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 6 to 10 July 2004 the Commission adopted a
D E C I S I O N
I
The historic site of the mediaeval necropolis between the villages of Zabrđe and Toplica, Municipality Kiseljak, is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).
The National Monument consists of an archaeological site with the remains of a mediaeval necropolis with stećak tombstones. The site has not been investigated and, as such, is a potential site for the discovery of movable heritage items.
The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plots 2106/1 and 2106/2 (new survey), corresponding to c.p. 543/7 (old survey), cadastral municipality Bukovica, Land Registry entry no. 154, Municipality Kiseljak, 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, 27/02 and 6/04) 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 and display the National Monument.
The Government of the Federation shall be responsible for providing the resources needed to draw up and implement the necessary technical documentation for the protection of 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:
Protection Zone I consists of the western half of the Roman Catholic cemetery to the road on the site defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision. In this zone the following protection measures shall apply:
- all works are prohibited other than research and conservation and restoration works, including those designed to display the monument, with the approval of the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning (hereinafter: the relevant ministry) and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the heritage protection authority),
- investigations shall be conducted to determine the cause of damage and the parts of the pillars that have been moved shall be restored to their original positions;
- the site shall be open and accessible to the public, and may be used for educational and cultural purposes;
- the dumping of waste is prohibited.
Protection Zone II consists of a protective strip 50 m wide from the outer boundary of Zone I. In this zone the following protection measures shall apply:
- all construction or works that could have the effect of altering the site or the environs are prohibited;
- works of any kind to the infrastructure shall be permitted only with the approval of the relevant ministry and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority,
- the dumping of waste is prohibited.
IV
The National Monument is an unexamined archaeological site, for which reason the removal of the movable heritage specified in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision (hereinafter: the movable items) from Bosnia and Herzegovina is prohibited.
By way of exception to the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Clause, the temporary removal from Bosnia and Herzegovina of the movable heritage for the purposes of display or conservation shall be permitted if it is established that conservation works cannot be carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Permission for the temporary removal of the movable heritage from Bosnia and Herzegovina under the conditions stipulated in the preceding paragraph shall be issued by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, if it is determined beyond doubt that it will not jeopardize the movable heritage or the National Monument in any way.
In granting permission for the temporary removal of the items, the Commission shall stipulate all the conditions under which the removal may take place, the date by which the items shall be returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the responsibility of individual authorities and institutions for ensuring that these conditions are met, and shall notify the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the relevant security service, the customs authority 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 hereby 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 thereof.
VII
The Government of the Federation, the relevant ministry, the 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 VI of this Decision, 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 (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.
No: 05.2-02-126/04-4
6 July 2004
Sarajevo
Chair of the Commission
Dubravko Lovrenović
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.
The Commission to Preserve National Monuments issued a Decision to add the historic site of the mediaeval necropolis between the villages of Zabrđe and Toplica to the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, under the heading Zabrđe – mediaeval necropolis of Zabrđe – Toplica, numbered as 294.
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:
- Documentation on the location and current owner and user of the property (copy of cadastral plan and copy of land registry entry)
- 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.
- 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 site
Location
The village of Zabrđe is in the upper course of the river Lepenica, in the southern part of the area now known as Lepenica, which covers the course of the river from Kiseljak in the north to the confluence of Crna Rijeka and Bioča, which then become the river Lepenica. The village itself is in the valley by the river, with Brdanjak hill above. It is on Brdnjak, which is between the villages of Zabrđe and Toplica, that the necropolis of stećak tombstones stands, in a Roman Catholic cemetery that is still in use. There is a Muslim cemetery very close to the Catholic one.
Below, in the village of Zabrđe, there was a Muslim cemetery in which there were two stećak tombstones. It seems that these two tombstones were left in the hedge at the edge of the cemetery plot, now in the centre of the village opposite the shop and clinic. According to local people, there were once another ten or so stećak tombstones in the cemetery, which were destroyed between the two world wars (Anđelić, 1963, 181).
