Police in Slovenia are investigating the disappearance of a bronze statue of US first lady Melania Trump.
The life-size sculpture was unveiled in 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term in office near Sevnica in central Slovenia, where Melanija Knavs was born in 1970. It replaced a wooden statue by US artist Brad Downey which had been torched by unkown aronists earlier that year.
Police spokeswoman Alenka Drenik Rangus said Friday that the police were informed about the theft of the statue on Tuesday. She said police were working to track down those responsible.
According to Slovenian media reports, the bronze replica was sawed off at the ankles and removed.
The rustic figure was cut from the trunk of a linden tree, showing her in a pale blue dress like the one she wore at Trump’s presidential inauguration in 2017.
The replica bronze statue has no obvious resemblance with the first lady but has a plaque next to it which reads it is “dedicated to the eternal memory of a monument to Melania which stood at this location.”
Additional sources • AP
