Status of monument -> National monument

"Official Gazette of BiH", no.105/06.

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 14 to 20 March 2006 the Commission adopted a

D E C I S I O N

I

The cultural landscape and site of the Franciscan Monastery and Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Šćit, Municipality Prozor, is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The National Monument consists of the remains of the 1857 monastery building, the form and decoration of the exterior of the church, movable heritage and the cultural landscape.

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 5/15/1, cadastral municipality Proslap, municipality Prozor, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the area of protection zone II as defined in Clause III of this Decision.

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 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 zones are hereby stipulated:

Protection Zone I consists of the area of c.p. no. 5/15/1, c.m. Proslap, Municipality Prozor.  Within this zone the following protection measures shall apply:

• conservation and restoration works and reconstruction works of the old monastery building dating from 1857, building 1, are permitted. Missing parts shall be reconstructed in their original form and size, with the use of the original or the same type of material and the original building methods wherever possible, on the basis of documentation on its original appearance forming an integral part of the decision, 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),
• the only works permitted on the exterior of the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary are conservation and restoration works based on the documentation on its original form, the said documentation forming an integreal part of this Decision, subject to the approval of the relevant ministry and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority.
• on the remainder of c.p. 5/15/1, works shall be permitted that are not detrimental to the value as a monument of the National Monument, with the approval of the relevant ministry and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority.

Protection Zone II consists of a strip 150 m wide around Protection Zone I.  In this buffer zone the following protection measures shall apply:

• the construction of industrial facilities or any structures the construction or operation of which could be detrimental to the National Monument and the location of potential environmental polluters, and the exploitation of forest resources, are prohibited;
• infrastructure and any other works shall be permitted only with the approval of the relevant ministry and under the conditions stipulated by the heritage protection authority.

IV

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

V

The removal of the movable heritage items forming an integral part of the National Monument (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 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 from Bosnia and Herzegovina may take place, the date by which the items shall be returned to the country, 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.

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 Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning, the Federal Ministry responsible for culture, 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 V 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

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. 482.

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: 06.1-02-261/04-7

15 March 2006

Konjic

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 Franciscan Monastery Šćit to the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina under serial no. 482.

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),
• Details of legal protection of the property to date,
• Data on the current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs,
• Details of war damage, data on restoration or other works on the property, etc.
• Details of the movable heritage items housed within the property,
• 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

Rama is the name of the river(1) that emerged above ground by the village of Varvara and downstream from the villages of Ustirama (Usjerama) and Slatina and flowed into the Neretva, and the same name is usedfor the valley and gorge area along the river Rama, surrounded to the east by the slopes of Mts Ivan and Bitovnja, to the north by Mt Raduša, to the west by Ljubuša and Vrana, and to the south by Mt Čvrsnica.

At the town of Rama-Prozor a road branches off from the 30 kilometer long main Jablanica-Bugojno road; this side road leads westwards to the Upper Rama area(2) of the gorge: Šćit, Jaklići, Ripča, Rumboci, Varvara and Lake Rama.  

The architectural ensemble of the Franciscan monastery and church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Šćit is in the village of Šćit, 10 km west of Rama (Prozor). Until 1968, thanks to its location Šćit dominated the Rama valley, but after the construction of the dam in Kovačo Polje and the Lake Rama reservoir, it became a peninsula(3). Šćit is linked to the shore by a side road some 2 km long built on an artificial embankment.

The architectural monastery complex occupies c.p. no. 5/15/1, c.m. Proslap, Municipality Prozor-Rama, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina(4), at an altitude of approx. 599 m above sea level on geographical coordinates 43°48'14'' latitude N and 17°31' 52'' longitude E. 

Historical information

The Franciscans, who have been active in Bosnia since the end of the 13th century(5),  probably built the monastery in Rama in the 15th century, prior to the arrival of the Turks(6).

There are reference to the existence of a Franciscan monastery back in the 15th century in numerous documents housed in the archives of the Franciscan order. The Rama custodiate, occupied by the custode of the united custodiate of S Nicholas of Mile and St Mary Sodoniko – Hercegovina, is referred to at the General Chapter of the Franciscan order held in Assisi in 1493(7).

In 1514, following the Turkish conquest of Bosnia, the Bosnian vicariate was divided into Bosnia Argentina (the area under Turkish occupation) and Bosnia-Croatia (consisting of the remainder of the vicariate); in 1517 both vicariates were promoted to the rank of province. There is reference in 1514 to Rama as one of thirteen monasteries remaining in the Bosnian province(8).

The monastery and church were burned down in 1557(9), when a number of Franciscans were killed: fr. Luka from Broćno, fr. Lavoslav from Vrlia, fr. Luka from Duvno, fr. Marko from Tihaljina and fr. Petar from Rama(10). When the walls of the burned-down church in Rama were being dug over in 1856, an epitaph was discovered reading: "Jam justificati in coelis, quamvis corpora eorum jacent in terris" („Though their bodies lie in the earth, as righteous men they are in heaven"). Another grave had a date: I N R J 4. Jnar. C. A. MDLVII, (4 January 1557). In the first half of the 19th century, during building works on the parish priest’s house(11), this tombstone was carelessly destroyed(12).  

