Status of monument -> National monument
Pursuant to Article V para. 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 39 para. 1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, at a session held from 3 to 9 September 2002 the Commission adopted a
D E C I S I O N
I
The AVNOJ Centre in Jajce, complete with its movable property comprising portraits of Tito, Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, the property of the AVNOJ Centre, is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).
The site is located on cadastral plot nos. 1019 and 1020, cadastral municipality Pijavice, Municipality Jajce, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The provisions relating to protection and rehabilitation measures set forth by the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH nos. 2/02 and 27/02) shall apply to the National Monument.
II
The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the Federation Government) shall be responsible for ensuring and providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary to protect, conserve, display and rehabilitate the National Monument.
The Federation Government shall be responsible for providing the resources for drawing up the technical documentation for the restoration of the National Monument to its pre-1992 condition.
The Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the Commission) shall determine the technical requirements and secure the funds for preparing and setting up signboards with the basic data on the monument and the Decision to proclaim the property a National Monument.
III
The Federation Government shall be responsible in particular for carrying out the following measures:
1. The National Monument shall be restored to its function as the AVNOJ Museum;
2. As part of the design project for the preservation of the National Monument, details of the method of repairing damage thereto, restoring it to its function as a museum and stipulating the system required to for the protection of the exhibits shall be determined;
3. Ensuring that the movable items consisting of four paintings by Božidar Jakac (portraits of Tito, Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill) are returned to the AVNOJ Centre from the Franciscan Monastery in Jajce;
4. Ensuring the appropriate technical conditions for the safe keeping of the movable items and exercising supervision over their preservation;
5. By way of exception to the provisions of point 1 of this paragraph, a small part of the National Monument may be used for commercial purposes. The revenue obtained from this use may be used solely for the purpose of preservation of the National Monument and advancing the work of the Museum.
The display and other forms of presentation of the movable items forming an integral part of the National Monument (hereinafter: the movable items) on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall be carried out on the basis of the terms and conditions determined by the Federal ministry with jurisdiction over cultural affairs.
IV
The removal of the movable items from Bosnia and Herzegovina is prohibited.
By way of exception to the provisions of para. 1 of this clause, the temporary removable of the movable items for the purposes of display or conservation shall be permitted if it is determined that conservation works cannot be carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Permission for the temporary removal of the movable items from Bosnia and Herzegovina for the purposes set out in the preceding paragraph shall be granted by the Commission. In its ruling granting permission for the temporary removal of the movable items, the Commission shall set out all the terms and conditions under which the removal may be effected, the time limit within which the items must be returned to the country, and the individual authorities and institutions responsible for ensuring that these terms and conditions are met, and shall notify the Federation Government, the relevant heritage protection authority, the Customs Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the general public accordingly.
V
All executive and area development planning acts not in accordance with the provisions of this Decision are to be revoked.
VI
Everyone, and in particular the competent authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Canton, and urban and municipal authorities, shall refrain from any action that might damage the National Monument or jeopardize the preservation and rehabilitation thereof.
VII
The Federation Government, the Federal Ministry of Urban Planning and the Environment, the Federal Ministry with jurisdiction over cultural affairs, and the Institute for the Protection of National Monuments at the Federation level shall be notified of this Decision in order to carry out the measures stipulated in Articles II, III and IV of this Decision, and the Municipal Authorities in charge of urban planning and land registry affairs and the Authorized Municipal Court shall be notified for the purposes of registration in the Land Register.
VIII
The elucidation and accompanying documentation form an integral part of this Decision, which may be viewed by interested parties on the premises or by accessing the website of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments. (http://www.aneks8komisija.com.ba).
IX
Pursuant to Art. V para 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina are final.
X
This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption and shall be published in the Official Gazette of BiH and the Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH.
This Decision has been adopted by the following members of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments: Zeynep Ahunbay, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, Ljiljana Ševo and Tina Wik.
Chairman of the Commission
Dubravko Lovrenović
No.: 01-281/02-1
4 September 2002
Sarajevo
E l u c i d a t i o n
I – INTRODUCTION
Pursuant to Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a “National Monument” is an item of public property proclaimed by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments (hereinafter referred to as the Commission) to be a National Monument pursuant to Articles V and VI of Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter referred to as Annex 8) and as property entered on the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of BiH no. 33/02) until the Commission reaches a final decision on its status, as to which there is no time limit and regardless of whether a petition for the property in question has been submitted or not.
The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted an application to the Commission for the restoration of the AVNOJ Museum in Jajce. At its second session, held on 11 May 2002, the Commission considered the communication from the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and, since the said property was not on the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, resolved to treat the application as a petition to designate the property as a national monument, pursuant to Article 5 of Annex 8.
