Monument to the Unknown Hero

World War I monument in Serbia

The Monument to the Unknown Hero is a World War I memorial located atop Mount Avala, south east of Belgrade, Serbia, and designed by the sculptor Ivan Meštrović. on the place where an unknown Serbian World War I soldier was buried.

In the late 1920, a popular news topic in Serbia was the burial of the French "unknown soldier" in Panthéon. As the French influence was very strong on Serbian army since the mid 19th century, the idea of doing the same spread among the veterans and social associations, reaching the National Assembly. Existing commemorative cross from 1915 was known only locally and to the Avala visitors. In the first half of 1921 the initiative to build a more dignified commemorative mark gained momentum. On 24 June 1921, president of the Constitutional Assembly, Ivan Ribar, summoned state dignitaries to the meeting with the agenda of constructing the monument. Present at the meeting, among others, were the general and the former defense minister Mihailo Rašić, Rector of the University of Belgrade Bogdan Gavrilović, mayor of Belgrade Dobra Mitrović and manager of the National Theatre in Belgrade Milan Grol. It was decided that the future monument will be "dignified but humble". It was said that his skull was "small, like that of a boy" and that the skeleton was petite, of a boyish, thin stature. The ammunition was Russian (Tula Arms Plant, 1906), , which means that he used a Mosin–Nagant M1891 rifle. The boots were American, M 1910, mostly distributed to the members of the Personnel department and, to a lesser extent, to the regiments of the First Call (which drafted the youngest soldiers, up to 31 years old). The commission concluded that the remains do belong to a Serbian soldier and reburied him, with the grenade parts, while his personal belongings were taken to the cabinet of the president of the assembly for safekeeping. The Assembly Board organized many events in 1922 in order to gather the funding for the monument, but also used the other means for the promotional purposes, like the cinema shows. Also, some more prominent events are used, like the Christmas money collecting by the Patriarch Dimitrije or the wedding of King Alexander I and Queen Maria on 8 June 1922. Not having much faith in the politicians and expecting that they would drag the process, local administration organized the construction in 1922. As the railway was being built in the area (Topčider Mala Krsna), the Yugoslav Railways donated all the needed materials. When the Board found out that the locals are building their own monument, conceptually completely different from their idea, Ivan Ribar held talks with the local administration and an agreement was reached that this monument will be a "temporary solution". The monument was built near the place where an earlier monument to the unknown soldier was built. It was projected by Milan Minić and the construction began on 1 April 1922. The monument was built by the local villagers, aided by the engineers and workers from the Rakovica railway section. The monument was finished on 14 May 1922 and publicly dedicated on 1 June 1922. The base was a two leveled square pedestal with a regular, four sided pyramid made of the roughly dressed stone. The base of the pyramid was and it was tall. Four jardinières were leaned on each side of the pyramid, with the seedlings of the common box. They were hexagonally shaped and also made of the roughly dressed stone. On top of the pyramid a six armed cross was placed. On the eastern side of the pedestal a plate was placed with the inscription: "To the fallen heroes in the wars for liberation and unification 1912–1918, this monument is erected by the thankful people of the Vračar District. Consecrated on 1 June 1922". On the other three side the inscriptions simply said "cross (made) of Carrara marble". On the western side of the horizontal arm of the cross another inscription read: "Unknown Serbian soldier confirmed by the commission on 29 November 1921". The monument was encircled by 16 short stone pillars, 4 on each side, connected with chains. Remains of the unknown soldier were placed in the metal coffin and walled in the monument, together with the small wooden case in the colors of the Serbian flag containing the grenade parts, and remains of another three unidentified soldiers which were discovered in the foothills of Avala. Among the dignitaries at the dedication of the monument were Ivan Ribar, other senior politicians from the Assembly, presidents of the surrounding municipalities and districts and several government ministers. King Alexander visited the location later that same day. The building of the new monument wasn't without the controversy. Public was against the demolition of the old Žrnov town, while the especially vocal was the author Branislav Nušić. He also protested that the monument is so distant from Belgrade, which would prevent the citizens to pay their respect. Nušić wrote: "to Avala go only the wealthy men who have cars, bringing their mistresses with them". However, King Alexander was adamant that the monument has to be built on Avala, stating "either there or nowhere", while Nušić proposed one of the central city squares, Republic Square, close to the modern Staklenac shopping center. Ironically, on that section of the square, today known as the Plateau of Zoran Đinđić, actually the monument to Branislav Nušić was erected. The decorative lights were out of use since the early 1990s. Reconstruction of the light system is to be finished in late February 2019. Over 100 lanterns will be placed around the monument, access paths and the plateau surrounding the monument. Of those, 14 are reflectors lighting the monument itself. They are arranged based on the original project by Meštrović. Following his ideas from 1938, the poles will be decorated later in the year, to resemble the burning torch shaped candelabra.

The monument is in the form of a sarcophagus The sarcophagus in surrounded by caryatids representing all the peoples of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. They represent Bosnian, Montenegrin, Dalmatian, Croatian, Slovenian, Vojvodina’s, Serbian and South Serbian women. The top of the sarcophagus is marked with an inscription reading "Alexander I King of Yugoslavia to the Unknown Hero".

Some historians consider the terminology used for the complex erroneous. Instead of the monument, word tomb should be used instead: Tomb of the Unknown Hero.

Based on the examination in 1921 and the properties discovered, it wasn't possible to identify the soldier or even to conclude in which unit he served. One of the main theories is that the monument is a Masonic temple. Reasons include suspected Masonic membership of both the king Alexander and Meštrović, and silver hammer which the king used to mark the beginning of the works. However, silver tools were used for the same purpose by the medieval Serbian rulers, so as by the king Milan who used a silver hammer when the construction of the Belgrade Main railway station began in 1881. Also, nothing in the memorial complex points to the worship function. The monument's form actually strikingly resembles the Tomb of Cyrus, built for Cyrus the Great in ancient Pasargadae, in the 6th century BC. Victory Day (9 May), and 15 September, the date when the Macedonian front was broken through in 1918.