The monastery was rebuilt prior to 1587, when there is again reference to it. Describing the monasteries of the Bosnian Franciscan state, after a tour of the Bosnian province in the late 16th century, the General of the order, fr. Francesco Gonzaga, wrote of the Rama monastery:  “…This is the monastery of St Peter beside some ancient church in an isolated place…”(13) According to Gonzaga, there were fourteen monasteries in the Bosnian province, ten of which were in Bosnia itself: Srebrenica, Sutjeska, Fojnica, Olovo, Visoko, Kreševo, Tuzla, Gradovrh, Modriča and Rama; three in Dalmatia: Visovac, Makarska, Zaostrog; and one in Slavonia: Velika. The number of friars in each monastery was six or seven.

A report by Bishop fr. Franjo Baličević sent to the Holy See in 1591 provides statistical data on the monasteries of the province of Bosnia Argentina, according to which the monastery in Rama had six fathers, two lay brothers and two clerics(14).  

Fr. Donat Fabijanić refers to the monastery in Rama in his book:(15) “…says, that in 1598 it was erected …”(16). (17)

In a report on the state of affairs in his bishopric, sent to the Holy See in 1626, the Bishop of Makarska fr. Bartolomej (Bariša) Kačić gives a description of the four monasteries of the Makarska bishopric and also refers to the monastery in Rama: (18) "To these monasteries is added a fifth, Rama, which in fact belongs to the Duvno bishopric, which (as they say) does not have its own pastor. There are ten priests, four clerics, one lay brother and fifteen novices in this monastery.  It has four parishes: two in Dalma or Duvno, where there are 200 houses, a third in Livno, where there are about 150 houses, and the fourth in Rama, with 60 houses. It has two churches, one in Livno and another in Roško Polje. This monastery and the parishes are administered by the Bishop of Makarska, as recommended by the administrator of Bosnia on account of its proximity.(19)"

In 1640 Fr. Pavao of Rovinj, general visitator(20), visited Rama and chaired the election of the new leadership of the Bosnian province in the Rama monastery. A letter of his, sent to the Propaganda(21)  in Rome following the election, has survived(22).

In 1650 the Bishop of Skradin, fr. Petar Posilović, fleeing war(23), stayed in the Rama monastery(24).  

In 1653 the monastery was looted, and there were a number of Franciscan casualties:  “…and laid waste the monastery, plundering and carting away all that was best and finest and most valuable that they could carry, so that the monastery was left as empty as a  cave from which robbers move out to their winter quarters with the onset of winter …” (25)  

In 1655 Fr. Marijan Maravić, bishop of Duvno, wrote that “the monastery of St Peter in Rama is the most distant in his bishopric and that it serves a small number of Christians in the neighbourhood of the monastery, where there are 600 Christian souls but only sixty houses and families .” (26)

In 1659 the Turkish authorities accused the Imotski friars of having “buried some treasure,” and the Imotski, Fojnica, Rama, Kreševo and Sutjeska monasteries had to pay a fine of 150,000 jaspras (= 311 ducats). The Rama monastery alone had to pay a fine of 80.000 jaspri.(27),(28)

In 1662 the Turks killed the guardian of the Rama monastery, fr. Bernardin Galijaš(29). The church was described in 1662 as “…needing repairs to the outside and inside of the old church, which was already threatening to fall into total ruin.” (30)

In 1666, during the time of guardian Fr. Andrija Sovićanin, the church was repaired and given a new roof, at the request of the Provincia fr. Jure Šabić (a native of Ramljak)(31).

The Sinj archives contain information that all the church vestments were lost in a fire, “three hundred mass vestments alone, among them one entirely woven of pure gold, enough to stop anyone in their tracks."(32)  All the buildings were soon rebuilt, and fr. Jeronim Vladić, referring to the Archives of the Propaganda(33), wrote that by 1673 the Provincial leadership had already convened in the renovated Rama monastery, and that on 8 September 1673 they sent a report to Rome about the heavy-handed persecution in Bosnia.

In 1674, an “institution of higher education”(34) was operating in the monastery, and on 25 December 1681(35), fr. Andrija Šipračić wrote to the Propaganda with a request that novaks be educated in the monastery(36), suggesting that there was a noviciate in Rama at that time(37).

The Rama friars tried to teach their parishioners to read and write, and met with some success, as related in a letter from the Provincial of Bosnia Argentina, fr. Anto Gabeljak, to the Propaganda on 6 February 1685: " …there are many women and shepherds in Bosnia who can read and write, which is hard to findin the Zadar bishopric.(38)"  

After a fire in the monastery in 1687 and the friars and population moved to the Sinj region, education came to a complete halt until 1863, when a boys’ school was again opened(39).

In Ogramić’s(40) (Olovčić’s) 1675 census, the Bosnian province had 19 monasteries: Fojnica, Rama, Imotski, Zaostrog, Živogošće, Makarska, Visovac, Kreševo, Sutjeska, Visoko, Olovo, Srebrenica, Tuzla, Gradovrh, Velika, Požega, Našice, Modriča, Budim, and 375 Franciscans, and Rama had a congregation of 860(41). 

