Niš’s Constantine Monuments: Two Anniversaries, Two Arguments

The spelling

Two tall plates of silver-coloured metal stand side by side. Between them they form an X and, at the top, something close to a P: Chi and Rho, the first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek. A round medallion carries the emperor’s profile, with a jewelled band in his hair. Below it are the two years, 312 and 2012.

The monument was part of an international project linking Niš with two other Roman sites, Carnuntum in Austria and İzmit in Turkey, and its inscription comes in four languages. On the medallion, the Latin runs around the top. The same promise runs around the bottom in Serbian: POD OVIM ZNAKOM POBEDICES.

The Serbian line drew complaints. It uses the Latin alphabet rather than Cyrillic, and it leaves out the marks over two of the letters; the last word should be pobedićeš. An association that campaigns for the Cyrillic script objected, and one of its members told the public broadcaster RTS that the Serbs have “the most perfect alphabet” in the history of human civilisation. A professor of Serbian said the text should have been in Cyrillic.

The sculptor, Mile Kocev, said it was done on purpose, to match the inscription on the columns.

From the Foremother to the cross

The next year brought another 1,700th anniversary. In 313, Constantine and his fellow emperor Licinius agreed what is known as the Edict of Milan, granting freedom of worship.

For that one, Niš received a gift from the Roman Catholic Church in Serbia: a bronze by the sculptor Dragan Radenović, unveiled on the riverbank in December 2013 and called Metamorphosis Constantiniana. It is about five metres high.

At the bottom is a version of the Foremother, a fish-faced Stone Age sculpture found at Lepenski Vir, on the Danube. Above her are three portraits of Constantine at different ages. A bird spreads its wings on either side; one archaeologist identifies it as a raven carrying a banner. A cross stands on top. The whole thing is meant to show the path from the beginnings of humanity to Christianity.

When it was unveiled, the reaction in Niš was mostly astonishment and confusion, according to that archaeologist’s study.

One resident said it needed an interpreter.

The mayor said there was no arguing about taste.

Out for repairs

When I photographed it in 2023, it stood on the riverbank with the fortress wall behind it. In August 2026, it was taken down from the riverbank and put into storage. Its concrete base had become unstable, and stone panels had been coming off the pedestal for some time. It is supposed to return to the same spot once the pedestal has been rebuilt and faced with stone again.

No date has been given.