The Banjavčić grave

The funerary monument was made in 1913, and placed in the cemetery in 1915. It is the work of the celebrated Croatian sculptor and medal-maker Ivo Kerdić (1881-1953), who for the First Croatian Saving Bank of Karlovac also made in 1920 a sculpture of St Barbara, which was removed in 1945. The sepulchral sculpture is considered one of the finest of this public sculptures. A male nude, Dying Genius, is depicted, in seated position, with the torso gently bent in a fall, while in his arms he holds the national flag and a torch, leaning on a back inscribed with a chonogram. It is a symbol of the national endeavours, the prematurely broken body helplessly falling, holding the national flag and a torch, which symolises the life of the deceased as a political worker, a popular representative in the Croatian parlaiment, know for his persistent fight for the prosperity of Karlovac. It is one of the few sculptures in the cemetery done in bronze, and is placed on a high stone pedestal. The sepulchral monuments is dedicated to Dr Ivan Banjavčić (1843-1913), lawyer, politican and mayor of the city from 1903 to 1908, one of the most active and successful Karlovac mayors and the most highly valued person in public life in Karlovac at the turn off the century.