Fr. Martin Nedić writes that in 1679 Bosnia Argentina "had 150 parishes, 200 churches and 500.000 Catholic souls." At that time there were 30 brothers in the Rama monastery of St Peter, but the monastery had no other parishes(42). 

In 1682, the monastery was again burned down. Fr. Nikola Lašvanin writes of this fire:(43)”…In 1682, 15 October, the monastery in Rama was burned down, both the church and the sacristy, and by the following Chapter(44) was once again rebuilt, larger and finer.”

Thanks to a loan(45) from beg Kasumović (spahija Kasum of Kasapović, near present-day Novi Travnik), and donations collected here and there, in three years (by 1684) the Franciscans managed to build a new monastery.

In 1687, at the height of the Vienna war (1683-1699)(46), at the urging of the Venetian providur, Antonio Zeno, the Franciscans and some of the Catholics left Rama and moved to the Cetinje region.  Venetian soldiers set the church, monastery and many houseds in Rama on fire to prevent the Turks from using them. The Franciscans tooks some valuables with them, including the Painting of Our Lady that is now in the Franciscan church in Sinj.

During the 17th century, until they moved out in 1687,  the Rama Franciscans were active not only in Rama but also in the Livno, Duvno and Skoplje (Bugojno) region. In the early 17th century there were about 1,200 Catholics in the Rama parish. After 1687, the pastoral care of the remaining Catholic congregation of the Rama valley was provided by the Franciscans of the Fojnica monastery.

According to a report by the Papal Nuncio Fr. Ioannis Batista de Vietri, sent to the Holy See in 1708, Rama was a parish of the Fojnica monastery and belonged to the Bosnian province(47).

Cash sums collected from the lemozina:(48) “In 1712, on October 23, the guardian in Fojnica was fr. Augustin Jajčanin. He gave the Rama (lemozina) pro prima vice 12.000 jaspras, pro secunda vice 1.000, pro tertia vice 1.600. …  It is also said of Rama that the Rama chaplain, father Jaranović, gave lemozina of 2,000 jaspras in the monastery in December 1712 …evidence that in Rama, Livno, Duvno and Vinica there were many people at that time who could contribute their mite to such sums(49).” 

In the first half of the 18th century the friars from the Fojnica monastery and those from Dalmatia who used to come from time to time to perform the duties of priest in the Rama area had no permanent place of residence but used to go from one village to another. In the 18th century the number of Catholics increased: according to the 1744 census they numbered 857(50), while in 1762 this had increased to 1.167, and in 1798 to 1.957. In 1773Fr. Jeronim Milasović of Proslap was appointed as parish priest in Rama, initially living with relatives, but the following year a house was built for the parish priest and the chaplain and household in the Proslap hamlet of Nikolići. From 1773 on the church registers were again maintained(51). The parish house survived until 1864, when a new one was built on the same site.

With effect from 1774 mass was often celebrated in the ruins of the old Rama church or close to the parish house, where bishops frequently came to bestow the chrysm. This took place in 1776, 1779, 1782, 1785, 1797, 1800, 1806, 1809, 1812, 1818, 1821, 1824, 1828 and subsequent years. Fr. Jeronim Vladić provides an interpretation of the total absolution that was drawn up in 1779, which is kept by Bishop fr. Paškal Vujičić: "In 1779, on 26 September, a total absolution was granted to the Rama church in Šćit(ovo) to those who visit the church on 8 September(52) and make confession and take holy communion there.(53)" This is how the site of the Rama church and monastery became a place of pilgrimage.

The population of the parish continued to increase. A report sent by Bishop fr. Grgur Ilijić to Rome in 1798 records that the parish of Rama had 258 Catholic households with 1,957 souls(54).

Thanks to the major efforts of Fr. Franjo Franjković, on 15 September 1855 the Franciscans succeeded in buying part of the land owned by beg Muharem Dugalić: “for 80 gold ducats, 10 sovereigns (each worth 3 ducats=30 ducats) and six score, and costs, while repairs took 421 ½ groschen.(55),”  and “the remainder of the old monastery estate… 27 May 1857, for 1014 groschen. (56)”

By Chrestmas 1855, preparatory works on clearing the ruins of the old monastery building, digging pits and slaking lime in them (“…preparing lime and placing it in trenches…”), had been carried out, and 500 timbers and beams for the monastery building had been stored(57). 

Fr. Pavao Vujičić, a native of Imotski, continued the work of rebuilding the Rama monastery.  On 16 July 1856 a basement of stone was erected on the well-preserved foundations of the old monastery. After this the masonry first floor of the monastery was built, while the second floor was timber-built(58). By the autumn of that year the monastery was roofed with shingles, and the following year work on twelve rooms, the kitchen and the parish office was completed.  Fr. Pavao brought in masons from Imotski for the masonry works, while local craftsman built the timber structure under the supervision of a carpenter from Imotski, Luka.  In the autumn of 1857 Fr. Pavao Vujičić moved into the first floor: “…fearing that the ground floor was not yet completely drey, since the walls are of soft stone and are one metre thick.”   The rebuilding of the monastery cost “ …about 39 ½ purses= 19.250 groschen.  The parishioners contributed 7,500 groschen, either in cash or in kind.  That year, 1857, a barn/granary was made and the stabling for horses and the cowshed were enlarged, and the spacious courtyard was walled, for which the expenditure was 1890 groschen. …(59)” 

In 1870 Rama had a population of 2,796(60) living in 610 houses, and the parish was served by three priests, so the need to build a church was ever greater.

