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 May 2005 the Commission adopted a
D E C I S I O N
I
The architectural ensemble of the Serbian Orthodox Church of St Sava in Blažuj with burial ground is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).
The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 117, cadastral municipality Vrelo Bosne, title deed no. 339, cadastral municipality Vrelo Bosne, Municipality Ilidža, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The provisions relating to protection 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 securing the funds for drawing up and implementing the necessary technical documentation for the rehabilitation 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 area defined in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision. The following protection measures shall apply in this zone:
- all works are prohibited other than research works, conservation and restoration works, structural repair, and works designed to present the National Monument, 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.
Protection Zone II consists of a strip 100 metres long and approx. 30 metres wide to the east of Protection Zone I, i.e. north of the old Ilidža-Blažuj main road. In this zone the following protection measures shall apply:
- the construction of industrial, agricultural, infrastructural, ancillary and other buildings and facilities is prohibited.
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 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.
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.aneks8komisija.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 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: 06.1-02-73/03-5
3 May 2005
Sarajevo
Chair of the Commission
Ljiljana Ševo
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.
On 24 June 2004 Zoran Jerinić, a priest, submitted a petition for the designation of the church of St Sava in Blažuj as a national monument. 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:
- 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.
- Inspection of the current condition of the property
- Copy of cadastral plan
- 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 Serbian Orthodox church of St Sava in Blažuj and its burial ground are located in the level part of the Sarajevo plain, in Plandište(1), on the western edge of Sarajevo, about 1500 metres to the north of the source of the river Bosnia and about 1500 metres south-east of Blažuj.
The site on which the church was built is bounded to the east by the old main Ilidža-Blažuj road, and to the west by Plandište street. The site is at an altitude of approx. 490 metres above sea level.
The detached houses in the contact zone of the National Monument and the buildings along these streets are two-storey buildings (ground floor, first floor, + attic).
Historical information
There are no surviving remains of church buildings in use in the Ottoman period in Ilidža, whether belonging to the Bosnian Church, the Catholic or even the Orthodox church; the early mediaeval churches discovered in Vrutci and Rogačići are the remains of churches demolished at the latest by the 13th or 14th century(2).
In the south-eastern part of the Sarajevo plain, close to the villages of Grlica and Krupac, there are two Orthodox cemeteries and two newer ones, beside the church of St Sava in Blažuj and by the Catholic church in Stup(3).
Interesting details and documents dating from the Austro-Hungarian period in Bosnia and Herzegovina concerning the erection of the Orthodox Church in Blažuj have been found in the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo.
A Minute drawn up on 1 December 1893 in the District Office in Sarajevo(4), and signed by the District Prefect, Damjan Rašeta, and the secretary Jacob Reich on the one hand, and the Chair of the Serbian Orthodox parish in Blažuj, parish priest Stevo Trifković on the other, along with parish councillors Jovo Špirić, Jovo Grgić, Ačum Kešelje, Risto Mitrić, and the representatives of a number of mahalas: Risto Mrkaj, Nedeljko Lemez, Jovo Šojo, Mićo Jokić, Vasilje Pejić, Nikola Karabatak, Lazo Čović, Ilija Grabovac, Miloš Tolje, Stevan Dursum, Stevo Čović, records that the subject of discussion was the issue of building a church in Blažuj, and that the mahala representatives had said that the local people were willing to provide their labour for the purpose, as the following excerpts indicate:
- We the undersigned Džematbaši [councillors] and Knezovi [headmen] hereby state voluntarily and with legal capacity in our own names and on behalf of the people that we shall provide free of charge for the erection of our church in Blažuj all the labour force listed in the attached statement as well as workers for the purpose of building. We also undertake, if a larger labour force is required, as necessary to provide it free of charge – building materials such as timber, stone, lime and ...., we shall free of charge provide clay for the building site, levelling,. . . timber, quarrying stone and . . . and lime-burning we do not undertake, since this is done for money.
- We shall deposit the voluntary contributions listed in the attached statement as soon as the procurement of building materials for the church begins,
- We wish the church to be built in any event in line with the proposed blueprint, since its proportions are suitable for the number of people who will attend it, and we also entertain . . . the hope that we shall be able to complete the church with the . . . resources set out in the minute and with the assistance of the Provincial Government and the Metropolitan. If not, i.e. if a smaller church were to be built, the people will not hand over the donations listed nor will they help to build the church.
