In the green park near Petrović castle stands a tall statue of Elena of Montenegro, Jelena Petrović-Njegoš, a Montenegrin princess and Queen of Italy.
Elena was born in 1873, the daughter of Queen Milena and King Nicholas I of Montenegro, the first and only king of Montenegro. Befitting a royal child, she received an excellent education. She enjoyed poetry, painting, hunting, and fishing and was fluent in Serbian, French, English, Russian, and Italian. In her early twenties, it was arranged for her to marry the future king of Italy, prince Victor Emmanuel III. They married in 1896 and had five children.
On July 1900, following the assassination of her father-in-law, her husband ascended the Italian throne, and she became Queen of Italy.
As a queen, she preferred the quiet and simple family life over the social life and royal duties. She was a famous queen, loved by the people who called her ‘Mother of Italy’ and cherished her philanthropy, humanitarian work, and dedication to the people.
When an earthquake hit Messina in 1908, she joined the rescue team, nursed the wounded, and organized a fundraiser for the victims in Rome. She studied medicine and worked as a nurse during World War I, fundraised and financed charities, hospitals, and organizations that supported orphaned children of former railway workers or soldiers.
When World War II started, she lobbied for the independence of Montenegro, but when Montenegro became part of Italy, they had to flee their county in 1946.
They settled in Egypt, where Victor Emmanuel III died a year later. Soon after, Elena moved to Montpellier, France, where she died in November 1952 while in surgery to treat her cancer. Other monuments of Elena include a statue in Messina, Italy, a bust in Sanremo, Italy, and a bust in Montpellier, France.
The initiative to erect a monument to Queen Elena in her home county was the idea of Aleksandar Drljević. Following a diplomatic mission in Italy, he witnessed the appreciation and honor Elena received from the Italian people and decided to launch a campaign to honor Queen Elena in Montenegro.
The Montenegrin sculptor Adin Rastoder created the statue depicting Queen Elena as her young self in a two-and-a-half-meter bronze statue on a stone pedestal. Next to the statue stand plaques with her pictures and life story. The statue was dedicated on the night of May 21st, 2021, in the presence of the mayor of Podgorica, Ivan Vuković, the deputy mayor Dr. Sladjana Vujacic, and the president of the Foundation for the Construction of a Monument to Princess Jelena, Ranko Jovović.
It is one of the few monuments that honor real women in Montenegro.
When visiting the statue, enjoy a stroll in the park and pay a visit to Petrović castle, which became a contemporary art center.
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