SKOPJE - Sara 'Casting the Italian artistic Ferdinando Marinelli to make five large bronze statues, one of which is dedicated to Alexander the Macedonian, ordered by the City of Skopje. The contract, worth total of ten million, however, is causing bitter controversy between the people of the Macedonian capital, that such a critical expenditure at a time of crisis like the present.
The daily newspaper Dnevnik, which will be 'news today states that the statues ordered the Florentine Foundry will be dedicated - as well as Alexander the Macedonian - the other national heroes Delcev Goce, Dame Gruev and Nikola Karev. The fifth order covers four lions on a bridge over the river Vardar. Some sculptures will be ready by the end of this year, the other by 2010.
The media and people are criticizing the decision of the authorities' to give the city such a quantity 'of money for initiatives celebrative and facade when the country is confronted with an unprecedented crisis. Furthermore, it points out, the statue of Alexander the Macedonian and 'intended to further tighten the position of Greece, who have long put the veto to Macedonia in the EU due to the long dispute on the name of the Balkan country and the its historical and cultural heritage.
The Ferdinando Marinelli Foundry, founded in 1905, has created sculptures and bronze statues for various countries, among others the United States, Vatican, Poland, Hungary, Canada. Their more 'important run included the fence to the monumental scale of the Vatican Museums and the restoration of sculptures in the Palace of the Kremlin in Moscow.
04/05/2009 13:17