Historical information
The area in which the villages of Zabrđe and Toplica lie is on the southern edge of the Lepenica region. In the mediaeval period, and lasting through to the 14th century, the large župa or county of Lepenica covered the area of the present-day municipalities of Fojnica, Kreševo and Kiseljak, thus comprising the entire valley of the present-day Fojnica river. Lepenica was one of seven župas in central or upper Bosnia. The earliest historical reference to Lepenica župa is to be found in a charter issued by the Hungaro-Croat king Bela IV in 1244, which confirms the possession by the Bosnian bishop “Rozil in supa Lepeniza, apud ecclesiam s. Michaelis”. Rotilj is about 1.5 km to the west of Kiseljak. At this period the župa was in the direct possession of the Bosnian bans (rulers); up to 1463 and the fall of the mediaeval Bosnian state, like the rest of central Bosnia, it was in the direct possession of the Kotromanić dynasty. At the end of the 14th century, with the development of feudalism, the process of breaking up the old župas into several smaller units, the administrative and political centres of which were almost invariably in fortified towns, was completed. The large Lepenica župa broke up into knežija: the environs of Fojnica with Kozograd, the valley of the river Kreševčica with Kreševo fort, Lepenica with a fort near Višnjica. Two 14th century documents are known in which there is reference to contrata quam vocatur Lepenica, relating to the sale of horses and female slaves (Anđelić, 1963, 173). In early Ottoman historical sources, the knežina territories became nahijas, so that the Lepenica area, in the more restricted sense, was river Lepenica valley with its larger settlements and economic centrea around the confluence of the rivers Lepenica and Fojnica, around Kiseljak and Podastinje. (Anđelić, 1963, 177, 187, 188; idem 1972, 236-237).
An Illyrian hillfort settlement is recorded in Zabrđe village, on the site known as Gradac, where an arrow, probably dating from the early Slav area, was found (Anđelić, 1963, 175). A large spoil-heap dates from the antique era, and in the meadows below it there are the remains of antique building material. In a field below the village of Toplica there are also some large spoil-heaps that cannot be accurately dated, though there are many old mine shafts in the river gorge around the village, some of which, the height of a man and cut to regular shape, are assumed to date from the antique era. From Zabrđe to Homolje, on both banks of the Lepenica, there are heaps of gravel as much as several hundred metres long, assumed, by analogy with similar heaps along the Fojnica river, to date from the antique era as a result of panning for gold in the river deposits. In the mediaeval period the Lepenica area was a marginal mining area of the central Bosnian ore basin. There are also several surviving pits of irregular shape or sunk vertically, assumed to date from the mediaeval period. Ten such pits have been identified between the villages of Zabrđe and Toplica on Prapošće hill. The toponomastic recognizable in the place-names Brdanjak and Prapošće relates to assembly sites, particularly in the early mediaeval period. Two mediaeval stećak necropolises have been recorded in Zabrđe, one of which has been destroyed; the Grand Prince of Bosnia, Radoje, was buried in the other in the early 15th century, probably on his own land-holding (Anđelić, 1963,166, 184, 189).
With the fall of the mediaeval state in 1463 the region came under Ottoman rule. The new authorities rapidly formed nahijas, approximately of the same extent as the late mediaeval knežijas. Early defters or censuses include a record of the Lepenica nahija in the Royal Land district (Šabanović, 1982, 117).
Monument no. 2 in the necropolis in Zabrđe bears the escutcheon and epitaph of Bosnia’s Grand Prince Radoje Radosalić Pribinić. Radoje Radosalić’s signature appears as a witness on a number of royal charters issued between 1392 and 1408. He is titled župan (count) in charters dating from 1392 and 1395, and as knez (prince) in charters dating from 1399, 1404, 1405 and 1408. The epitaph records that his tombstone was erected by his son Prince Radić, who features in documents dating from 1408 and 1417.
The nobles of the family Pribinić enjoyed the hereditary right to the rank of župan.
The names and genealogy of prominent members of this family can be ascertained from their featuring in charters (Anđelić 1971, 357, nn. 42-49). Seven members in all are known from this clan, all of them members of the assembly of nobles or council of state, and close associates of the ruler. They appear in royal charters of kings Tvrtko I, Dabiša, Ostoja and Tvrtko II.
The members of the first Pribinić generation known to us are the brothers Brajko, župan, featuring in six charters between 1353 and 1392; Vukota, knez, featuring in three charters between 1367 and 1395; and Radoslav, župan, feaqturing in two charters dating from 1378 and 1392. The descent of Radoslav Pribinić is the only line that can be traced unbroken. His son was Radoje Radosalić, župan, and later Grand Prince of Bosnia, who features in six charters between 1392 and1408. Radoje Radosalić’s son was Radič Radojević, knez, a signature to charters dating from 1417 and 1420 (died between 1420 and 1426). The last known member of the family is Dragić Radičević, Radič’s son, featuring in a charter of King Tvrtko II dated 7 October 1426. The signature of a descendant of Vukota Pribinić, probably his grandson Vukac Vukotić (who features again in a charter dating from 1419), appears right next to that of his relative Dragić Radičević.