In 1863 the Franciscans opened a primary school in Šćit, using one of the monastery rooms for the purpose. In 1865 a timber building was erected, and in 1876 a proper schoolhouse was built, which remained in use for many years(61).   

When the former Bosnian Provincial, fr. Anto Vladić, who became parish priest in Šćit in 1863, sought a firman (permit) to build a church, he immediately began preparatory works(62). He estimated that the church would cost 20,000 groschen to build. The Franciscans received their permit to build the church in 1872(63).

On St Anthony’s Day, 13 June 1873, the foundation stone of the Šćit church was laid. Work continued until 6 October 1873, when the walls had reached a height of more than one metre(64). The works had to be suspended for lack of the necessary funds. In 1877 Fr. Anto Vladić hid 50,000 groschen by burying the money in the basement; in the autun of that year his successor, Fr. Jozo Ćurić used the money to buy building materials for the church.

The Austrian army reached Rama on 4 October 1878.

From 6 May to 6 October 1879, 17 master masons, with Jure Radoš as foreman, worked on the church, with physical help(65) from parishioners, and the sum of 32,890 groschen was spent. From 7 May to 11 October 1880, 14 master masons, again under Jure Radoš, continued building the church; that year, 30,030 groschen were spent. Emperor Franz Joseph donated 1,500 florins to build the church, his aunt Anna Maria Pia donated 200 florins(66), and the Provincial Government gave 500 florins.  The masonry works on all four exterior walls of the church, 12 pillars and vaults were completed. In 1881, 26,496 groschen were spent to built the walls of the central nave and roof of the church(67).

The church was of basilica design, with three aisles divided by twelve octagonal stone pillars, and was 34 m long and 17 m wide. It had four side altars and three doors. The front façade was of cut mudstone. There is no trace of any architectural plans or blueprints. Fr. Antun Vladić oversaw the works, based on what he had seen abroad, particularly in Italy, together with fr. Josip Čurić, helped with advice from fr. Jeronim Vladić. The stone was brought from Greben in Varvara and from Kozar.   The works foreman was Jure Radoš, a after him Ivan Božić, both from Travnik.

To commemorate the building of the church, a plaque was mounted on the left-hand wall by the entrance door, with the inscription:

TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE HONOUR OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, WITH THE AID OF HIS MAJESTY EMPEROR FRANZ JOSEPH I AND THE EFFORTS OF M.P.O. ANT. VLADIĆ AND THE PEOPLE, BUILT BY FATHER JOSIP ĆURIĆ 1880.

In 1882 Rama was designated as a residence(68), and in 1939 it was designated as a monastery in the legal sense(69).

In 1893, Dalmatian craftsmen worked on fitting the interior of the church, and others from Kupreš laid a new sheet metal roof. The tower, which was 39 m in height, was also completed, and on All Saints’ Day that year the Canon of Vrhbosnia, Dr. Andrija Jagatić, blessed the church in Rama and de Rhoden’s painting. In about 1880 fr. Anto Vladić ordered a bell cast in Venice, weighing 110 kg, and in 1898 three bells were cast in Ljubljana: one weighed 630 kg, the second 305, and the fourth 189 kilograms(70).

In 1903 Fr. Jerko Pavelić made the main altar, and Archbishop Stadler consecrated the church on 15 August that same year. Although the previoius monastery and church were dedicated to St Peter the Apostle, the church was now dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, on account of the importance of the painting of Our Lady.

As a result of the favourable financial circumstances of the Rama congregation in the early 20th century, it was decided in 1913 to build a new monastery, which it was thought would cost up to 25,000 crowns. In 1914 the materials were procured, craftsmen were found, and the Franciscans began building a new monastery to a design by entrepreneur and architect Franz Holz(71), who was inspired in his treatment of the entrance façade by that of the Franciscan high school in Visoko. Work began in early April, and at the same time mudstone was quarried. Craftsmen from Imotski worked under Marko Rako as foreman, and assistant workmen were chosen from among the inhabitants of the parish of Rama. Because of the outbreak of World War I, only the basement walls and ceiling joists were completed. The money that was estimated for the entire building had already been spent. With financial assistance from other monasteries of 300 crowns each, the first floor of the monastery was completed in 1917. In 1920 Fr. Franjo Jukić succeeded in roofing the building, since this was a good time for building. A craftsman would work for 4 kg of grain, while in 1914 the charge was 50 kg of grain. In 1921 partition walls were built and the wooden beams replaced, and in 1930, using a bank loan of 50,000 dinars, the windows and doors were made and the monastery building was finally completed. On 4 November 1930 Provincial fr. Josip Markušić blessed the house and the brothers moved into their new monastery(72).