There is valuable information to be gained on how the funds were raised to build the church from a reading of the Ručno knjižica o prihodima i rashodima srpske pravoslavne opštine prilikom pribavljanja materijala za crkvu (Manual of income and expenditure of the Serbian Orthodox congregation of Blažuj when procuring materials for the church)(5), drawn up on 21 July 1894 in Blažuj:
- “money left over from funds donated by the Holy Synod(6) for the erection of the church in Blažuj in cash, 1,072.82 florins
- in 1892/93 there was a surplus over the estimated sun and school expenditure from the revenue of the fund and was calculated in the first stage payment as settlement so the fund owes the church 450 florins
- received from the Sarajevo Serbian congregation from the return of conveyancing fees paid for the purchase by S. Besarović and half exempted 152.50 florins
- interest paid on that money by the Bosnian Bank to New Year 1894 38.38 florins
- on [date?], received from the tax office in Sarajevo, returned conveyancing fees paid for the land purchased from Fadipašić 12 florins
- taken from the rent to Mićo Zeljaja for half the parish house via the Sarajevo municipality 238 florins
- interest taken for money from I.J. . . . to 30 July 18.23 florins
- taken from the Bank a loan in the name of priest Stevo with guarantee from Mihajlović 145.90 florins
- borrowed from Ilija Jokanović 100 florins
- borrowed from Mitrić Risto 95 florins
- borrowed from Ilija Čuk of Sarajevo 50 florins
- taken from the church camp 10 florins“
These details show that in 1894 a total of 2,382.83 florins was raised to build the church. The list of items of expenditure in the same document is much longer, the payments relating to various works, services and materials, and the total expenditure was 2,381.39 florins.
Another document found in the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina was a Troškovnik za srpsko- pravoslavnu crkvu u Sarajevu (Bill of costs for the Serbian Orthodox Church in Sarajevo)(7), drawn up in December 1892 in Sarajevo and signed by one Mališević. This bill of costs contains an itemized description of all the works, the extent of the works, itemized and total costs, and the overall cost of building the church, 24,967.15 florins. This final figure is followed by a note: “If it is decided that the church will never be provided with vaults, but that the previous ceilings remain, the thickness of the walls could be reduced by 0.45 m which would 2,323 florins 40%.“ This sentence could mean that when the bill of costs was drawn up not all the necessary funds had been raised to build the church. This becomes clear once the chronology of events is established, and the details given in the following documents are studied:
- bill of costs dated 1892
- manual of income and expenditure of the Serbian Orthodox congregation of Blažuj when procuring materials for the church dated 21 July 1894
- architect August Butsch signed the blueprints for the design of the church in Blažuj on 4 June 1896
- the contract of sale for the purchase of the building plot is dated 8 April 1897
- details from the Land Registry entry issued on 25 May 1898 documenting the dates when the real property (designated as Velika njiva arable land) was registered to the Serbian Orthodox Church school congregation in Blažuj, when the church was not yet built since it is not referred to in the Land Registry
- details from the Minute drawn up on 17 June 1908 concerning the statement made by the priest, Risto Jokanović, to the district of Sarajevo(8), which provides some valuable information
“I found that Mr. Plentaj, as the government commissioner of Blažuj municipality, had used money from the endowment(9) to build a han in 1897 as desired by the people and that this han now produces 400 florins per annum. This sum is used to cover the costs of maintaining the school. The deficit is met from church revenues. I estimate that the endowment is now worth 20,000 K. . .
“I recall that in 1895 Mr Plentaj sent me with a letter to Glišo Jeftanović who handed me 15,000 florins. I invested this money in the Provincial Bank and gave the bankbook to the District Prefect Mr Plentaj for safe keeping.“ At the suggestion of the district office, in the spring of 1899 the Provincial Government gave the sum of 2,000 florins for the iconostasis of the church.
There is a fascinating coincidence between the individual items listed in the 1892 Bill of Costs as expressed in the description of the works, giving the thickness of the foundations and walls of the church and describing the dimensions of the other structural elements of the church, on the one hand, and the dimensions of the structural elements given in the design by architect August Butsch, drawn up four years after the Bill of Costs, in 1896, and used to build the church in Blažuj.
In addition, a letter(10) from the government commissioner for the affairs of the Serbian Orthodox Church school congregation in Sarajevo, sent to the district office in Sarajevo on 25 February 1898, reveals that Metropolitan Nikolajević had left a legacy of 4,000 florins to be used towards the building of the church in Blažuj.
