Commision to preserve national monuments

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 20 to 26 January 2004 the Commission adopted a

The site and remains of the historic building known as Burićeva – the Burić house in Jajce is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The National Monument is located on cadastral plot no. 881 and 882, cadastral municipality Jajce I, Jajce municipality, Federation of Bosnia and

Herzegovina

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.

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the Government of the Federation) 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 Commission to Preserve National Monuments (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.

To ensure the on-going protection of the National Monument, the following measures are hereby stipulated, relating to c.p. 881 and 882, c.m. Jajce, being the site on which the National Monument stands.

Ÿ The Burić house shall be rehabilitated on its original site, in its original form, with identical horizontal and vertical dimensions, with the use of the original or the same type of material and the original building methods wherever possible, on the basis of documentation on its former appearance forming an integral part of this decision, with the approval of the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the heritage protection authority),

Ÿ before rehabilitation works begin on the Burić house the plot shall be cleared of wild vegetation, and the surface layers of soil shall be removed in order to find original parts of the house,

Ÿ all original fragments of the demolished building found on the site or on other sites to which they were removed after the demolition of the building must be collected up, registered, recorded and reintegrated into the reconstructed building by the method of anastylosis. Until such time as they are so reintegrated they shall be properly preserved,

Ÿ no new construction shall be permitted in a contact zone 50 metres north and 40 metres south; the renovation only of buildings shall be permitted.

All executive and area development planning acts not in accordance with the provisions of this Decision are hereby revoked.

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.

The Government of the Federation, the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning, the Federation heritage protection authority, 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.

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.aneks8komisija.com.ba)

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.

This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption and shall be published in the Official Gazette of BiH.

This Decision has been adopted by the following members of the Commission: Zeynep Ahunbay, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, Ljiljana Ševo and Tina Wik.

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 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.

On 21 February 2003 Jajce Municipality submitted a petition/proposal to designate the site and remains of the Burić house as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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.

In the procedure preceding the adoption of a final decision to proclaim the property a national monument, the following documentation was inspected:

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.

The findings based on the review of the above documentation and the condition of the site are as follows:

The Burićeva or Burić house stood in the southern part of the town of Jajce, very close to the catacombs, Medvjed tower and St Mary's Church, in the former Ejub Ademović street, no. 19. It occupied c.p. 881, c.m. Jajce I, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

To judge from the remains of the masonry walls and the quality and type of binders, the Burić house was probably built in the second half of the 18th century. It was owned by members of the Jajce family Kršlak(1) (Bešlagić, Š. Spomenici narodnooslobodilačke borbe u Jajcu i njihova zaštita, pp. 77,78).

It changed hands a number of times from the second half of the 19th century on. In 1910 it was purchased by a teacher, Mehmed Hasić, from whom a certain Ante Burić bought it in 1934. While it was in his ownership he did a great deal of work on the house, particularly the interior. The Burić house is visible on the Austrian geodetic plan no. 228 C XVI S 12.

During World War II Jajce was the centre of the free territory controlled by troops of the National Liberation Movement (NOP) (2). On 29 and 30 November 1943, the 2nd session of the Antifascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) was held in Jajce, attended by representatives of BiH, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Slovenia, who renounced some elements of sovereignty to create a federal state. It was at this same session that a Resolution was issued to build Yugoslavia on federal principles with full equality for its peoples and minorities, which marked the completion of the creation of the Yugoslav state institutions.

At this period of Jajce's history the Burić house was the most important building in the town. In late August 1943 the Supreme Command of the National Liberation Army was stationed here, remaining until almost the end of November. Josip Broz Tito and his associate Aleksandar Ranković (3) stayed there during this time.

There are numerous houses in the traditional Bosnian architectural style typical of Jajce on the slope running from St Mary's Church and the Jajce catacombs to the Citadel, all of which have the common features of a solidly-built stone ground floor, half-timbered upper floors with timber uprights and an infill of boards, unbaked brick or tufa, rows of windows, and steeply pitched wooden roofs.

The Burić house, which was very close to St Mary's Church, was a two-storey building, with the simple ground plan typical of the urban residential architecture of Jajce. It stood out in particular for its high hipped roof with classic cladding of wooden shingles and the inevitable dormer windows.

