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The Fisherman’s Statue with a Fountain

The Fisherman’s Statue with a Fountain, also known as the Fisherman Fountain, is a spring fountain on the main roundabout of Kalemegdan park in Belgrade. It was created by the sculptor Simeon Roksandić in 1906, during a year-long stay in Munich and Rome. The work was first shown in 1907 at the LXXII International Art Exhibition in Rome, where it received positive attention, including from the Italian royal couple. The Serbian National Museum bought the plaster model in 1907, and the figure was later presented as a key artwork in the Serbian pavilion at the 1907 Balkan Exhibition in London. The composition of a fisherman fighting a snake became a symbol of the young Serbian state and its cultural progress.

Fisherman Fountain bronze statue of a man wrestling a serpentine creature in a park with trees and paths.
Fisherman Fountain in Belgrade, showing the bronze fisherman sculpture surrounded by greenery.
© · CC BY-SA 3.0 rs
Fisherman Fountain bronze statue of a man wrestling a serpent on a dark fountain base at dusk.
The Fisherman Fountain sculpture stands in a park at dusk, with a bronze figure struggling with a serpent.
January 2026 © · CC BY 4.0
Fisherman Fountain statue in a park at sunset, with a man wrestling a snake in the center of a dry circular basin.
Fisherman Fountain stands in a park as the sun sets, with the statue rising from a dry stone-filled basin.
January 2026 © · CC BY 4.0
Fisherman Fountain statue wrestling with a large snake in a park at sunset.
Fisherman Fountain stands in silhouette against a colorful sunset, with people walking nearby in the park.
January 2026 © · CC BY 4.0
Yugoslav stamp showing the Fisherman Fountain figure wrestling a snake.
A Yugoslav postage stamp depicts the Fisherman Fountain figure grappling with a coiled snake.
May 1992 © Dimitrije Čudov · Public domain

Identification

TitleThe Fisherman Fountain
StyleClassical European sculpture
Alternative titlesLa fontaine du Pêcheur; Le Pêcheur malheureux; The Unfortunate Fisherman; El Pescador; Фонтана Рибар; Злосретни рибар
TypeFountain sculpture

Historical context

Creation placeMunich and Rome
Created duringA one-year leave from his post as drawing teacher at the Kragujevac gymnasium
Creation date1906

Creator

TrainingStudied at the School of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb, attended sculpture courses at the Academy of Pest, and entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich in 1892
Artist's interpretationHe said he made the Fisherman to symbolize the victory of man over nature
Artist nationalitySerbian
ArtistSimeon Roksandić
Munich professorSyrius Eberle

Materials

Model materialPlaster model

Appearance

Depicted subjectA fisherman struggling with a snake
Composition of modelA fisherman and a snake

Location and ownership

London exhibition roleDisplayed in the Serbian pavilion at the 1907 Balkan Exhibition in London as the pavilion's key or main artistic work
Heritage statusClassified as cultural heritage of great importance under Official Gazette of SRS no. 14/79
Second cast locationGrič, now Jezuitski trg, in Zagreb's Upper Town
Second cast ownerBought by the Zagreb municipality after the third Lada exhibition in Zagreb in 1908
Second castAfter false news that the ship carrying the artworks had sunk, a second cast was made from the plaster model
Exhibition display positionThe first and largest exhibition room
Museum acquisitionThe plaster model was purchased by the National Museum of Belgrade in 1907
Belgrade acquisitionThe first plaster model was offered to and accepted by the Belgrade municipality in 1907
Exhibition locationLXXII International Art Exhibition in Rome
Original intended locationTerazije Square, Belgrade
Specific siteThe central roundabout of Great Kalemegdan Park, on an existing oval fountain with a rustic stone pedestal
Current locationKalemegdan Park, Belgrade, Serbia

History and restoration

Later status in BelgradeBy 1911 it had become one of the most recognizable monuments of the city
Evidence for Belgrade installationA 1911 photo illustration in Nova iskra confirms it was already in Kalemegdan Park
Belgrade installation dateBetween 1908 and 1911
Reception in SerbiaRecognized by the Serbian cultural elite and quickly became part of Serbian cultural life
Reception in ItalyReceived very positive reviews, including praise from the Italian royal couple
First public presentation1907

Significance

Symbolic meaningAn emblem of the young Serbian state and a metaphor for cultural progress, artistic development, and the victory of humanity over nature
Artistic significanceDescribed in the press as a work of universal artistic value with national distinctiveness

Other

Park contextPlaced in a representative fin-de-siècle urban park modeled on the parks of European metropolises and conceived as a memorial promenade of national figures and events
Park planning backgroundThe park layout grew out of Emilijan Joksimović's urban plan and was first developed architecturally by Milan Kapetanović in 1890; the original concept was maintained until 1914
Park design featureKapetanović's solution emphasized a straight axis from Knez Mihailova Street to the central rotunda
Public sculpture in parkThe installation of public sculptures in the park began in 1894 with the bust of Đuro Daničić