It is clear from the Land Registry entry no. 881 issued on 25 May 1898 that cadastral plot no. 382/2, cadastral municipality Dol Butmir, Land Registry entry no. 334, real property designated as Velika njiva arable land, with an area of 5 dunums, was registered to the Serbian Orthodox Church school congregation in Blažuj pursuant to a contract of sale dated 8 April 1897 and the plan of the allocation(11).
The schematism of the Dabrobosnian eparchy gives the following details concerning the church in Blažuj:
- the foundation stone was laid on St Peter's Day
- the church was consecrated on 21 September (by the Julian calendar) 1897
- Djordje Nikolajević, the Dabrobosnian Metropolitan, died on 8 February 1896. Respecting his request that he be buried in the church in Blažuj(12), his mortal remains were transferred from the Koševo cemetery to the church in Blažuj in 1898.
2. Description of the property
The Orthodox church of St Sava in Blažuj was built to a design by architect August Butsch(13), whose work in Bosnia consists of the design and construction of the City Market in Sarajevo and a number of villas in the avenue in Ilidža.
The long axis of the church runs east/west (apse to entrance), with a deviation of approx. 2° to the north-east/south-west(14). The ground plan of the church is a Greek cross. Over the crossing, in the centre of the church, is a dome on a drum, with the distance from floor level to the top of the dome measuring approx. 18.75 m. The interior diameter of the dome is 7.30 m, the walls of the drum are 75 cm thick, and the drum is approx. 2.60 metres high.
From east to west, the church measures 4.30 + 18.60 + 2.60 metres, and from north to south, 17.80 metres. The vaulted apse at the east end is of semicircular ground plan, with a diameter of 4.00 m, and the belltower abuts on to the west end, of rectangular ground plan (4.45 x 4.30 m) and a height from ground level to the top of the bulb of the bell tower of approx. 28.80 metres.
As regards the bell tower, it should be noted that during the construction of the church, some discrepancies arose in regard to the proposed design of the bell tower, which was built without a lantern in the bulb, as a result of which the overall height is 3.00 less than in the proposed design.
Functionally, the church is divided into the parvis area, which is 4 m deep and 6.70 m wide, the rectangular nave measuring 6.70 x 16.30 m, the rectangular altar area measuring 4 x 6.70 m with proscomidion, diaconicon, altar table and apse, and the choir gallery, measuring 4 x 6.70 m, which leads to the stairway of the bell tower. Three stone steps account for the difference in height between the nave and the altar area of + 45-50 cm. The nave is divided from the altar area by a wooden iconostasis.
An oak staircase in the southern part of the parvis leads to the gallery, which is of the same depth as the parvis. The choir gallery rests, via a joist, on two square pillars of 45 x 45 cm in section, set 1.84 m apart. The gallery leads into the first floor of the bell tower at a level of + 4.35 m(15). A steep single-flight stairway with steps consisting of wooden boards leads to the topmost wooden platform of the bell tower. Three bells hang inside the topmost floor of the bell tower, level with the tower windows, on a rolled-section steel load-bearing structure(16) set into the walls of the bell tower.
Structurally, the transept arms of the Greek cross are barrel-vaulted, with the vaults accentuated at wall level by pilasters and within the vault by the arched reinforcements of the vault structure, the height of which is approx. 10.20 m from floor level to the top of the vault.
Above the barrel vaults, the timber structure consists of double queen posts and props, a hipped roof clad with sheet copper and, above the dome, a timber substructure of timber centring underpinned by struts and collar beams, with sheet copper on the surface wooden facing of the dome.
The floors of the parvis, nave and altar area of the ground floor are stone-paved, and the floors of the choir gallery and bell tower are wooden.
The load-bearing walls of the church are 105 cm thick, and the non-load-bearing walls are 60 cm thick; they are brick-built, and plastered inside and out, as are the walls of the church tower.
The windows through which the interior of the church is lit are round-arched, with the apertures through the walls conical in form to allow for the maximum entry of light into the church. The windows are of the following sizes(17): in the east and west sections 90 x 215 cm; in the apse 80 x 215 cm; in the north and south transepts the side windows measure 105 x 260 cm and the central window 155 x 360 cm. The drum has twelve windows measuring 90 x 220 cm.
The church has two entrances, the main entrance in the axis of the west facade and a side entrance in the axis of the north wall, each with double oak doors.