The church was set on fire on 13 July 1942 during World War II. The sacristy and library, valuable paintings and filigree chalices by two master craftsmen from Fojnica and Jajce, along with many other chalices, were all casualties of the fire, along with many archive documents (very old church registers), transcripts from the Archiveds of the Apostolic Vicars in Bosnia, the numismatics collection and valuable books. There are now transcriptions of the church registers from 1884.

During World War II, in February 1943, a bomb(73) landed on the monastery, but did not explode. In the autumn of 1943, three friars from Rama built a wooden hut that was used as a church. In the spring of 1944, master craftsmen Ilija Cvitanović, helped by Luka Tomić from Šćit and Ivan Pavlović from Jaklići, together with other craftsmen, built a larger wooden hut, that was used as a church until 20 June 1956, when it was pulled down in order to begin work on rebuilding the church.  It was 27 m long and 11 m wide, and the ruins of the fire-damaged hospice were used for the “sanctuary”.  A wall was pierced that abutted onto the hut. Here, in addition to the altar area and sanctuary, a sacristy was made behind the altar, with a choir above it. The hut had two rows of wooden pillars, and was thus dubbed the “basilica”. It was roofed with roofing felt. The Franciscan coat of arms was drawn on the façade, with the inscription: “This is the house of God and gateway to heaven.” (74)

With the establishment of the new government, the registration of what had been destroyed or lost and an estimate of war damage in Rama were carried out, since Yugoslavia expected to receive reparations from the defeated powers. The guardian noted as registered war damage to the monastery and church in Šćit: “library, church vestments and furnishings 30 million, museum items 2,631,000 dinars, church registers and archives 200,000, home furnishings in the monastery and two houses in Draševo 800.000, livestock 318.000 dinars, building and church 22.631.000, groceries 30.000, animal feed 125.000 dinars, wine and rakia 350.000 dinars, tools and machinery 74.000, ready cash 90.000, etc. Total 47.163.000. The  Commission for Damages in Prozor approved a sum of 44.413.000 dinars.(75)” 

In 1949, works to clear the interior of the burned-out church were initiated and managed by the guardian, Fr. Jerko Petričević: the transverse walls and pillars were pulled down, all the stone was removed from the church, the bells were mounted in the belltower,and the belltower was roofed with boards(76).

In the spring of 1955, making preparations to renovate the church, Fr. Jerko Petričević slaked “more than two wagon-loads of lime.” The project for the renovation of the church was drawn up by engineer Fr. Pijo Nuić in Mostar. On 17 June 1956, Fr. Marijan Brkić signed a contract with the entrepreneur Ile Juričić of Šćit to carry out the works on the church, and three days later work began. The walls of the church and old sacristy were dismantled, and the material laid out and sorted to be reintegrated into the new building. In the first year of renovation, the inhabitants of the parish gave an annual cash donation of 1,000 dinars per household, and also helped by providing labour (about 2,000 work days). The parishioners cleaned and sorted all the stone, brought in all the sand and gravel needed for concrete, and cut all the required timber.  It was decided not to opt for a basilica design but to make a timber pent roof structure clad with tiles from Kikinda. These works were completed on 4 October 1956, and the church was officially opened on 4 November 1956 with a formal mass co-celebrated by the custode of the Bosnian Province, Fr. Vlado Karlović. The works were financed by contributions from the Society of Catholic Priests of 200,000 dinars, a loan from the Province of Bosnian Franciscans of 250,000 dinars, and a loan of 1,500,000 dinars approved by the Provincial leadership(77). 

In 1957, the church was fitted with windows of cathedral glass(78), the side altars and pews were installed, the choir gallery was built, the church floor was concreted, the tower was repaired, and the monastery building was roofed with tiles (until then part had been roofed with eternite and another with slivers of wood), and some furniture for the monastery building was purchased(79). 

In 1958, the church was plastered and whitewashed inside, and a large stone altar was made.  To replace the walls of the projecting monastery wing to the east, destroyed during the war, a balcony was made. The church altar was faced with marble slabs, the floor of the church was paved with terazzo tiles, and pews, confessionals and other fittings were installed. The pent roof turned out to be a poor choice, leaking when it rained(80).

During the time of guardian fr. Eduard Žilić, work continued on paving outside the church, and on 13 July 1965 alterations to the entire roof structure began, following a design by building technician Željko Mirković, while the foreman was mason Ivan Gregović from Belgrade. Architect Emil Vičić of the Conservators’ Institute in Zagreb was part-time expert consultant. The roof of the church was removed, a reinforced concrete was laid above the pillars, and the walls of the main nave were built up by about 4.40 metres, after which a timber roof structure was erected over the three aisles: a gabled roof above the main aisle, and pent roofs over the side aisles. The church thus regained its former basilica-like form. The roofs were clad with eternite tiles.

At this time, too, additional hydroinsulation was installed. The mudstone wall was cut through above the limestone foundations and damp proofing was installed; cracks in the wall on the east side of the church, caused by subsidence, were also made good.

In 1966, two sacristies were built and the belltower was increased in height, giving it a more slender appearance. The height from ground level to the top of the cross is 40.05 m. Angelo Vicari of Bugojno faced the walls of the church with marble slabs in the interior to a height of 175 cm from floor level. The socle of the walls of the church was faced on the exterior with slabs of Sarajevo hreša stone, which is resistant to frost, snow and low temperatures, and a pavement was laid around the church.

