Royal busts hidden for 90 years

A Thessaloniki warrior guarded treasure expecting the King’s return Royal busts hidden for 90 years

The bronze portraits of the King Aleksandar I Karadjordjevic and the Queen Marija, made by a well known sculptor Rudolf Valdec shall be presented to the public for the first time at the Night of Museums.

The busts of the royal couple that nobody knew anything about, were made in 1922. They are in private possession of a man from Nis whose great-grandfather, a member of the famous Iron Regiment was given to safeguard almost a century ago.

The owner asked to stay anonymous but accepted that these master pieces should be presented to the Serbian public. That shall be done for the first time on May 17 in Nis within the Night of Museums manifestation. Most of the time the busts were hidden in a cellar of a private house in the Toplica Region.

- My great-grandfather was mobilized in 1913. He fought in the Balkan Wars and the WWI. He was recovering in Bizerte and also fought at the Thessaloniki Front. After the WWI he was within a unit that secured the King Aleksandar I in Belgrade. It was in Belgrade where he got from his major the busts to safeguard them ‘until the King returns’. When he returned to his native village he requested from his successors promise him they would safeguard the busts ‘until the King returns’ risking persecution at the time when the communists were in power – the man from Nis says.

He decided to make public this well kept family secret in order to show these two master pieces to the Serbian public and symbolically in the year when we mark the 100th anniversary since the beginning of the WWI.