The visual treatment of the church and the treatment of the details both suggest a neo-Byzantine influence.The facades are articulated by pilaster strips terminating in pronounced arcaded friezes, a feature of Rascian architecture. Horizontal, shallow-moulded string courses articulate the facade at a number of levels: the choir storey, the transition from the square to the octagonal ground plan below the drum; the edge of the dome; and the bell tower level with the choir gallery, with the topmost floor of the bell tower, and level with the edge of the bulbous dome of the bell tower.
MOVABLE HERITAGE
The iconostasis of the church of St Sava in Blažuj dates from the 1920s, and is the work of an unidentified artist.
The frame of the iconostasis is wood, to which the icons are attached, paintings on canvas with various scenes. Compositionally, the icons are arranged on the iconostasis screen in five horizontal groups.
Horizontal group, viewed from north to south
1. Archangel Gabriel
2. St Nicholas the Miracle-worker
3. Mother of God with Christ
4. Royal doors with scene of the Annunciation
5. Christ Pantocrator
6. St. Sava
7. Archangel Michael
Horizontal group, viewed from north to south
1. Nativity scene
2. Ascension of Christ
3. Last Supper
4. Holy Trinity
5. Baptism of Christ
Horizontal group, viewed from north to south
The twelve apostles, in a row.
Horizontal group, viewed from north to south
The holy lineage of the Nemanjić's, shown in a row on octagonal canvases.
Horizontal group, viewed from north to south
The central area is occupied by an icon with a scene of the Ascension of Christ. Beside it to left and right, in the lower corners, are octagonal paintings with the figures of guardian angels, two on each side.
The churchyard is surrounded by a tubular steel section fence mounted on a concrete foundation wall. There is a small outbuilding constructed of durable building materials at the extreme northern end of the churchyard, by the fence; this houses the toilet block and ancillary premises. The path to the church is in good order and well lit, and is paved with prefabricated concrete blocks with textured surface. There are three graves at the extreme north-east end of the churchyard (those buried here are Vasilj Ć. Tunguz, archpriest 1913-1971; .......Simić(18)), and two to the right of the entrance gate into the churchyard, to the west of the churchyard.
The first tomb is the grave of 14 parishioners executed by firing square in 1914. The tombstone is incised with their names and a brief epitaph:
RISTO BOJOVIĆ
NIKOLA KNEŽEVIĆ
VUČINA KNEŽEVIĆ
JOVO VLAČIŠ
UROŠ PANDUROVIĆ
JOVO ČAMUR
PERO KULINA
KOSTA TUŠEVLjAK
MARKO TUŠEVLjAK
SAVA TUŠEVLjAK
GAVRO TUŠEVLjAK
ĐORĐO TUŠEVLjAK
MITAR TUŠEVLjAK
FOR THEIR HOMELAND AND FREEDOM
THEY LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES -
GLORY IS THEIR!
( ZA OTADžBINU I SLOBODU
POLOŽIŠE ŽIVOTE -
SLAVA IM!)
In the second, 26 parishioners executed in 1941 are buried. The inscription on the tombstone reads:
AČIMOVIĆ ĐORĐE
BERJAN JOVICA
VELIMIR NIKOLA
VUJEVIĆ PERO
GRGIĆ NEDO
GRGIĆ STANKO
KAPETINA BOŽO
KAPOR LAZAR
KAPOR MIRKO
KAPOR LjUBO
KAPOR BOŽO
KULjANIN BOŽO
MEDIĆ ĐORĐO
PEJIĆ MILAN
RADOJEVIĆ GRUJO
PRIEST SPAHIĆ RELjA(19)
TERZIŠ SAVA
ČOVIĆ KOSTA
ČOVIĆ MILE
ČOVIĆ MIRKO
ŠTAKA JEFTAN
ŠTAKA BOŠKO
ŠTAKA MAKSIM
ŠTAKA RISTO
ŠTAKA MILAN
ETERNAL GLORY
TO COMRADES KILLED IN ACTION
THIS MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED
BY THE ORGANIZATION OF THE
COMBATANTS' ASSOCIATION OF THE
WAR OF NATIONAL LIBERATION BLAŽUJ
ILIDŽA AND FAMILIES
7.AUGUST 1955.
( NEKA JE VJEČNA SLAVA
PALIM DRUGOVIMA
OVAJ SPOMENIK PODIŽU
ORGANIZACIJE SAVEZA BORACA
NOR-A BLAŽUJA ILIDžE I PORODICE
7 AVGUST 1955 GODINE)
3. Legal status to date
The property has not been under state protection, nor was it entered on the Register of immovable cultural monuments of the National Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Natural Rarities of NR BiH in Sarajevo (or of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of NR BiH in Sarajevo), nor was it listed as a cultural and historical property in the 1980 Regional Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The property is on the list of cultural monuments enjoying prior protection in the list of Protected Monuments and Natural Assets of the Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo.
