A bronze statue of First Lady Melania Trump has been stolen in her native Slovenia after a thief cut it off at the ankles. The towering sculpture, which was mounted on a tree stump in a field near Melania's hometown of Sevnica, disappeared on Tuesday, according to Agence France-Presse.
Police said that the life-sized statue was cut off at the feet. "The theft was reported on 13 May and immediately police officers visited the crime scene and launched an investigation," a police spokesperson said Thursday. The statue, designed by American artist Brad Downey, was installed to replace a previous wooden version that was burnt and damaged by arsonists in 2020.
Melania's Bad Luck in Slovenia Continues
Downey, naturally, is unhappy and said he was "a bit sad that it's gone." "My feeling is that it has something to do with the new election [of Donald Trump], but who knows, right?" the artist said.
However, this was the second time such an incident happened with Melania's statue. Earlier, a wooden statue of Melania was burnt down in her hometown on July 4, 2020, as the United States celebrated its Independence Day.
The incident left the statue's sculptor shocked and heartbroken, who took years to carve it from a huge tree.
The statue was carved out in 2019 as a mark of respect by a local artist. The incident was reported the next day, following which the police launched an investigation into the matter.
The incident was first reported by locals to the Krško Firefighting Unit, following which, Brad Downey, a 39-year-old Berlin-based artist who had commissioned the project, got the disfigured and blackened statue removed.
Mark of Respect
The wooden sculpture of Melania in a blue dress was raised on July 5, 2019, in a settlement called Rožno, not far from Sevnica. It was carved with a chainsaw by local sculptor and craftsman Aleš Župevc Maxi from the trunk of a living linden tree.
The sculpture drew attention from both the local and international media and received mixed responses.
The statue only partially resembled Melania Trump as the face was rough-hewn and unrecognizable prior to the fire. In order to make the statue resemble Melania Trump, Maxi painted the figure with a light blue wraparound coat that the first lady had worn on the swearing in ceremony of her husband.
A similar wooden statue of Donald Trump carved by a local artist in Moravce in Slovenia was also burnt down the same year by arsonists.
