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 5 to 12 May 2003 the Commission adopted a
D E C I S I O N
I
The site and remains of the architectural ensemble of the Halil-paša turbe and burial ground in Banja Luka is hereby designated as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).
The National Monument consists of the site designated as cadastral plot no. 120/4, land registry entry 2634, cadastral municipality Banja Luka, Banja Luka municipality, Republika Srpska, 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 Republika Srpska no. 9/02) shall apply to the National Monument specified in the preceding paragraph.
II
The Government of Republika Srpska 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 Government of Republika Srpska shall be responsible for providing the resources for drawing up and implementing the necessary technical documentation for the conservation and restoration of the National Monument.
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 following protection measures, applicable to the area defined in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision, are hereby stipulated:
The Halil-paša turbe in Banja Luka shall be:
- reconstructed in its original form to the same dimensions and of the same or similar materials using the same techniques wherever possible on the basis of documentation on its original appearance, which forms an integral part of this Decision, with the approval of the ministry responsible for regional planning in Republika Srpska and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of Republika Srpska;
- all pieces of stone remaining on the site or found on adjacent plots following the destruction of the monument shall be recorded, conserved and rebuilt into the walls of the turbe. Until they are rebuilt they shall be protected appropriately;
- all fragments found that are too badly damaged to be reintegrated shall be preserved displayed in appropriate fashion as part of the architectural ensemble;
- prior to the start of reconstruction the foundations shall be dug out and surveyed and a structural analysis carried out, on the basis of which the foundations shall be repaired and structurally consolidated;
- the stone coffin of Halil-paša's bajraktar (standard-bearer) shall be reconstructed;
- Halil-paša's sarcophagus shall be conserved and restored;
- the nišan tombstones in the burial ground shall be geodetically, epigraphically, descriptively and, if found necessary, petrographically documented, the burial ground made good and the damaged tombstones repaired
IV
All executive and area development planning acts not in accordance with the provisions of this Decision are to be revoked.
V
Everyone, and in particular the competent authorities of Republika Srpska, and urban and municipal authorities, shall refrain from any action that might damage the National Monument or jeopardize the preservation and rehabilitation thereof.
VI
The Government of Republika Srpska, the Ministry responsible for regional planning in Republika Srpska and the heritage protection authority of Republika Srpska, and the Municipal Authorities in charge of urban planning and land registry affairs, shall be notified of this Decision in order to carry out the measures stipulated in Articles II to V of this Decision, and the Authorized Municipal Court shall be notified for the purposes of registration in the Land Register.
VII
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 (http://www.anek8komisija.com.ba)
VIII
Pursuant to Art. V para 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, decisions of the Commission are final.
IX
This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption and shall be published in the Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This Decision has been adopted by the following members of the Commission: Zeynep Ahunbay, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, Ljiljana Ševo and Tina Wik.
Chairman of the Commission
Amra Hadžimuhamedović
No: 02-6-913/03
6 May 2003
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, and 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 Commission received a petition from the Islamic community of BiH, Banja Luka Majlis (Council), on 27 August 2002.
Pursuant to the provisions of the law, the Commission proceeded to carry out the procedure for reaching a final decision to designate the Property as a National Monument, pursuant to Article V of Annex 8 and Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments.
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 (copy of cadastral plan and Land Registry entry)
Ÿ Data on the current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs, data of war damage, data on restoration or other works on the property, etc.
Ÿ Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property, as set out in the bibliography forming part of this Decision.
Ÿ the Commission engaged Dr Sabira Husedžinović, a long-term associate of the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural and Historical Heritage of Banja Luka, who is writing a book on the mosques of Banja Luka. Dr Husedžinović has drawn up a study based on material in her possession and her own research, which was used in drafting this Decision.
The findings based on the review of the above documentation and the condition of the property are as follows:
1. Details of the property
Location
The Halil-paša turbe is in Hiseta halfway between Donji and Gornji Šeher on the left bank of the Vrbas. A harem arose around the turbe where burials began at the end of the sixteenth century and continued until the 1992/1995 war.
The Halil-paša turbe was in Kozarska street, Banja Luka, on a site designated as c.p. 120/4, Land Registry entry 2634, c.m. Banja Luka, owned by the United vakuf of the Islamic Community, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Historical information
Halil-paša was begler-beg of the Bosnian pašaluk (1589-1595), succeeding Ferhad-paša.
