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 20 to 26 January 2004 the Commission adopted a
D E C I S I O N
I
The site and remains of the historic monument of the Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Mostar is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).
The National Monument is located on a site consisting of cadastral plots: 1089 (new survey), corresponding to nos. 21/26, 21/27, 21/28, 21/30, 21/78, 21/79, 21/80, 21/81, 21/82, 21/83, 21/45 (old survey); Land registry entries nos.: 866, 865, 856, 847, 874, 876, 878, 856, 857, 858, cadastral municipality Mostar I, City of Mostar, urban area Old Town, 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.
II
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 Government of the Federation shall be respoonsible for providing the funds for drawing up and implementing the technical documentation required to 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.
III
To ensure the on-going protection of the National Monument, the following measures are hereby stipulated, relating to the area defined in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision:
1. The Orthodox Cathedral in Mostar shall be rehabilitated and reconstructed on its original site, in its original form, using original or the same type of materials and original building techniques, on the basis of documentation on its previous appearance forming an integral part of this Decision, with the approval of the relevant Federal ministry and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the heritage protection authority);
2. The Government of the Federal shall be responsible in particular for ensuring that a programme of preparatory works is drawn up, to include the following procedures and measures;
Ÿ the entire site shall be cleared of self-sown vegetation;
Ÿ the present condition of the site shall be surveyed and recorded, and fragments of the church identified and sorted;
Ÿ the intact parts of the walls, foundations and floor shall be protected;
Ÿ more extensive research works shall be conducted to include a study of the stability and structure of the existing foundations of the building and the floors, a study of the bearing capacity of the soil, the petrographic and chemical composition of the stone and other building materials. The information acquired thereby shall be used to draw up a rehabilitation project.
The preparatory works stipulated in para. 1 of this Clause must be carried out under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority, to the following conditions:
Ÿ the use of heavy plant and machinery is prohibited;
Ÿ the existing intact foundations, walls, floors and parts thereof shall be preserved and protected from damage, recorded, studied and conserved to enable their reincorporation into the building to be covered by the rehabilitation project;
Ÿ the remains of the church may not be damaged or removed from the fenced-in area of the National Monument;
Ÿ on the plots bordering c.p. no. 1089, the renovation of existing buildings and the interpolation of new ones shall be permitted subject to their having no more than two storeys (ground and one upper floor, 6.50 metres to the base4 of the roof frame), with pitched roofs of 30 deg.
IV
All executive and area development planning acts not in accordance with the provisions of this Decision are hereby revoked.
V
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.
VI
The Government of the Federation, the Federation 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 purpose 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 (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 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.
This Decision has been adopted by the following members of the Commission: Zeynep Ahunbay, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, Ljiljana Ševo and Tina Wik.
Chair of the Commission
Ljiljana Ševo
No: 06-2-2-1067/03-3
20 January 2004
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 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.
At a session held on 22 to 23 September 1999 the Commission issued a Decision to add the Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Mostar to the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, numbered as 387.
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 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 Documentation on the location and current owner and user of the property (copy of cadastral plan and copy of land registry entry)
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:
1. Details of the property
Location
The Orthodox Cathedral (Church of the Holy Trinity) in Mostar is located in a prominent position overlooking the town, in the quarter known as Perkovina. It was on the eastern slopes of the town not far from the old Orthodox church, in a location with outstanding views of the entire Mostar valley. It stands on a site designated as cadastral plots nos. 1089 (new survey), corresponding to nos. 21/26, 21/27, 21/28, 21/30, 21/78, 21/79, 21/80, 21/81, 21/82, 21/83, 21/45 (old survey); Land registry entries nos.: 866, 865, 856, 847, 874, 876, 878, 856, 857, 858, cadastral municipality Mostar I, City of Mostar, urban area Old Town, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Historical information
The Orthodox community in Mostar developed markedly during the eighteenth century, and was the largest urban parish in Herzegovina when Metropolitan Aksentije Palikuća (1751-1763) decided temporarily to relocate the Metropolitan residence to Mostar and abandon the Duži monastery after the Ottoman authorities abolished the Peć patriarchate in 1766. The effect of the abolition of the Peć patriarchate was that Serb bishops were replaced by Greek so-called Phanariot bishops, who introduced a regime that disregarded the Serbian church and people. With the approval of the Patriarchate, and following the custom of Greek bishops who preferred urban sees, the Phanariot bishop Antim (1766-1772) finally made Mostar the see of the Metropolitanate in 1767. The Mostarans spent the last quarter of the 18th century and more than six decades of the 19th in dispute with the Greek bishops. As a result of their grave complaints against the Greek bishops, when the new Metropolitan of Herzegovina was appointed it was no longer a Greek who was chosen but a Slav, Bugarin Prokopije, who came to Mostar on 6 April 1864 (Ćorović, 1933, p. 30).
