Melania Trump (the statue) vanishes in Slovenia hometown

SEVNICA, Slovenia – Where is Melania Trump?

No, not the rarely seen US First Lady, but the statue made in her likeness that watched over her nearby hometown, Sevnica, Slovenia.

The life-size bronze statue, 15 minutes outside Sevnica, disappeared from its perch this week.

The theft was reported on May 13, police said. But it is not clear when, exactly, it was taken, Ms Alenka Drenik, a spokeswoman for the police, said by phone on May 16.

“Police are still assessing the theft, and an investigation is still ongoing,” Ms Drenik added.

Residents of Sevnica have their suspicions.

Some in the town of about 5,000 people in eastern Slovenia say it could have been an act of vandalism. Others say it was probably melted down for cash. None of the people interviewed thought, however, that the statue’s disappearance had been in any way political.

“Melania is rarely seen in the spotlight or anywhere else, and even when she does do something, it’s so bizarre, so I don’t even want to think about her that much,” said Mr Igor Pavkovic, who has lived in Sevnica all his life and recalled laughing when he first saw the statue.

The expressionless sculpture, its arm raised in a tight wave, never quite captured the heart of Sevnica’s residents.

Originally made of wood, it was hacked from a linden tree and unveiled in 2019 by an artist who used a chainsaw to create a very, very rough likeness of the First Lady.

Painted powder blue to reflect the cashmere dress and gloves that she wore to her husband’s first inauguration, in 2017, the wood statue stood 2.7m tall.

But it was derided as resembling a scarecrow or a Smurf. Anonymous arsonists

set the statue on fire

on July 4, 2020.

A bronze replacement was erected later that year. Now, only the statue’s heavy cubist feet, hacked off at the ankles, remain on the tree trunk that had served as the statue’s plinth.

It had stood in a lonely field, far away from the municipal apartment block where Mrs Trump grew up and the school she attended.

The privately owned field overlooks the Sava River and a verdant valley, but only runners and cyclists would have regularly crossed paths with the statue.

Both the wood and metal iterations were commissioned by an American artist, Mr Brad Downey, who worked with local artisans to create the sculptures.

Mr Downey said at the time that he saw it as an interrogation of President Donald Trump’s harsh stance on immigration.

“The idea to commission the first monument to Melania has some cheekiness to it, but I wanted to do a serious investigation there,” Mr Downey said.

Although no one has claimed responsibility for the statue’s disappearance, it vanished at a time when public dissatisfaction with Donald Trump’s second-term policies have been expressed globally through vandalism of vehicles made by Tesla, an electric car company owned by Elon Musk, Trump’s adviser. Satirical advertisements mocking both men have also popped up around London in recent weeks.

Few in Sevnica said they would miss the statue.

“I only saw it in pictures, and I thought it was very unesthetic,” said Ms Nena Bedek, an art teacher who said she went to school with Mrs Trump. “I had the feeling someone was making fun.”

“We were all ashamed of the statue when it was first unveiled, especially Melania and the Knavs family,” said Mr Bruno Vidmar, a hotelier whose business has thrived off the factory town’s tenuous claim to the White House.

Mrs Trump’s businessman father, Mr Victor Knavs, has been known to stop by Mr Vidmar’s hotel for dinner when he is in town.

Mrs Trump was born in Novo Mesto, and her family later moved to Sevnica.

She left in 1985 and has not been seen there since. That has not stopped the town from capitalising on its most famous ambassador. She has inspired coffee, chocolate and comfy slippers, all cleverly branded to avoid copyright claims.

In a gift shop hangs an amateur painting that merges the facade of the White House with Sevnica’s other famous attraction: a 12th century castle.

A patisserie in Mr Vidmar’s hotel serves a slice of Melania: a white chocolate, cream and mascarpone sponge cake, drizzled with walnuts, pistachios and sesame seeds.

Mr Vidmar’s wife came up with the recipe during Mr Donald Trump’s first term, the hotelier said.

Locals say it is fresh and elegant, like the First Lady.

“We can be proud of her that she is the First Lady now for the second time,” said Ms Meri Kelemina, who lives in a village near where the statue once stood.

She added that the statue and its location did little for the town and did not flatter Sevnica’s most famous former resident.

“I think she deserves a nice landmark,” she said. NYTIMES