The systematic obstruction of the erection of a monument to the great Budvaite Don Krsto Ivanović has been going on for years.
This was told to "Vijesti" by a famous sculptor, academician Zlatko Glamocak, whose bronze bust of the famous Budva native, which he cast 16 years ago, still languishes in the basement of the Academy of Knowledge building, where it has been waiting for years to be placed on the square in the Old Town.
There is almost no city government in the past decade and a half that Glamočak, who works and lives between Bar-Podgorica-Paris, has not contacted, demanding either that the monument be returned to him, which he would then donate to Venice, where the famous Budva man died, or that it finally be placed in the old town square. So far, he has received no response.
"A few days ago I was referred to the city manager, Mrs. Marijana Božović", and I will address her, aware that this is another attempt against the wall of silence," Glamočak emphasized.
According to him, many Budva residents have honorably and publicly advocated for that monument - Slobodan Bobo Mitrović, Slobo Slovinić, Lucija Đurašković, Merin Smailagić, Božo Lukateli and others.
"The result has always been the same: rejection, postponement and silence. The reasons why the name of the most important Budva resident is persistently pushed aside are neither accidental nor unknown," Glamočak emphasized.
As he pointed out, the fact that Budva simultaneously ran for the European Capital of Culture, while keeping its own cultural heritage hidden in an underground garage, is particularly bitter.
"I saw the monument right there - in the dark, in the parking lot, as if it were a burden, not an honor. This is not negligence, this is a clear message. The only correct solution, if we are talking about the balance of power, is for Don Krsto to stand publicly in the square and for the offices of the previous powerful people who have not erected it for twenty years to move underground to where the monument is today. If Budva wants to call itself a city of culture, Don Krsto must stand in the square, visible and accessible to everyone. Anything else is hypocrisy. I hope that the new leadership will have the courage to correct this long-standing shame. Otherwise, I will be forced to protect my copyright and take steps that will no longer be quiet or private," Glamočak said.
As "Vijesti" previously reported, the monument was commissioned in 2008 and cast in bronze in 2009.
Since then, it has been standing in a foundry in Smederevo for years, because the Municipality showed no interest in moving it to Budva. Only a few years later, at the personal initiative of Merin Smailagić, then director of the Public Institution “Grad Teatar”, was the monument transported to Budva, to be stored in an underground garage where it still stands today, all the while awaiting its installation, which never materialized.
The municipality has repeatedly raised the issue of erecting a bust of Don Krst for years, but nothing has been implemented. The administration of the former mayor of Budva has also Milo Božović promoted the monument to finally be erected in the Old Town, but with its closure in mid-April 2023, almost all initiatives died down.
The renewed popularity of Don Krst was contributed by the play of the same name by the director Vide Ognjenović, co-produced by the 2007 Grad Teatar festival, which was performed with great success on stages in the region. Glamočak was chosen by the then municipal commission as the author of the monument, and the costs of the entire work amounted to around 15.000 euros.
In spite of everything, the Municipality was not very interested in the sculpture, which was delivered to Budva only in 2014, after the author publicly reminded that the bust had been in Smederevo for years.
Krsto Ivanović was born in Budva in 1628 into a noble family. He was a city teacher, canon, poet, and wrote the Chronicle of Budva in 1650. Of the 60 years he lived, Krsto Ivanović spent only the first 25 years in Budva, then three years in Verona, and the rest in Venice. In 1650, he made Budva famous with his annals in Venice. He died as a canon of the church of St. Mark. It is interesting that it was a Cetinje family that moved to Budva and that Don Krsto was Orthodox, and he experienced such a high career in the Catholic Church, which is in a way a rarity. They say that European opera could not be imagined without the librettos written by Don Krsto.
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