2. Description of the property
About forty years ago, there were 17 stećak tombstones in the cemetery. There are now 14 intact and one broken and moved from its original position. There is an area in the cemetery, close to the stećaks, of irregular ground overgrown with vegetation, beneath which there are certainly another one or more stećaks.
According to the records of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, there were a further 16 stećaks outside the cemetery around the road to Toplica; these had already disappeared by the late 1950s (Anđelić, 1963, 182).
1. Ridge-shaped tombstone with plinth. Size: sarcophagus: 1.8 x 1.30 x 1.2 x 1m; of which the height of the ridge is 0.2 m. Plinth: 2.2 x 1.70 x 02 m.
2. Ridge-shaped tombstone with plinth. Size: sarcophagus: 2 x 1.10 x 1.2 m; of which the height of the ridge is 0.3 m. Plinth: 2.4 x 1.45 x 02 m. All the angles of the sarcophagus are decorated with twisted bands executed in relief. There is an eight-pointed rosette on the roof surface of the stećak; this rosette design is an integral part of the heraldic composition on the seal with the Pribinić coat of arms found in the tomb of King Tvrtko I in Mile (Anđelić, 1979, 223). The coat of arms on the west, front face, and the epitaph on the south, side face. Part of the epitaph, consisting of the first three words (SE ZALMENIJE KNEZA), is above the coat of arms. The coat of arms itself is set in a wavy band with three leaves growing from the hollow of each wave. A carving of the upper part of the body and head of a wolf, facing to the left, features in a circle; the mouth of the wolf is open showing the lower teeth and long lolling tongue. The powerful front legs are extended. Beneath the body is a torse or wreath in the form of a twisted band, with below this part of a helmet or shield with mantle, the tassled end of which is turned upwards (Anđelić, 1959., 181; idem, 1979, 223; Bešlagić, 1967, 42-43).
The epitaph is in Bosnian Cyrillic. It begins in a semi-circle above the coat of arms on the west face and continues on the south side face. As a whole, it reads: “[S]E ZALMENIJE KNEZA RADOJA, VELIKOG KNEZA BOSANSKOG, A POSTAVI JEGA SIN NJEGOV KNEZ RADIČ Z BOŽJOM POMOĆU i SVOJIH VJERNIH A S INOM NIJEDNOM POMOĆU NEGO SAM ON” (In memory of Prince Radoje, Grand Prince of Bosnia, erected by his son Prince Radič with the help of God and his loyal followers and there is no help but him) (Vego 1970, 64-65, no. 251; Anđelić, 1984, 121). Three eight-pointed rosettes are incised between the words in the second line of the epitaph.
The dating of the stećak was carried out according to the last charter in which Grand Prince of Bosnia Radoje Radosalić appears as a witness, dating from 1408, and charters dating from 1408 and 1417 in which his son, Prince Radić, appears as a witness. The stećak would thus have been erected between 1408 and 1417 (Anđelić, 1984, 144).
3. Ridge-shaped tombstone. Size: sarcophagus 2.3 x 1 x 1 m; of which the height of the ridge is 0.2 m. There is a moulded band of semi-circular section at the top of the side faces.
4. Ridge-shaped tombstone. Size: sarcophagus 2.3 x 1.2 x 0.8 m; of which the height of the ridge is 0.2 m.
Second group:
5. Chest . Size: 1.3 x 1 m, with 04 m above ground
6. Chest . Size: 1.9 x 0.60 m. Completely buried.
7. Ridge-shaped tombstone. Size: 1.8 x 0.7 m, part buried, with about 0.4 m above ground, height of ridge 0.2 m.
8. Chest . Size: 2 x 0.8m, with 0.3 m above ground
9. Chest . Size: 2 x 0.8 x 0.3 m.
10.Chest . Size: 2 x 0.57 x 0.52 m.
11. Chest . Size: 1.9 x 0.7 x 0.52 m.
12. Chest . Size: 2 x 1 x 0.26 m.
13. Chest . Size: 1.6 x 1.2 x 0.4 m.
14. Chest . Size: 1.6 x 0.97 x 0.42 m.
By virtue of its epitaph and coat of arms, stećak no. 2 in the necropolis is among the most valuable stećak tombstones in Bosnia and Herzegovina. By comparing the coat of arms with that of the signet ring found in the tomb of King Tvrtko I in Mile and by analyzing numerous charters, the shield of the Pribinić clan has been identified with certainty (Anđelić, 1979, 222).
3. Legal status to date
No legal protection executed.