He was originally from Lijevče polje near Banja Luka, and was known as Lijevčanin. There are numerous legends of his goodness and honesty (Bejtić, 1953, 108-109; Mujezinovič, 1998, 217).
He was an admiral in the Turkish Navy, and towards the end of his life he came to Banja Luka as governor (plaque on the turbe). Legend recounts that the turbe was erected by the people as a sign of gratitude for his good deeds.
His standard-bearer was also buried in the turbe. Alongside the turbe the foundations of a larger building were discovered.
2. Description of the property
The Halil-paša turbe has a central octagonal ground plan and measures 9.05 x 9.5 m. The dome is 7.25 m. high and rests on trompes and pointed arches.
The turbe is built of ashlar blocks of the limestone known as “iced tufa” and has walls 75 cm thick, while the dome was made of Turkish bricks or tugla. The entrance to the building was from the harem to the nortu-east. The portal, which terminates in a segmented arch over which is a chronogram on a stone plaque, all framed by a pointed arch.
Inside the turbe are three niches and three windows alternating on each wall other than the east wall and the entrance wall. All the windows are rectangular and framed with regular cut stone frames with pointed arches over. The windows themselves are wooden and set with wrought iron bars. Above the drum stands the dome; the height of the walls to the start of the drum is 4.65 m. There was just one small round-headed window in the drum. Since the building was erected on sloping ground this single window on the north-west side was almost level with the access road, and above it was a plaque with a text about Halil-paša as admiral in the Turkish Navy, written in Bosnian.
Within the turbe stood the sarcophagus of begler-beg Halil-paša and that of his standard-bearer.
The floor inside the turbe was paved with regularly-shaped stone slabs.
The lead was stripped from Halil-paša’s turbe, in common with every other major building, during World War I. The turbe was covered with a kind of polygonal coping, of which there were eight in all, clad with plain tiles. This was the appearance of the turbe given by A. Bejtić in his work Banja Luka pod turskom vladavinom (Banja Luka under Turkish rule) (Bejtić, 1953, 108-109).
3. Legal status to date
By Ruling of the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina no. 729/5 dated 16 April 1955 the building was placed under state protection; this was renewed by the same authority by Ruling no. 02-700-3 dated 18 April 1962
4. Research and conservation and restoration works
No research works have been carried out other than the excavation of the foundations of a larger building close to the turbe which it is assumed could be the remains of this governor’s mosque.
In 1959 the Institutie for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina carried out conservation and restoration works, when the dome was covered with copper sheeting and the plaster was stripped from the façades.
No major conservation or restoration works were undertaken after 1959, although the building was damaged in the 1969 earthquake.
5. Present condition of the site
The Halil-paša turbe was dynamited on 15 December 1993; some remains have survived on the site.
Halil-paša’s sarcophagus was preserved in its entirety but that of his standard-bearer was destroyed. Many nišan tombstones were badly damaged by the dynamiting, particularly those close to the turbe.
III – CONCLUSION
Applying the Criteria for the adoption of a decision on proclaiming an item of property a national monument (Official Gazette of BiH nos. 33/02 and 15/03), the Commission has enacted the Decision cited above.
The Decision was based on the following criteria:
A. Time frame
B. Historical value
C. Artistic and aesthetic value
C.iii. proportions
C.v. value of details
D. Clarity
D. iv. evidence of a particular type, style or regional manner
E. Symbolic value
E. i. ontological value
E.ii. religious value
E.iii. traditional value
E.v. significance for the identity of a group of people
F. Townscape/landscape value
Fii – meaning in the townscape
The following photographic and graphic documentation forms an integral part of this Decision.
1. PROPERTY OWNERSHIP DOCUMENTATION
Copy of cadastral plan, Halil-paša turbe
2. PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN PRIOR TO THE DEMOLITION OF THE BUILDING
3. PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN SINCE THE DEMOLITION OF THE BUILDING
4. ARCHITECTURAL BLUEPRINT AND TECHNICAL SURVEY OF THE BUILDING PRIOR TO DEMOLITION
4.1. site plan
4.2. cross section
4.3. ground plan
4.4. façade
4.5. details
Bibliography
During the procedure to designate the historic building of the Halil-paša turbe in Banja Luka as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:
2003 Husedžinović Sabira, study of Halil-paša's turbe in Banja Luka drawn up for the Commission to Preserve National Monuments on the basis of material in the unpublished m/s “Dokumenti opstanka, džamije u Banjoj Luci” (documents of the survival of mosques in Banja Luka)
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