public, financed the main architectural design of the space, and that all procedures stipulated by legal regulations were carried out.