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 27 June to 2 July 2005 the Commission adopted a

D E C I S I O N

I

The archaeological site of the remains of a prehistoric settlement, necropolis with stećak tombstones and the remains of a church dating from the mediaeval period, Kličanj in Krajkovići near Trebinje is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The National Monument consists of the remains of a prehistoric settlement, the remains of a church, a necropolis with eighty stećak tombstones, and the movable items found on the archaeological site and now in the Regional Museum in Trebinje, as listed in the museum’s inventory.

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no.728, Land Registry entry no. 499, cadastral Kurtovići, Municipality Trebinje, Republika Srpska, 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 Republika Srpska no. 9/02) shall apply to the National Monument.

II

The Government of Republika Srpska shall be responsible for ensuring and providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary to protect, conserve, and display 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 protection measures are hereby stipulated, which shall apply to the area defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision.

• all works are prohibited other than research and conservation and restoration works and routine maintenance, including works designed to display the monument, with the approval of the ministry responsible for regional planning in  Republika Srpska and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of Republika Srpska (hereinafter: the heritage protection authority),
• the site shall be open and accessible to the public and may be used for educational and cultural purposes,
• no new burials shall be performed within 5 metres of the stećak tombstones,
• the displacement or relocation of any of the stećak tombstones is prohibited,
• the dumping of waste is prohibited.

The Government of Republika Srpska shall be responsible in particular for ensuring that the following measures are implemented:

• tidying and clearing the site of self-sown vegetation
• ensuring access to the site, making good the access road and paths to all parts of the site
• repairing split and broken monuments
• systematically investigating the prehistoric remains
• conserving all remains found
• drawing up and implementing a programme for the presentation of the National Monument.

IV

The removal of the movable heritage items referred to in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision (hereinafter: the movable heritage) 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 temporary removal 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 movable heritage, 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 Republika Srpska 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 Republika Srpska, the Ministry responsible for regional planning in Republika Srpska and the heritage protection authority of Republika Srpska, and the Municipal Authorities in charge of urban planning and land registry affairs, shall be notified of this Decision in order to carry out the measures stipulated in Articles II – 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

On the date of adoption of this Decision, the National Monument shall be deleted from the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of BiH no. 33/02, Official Gazette of Republika Srpska no. 79/02, Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH no. 59/02, and Official Gazette of Brčko District BiH no. 4/03), where it featured under serial no. 773.

X

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.

XI

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: 05.1-20167/05-2

28 June 2005

Istanbul

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.

The Commission to Preserve National Monuments issued a decision to add the Krajkovići-Kličanj necropolis with stećak tombstones to the Provisional List of National Monuments of BiH under serial no. 141.

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 property

Location

Kličanj is a slight elevation in close proximity to the village of Krajkovići, 20 km to the south-west of Trebinje.  The archaeological site is located on the eastern slope alongside a modern Orthodox cemetery.  It isin an extremely favourable and dominant position, not far from the Brestica spring, which has been an important factor in the emergence and continued existence of the settlement since ancient times.

Historical information

            Archaeological investigations have confirmed the presence of a prehistoric hillfort-type settlement in Kličanj. To the south-east of Kličanj, on an elevation known as Gradina (meaning hillfort), there is a prehistoric hillfort where the remains of thick drywall ramparts and pottery can be seen.

Krajkovići belonged to the mediaeval župa (county) of Popovo, which was part of Hum until the early 13th century, when it broke up.  Popovo, along with Primorje and Žaba, remained a direct holding of Prince Andrija and his heirs (Bogdan, Tvrtko, Bogdan, Tvrtko, Nikola). The Andrijić's lost Primorje, which came into the possession of Dubrovnik, but as a barony of the Bosnian kingdom, and retained the Žaba and Popovo counties until the fall of the Bosnian state.  The Nikolić Andrijić's were the permanent feudal overlords of Popovo for a full three centuries.  The rule of the Nikolić family was never of equal status: at times they were direct vassals of the Bosnian kings, but more often vassals of the Sanković's and Kosača's.

From the third decade of the 14th century until the final fall of the Sanković's in 1404, the Nikolić's rule was scarcely felt in Popovo. The Hum magarisium (Dubrovnik tribute) was paid to the Đedići's, the Sankovići's and the Bosnian king. The župani (lords of the county) of Popovo at that time (the Čihorić-Drugović's) were vassals of the Sanković's.

In the 15th century, after holding out for a long time, the Nikolić's became vassals of the Kosača's, but their effective authority and right to the Hum magarisium continued (P. Anđelić, 1983.75-77)

            The Kličanj church and necropolis with stećak tombstones can be roughly dated to the second half of the 14th, the 15th and the early 16th century.

2. Description of the property

The archaeological site comprises prehistoric remains and a mediaeval church with necropolis with stećak tombstones.

            Prehistoric period.  Archaeological excavations identified the presence of a prehistoric hillfort settlement in the eastern part of the archaeological site.  Some pottery shards, household goods and a cultural layer 20 cm thick dating from the Bronze or Iron Age were found.  Most of the shards found on this site were from large, well-fired vessels of coarse manufacture and poor workmanship, mainly light red in colour, with a degree of glaze on the outside and inside.  Most of the examples revealed that they were made of poor clay with an admixture of coarse sand.  In addition to this coarse pottery, a smaller quantity of shards of better quality pottery was found (Đ. Odavić, 1976, 9 -11).