4. Research and conservation and restoration works
According to local inhabitants, when gathering information for his monograph on Lepenica, P. Anđelić noted that the grave had been excavated by a lawyer from Visoko, Vinko Mikolji, between the two world wars. He found in the grave a ring with the Pribinić coat of arms, which the National Museum in Belgrade bought from Mikolji's heirs (Anđelić, 1984, 122, n. 30).
5. Current condition of the property
An on-site inspection in May 2004 ascertained as follows: Monument no. 2 is badly damaged. A large piece has been broken off the north-west lower corner, as a result of which part of the coat of arms on the west front face is missing. The break is old, and was probably caused when the lawyer V. Mikolji was excavating the grave between the two world wars.
The first group of stećak tombstones (nos. 1-4) is partly black. Originally, these tombstones were of light-toned limestone, which turned grey as time passed, and is now black, as though the tombstones had been sprayed with black paint. Various pieces of stone, the remains of a modern cross, part of a fence have been leant against them; beneath these the natural grey colour of the stone has been retained. They are also overgrown with moss in places.
The smaller stećaks from the second group, of conglomerate, are overgrown with moss and sunken into the ground. Stećaks nos. 5, 6 and 8 are on level ground right by the western edge of the path to the cemetery, with traces of building material – cement – beside them, left there by negligent workmen mixing cement beside the tombstones.
In the early 1960s, when visiting the site, Š. Bešlagić noted that the tombstones were “somewhat leaning and buried” (Bešlagić, 1967, 42). This is still visible today in the case of the tombstones in the first group, whereas those of the second group are partly buried and overgrown.
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.iii. proportions
C.iv. composition
C. v. value of details
D. Clarity
D.ii. evidence of historical change
E. Symbolic value
E.v. significance for the identity of a group of people
G. Authenticity
G.i. form and design
G.ii. material and content
G.v. location and setting
G.vii. other internal and external factors
H. Rarity and representativity
H.i. unique or rare example of a certain type or style
The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:
o Copy of cadastral plan
o Photodocumentation;
o Drawings
Bibliography
During the procedure to designate the monument as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:
1963. Anđelić, Pavao, Arheološka ispitivanja (Archaeological Studies) In: Lepenica priroda, stanovništvo, privreda i zdravlje (Lepenica: nature, population, the economy and health care). Scientific Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina, special edition, bk III, Saravevo, 1963, 151-191.
1967. Bešlagić, Šefik, Stećci centralne Bosne. (Stećak tombstones of central Bosnia) Sarajevo, 1967.
1970. Vego, Marko, Zbornik srednjovjekovnih natpisa Bosne i Hercegovine. (Collected mediaeval inscriptions of BiH) IV, National Museum in Sarajevo, Sarajevo, 1970.
1971. Anđelić, Pavao, Originalni dijelovi dviju bosanskih povelja u falzifikatima Ivana Tomke Marnavića. (Original elements of the two Bosnian charters in the forgeries of Ivan Tomka Marnavić) Jnl of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, (Archaeology), New series, vol 38, Sarajevo, 1983, 133- 143.
1972. Anđelić, Pavao, Bobovac i Kraljeva Sutjeska stolna mjesta bosanskih vladara u XIV i XV stoljeću. (Bobovac and Kraljevi Sutjeska, courts of the Bosnian rulers in the 14th and 15th centuries) Veselin Masleša, Sarajevo, 1972.
1979. Anđelić, Pavao, krunidbena i grobna crkva bosanskih vladara u Milima (Arnautovićima) kod Visokog. (Coronation and sepulchral church of the Bosnian rulers in Mile [Arnautovići] nr Visoko) Jnl of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, (Archaeology), New series, vol 3XXXIV/1979, Sarajevo, 1980, 183- 247.
1982. Šabanović, Hazim, Bosanski pašaluk, postanak i upravna podjela. (The Bosnian pashaluk, origins and administrative disposition) Svjetlost, Sarajevo, 1982.
1983. Anđelić, Pavao, Povelja kralja Dabiše Čubranovićima i velikaški rod Hlivnjana. (Charter of King Dabiša Čubranovići and the nobles of the Hlivnjan clan) Jnl of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, (Archaeology), New series, vol 38, Sarajevo, 1983, 133- 143.
1984. Anđelić, Pavao, Srednji vijek-doba stare bosanske države. (Mediaeval period – era of the old Bosnian state), in: Visoko i okolina kroz historiju 1 (Visoko and environs through the ages 1), SO Visoko, Visoko, 1984, 102-297.
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