II – PROCEDURE PRIOR TO DECISION
In the procedure preceding the adoption of a final decision to proclaim the property a national monument, the following documentation was inspected:
Ÿ Documentation on the location and current owner and user of the property
Ÿ Data on the current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs, data of war damage if any, data on restoration or other works on the property if any, etc.
Ÿ Details of the movable heritage items forming part of the property,
Ÿ Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property, as set out in the bibliography forming part of this Decision.
The findings based on the review of the above documentation are as follows:
1. Information on the Site
Location
The building stands in the southern quarter of the town of Jajce (cadastral municpality Pijavice no. ZK 449, cadastral plot nos. 1019 and 1020 according to the 1953 survey), on the right bank of the river Pliva, beneath a large tuff plateau and in the immediate vicinity of other monuments of the architectural and natural heritage of Jajce – the waterfall, the Old Mosque with elements of local tradition, the burial ground in Varošnica, the Elektrobosna Villa etc.
Historical data
Construction of the building began in 1932 and was completed in 1934 for the needs of the Sokol Society of Jajce. The funds for the building were provided by the Society itself, donations and financial assistance from the Elektrobosna utility company. The Belgrade architect Momir Korunović was responsible for the design. Since there were only very limited funds available, the building underwent certain modifications in appearance and dimensions. It was originally intended as a building with very marked elements of Bosnian architecture. The completed building also had certain qualities – purity of ground plan and functionality of space. Until 1941 it continued to be used for its original purpose, which was primarily as a physical training hall and social premises for Sokol. From 1936 onwards the hall was also used for film screenings. With the outbreak of World War II, the occupying authorities used the hall as a collection centre where the population from the insurgent regions of BiH – usually Serbs from the Bosnian Krajina – was subjected to terror. When retreating from Jajce in 1942, Partisan troops set fire to the building; the whole of the interior and the wooden roof structure were completely burned out.
A year later, just before the historic AVNOJ session, the Partisans restored what they had burned and destroyed in 1942. The renovation of the building was carried out by the architect Živa Đorđević at the orders of the Supreme Command. His design was the basis for the complete reconstruction of the roof structure, the replastering of the entire building and whitewashing the facade and interior. The roof was tiled instead of the original asbestos boarding, and ordinary wooden floorboards were used to replace the original parquet, which had been destroyed in the fire. The famous artist Đorđe Andrejević Kun worked on the interior of the building.
It was in this building that the session of the Antifascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ is its local-language acronym) was held on 29 and 30 November 1943, attended by 142 councillors representing BiH, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Slovenia, who renounced some elements of sovereignty to create a federal state. At the same session a Resolution was passed to construct Yugoslavia on federal principles with the full equality of all its nations and nationalities, which marked the completion of the creation of the Yugoslav state authorities. Once the war had ended, in the light of the immense importance of the building for the history of Yugoslavia, it was again renovated in 1947 and 1953, when certain interventions were carried out that are visible to this day: alterations to the pitch of the roof and adding a tuff facing to the outside walls. As a result the building lost much of its original appearance, which had led it to being regarded as one of the more successful minor examples of modern architecture in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Museum of the Second AVNOJ Session was founded in 1953 as a central Yugoslav museum memorial institution to study, gather, preserve, display and publish historical material directly and more broadly relating to this historic session and the matters it dealt with. Parts of the building were converted for the purpose of displaying and housing the museum material.
The museum collection formed in 1930 by the then Committee for the Preservation of Antiques, which for lack of space had until then been kept in the Franciscan Monastery in Jajce, along with its basic documentation, was added to the Museum of the Second AVNOJ Session.
The Museum's first permanent exhibit was opened on 18 February 1959, and later certain additions were carried out.
At a session held on 28 December 1989, the Jajce Municipal Council passed a Ruling that the formation of a Jajce county museum was justifiable on social grounds – the museum was intended thenceforth conduct its operations in two municipalities, Jajce and Šipovo, and to become a complex museum of local county nature. However, this never came about.
Legal status to date
The AVNOJ Centre in Jajce was entered in the Register of immovable cultural monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina as no. 313. In 1971, by Ruling of the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural and National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the building in which the session was held was designated as a cultural monument.
2. Description of the monument
In addition to the central building where the AVNOJ session was held, the Museum had another two buildings:
1. a building in the park, where documents, photographs, maps and other materials giving a more comprehensive picture of the evolution of the national government during the NOR were displayed
2. a small gallery, opened in 1963.
The building is two-storeyed and has a longitudinal ground plan. The original purpose of the building – the Sokol Centre – dictated the layout of the premises. The basement held heating and sanitary premises; the main meeting hall with a stage, offices, toilet facilities and other smaller premises were on the ground floor, and a library and reading room were located on the first floor, along with the caretaker's flat.
The hall measures 18.00 x 14.40 m., with two colonnades at the sides. It is lit from both sides by two rows of windows. The front part has a stage and the premises needed for performances. Communications are resolve in the usual, functional way with the public entering the building through the main entrance through a transverse foyer, and leaving through an exit direct to the exterior on the north side of the main hall (facing the river Pliva).