Mediaeval period.  The northern part of the modern Orthodox cemetery, surrounded by a stone wall, contains the remains of a church and a necropolis with stećak tombstones.  The walls of the church survivie to a height of 0.80 m.  The interior dimensions are 4.00 x 2.64 m.  There is a door 0.70 m wide to the west.  The church is of uncut stone, without mortar, and had no apse. During excavations a stone pillar (0.70 x 0.40 x 0.25 m) was found inside the church, in the south-east corner, 15 cm from the east wall, with an overturned altar table.  There was probably another pillar in the opposite corner, so that the altar table (measuring 0.75 x 0.40 x 0.25 m) would have stood on two pillars and the east wall of the church (Lj. Sparavalo, 1979. 123).

The church is surrounded by a necropolis with eighty stećak tombstones, of which fifty are slab-shaped and thirty chest-shaped.  The workmanship varies in quality, but is good in most cases.  The tombstones lie west-east and are set in rows.  Five of them are decorated.

Stećak no.1 is a very large decorated slab (240 x 145 x 25 cm) outside the entrance to the church.In the early 20th century, a grave with eight skeletons was found under the slab(1).   The horizontal surface features a sword 130 cm long and a mace or club 67 cm long.

Stećak no. 2 is a tall chest (185 x 150 x 80 cm) which has shifted out of position and is leaning against another stećak to the north.  The western corner is damaged and cracked.  Three sides are decorated.  The vertical sides have a frieze of a moulded curvy line with trefoils.  The west front face bears a stylized cross, with the arms treated as triple bands, the middle band twisted.  The arms terminate in the form of a fleur-de-lis, with the exception of the lower arm, which broadens into a pedestal.

The east front face has a rectangular shield and sword framed in a rope-twist.  The south side has the same frame around round-dance and hunting scenes.  The round-dance is a women's dance, with eight women in long dresses holding each other by the hand as they dance. The first woman has her right hand on her hip and the last her left hand.  The hunting scene features below the round-dance and shows a hunter on horseback holding a tilting spear in his right hand, with his left hand on the hilt of his sword.  In front of him are a doe and a stag in flight, heading for a man on foot who is waiting for them with a bow and arrow in his left hand.  Both men are wearing pointed caps.

Stećak no. 3 is a chest (205 x 125 x 35 cm) in the south-western part of the necropolis.  The horizontal surface has a cross inscribed in a small circle in each of the four corners.

Stećak no. 4 is a chest (223 x 97 x 35 cm) a few metres to the north of the church.  The horizontal surface has relief-carved circular rope-twist garland within a border also composed of rope-twist.  Where the garland ends is a protuberance with a Greek cross.  There is a relief crescent moon within the garland.

Stećak no. 5 is a chest (240 x 150 x 30 cm) of good workmanship. The horizontal surface is decorated with a design similar to that on stećak no. 4, with a carved garland with a crescent moon in the centre.  There is a triangle with a cross on it on the garland, the lower arm of the cross rather longer than the others.

3. Legal status to date

The archaeological site is on the Provisional List of National Monuments under the heading Trebinje - Krajkovići – Kličanj Necropolis of stećak tombstones, under serial no. 141.

The Regional Plan for  BiH to 2000 lists it as a Category II monument.

4. Research and conservation and restoration works 

In 1964 the Regional Museum of Trebinje carried out test digs of a protective nature. The works were led by Vukosava Atanacković-Salčić, an archaeologist for the protection of monuments in Mostar, in association with Ljubinka Kojić, director and custodian of the Regional Museum of Trebinje.  Five test digs were excavated and studied.

            In 1975 the Regional Museum of Trebinje collected the pottery shards discovered when a family grave was dug in Kličanj in the cemetery of the village of Krajkovići.

In 1976 further excavations were conducted by the Regional Museum of Trebinje under its custodian Đ. Odavić.

            The movable archaeological material is housed in the premises of the Regional Museum of Trebinje.    

5. Current condition of the property

An on-site inspection in June 2005 ascertained as follows:

The archaeological site is overgrown with dense, tall self-sown vegetation.  There is no access path of any kind to either the necropolis or the ruins of the church.

6. Specific risks

An Orthodox cemetery in active use in the immediate vicinity.

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.iv. composition

C. v. value of details

C.vi. value of construction

D. Clarity

D.i. material evidence of a lesser known historical era

D.ii. evidence of historical change

D. iv. evidence of a particular type, style or regional manner

G. Authenticity

G.i. form and design

G.ii. material and content

G.v. location and setting

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    Copy of land register entry and proof of title;

o    Photodocumentation taken on site, 13 June 2005

Bibliography

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

1964     Ćirković, Simo, Istorija srednjovjekovne bosanske države (History of the mediaeval Bosnian state)  Belgrade, 1964.

1966     Bešlagić, Šefik, Popovo, srednjovjekovni nadgrobni spomenici (Popovo – mediaeval tombstones) Sarajevo, 1966

1976   Odavić, Đorđo, Praistorijsko naselje na Kličnju u Krajkovićima (Prehistoric settlement in Kličanj, Krajkovići) Tribunia 2, Regional Museum of Trebinje, 1976, 7-17

1983.    Anđelić, Pavao, Srednjovjekovna župa Popovo (The mediaeval county of Popovo). Tribunia, no. 7, Trebinje, 1983, 61-79.

(1)  O. Đurić-Kozić, Šuma, Površ i Zupci..., Srp. Etn. Zbornik V, Belgrade, 1903, 1193.