Melania Trump: New Metal Statue Unveiled in Slovenia
BBC News.
- The new bronze sculpture replaces a wooden one burnt down last year.
A new bronze statue to US First Lady Melania Trump has been unveiled near her hometown in Slovenia. It replaces a wooden sculpture erected last year, which was set alight shortly afterwards by unknown arsonists.
Some described the original as a "disgrace" or a "Smurfette", saying it did not look like Mrs Trump.
The new statue features a plaque dedicating the sculpture to "the eternal memory of a monument to Melania which stood at this location". Mrs Trump was born in Novo Mesto in 1970 but grew up in the town of Sevnica, when Slovenia was part of the Communist nation of Yugoslavia. US artist Brad Downey commissioned the original piece and placed it outside Sevnica in 2019.
The new statue, made of bronze and revealed to the public on Tuesday, is a replica of the original. "We are here today because we put up again a statue of Melania to the place where it was burnt and to commemorate the statue that was set on fire," Slovenian artist Marko Vivoda told AP news agency. Since the election of US President Donald Trump in 2016, tourists have come to Sevnica to learn more about the First Lady's origins.
- The original wood statue was controversial, 'Smurfette. 'It was carved out of a tree trunk by local chainsaw artisan Ales Zupevc and depicted her in a blue coat like the one she wore to her husband's inauguration, but bore only a loose resemblance to the First Lady. It was set alight on 4 July - Independence Day in the US - but Mr Downey has since exhibited the burnt statue in Slovenia, saying it "represents a visual representation of political tensions that are erupting in my country." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54174824
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centuries- old eastern orthodox religious icons that have that abstract, spiritual, even primitive quality. Who knows.
- St. Arethas, Byzantine, 10th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icon