Movable heritage
The premises where the Second AVNOJ Session was held are arranged as a memorial room with mementoes and photographs.
There are two tables on the stage, set end to end and covered with a red cloth. Behind the tables is a single row of eight wooden chairs. At first the original coat of arms of FNRY (the work of the painter Đorđe Andrejević Kun and the sculptor August Augustinčić) stood in the background; during the evacuation of Jajce on 8 January 1944 it was relocated to Drvar.
In front of the stage is a podium, reached by three steps, with a lectern. There was a bust of Marshal Tito (the work of Augustinčić) in the background. After the war Augustinčić made another bust of Marshal Tito from photographs taken at the session. The podium was covered by a carpet that almost covered part of the floor in front of the lectern.
The councillors sat in the main body of the hall, on chairs of the most diverse shapes and forms. There were a number of armchairs in the front row, with a deep armchair in the centre where Tito sat. Guests of the session sat on the balcony.
The stage bears the following slogans: «Death to fascism – freedom for the people» and «Long live the Antifascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia».
The walls bear the slogan «Long live the Red Army».
The balcony railing bears the slogan «Long live our heroic national liberation army».
A carpet was draped over the balcony, and the walls were hung with flags and portraits by Kun (Lenin, Marx, Engels, Tito, Stalin and Roosevelt).
The Jajce Museum had the following collections, according to the 1991 inventory:
1. Archaeological items - 3672,
2. Photographs - 4820,
3. Three-dimensional items - 245,
4. Works of art - 827,
5. Sound library - 124,
6. Film library - 106,
7. Library - 6134.
3. Research and conservation and restoration work
In 1947 and 1953, major works were carried out – the pitch of the roof was altered and a stone facing was added to the walls. Later several minor renovation works were carried out, mainly to the interior of the building.
4. Current condition of the monument
The building suffered significant damage during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina,in the form of major damage to the woodwork, furniture and museum exhibits, serious damage to the roof, guttering and outside falls. Failure to maintain the building since the war has resulted in still further damage. The central heating and water supply system have been so badly damaged by frost that they must be replaced in their entirety. The other matter of major significance is that the Museum's holdings have been looted by a person or persons unknown; there is some evidence to the effect that some very valuable exhibits and works of art owned by the Museum can be found in certain western European countries and BiH's neighbouring countries.
The whereabouts is known only of four paintings by Božidar Jakac – the portraits of Tito, Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill – which are currently in the Franciscan Monastery in Jajce.
III – CONCLUSION
Applying the Criteria for the adoption of a decision on proclaiming an item of property a national monument, adopted at the fourth session of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments (3 to 9 September 2002), relating to the immovable and movable heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with regard to time frame (IIA), historic value (IIB), clarity (IID), and symbolic value (IIE), the Commission has enacted the Decision cited above.
The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:
- Work plan for the Jajce County Museum for 1990, from the Archive of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Private documents of Dr Dušan Otašević, retired museum adviser to the Museum of History of BiH
- Copy of cadastral plan
- Copy of land register entry and ownership certificate;
- Photodocumentation;
- Site plan
The documentation annexed to the Decision is public and available for view by interested persons on written request to the Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bibliography
1. Š. Bešlagić, Naše starine, Spomenici NOB-a u Jajcu i njihova zaštita (Our Antiquities: NOB monuments in Jajce and their preservation), 1958.
2. Naše starine, Zaštićeni spomenici NOR-a (Our Antiquities: NOR Protected Monuments), 1962.
3. Ž. Spasić, Drugo zasjedanje AVNOJ-a 1943. (Second AVNOJ Session, 1943), 1968.
4. Drugo zasedanje Antifašističkog veća narodnog oslobođenja Jugoslavije 1943 (Second Session of the Antifascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia in 1943), Kultura, Belgrade, 1963.
5. Drugo zasjedanje AVNOJ-a (Second AVNOJ Session), Sutjeska, 1944.
6. Muzeji, galerije i zbirke Bosne i Hercegovine (Museums, Galleries and Collections of Bosnia and Herzegovina), Sarajevo,1982.
7. Drugo zasjedanje AVNOJ-a 1943 (Second AVNOJ Session 1943), Jajce, 1968.
8. Živojin B. Spasić, Muzej II zasjedanja AVNOJ-a (Museum of the Second AVNOJ Session), Jajce i «NIP» Zadrugar, Sarajevo
9. Drugo zasjedanje AVNOJ-a Jajce, istorijske fotografije (Second AVNOJ Session in Jajce, historic photographs), Belgrade, 1981.
10. Prvo i Drugo zasjedanje AVNOJ-a (First and Second AVNOJ Sessions), Zagreb, 1963.
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