The pedestal for the monument to Đerđ Kastriota Skanderbeg in Ulcinj has not yet been erected, but it has been decided which way the bronze sculpture of the famous hero will face - neither towards Podgorica, nor towards Tirana, but towards the Old Town.
This was communicated to "Vijesta" by the NGO "Don Gjon Buzuku", from which they previously announced that the monument would be erected by the end of last year, at the roundabout in front of the municipal building.
"It will be placed towards the Old Town, where Skanderbeg stayed with his wife. It will look like he is entering the city," Đerđ Pepđonović, the authorized representative of the NGO "Don Gjon Buzuku", which is the initiator and organizer of the monument installation, told "Vijesta".
This solved the dilemma that has plagued the organizers and leaders of the Municipality since the adoption of the decision - to erect a monument to the hero without political and national tensions and not hold a grudge against anyone, especially not Podgorica or Tirana. The initiators were also faced with remarks that locals and tourists on the roundabout will hardly be able to take photos next to the monument...
Pepđonović stated that "now we are waiting only for the Municipality's tender for the most favorable contractor for the installation of the pedestal".
"The costs of the pedestal will be borne by the Municipality, the sculpture is our obligation and it will be installed later, after the conclusion of the partnership agreement and the announcement of the international tender," said Pepđonović.
Although the Memorial Program is valid until the end of the calendar year, the Municipality will probably not have to seek the consent of the line ministry for the installation of the monument to Skanderbeg, it was confirmed to "News" in the Ministry headed by Vesna Bratić.
"The procedure for the meaning, erection, protection and maintenance of memorials is regulated in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Memorials. From the aforementioned act, therefore, it follows that the approvals of the state administration authorities on the Program Proposal and the Decision on erecting memorials are not time-bound," the Ministry answered the questions of "Vijesti".
They state that "when it comes to other procedures, it is important to emphasize that the memorials are erected in accordance with the Program for the erection of memorials, which, with the prior consent of the competent state body, and on the proposal of the president of the local self-government unit, is adopted by the municipal assembly".
They point out "that local parliaments are also responsible for making decisions on the erection of any memorial - where the consent of the competent state authority is also necessary".
"When it comes specifically to the memorial in Ulcinj, until recently the Ministry of Culture fully followed the prescribed procedure and issued all the necessary approvals. In this way, everything that represented the competence of state authorities was implemented in a timely manner and with respect for legal norms. For this reason, the implementation of the decision in question is the responsibility of the local government authority, which is obliged to act within the limits of the consent received," the answer reads.
The monument to the legendary hero was originally supposed to be erected by March of last year, and the NGO "Don Gjon Buzuku" clarified that the delay was caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and that the deadlines from the parliamentary decision, "which are not of a temporal nature, are not very binding". .
In the proposal that was adopted almost a year and a half ago, based on the project of the architect Shpetim Maraj from Ulcinj, among other things, it is pointed out that on the front of the pedestal of the monument in Latin script will be written in the Albanian language "Gjrergj Kastrioti Skenderbeu 1405 - 1468" and in Montenegrin "Đerđ Kastrioti Skanderbeg 1405 - 1468“.
The cast bronze monument, one and a half meters high, will be placed on a three and a half meter pedestal.
Pepđonović said that the pedestal will be slightly raised due to the visibility and safe flow of traffic on the roundabout.
The money for the monument was to be provided by the Albanian-Montenegrin diaspora united in the "Simon Filipaj" foundation, along with the Ulcinj-based NGO "Don Gjon Buzuku".
According to "Vijesti", the pedestal is worth about five thousand euros, and the monument itself will reportedly cost about 60 thousand euros and will be a replica of the one already existing in Tirana, only of smaller dimensions.
The implementation of the project last year and the year before last was also delayed due to bizarre mistakes of the local government - twice the proposed decisions on the construction of the monument suffered corrections, despite the simple procedure necessary to get the green light from the Ministry headed by Aleksandar Bogdanović at the time.
The former president of the Municipality Ljoro Nrekić initially received approval from the Ministry of Culture for the proposed program and the construction of the monument to Djerđ Kastriota, but the local Assembly adopted the proposed decision with the full name of the hero - Djerđ Kastriota Skenderbeg.
The Inspector for Cultural Heritage then ordered the local Assembly to adopt a new Program for Erecting Monuments, which would be in accordance with the decision of the Ministry of Culture from July 2018.
In his explanation, he stated that for the first time, Nrekić submitted a program proposal that was not fully compliant with the Law on Monuments. He explained that, when it comes to prominent personalities, the law essentially stipulates that along with the explanation of the reason for erecting the memorial, unnecessary wording that is not necessary for the content of the program should be omitted.
In March 2019, the Ministry issued a decision on giving consent to the amendments to the program for erecting memorials, which related to the deletion of the word "Đurađ" and the addition of the word "Skenderbeg" after the word "Kastrioti". At its session at the end of the same month, the local parliament adopted the program proposal, so that the Ministry would give its consent to Nrekić's request at the beginning of November.
The bust of Đerđ Kastriota Skanderbeg was unveiled in October 2019 in front of the school of the same name in Zatrijebač, Tuzi.
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