The Dancer From Budva

Title

The Dancer From Budva

Artist

Mitch Shindelbower

Medium

Photograph

Description

In Budva, one of the busy tourist towns of picturesque Montenegro on the Adriatic Sea, has a beautiful bronze sculpture of a girl, frozen in a graceful pose - "Dancer from Budva" or "Gymnast from Budva". Sometimes the monument is called "The Ballerina from Budva", but this is not entirely true, since the girl does not have the main attribute of a ballerina - a special skirt called a "pack". If you carefully consider the sculpture, you can see that the dancer does not have clothes at all, that's why the tourists-jokers call this sculpture "The Girl Who Lost the Swimsuit".

The sculpture of the dancer is perhaps one of the most famous and photographed attractions not only of the seaside town of Budva, but of all Montenegro. Beautiful and graceful bronze gymnast, located on a rock among the rocks near the beach Mogren and the famous hotel Avala, is a symbol of fidelity and has recently become an unofficial symbol of the city of Budva.

Despite the huge popularity, not many tourists know the history of the origin of this stunning sculpture. Among the local population there are many different legends that explain the appearance of the statue of "Gymnasts from Budva" near the Budva Old Town near the sea coast.

Versions about the origin of this monument vary. Someone says that this is a sculpture of the famous Montenegrin gymnast, who crashed, falling from the rock somewhere in these places. But the name of the gymnast cannot be named. Other locals mention the tragic story of a young couple in love, who were attacked by a shark during a bath. The girl managed to get out on the beach, but the young man did not swim out. After this terrible tragedy, the girl came to the beach every evening and waited for her beloved to come out of the sea. But the miracle did not happen, and the girl could not live without her love. When she died, on the site of the tragedy, this beautiful sculpture was erected in memory of pure love. They even say that near the beach on the rock you can find a memorial tablet with the inscription: "In the bay behind this rock, swimming with friends, on July 13, 1935, in the 22nd year, a student of electrical engineering department, Tomashevic Stevan, fell victim to a sea monster".

Some argue that the statue is dedicated to the daughter of local wealthy spouses who went to swim in the sea and did not return.

But there is another, a rather popular, romantic and touching legend about the origin of this monument among locals. A long time ago in Budva a young couple in love lived: a girl-dancer and a young man-sailor. The sailor often went into the sea, and the young girl was waiting for her lover in the city and every time she met him from the voyage by the shore. So it was on that one, the last time ... The young man went on a long voyage, and the girl stayed in the city. Every morning she came to this rock: she danced and peered into the distance, hoping that a ship with her fiancé would soon appear. Years passed, many ships and sailors came and drove away, and the long-awaited ship with her lover never returned to Budva. Despite this, day after day, month after month, she continued waiting, again and again coming to the shore of the sea, and with inexhaustible hope in her eyes gazed intently into the distance, expecting a miracle. Soon the girl died, having remained faithful to her fiancé, and this story became a perfect example of loyalty, true love and self-sacrifice.

They say that inspired by this beautiful legend of love, sculptor Gradimir Aleksich decided to create an elegant bronze statue - a symbol of loyalty and fidelity, a kind of Montenegrin "Hatiko".

Sculpture, which is a symbol of eternal love, annually enjoys immense popularity among millions of tourists from all over the world, because there is a belief that the desire conceived near the "Dancer" will necessarily come true. About the great sympathy for the girl dancing on the rock, the certain parts of her body are rubbed to shine, for one cannot but believe that touching them will certainly bring good luck.

Uploaded

July 31st, 2019

Statistics

Viewed 291 Times  -  Last Visitor from Fairfield, CT on 04/24/2024 at 9:41 AM

Colors

Embed

Sales Sheet