Kosovo Bill Clinton Statue

Helped Kosovo achieve its independence? Then you get more than just a street sign to honor your contributions to the country. If you’re former President Bill Clinton, you’ll get your very own 11-foot brass statue. 

Regardless of one’s political leanings, it is hard to deny that President Clinton had a heavy hand in ending the war in Bosnia, and the Kosovo War during the 1990s. So seeing the city of Prishtina, capitol of Kosovo, name its main road Bill Clinton Boulevard after the American leader is no surprise. But the huge statue they built of him seemed to surprise the man himself.

When Clinton traveled to Kosovo to unveil the big, brass monument in 2009, the Daily News quoted him as saying, “I never expected that anywhere, someone would make such a big statue of me.” Considering the tarnishing his legacy underwent in America due to his sex scandal, it must have seemed somewhat refreshing.

The statue stands atop a blocky, three-tiered pedestal covered in white tile, in a small urban square. No matter how tall the statue is, the replica president still seems dwarfed by the monolithic, brutalist architecture towering around him. Nonetheless it is a reminder of an important revolution in the country and the allies that had a part in it.