Between 1967 and 1969 the interior of the church was fitted out.

In July 1984, Predrag Krošnjar and architecture students Bojan Jovanović and Goran Tijanić drew up a survey of the existing condition of the monastery in Šćit(81), which was used as the basis for drawing up an initial design for the adaptation and extension of the Franciscan monastery in Šćit in December 1984 in Sarajevo(82). The project provided for the monastery to be extended to the south. The designs proposed in this project were not used when the monastery was enlarged.

In 1985, work began on building a new monastery wing to a new design by architects Vinko Grabovac and R. Marković, drawn up in Sarajevo in November 1985. The new monastery (consisting of a basement, ground floor, mezzanine, two upper floors and mansard), was built as living quarters, and the existing one used to house cultural and art objects.

The work of adaptation and extension of the existing monastery building dating from 1913-1930 was carried out to an executive project drawn up by architects Damir Derjanović and Emil Bersak in Zagreb in 1999. The existing monastery building, consisting of basement, ground floor and two upper floors, was given an attic storey, and a cinema hall in the basement and chapel, kitchen and guest refectory on the ground floor were interpolated between the existing monastery building (1913-1930) and a garage built earlier to the east of the monastery plot.

Since 9 June 2001, the humanitarian organization “Peace House of the Rama-Šćit Franciscan monastery” has been operating in Šćit. Its programme is to work with traumatized people and includes programmes of a spiritual nature, as well as various reconciliation programmes.

2. Description of the property

The buildings and facilities of the monastery complex consist of:

• the remains of the old monastery building – building 1 (built 1856, collapsed in the 1980s),
• the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – building 2 (rebuilt 1873-1881; set on fire 1942; rebuilt 1956; remodelled and basilica design restored 1965),
• the new monastery building – building 3 (built1913-1930; adapted and with an attic storey added 1999),
• the southern extension to the monastery – building 4 (building works began 1986),
• the western extention to the monastery – building 5 (building works began 1999),
• the souvenir shop on the extreme northern boundary of the monastery plot (built c. 1999-2000),
• the landscaping of the park area with paths and sculptures.

Remains of the old monastery building – building 1

The building collapsed in the last 20 years or so of the 20th century, so that all that now remains in situ is the basement, walls and first floor of the building.

It follows from the survey and technical drawings of the building made before it fell into ruins, as well as from old photographs of the building, the descriptions referred to in the section on historical information, and the existing condition of the building, that:

• the building had a basement, ground floor and first floor, and a hipped wooden roof structure with wooden shingles as roof cladding;
• the outer walls of the basement and ground floor were of stone, with lime mortar as binder, while those of the first floor, as well as the partition walls of the first floor, were of half-timbered construction; the outer basement walls were approx. 75 cm thick and those of the ground floor approx. 65 cm;
• the shorter facades of the building each had three window verticals and the longer, four each;
• because of the lie of the land, sloping from east to west, the basement was below half of the building, to the east; the basement measured 5.85 x 18.60 m, and had wooden ceiling joists, with the span of the beams supported by a wooden bearer running north-south, resting on the side walls and five wooden 16 x 16 cm uprights set approx. 270 cm apart.  The entrance to the basement is from the east, through a double wooden door 132 x 180 cm set centrally in the wall.  The east basement wall had four windows measuring 54 x 65 cm, set symmetrically two to the left and two to the right of the entrance door.  The side basement walls each had one window, measuring 10 x 35 cm in the north wall and 30 x 30 cm in the south wall.  All the basement windows had stone frames and were fitted with wrought-iron bars;
• the entrance to the ground floor was from the east, through a double wooden door measuring 104 x 220 cm.  The entrance area led to a corridor measuring approx. 2.40 x 18.30 m running north-south.  The corridor led in turn to five rooms (measuring respectively 4.35 x 7.50;  2.90 x 4.35; 4.35 x 7.50;  4.45 x 6.45; and 4.45 x 5.10 metres) and utility rooms.  A single-flight wooden staircase to the left of the entrance door to the building led to the first floor. All the windows of the ground-floor rooms measured 90 x 120 cm and were set in window niches with stone lintels over. All had wrought-iron bars;
• the layout of the rooms on the first floor was identical to that of the ground floor.  The windows measured 90 x 120 cm, but had no wrought-iron bars.  An oriel window/veranda on the first floor, which projected outwards by about 90 cm and was set above the entrance door, accentuated the entrance area and provided shelter from rain;
• the building had four chimneys which did not go through the roof; the smoke escaped through roof dormers.

Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - building 2

The longitudinal axis of the church lies north-west. The church is of the triple-aisle basilica type. The overall exterior width of the building is 19.20 m and the length, including the sacristy at the south end, is approx. 43.20 m.

The overall width of the interior prayer space of the church is approx. 17.20 m, and the length is 35.60 m. The interior is divided into three aisles by two colonnades each of six 80 x 80 cm pillars: the central aisle is 7.70 m wide and the side aisles 4.95 m. The pillars are set 4.40 m apart along the long axis of the church. The height of the main aisle is 13.62 m from floor level and that of the side aisles approx. 8.90 m.

