Thread by @FDehyd

@RonFilipkowski 1).
„[...] this is not the first time a Melania Trump tribute has met a sticky end in Sevnica.

@RonFilipkowski 2).
The first iteration was unveiled in July 2019. Carved from a single piece of wood by a chainsaw-wielding local artisan called Ales »Maxi« Zupevc, it lasted a year before an unidentified perpetrator decided to turn it into a Fourth of July bonfire.

@RonFilipkowski 3).
Luckily, US artist Brad Downey – who commissioned Maxi to create the wooden original – had already made a cast of the statue. It duly made a comeback in bronze, at the same site.

@RonFilipkowski 4).
At its unveiling, Mr Downey said the new version had been designed to be »as solid as possible, out of a durable material which cannot be wantonly destroyed«. But, as it turns out, it can be chopped off at the ankles and taken away [1].”

@RonFilipkowski 5).
Franja Kranjc, who works at a bakery in Sevnica that sells cakes with Melania Trump’s name in support of the first lady, said the stolen statue won’t be missed.

@RonFilipkowski 6).
– »I think no one was really proud at this statue, not even the first lady of the USA« – he said. – »So I think its OK that it’s removed«.

@RonFilipkowski 7).
The original wooden statue [...] torched in July 2020 [...] 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.

@RonFilipkowski 8).
The replica bronze statue has no obvious resemblance with the first lady [2].

Endnotes:

May 17, 2025

[1] @BBCNews bbc.com/news/articles/…

[2] @AP apnews.com/article/melani…

@RonFilipkowski @BBCNews @AP Please unroll @threadreaderapp. Thank you in advance 𓃠