Antun Augustinčić was one of the most important Croatian sculptors of the twentieth century, and he was also a professor and academician. He worked and was recognized worldwide, giving us something to be proud of.

He received his education in Zagreb and Paris, a city where every artist aspired to go. However, he early on departed from academic principles in his search for his artistic expression, finding it in a combination of monumentalism and lyricism.

As the government changed, and there were a lot of changes here in our country, everyone wanted Antun to make statues for them, so he was a famous during the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, he also worked a little for the NDH, but in 1943 he was fed up so he joined the partisans. It didn’t end so badly because he became a state sculptor in socialist Yugoslavia.

His most famous work is the sculpture “Peace,” which stands in front of the United Nations in New York! The statue depicts a woman on horseback, and our Antun says that there would be peace in the world if women decided about it, while the horse symbolizes the struggle for peace. Perhaps the horse is a commentary on foolish men, so cheers to women!

Even during his lifetime, he donated through a gift agreement his works to his native Klanjec, where the Antun Augustinčić Gallery was opened in 1976. He was buried there at the foot of the sculpture “Carrying the Wounded” together with his wife.