The jamb walls of the central aisle, which are approx. 4.57 m in height and run parallel with the longitudinal axis of the church, have semicircular windows set symmetrically, seven each side on the east and west jamb walls of the main aisle. Later the last pair of windows on the south side of the church, above the sanctuary, were to be walled up. A flat reinforced concrete slab was laid above the main aisle, resting on a frame of reinforced concrete bearers set on the grid of the load-bearing pillars of the church. The frames were reinforced north-south over the entire length of the main aisle of the church by a longitudinal 40 x 40 reinforced concrete beam set on the crown of the frames. The ceiling has the appearance of a caisson ceiling.

There are flat reinforced concrete slabs over the side aisles too, resting on reinforced concrete beams set on the grid of the load-bearing pillars of the church.

The choir gallery above the entrance area is reached via a double-flight stairway by the east wall of the church. The gallery is approx. 6.75 m deep. The reinforced concrete structure of the gallery ceiling, with a depth of approx. 15 cm, is stepped, with three levels (one reason for this being the arrangement of the choristers) differing by approx. 17-20 cm one from the next. The structure of the slab is borne by a 40 x 40n cm frontal bearer beam resting on the side walls of the church and on two 43 x 43 cm reinforced concrete pillars, six primary reinforced concrete bearers set parallel with the longitudinal aqxis of the church, and two secondary reinforced concrete bearers set at right angles to the primary bearers. The entire structure has the appearance of a caisson ceiling. The choir gallery is linked by a covered way with the monastery via a door in the west wall of the church.

The textual section, bill of quantities and bill of costs of the Technical Study(83), chapter 1, New choir with extension, indicates that the former structure of the choir was of timber, with a depth of 5 m and a width of approx. 17 m, and that it was set approx. 1 m lower than the present-day choir gallery.  The gallery had a ceiling structure and a floor of wooden decking.  It also indicates that prior to 1966 as well as now, the monastery was linked by a passageway and stairs to the choir gallery.  In 1966 the estimate costs of dismantling the old choir gallery and making a new one with reinforced concrete slab and bearers (the choir structure had the appearance of a caisson ceiling) were 2,936,800 old dinars.

The pillars were of mudstone(84), with a load-bearing capacity of approx. 7kg/cm2. The edging of the corners of the four pillars at a height of approx. 3 m and their facing with marble slabs in the altar area of the church were carried out after 1966.

At the same time, two sacristies (interior dimensions 4.87 x 6.68 m) were built onto the south side of the church to left and right of the bell tower; these were linked by a corridor measuring 1.37 x 4.45 m. The door in the south facade of the church, used as a side entrance, leads to the corridor; the prayer area of the church can be reached through the sacristies. The tower between the sacristies measures approx.4.45 x 4.45 m at the base, with a height from ground level to the top of the cross of approx. 40.05 m. The walls of the tower are approx. 100 cm thick at the  base. The walls of the bell tower are articulated by three moulded string courses, with above the uppermost string course two ventilating arched openings on each side of the tower, and the bell storey with the walls of the door terminating tympanum-style. Above this storey is a pyramidal roof clad with copper, and topped by a cross. The facades of the top-but-one storey of the bell tower have bifora windows, while those of the lower storeys of the south facade of the bell tower have another two oculus windows.

The sanctuary and main altar were built to a design by architect Mladen Fučić, drawn up on 27 April 1968 in Zagreb. The sanctuary is 0.30 m above the floor level of the church, and is further accentuated by a stone balustrade. The main altar is a monolith of braccia measuring 150 x 150 x 102 cm, set on a stone plinth measuring 400 x 442 cm at a height of +0.45.

The north entrance facade of the church is divided into four sections by three moulded string courses. The first is the ground floor section, the second corresponds to the gallery, the third to the jamb wall area above the main aisle of the church, and the fourt to the tympanum roof above the central aisle. There are six openings in all on the facade, so arranged as to form a regular equilateral triangle. The main, round-arched entrance door is at ground-floor level, accentuated by an entrance portal, with to each side a single side door, also round-arched, forming a total of three openings at the base of the triangle. The gallery-level section of the entrance facade has two round-arched windows, and the third section has a single oculus window. All the doors and windows are accentuated by moulded cornices. Shallow vertical pilaster strips on the second, third and tympanum sections of the facade further articulate the horizontal sections.

During World War II, in 1942 to be precise, the church, sacristy and monastery library were damaged by fire. The painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a work by A. De Rohden dating from 1892, and that of St Ignatius banishing the devel, the work of an unknown artist close to the Rubens school, were both destroyed. The church vestments, and about ten chalices two of which were the filigree work of master-craftsman Tometinović of Jajce, and two by master-craftsman Ostojić of Fojnica, along with three monstrances, were also destroyed. The library contained valuable historical and theological works, church registers dating from 1781, and archive material. The Imperial firman or permit to rebuild the church, issued in 1872, survives from that period(85) (Lucić, 2002, 116).

At the turn of the 19th and 20th century an organ was installed in the church in Rama; this had once belonged to a church in the Vienna surburb of Altlerchenfeld(86).  