The construction of a primary school, the introduction of a girls' school, the erection of the Orthodox Cathedral – the largest Orthodox church in Bosnia and Herzegovina – and the introduction of a Serbian public school were of major importance for the cultural advance of Mostar at that time. (Ćorović, 1933, p. 69,).
«The issue of Perkovina, a large vineyard that Ali-pasha had once taken over and over which there was much debate following his fall from power, was finally resolved on 2 June 1862 by Omer-pasha Latas. The site was chosen by Mostar's Orthodox inhabitants as the best place to erect their new church. It would have been hard to find that much space in the čaršija for the church. The site was in a part of town with a majority Serb population, between two schools, not far from the old church and close to the Metropolitan's residence. The site where the church was erected dominated the entire Mostar valley.» (Ćorović, 1933, p. 70,).
The first works on the church began on 15 March 1863. Master craftsman Spasoje Vulić from Tetovo began building the Orthodox Cathedral in Mostar. After some problems with the work the design for the construction of the Orthodox Cathedral was entrusted by the Mostarans to master craftsman Andrija Damjanov, who had just completed works on the construction of the Orthodox Cathedral in Sarajevo in 1868 (Ševo, 2002, p. 244). The head mason working on the church was master-craftsman Andrija Damjanov, a fresco artist from Veles(1). He, his brothers and his descendants built more than forty major churches during the 19th century, all monumental churches, in Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. They designed them themselves, oversaw the construction, painted the frescoes and did the woodcarvings. The churches they built in Bosnia and Herzegovina were those of Čajniče, the Cathedral in Sarajevo and the Cathedral in Mostar. (Filipović, 1949, p. 33).
The churches built by the Macedonian builder Andreja Damjanov of Veles (c. 1813-1878) and his associates for the Serbian Orthodox Church, during the period for which his work is best known, 1850 to 1875, were the earliest attempts to create an integral composition in the spirit of the old Serbian monuments. After arriving in Serbia in 1851, equipped with a wealth of experience as a builder acquired on numerous monumental urban churches in Turkey built in the spirit of the post-Byzantine tradition, supplemented by individual stylistic features of western European provenance, Damjanov became the central figure of the early period in the quest for the Serbian style. His work in this field would be noted for the large number of monumental urban churches dominated, as in his earlier opus, by heterogeneous stylistic concepts, but now expressed in a markedly Serbo-Byzantine manner, in a historic framework established on explicit models (Kadijević, 1997, p. 14)
The masonry work on the Mostar church proceeded rather slowly, given that the building was huge and the cost rapidly exceeded initial estimates. Sultan Abdul Aziz gave 100,000 groschen as a contribution to the building of the church. The congregation in Mostar themselves provided the bulk of the funds. Those who could not spare any money made up for it by working on the building. The church was completed in the autumn of 1873 and dedicated to the festival of the Holy Trinity, a spring festival (Ćorović, 1933, p. 70).
The church was shelled on 7-8 June 1992, and on 15 June the belltower was knocked down and the church was set on fire. Shortly afterwards the remains of the church were dynamited. (Mileusnić, 1994, p. 80.).
2. Description of the property
The Orthodox Cathedral lies east-west, with the entrance at the west end and the apse at the east end of the building. Its exterior dimensions are 50.00 m in length and 26.00 m in width.
The Orthodox Cathedral in Mostar had a cruciform ground plan. The central dome rested on four free-standing pillars. The spaces above the arms of the cross were roofed with barrel vaults.
The altar area was separated by a wall from the nave, tripartite, rectangular on the exterior. There were openings in the wall leading to the side spaces of the altar.
The central altar area was approximately twice as wide as the side spaces, proscomidion and diaconicon, and projected outwards beyond them.
There were three domes over the altar area, the central dome higher and with a greater diameter than those over the proscomidion and diaconicon.
The parvis at the west end was of elongated rectangular shape, topped by two dones resting on pilasters abutting onto the west, north and south walls, and two free-standing supports separating the parvis from the nave.
A bell tower resting on a tetrapylon system abutted against the west facade.
There were two symmetrically-placed entrances to the church in the south and north walls leading into the western aisle.
The cruciform ground plan is reflected in the line of the roof, consisting of two gabled roofs intersecting at a right-angle. Where they intersect, there is a cuboid plinth on which the central dome above the nave rises.
The roofs terminate on all four sides (west, east, south, north) with pediments which are oval in shape. These pediments add further emphasis in the roof area to the cruciform design. There is one round-arched window in each pediment.
All the roofs and domes are clad with sheet copper.
