FREEDOM SQUARE, in its current form, was officially opened on National Day, July 13, 2018. It is paved with autochthonous stone from Nikšić. There is a fountain in the central part, and at the corners there are spaces intended for catering activities, as well as four old, reconstructed fountains. Monuments to King Nikola and Čedomir Ljub Čupić, along with the existing beautiful ambience, give the Square a timeless value.
The monument to King Nikola was built as a sign of gratitude to King Nikola, the founder of the new, modern Nikšić after liberation from Turkish rule. It was installed on Freedom Square in Nikšić on May 9, 2006. The author of the monument is the sculptor Miodrag Živković. The monument is a figure of the king on horseback, whose height with the pedestal is 9.15 meters.
The monument to Ljub Čupić, called Hero na korzu, is the work of Zlatko Glamočak. It is 2.20 meters high and 0.90 meters wide and is located on Freedom Square. The square and the corridor had special symbolism for the hero Ljub Čupić. That promenade was used for the last time, before the shooting. At the end of April 1942, after a battle near Nikšić, Ljubo Čupić fell into the hands of the Chetniks, who sentenced him to death by firing squad. After the sentencing, he was taken out of the courtroom, a former theater building, and that’s when a photograph was taken that went around the world. His smile was immortalized by the official photographer of the Italian fascists, Karlo Ravnič, and the film was preserved by the famous Nikšić photographer Migo Zorić. He was shot on May 9, 1942 at Petrova glavica, in the old cemetery, behind the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and was declared a national hero on July 10, 1953. It was recorded how Jean-Paul Sartre spoke about Ljubo Čupić’s character, who asked to be photographed next to the famous photograph, and with what admiration and respect Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter Indira Gandhi stood in front of it.
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
FREEDOM SQUARE, NIKŠIĆ, MONTENEGRO
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