On the occasion of the increasingly frequent writings and speculations about the relocation of the monument to King Tvrtko I Kotromanic, the mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karic, spoke out.
In the text entitled “If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse!”, she wrote:
“The monument to King Tvrtko I Kotromanic shone in front of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) building.
If by any chance I had waited for the approval of the Commission for the Protection of Monuments, it would never have been installed, because the Commission rejected three previously proposed locations.
Angelina Osap Gacanovic, a member of the Commission, has publicly stated several times that for her Tvrtko is the Serbian king and that is the reason why she did not allow the monument to be erected.
Since decisions in the Commission cannot be made without Angelina’s vote, I was aware that if I waited, I would not finish the job.
That’s why I came up with the idea of asking the mayor of the municipality to take a public area in order to organize the “Exhibition on the Medieval Bosnian State – King Tvrtko I Kotromanic” and to display the bust of the king.
The model in this idea was the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which was also set up as an exhibition. And it was never moved again.
I received the consent in accordance with the law.
The same way I received it, that is how I will extend it with the support of the Municipality. I intend to ask that the consent be extended, until better times.
I’m sure that our Tvrtko will stay there forever, and 25 tons is not light, even if someone thinks to remove it.
Placing a monument is a success, and no one will cast a shadow over it.
The next step of the city administration is to announce a public call for financing a monograph on the Bosnian king Tvrtko I Kotromanic.
I fight as much as I can, and the citizens are my greatest strength.
”The Tvrtko monument stays!”, Benjamina Karic, mayor of Sarajevo, said in a press release.