Each of the longitudinal facades has seven windows – five lighting the nave and one each lighting the parvis and altar. All these windows are tall and narrow, round-arched, and all of the same size. There are windows of the same shape on the west end and on the east end of the building, where there is one each lighting the altar, proscomidion and diaconicon.
The windows had iron frames and were plain and undecorated.
The doors were of heavy, unadorned iron. There is no information available concerning the main portal, but the portal of the side doors was very richly decorated. To the left and right of the door were pillars with florally-decorated capitals. Above the door was a stone lintel, decorated with pilasters and dragons to the side. Above this decoration was a smaller stone lintel adorned with a stone cross on a plinth with birds carved on both sides.
As with other buildings of this type in Herzegovina, the building material used in the church was stone. The rock on which the church was built is limestone, but the water-eroded gully to the right of the church is of sandstone or sedimentary rock, and both kinds of stone were used to build the church (according to Mr. Pejanovića, chairman of the Serb Civic Council – movement for equality in Mostar).
The facade walls of the entire building were of pointed limestone, with ashlar used only for the quoins.
The rock on which the church was built consisted of limestone, while the gully caused by erosion, lying to the right of the church, is of sandstone or sedimentary rock, as a result of which both types of stone were used to build the church (as stated by Mr. Pejanović, chair of the Serb Civic Council – Movement for Equality of Mostar).
The belltower was square in section, measuring approx. 8.50 x 8.50 m, with a height of some 50 m, and was built of stone in several sections with the upper parts smaller in size, the topmost measuring approx. 7.5 x 7.5 m. The structure of the roof timbers rested on this; the design for the structure, drawn up in 1907, that is after the church was built, is in the Archives of Herzegovina. The date when it was reconstructed is not known. The roof of the belltower was richly decorated, clad with red copper sheeting, certainly owing its colour to the type of copper sheeting, which was an alloy of some kind. The upper sphere and cross were gilded (according to Mr. Pejanović). The windows of the belltower were iron, with metal blinds.
The churchyard was spacious and surrounded by a high stone wall, 8-10 m – depending on the fall of the terrain – to the south, facing the main road. The wall to the west and north of the churchyard was somewhat lower, while to the east, where the school was, there was a wire fence. The decorative entrance gate and wall of the Mostar church was built in the 1930s by a great admirer of the national style in Serbian architecture, Momir Korunović (Kadijević, 1997, p. 22). The main entrance to the churchyard was to the south-west, via a wide stairway with six or seven steps. The entrance gate was massive, with wrought iron gates and stone pillars with a wide arch of stone and concrete topped by a cross. A high stairway led from this gate to the plateau where the church stood. The remains of this stairway can still be seen on the site of the church. The plateau around the church was also spacious, and the rest of the churchyard was terraced. To the north of the churchyard was a large water cistern. The entire site of the Orthodox Cathedral was like a large park, with trees of considerable age, planted when the church was built. The trunks of the cypress trees were very large, with a diameter of 70 cm. None of them has survived – all were destroyed along with the church.
We have no information on the appearance of the interior of the Orthodox Cathedral, other than that Greek painters, a married couple from Thessaloniki, painted the ceiling and domes of the church and that in the last few years before the church was destroyed 80 percent of the surface was painted (according to Mr. Pejanović).
There was a wooden neo-classical iconostasis in the church, probably the work of Andrija Damjanov.
Until it was demolished, the church possessed five valuable icons. According to Father Danilo, these disappeared during the recent war.
1. «BOGORODICA STRASNA»
Artist: artist from the group associated with Andrea Rizzo.
Technique: tempera on board.
Date: second half of the 15th century.
Dimensions: 48,7 x 66,5 cm.
Description: The icon shows the Madonna, head slightly bent towards the terrified Christ child whom she is holding in her arms. Christ is facing angels in flight descending from the sides bearing the symbols of his suffering on the cross. One angel is carrying a bowl with a spear and a cane, and the other the nails and a large cross.
The image of the Madonna holding the Christ child made fearful by the symbols of suffering shown him by one or two angels was already familiar in Byzantine art in the 12th century, but compositions prefiguring Christ's suffering were very rare. During the 15th century and later such compositions became more common. Since some of the finest such icons bear the signature of Andrea Rizzo, the old established type of icon is ascribed to him. The harmonious appearance of the icon, with its perfect synthesis and firm structure of volumes and draperies, is almost of academic character. Andrea Rizzo of Crete (Iraklion) was one of the most famous iconographers of the Madonna in Venice.
Other examples of Rizzo's Madonnas «Strasna» in former Yugoslavia other than the Mostar icon are to be found in the churches in Ston and Miokovci near Čačak, the old church in Sarajevo (three icons) and the Sekulić collection in Belgrade (Rakić, 2002, 187-188).
