Marie Magdalena II.

According to the New Testament, Mary Magdalene is a sinner — stressed, especially since the Middle Ages, as a fallen woman, a penitent redeemed only by Jesus Christ. It seems that not only the high representatives of the Western Church had their reasons to question her role among Christ's disciples and as one of the leaders of the early Church, even though it was she who stayed with Christ to his last moments on this earth. Perhaps it was from awareness of their own failings that the apostles themselves later pushed her to the margins of their writings.

Seen through the Old Testament view of women of the time, however, she would rather be perceived as a strong, emancipated woman. That is how Kuzica's relief bust feels: it does not show Magdalene in a moment of pain but in calm contemplation and peace of mind; her perfect physical beauty is not sensual but spiritual, hiding the overcoming of inner demons — as the inverse side of the bust's face suggests.