On 29 April 2004 the priest, Zoran Jerinić, submitted a petition to designate the Church of St Sava in Blažuj as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
4. Research and conservation and restoration works
Since the building was not on the Register of immovable cultural monuments and did not enjoy protected status, there are no details of conservation and restoration works.
In 2004 the contractors Mis građenje of Bijeljina carried out the following repair works on the church building: the galvanized iron roof cladding, which was dilapidated and damaged, was replaced by sheet copper with all the necessary flashings; the cross on the roof was replaced; both church doors were replaced by new oak doors; repairs, plastering, smoothing and whitewashing the walls and ceiling of the church; a new load-bearing rolled steel section structure was installed to hang the bell (the previous structure was timber and was very dilapidated); damaged and dilapidated beams in the timber roof structure and bulb of the tower were replaced; the facades of the church were restored.
The works were carried out without the appropriate project documentation or expert supervision, and inappropriate interventions have been carried out on the property (colour of the facade, smoothing the interior). During future restoration of the property it is vital to restore the facade with appropriate colours.
5. Current condition of the building
The church is in good condition and well maintained.
Damage to the roof cladding (prior to intervention in 2004) meant that the roof structure had been long exposed to the damp (caused by rain and snow), which had probably not dried out when these parts of the vault were repaired, as a result of which there is some noticeable damage caused by damp on small areas of the vault above the choir storey.
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
D. Clarity
D. iv. evidence of a particular type, style or regional manner
E. Symbolic value
E.ii. religious value
E.v. significance for the identity of a group of people
F. Townscape/ Landscape value
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 proof of title;
- Photodocumentation:
o Photographs taken in April 2005 by Emir Softić
- Drawings: documentation of the Archives of BiH, Blueprints, Technical Department, archive entries 18 and 64 (from the design by architect August Butsch, dated 4 June 1896):
o ground plan of the foundations
o ground plan of the ground floor
o ground plan of the gallery
o south façade
o vertical transverse cross-section through the church (A-B) and horizontal cross-section through the drum
o vertical transverse cross section through the church (C-D)
Bibliography
During the procedure to designate the architectural ensemble of the Serbian Orthodox Church of St Sava in Blažuj and its burial ground as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:
Documentation of the Archives of BiH, Blueprints, Technical Dept., archive entries 18 and 64
1925 Jeremić, Risto: Has Hoča, Jnl of the Geographic Society, Vol 11, Belgrade, (using the services of the Library of the Bosniac Institute, Adil Zulfikarpašić Foundation, Sarajevo),
1966. Slijepčević, Dr. Đoko: Istorija Srpske pravoslavne crkve, II knjiga: Od početka XIX veka do kraja Drugog svetskog rata (History of the Serbian Orthodox Church, bk. II: From the early 19th century to the end of World War II), Munich, 1966 (using the services of the Library of the Bosniac Institute, Adil Zulfikarpašić Foundation, Sarajevo),
1985 Skarić, Vladislav: Izabrana djela, knjiga I, Sarajevo i njegova okolina od najstarijih vremena do austrougarske okupacije (Selected Works, Bk. I, Sarajevo and environs from ancient times to the Austro-Hungarian occupation), Cultural Heritage Series, Sarajevo, 1985
1987. Arhitektura Bosne i Hercegovine 1878-1918 (Architecture of BiH 1878-1918) (catalogue), Exhibition design and selection of works by Ibrahim Krzović, Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina
1991 Kreševljaković, Hamdija: Selected Works II, Cultural Heritage Series, Sarajevo 1991
1993 Mušeta-Aščerić, Vesna: Srednjovjekovna naselja na mjestu današnjeg Sarajeva, Prilozi historiji Sarajeva (Mediaeval settlements on the site of present-day Sarajevo, Contributions to the history of Sarajevo), Papers from seminar Half a millennium of Sarajevo held from 19 to 21 March 1993, pp. 35-46
1995 Džomić, V. Velibor: Ustaški zločini nad srbskim sveštenicima (Ustasha crimes against Serbian priests), Publ.: Svetigora
1996 Çelebi, Evliya: Putopis, Odlomci o jugoslovenskim zemljama (Travelogue, Extracts on Yugoslav Lands), (translation, introduction and commentary by Hazim Šabanović), 3rd ed., Sarajevo, 1996
2000. Ćeman, Mirza Hasan: Ishod na Ilidžu (Outing to Ilidža) Ilidža, monograph, published by Ilidža Municipality, 2000, pp.203-294
(1) An area alongside the old main Ilidža-Blažuj road extending from the Roman bridge over the river Bosna to the foothills of Mt Igman
(2) Ćeman, Mirza Hasan: Ishod na Ilidžu, Ilidža, monograph, publ. Ilidža Municipality, 2000, p.272
(3) Ćeman, Mirza Hasan: Ishod na Ilidžu, Ilidža, monograph, publ. Ilidža Municipality, 2000, p.285
(4) Documentation of the Archives of BiH, Blueprints, Technical dept., archive entries 18 and 64
(5) Documentation of the Archives of BiH, Blueprints, Technical dept., archive entries 18 and 64.
