Уобличавање и затирање сећања: споменик ослободиоцима у Врању

Abstract

Spomenik oslobodiocima u Vranju, podignut krajem 1903. godine, predstavlja tip vojnog spomenika. Nastao kao deo spomeničke kulture, koja je pred Prvi svetski rat obeležila srpsko društvo, spomenik je vizuelizovao ideju o oslobođenju Srba u Osmanskom carstvu. Akademski koncipirana skulptura srpskog vojnika, rad vajara Simeona Roksandića, nastala je kao reminiscencija na oslobođenje grada 1878. godine. Uobličena kao angažovani vizuelan amblem, skulptura ima memorijsku funkciju. Bugarski okupatori su 1916. godine porušili spomenik, potvrdivši staru praksu zatiranja memorije. Na inicijativu meštana Vranja, Simeon Roksandić je 1928. godine obnovio spomenik, koji je iznova postao mesto sećanja. Obnovom istorijskog memorijala potvrđeno je njegovo trajanje u sistemu kolektivnog sećanja stanovnika jugoistočne Srbije u periodu između dva svetska rata.

The monument to the liberators in Vranje, erected at the end of 1903, constitutes a military monument type. Created as a part of the monument-building culture that marked the Serbian society before WWI, the monument visualised the idea of the liberation of Serbs who lived in the Ottoman Empire. The academically conceived sculpture of a Serbian soldier, made by sculptor Simeon Roksandić, was created as the reminiscence of the liberation of the town in 1878. Shaped as an engaged visual emblem, the sculpture serves a memory function. In 1916, Bulgarian occupiers demolished the monument, thus reaffirming the old practice of memory suppression. At the initiative of the citizens of Vranje, in 1928, Simeon Roksandić restored the monument which was again positioned at the place of remembrance. The restoration of the historic memorial confirmed its duration within the system of the collective memory of the residents of south-eastern Serbia in the period between the two world wars.