Monument to King Aleksandar Karađorđević in Ljubljana
Monument to King Aleksandar Karađorđević in Ljubljana

Summary/Abstract: The unveiling of the equestrian monument to King Aleksandar Karađorđević in Ljubljana on 6 September 1940, a work of Lojze Dolinar, on the eve of the Second World War, was a result of political and social circumstances of the fourth decade of the 20th century that shook the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The culmination of the process of Yugoslavization of Ljubljana started after World War I with the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and was manifested in the unveiling of a monument to King Aleksandar Karađorđević. Old memorial topoi from the time of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy were replaced by new, symbolic emblems visualizing political and cultural practices of the Yugoslav authorities. The shaping process of visual memory of members of the house of Karađorđević was particularly pronounced since 1929 when the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was officially renamed into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by means of a constitutional reform. At that time, a separate entity was formed, named Drava Banovina (Province) with its center in Ljubljana, turning the city into an open-space urban pantheon celebrating the new Yugoslav nation and the ruling dynasty in accordance with the ideology of Yugoslavism.

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