(6) Another document reveals that the Synod in question was the Russian Synod (The document heading reads: KREISBEHOERDE SARAJEVO, Zur Zahl: 322 res. ex. 1908, Protokol mit Pop Risto Jokanović, Nr. 426/res. 1908. (Documentation of the Archives of BiH, Blueprints, Technical dept., archive entries 18 and 64.)
(7) Documentation of the Archives of BiH, Blueprints, Technical dept., archive entries 18 and 64
(8) The document heading reads: KREISBEHOERDE SARAJEVO, Zur Zahl: 322 res. ex. 1908, Protokol mit Pop Risto Jokanović, Nr. 426/res. 1908. (Documentation of the Archives of BiH, Blueprints, Technical dept., archive entries 18 and 64)
(9) From the previous sentence of the document, it is clear that the reference is to the endowment of the Blažuj church.
(10) Letter from the Serbian Orthodox Church School congregation in Sarajevo, registered as no. 35 (from Documentation of the Archives of BiH, Blueprints, Technical dept., archive entries 18 and 64)
(11) Documentation of the Archives of BiH, Blueprints, Technical dept., archive entries 18 and 64.
(12) “In a codicil to his will dated 2/14 February 1893 he asks that a tomb be made in the Blažuj church by the right-hand wall to which my earthly remains be transferred from Reljav and buried, if I am buried in Reljav” –quoted in Dr. Jela Božić-Naše starine, Banja Luka, 1998 (details from Bosanskohercegovački istočnik, Vol. VII-VIII, 1896, p. 224)
(13) Architect, (NÉMEŠ? over Oslavon, Moravska 05.08.1855 – Brno, 12.01.1925). Graduated from Art School, special school of architecture, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Employed by architect George Demski in Vienna. In Bosnia in 1894. (Architecture of BiH 1878-1918 – catalogue, Exhibition design and selection of works by Ibrahim Krzović, Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1987, p. 248)
(14) measured from the geodetic map of the area, scale 1:1000
(15) indicated on the drawing as Section C-D of current condition (reference level 0.00 is the ground floor level of the church)
(16) the original timber structure on which the bells were hung was destroyed by fire in 1992.
(17) The sizes of the windows given here are the exterior masonry dimensions, from the original blueprints found in the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Documentation of the Archives of BiH, Blueprints, Technical dept., archive entries 18 and 64)
(18) on the second tombstone, part of the epitaph is illegible (the letters having faded), and the third cannot be made out at all
(19) “158. priest Relja Spahić, parish priest in Blažuj near Sarajev, Dabrobosnian Eparchy. Born 3 January 1906 in Rogatica. Graduated from theological college in Sarajevo. Ordained on 19 September 1927 and appointed parish priest in Rogatica. Transferred to Blažuj in 1931.
Even after the proclamation of the [Ustasha] Independent State of Croatia, Father Relja remained with his people in the parish, performing his pastoral duties. On 10 August 1941 he held the Holy Liturgy in the church in Blažuj (that night the Ustasha torched the village of Rakovica). The next day a lorry full of Serbs from his parish arrived outside the church. The Ustasha ordered him to go with them.
Father Relja managed to write a few last words to his family, which he left in the church, before leaving.
They were taken to Butmir where they were all executed by firing squad.
In the letter he wrote: “My dear Vukosava and children, when I die it is my wish that you bury me by the church in Blažuj. We shall meet there again. Children, remain honest to the end of this worthless life. May God bless you all.”
The letter was written on 10 August 1941 just before 4 in the afternoon. Quoted from Džomić, V. Velibor: Ustaški zločini nad srbskim sveštenicima, Publ.: Svetigora, 1995
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