2.PRINCE LAZAR OF SERBIA
Artist: unidentified Serbian iconographer.
Technique: tempera on board.
Date: late 18th or early 19th century.
Dimensions: 83 x 53 cm.
Description: The icon shows Prince Lazar in a western-European court-style ruler's portrait standing beside a richly carved table. The painter has given him all the attributes of a ruler's power: the crown (supreme authority), globe (dignity of the ruler), sword (justice), and sceptre in his right hand (power of the ruler).
The icon was painted after an engraving by Zacharia Orfelin of 1773, probably soon after the engraving itself was produced. The Mostar icon is a faithful copy of Orfelin's engraving, even to the extent of reproducing the text inscribed below the picture (Rakić, 1998, 172).
3. ASCENSION OF CHRIST
Artist: unidentified local master.
Date: second half of the 17th century, (Ševo, 2002, 245).
4.MADONNA AND CHRIST
Artist: unidentified Russian master.
Date: 18th century, (Ševo, 2002, 245).
5.CHRIST ENTHRONED
Artist: Andrija Damjanov.
Date: 1873.
Note: The work is in the spirit of Levantine baroque, (Ševo, 2002 245).
3. Legal status to date
There is no information indicating that the building was under state protection.
The 1980 Regional Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina did not list this property or categorize it as a cultural and historical monument.
The Orthodox Cathedral in Mostar is on the Provisional List of National Monuments under serial no. 387.
4. Research and conservation and restoration works
There are no details of any conservation or restoration works on the building.
5. Current condition of the building
An on-site inspection ascertained the following:
The Orthodox Cathedral in Mostar was completely destroyed in 1992. The building was demolished, set on fire and then dynamited. Piles of the stone from which the church was built lie strewn about the site of the church.
When the on-site inspection was conducted (15 January 2004) works had not yet begun on clearing the site of the National Monument.
It is not known whether the icons from the Orthodox Cathedral in Mostar were destroyed or whether they were removed to another location and have survived.
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. i. quality of workmanship
C.ii. quality of materials
C.iii. proportions
C.iv. composition
C. v. value of details
C.vi. value of construction
D. Clarity
D.ii. evidence of historical change
D.iii. work of a major artist or builder
D. iv. evidence of a particular type, style or regional manner
D. v. evidence of a typical way of life at a specific period
E. Symbolic value
E.i. ontological value
E.ii. religious value
E.iii. traditional value
E.iv. relation to rituals or ceremonies
E.v. significance for the identity of a group of people
F. Townscape/ Landscape value
F.i. Relation to other elements of the site
F.ii. meaning in the townscape
F.iii. the building or group of buildings is part of a group or site
The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:
- Copy of cadastral plan
- Copy of land register entry and proof of title;
- Photodocumentation;
- Drawings
Bibliography:
During the procedure to designate the Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Mostar as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:
1933. Dr. Ćorović, Vladimir, Mostar i njegova srpska pravoslavna opština (Mostar and its Serbian Orthodox parish), Belgrade 1933.
1949. Filipović, M., Andrija Damjanović iz Velesa, zograf i neimar (oko 1813-1878) (Andrija Damjanović of Veles, fresco painter and architect [c.1813-1878]), «Muzeji», 2, 1949, pp. 33-40.
1960. Encyclopaedia of the Fine Arts I, Zagreb MCMLIX, publication of the lexicographic institute of FNRJ, 1960
1994. Mileusenić, Slobodan, Duhovni genocid 1991-1993 (Spiritual genocide 1991-1993), Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Belgrade 1994.
1997. Kadijević, Aleksandar, Jedan vek traženja nacionalnog stila u srpskoj arhitekturi (sredina XIX – sredina XX veka) (A century of the quest for a national style in Serbian architecture [mid 19th to mid 20th century), Građevinska knjiga Belgrade 1997.
1998 Rakić, Svetlana, Ikone Bosne i Hercegovine (XVI do XIX vijek) (Icons of BiH C16-18), Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Belgrade, Belgrade1998.
2000 Pašić Džihad, outline proposal for the Orthodox Cathedral in Mostar, (plans and maquette)
2000 Ševo, Ljiljana, Pravoslavne crkve i manastiri u Bosni i Hercegovini do 1878. (Orthodox churches and monasteries in BiH to 1878), Biblioteka Baština, Banja Luka, 2002.
Documentation of the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of BiH
Photographic documentation of the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Mostar
Photographic documentation of the Archives of Mostar
Photographs from Mr Boro Spasojević, architect
For building the barracks, Andrija is said to have been decorated by the sultan and given the right to wear a sword. (Filipović, 1949, pp. 33-40).
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