The ground floor was a regular rectangle measuring 11.50 x 9.50 metres. The dimensions of the first floor were similar. The roof eaves projected forward from the wall surface by about 50 cm along the entire length of the building, other than the part of the roof over the wooden verandah, where the overhang was greater in order to cover the staircase and verandah.

There were two front rooms on the ground floor, facing the street, which were used for residential purposes. Opposite these rooms, cut back into the hillside, were two further rooms used, before the building was destroyed, as storerooms or larders. The entrance to the ground floor was to the south, and was separate from the entrance to the first floor.

The upper floor of the Burić house had the same arrangement of rooms, except that the access to this floor was to the north via a small wooden staircase 1.20 metres wide, and with the addition, on the opposite side of the corridor, of a small wooden veranda, partly glazed, which in fact derived from the divanhana and kamarija that were an inevitable feature of older houses of this kind in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The walls of the ground floor of the Burić house were of quarry stone set in lime mortar, with pieces of tufa here and there. The thickness of these walls varied, up to 70 cm in places. The entire upper floor was of post-and-pan construction, with oak uprights and tufa infill.

The ground floor of the building, like most other buildings of this period in Jajce, was originally paved with flat stone slabs laid direct on the ground. Later, the floor was replaced on several occasions; finally, in the late 1960s, a layer of concrete was laid instead of stone, and then covered with floorboards.

The floor and ceiling joists of the upper floor were of timber. Later the wooden ceiling or šiše was replaced by new timber joists to which reeds were attached and the whole ceiling plastered over with lime plaster.

The interior of the building was well lit by its many windows, seven on the ground floor and ten on the upper floor. The windows were double, the outer windows opening outwards and the inner inwards. They were rectangular in shape with wooden frames attached to the surface of the facade.

In the Regional Plan of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina to 2002, the monument was registered as part of the urban ensemble of Jajce, which was listed as a Category 0 monument of international importance.

In 1952, repairs were carried out to the building, together with essential conservation and restoration works, repairs to the exterior walls and the replacement of the dilapidated roof cladding. Repairs to the verandah were also carried out at the same time. The works were supervised by the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina the Burić house was almost totally destroyed. The roof frame and upper floor were set on fire and destroyed. All that survived were the stone walls of the ground floor to the point where the upper floor joists fitted into the wall. The upper sections of the walls are exposed to the constant effects of the elements.

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.

During the procedure to designate the Burića house in Jajce as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:

Drugo zasedanje Antifašističkog veća narodnog oslobođenja Jugoslavije 1943 (Second Session of the Antifascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia in 1943), Kultura, Belgrade, 1963.

Prvo i Drugo zasjedanje AVNOJ-a (First and Second AVNOJ Sessions), Zagreb, 1963.

Spasić, Živojin B., Muzej II zasjedanja AVNOJ-a (Museum of the Second AVNOJ Session), Jajce i «NIP» Zadrugar, Sarajevo

Bešlagić, Šefik, Spomenici narodnooslobodilačke borbe u Jajcu i njihova zaštita, Naše starine, str. 77,78

Jadrić, Radivoj , Revitalizacija istorijskog jezgra Jajca (Revitalization of the historic centre of Jajce), Sarajevo, 1970

Drugo zasedanje AVNOJ-a Jajce, istorijske fotografije (Second AVNOJ Session in Jajce, historic photographs), Belgrade, 1981.

Documentation of the Archives of BiH, Jajce Municipality and the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of BiH, Jajce in the Austro-Hungarian period

(1)There is no precise information on the date of construction of the building

(2)The NOP ( the acronym of its local language title) was a movement ained primarily at liberating Yugoslavia from fascist occupation.

(3) Ranković, Aleksandar, politician, born 1909 in Draževci, Serbia. Member of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia from 1928, Yugoslav Minister of the Interior from 1948, and head of the Yugoslav secret police (UDBA). From 1963, Vice President of Yugoslavia. In 1964 his activities were judged to be anti-Party, and in 1966 he was expelled from the Party.