Art works on the renovation of the church began in 1966 and lasted until about 1970. The guardian at that time, fr. Eduard Žilić, sought artists to paint the interior of the church. It was then that Augusto Ronaechi, an art professor from Rome specializing in mosaics, who had worked on the mosaics in the church of Christ the King in Belgrade, came to the church. He then invited Pavle Sušilović from Zagreb because of an offer to make windows(87). In 1967, engineer Mladen Fučić, who drew the blueprints for the marble altar of the holy eucharist and two side altars, spent time in Šćit.  The stained glass in the windows, the three doors of the entrance to the nave of the church and the rosette was made by the painter Josip Poljan, who also made the gilded copper tabernacle with its central scene of the supper in Emmaus (Lucić, 2002, 191).

            The three murals in the apse (south side of the church) were painted by Josip Biffel(88) in 1968, in keim technique, and are regarded as among the finest paintings. The central painting, which is the largest at 72 m2, features Mary, patron saint of the people of Rama. The painting seeks to unify past and present, in the form of the activities and sufferings of the people and the friars over the centuries.  It is divided into three sections. The lower, narrow section shows how the people of Rama rise from the bones of their forebears, with new life born from bones, as recounted by the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37). The next section features earthly life: the people of Rama with their friars, hands upraised towards the Mother of Mercy(89), who is looking down from on high, with arms and the ends of her blue-yellow cloak outstretched to accept their prayers. Interestingly, the people of Rama are featured wearing their folk costume.  Beside Mary in the heavenly sphere, to her right, are Francis of Assisi and Nikola Tavelić. St. Francis is shown looking downwards, talking with a wolf, the personification of reconciliation where it is least expected Tavelić, a native of Šibenik and missionary in Bosnia and Jerusalem, is shown in flames holding a cross, head raised towards heaven. To Mary's left is St. Anthony, a preacher and one of the most revered of all saints, trampling on a man's sword.  Beside him stands the Franscican fr. Anđeo Zvizdović, holding up a cross in his right hand and the Ahdnama (charter) in his left. A four-member family is gathered at his feet (Šarčević, 2003, 77-79).

A scene of the Nativity of Mary features on the east side of the south wall. This painting is 27 m2 in area. The central section shows Anna in bed with the infant Mary in her arms. Three women are approaching them. Another two women bearing gifts of grapes and a lamb feature in the upper right hand section of the background of the painting. The lower central section of the painting shows two women, one of the pouring water from a jug into a vessel for the other.

The west side of the south wall has a scene of the Holy Spirit descending on Mary and the apostles. This painting too is 27 m2 in area. The cedntral figure is Mary, around whom are gathered the twelve apostles with their hands raised towards heaven, whence tongues of flame are descending on them. At the base of the picture in the right hand corner is a priest with hands folded in prayer, and a young woman beside him.

Biffel also painted St. Teresa, in a niche. He also painted the choir balustrade in graffito technique, with the symbols of the sacraments and man's last things. The same artist also painted fourteen Stations of the Cross in oil on canvas.

            Somewhat later, Đuro Seder painted the great altar painting of St Anthony and the Way of the Cross in Gračac, as well as the altar painting of St Nikola Tavelić in Orašce.

In 1997 academic sculptor Kuzmo Kovačić(90) made the so-called Door of Our Lady in as the front and reverse of a door, thus linking two figures and two traditions, on the one hand the Virgin of Rama(91) and on the other Our Lady, the Mother of Mercy, now Our Lady of Sinj(92). On the outer side of the door, Kovačić featured the Virgin of Grabovac(93) in high relief (bronze, 290 x 155), resting in the grave with her hands laid on her stomach, her bosom bare and head covered with a Rama cap. She is surrounded by alpine flowers, sheep and a dog. The Virgin is featured in an open grave, which symbolizes the birth of new life, the resurrection. Above the grave, under cast glass, are three symbols  made of gold, the work of goldsmith Franjo Rodić: a cross, anchor and heart, standing for faith, hope and love, as three Christian virtues. There is an inscription in Latin-script capitals at the base of the door: «Evil hath eyes in the dark, and is blind in the light.(94)»

On the inside of Our Lady's Door, Kovačić carved Our Lady, now of Sinj, being taken away by two friars – this too in high relief.  Above the image, at the top of the door, the symbols of faith, hope and love already described, beneath cast glass.

Our Lady's Door was cast separately with the figure of Our Lady in a frame (80 x 70 cm). The relief is decorated with votive gifts and semi-precious stones donated by goldsmith Franjo Rodić. The crown of Our Lady of Mercy is decorated with twelve stars, eleven of them cast in silver and then gilded. The twelfth star is made of a blue royal topaz. The relief is also decorated with other semi-precious stones, four red garnets, five blue royal topaz and eight large colourless acquamarines.

Somewhat earlier, in 1955, Gabriel Jurkić painted Our Lady of Rama with angels and the people, at the invitation of the guardian, fr. Marijan Brkić. The painting was done from a photograph of Albert de Rohden's 1892 painting of Our Lady of Rama, which was destroyed by fire along with the church in 1942. Jurkić's painting is rather smaller than the original, and in addition the artist had added his own stamp in the form of a Bosnian landscape and people in folk costume accompanying the departure of Our Lady's picture to Sinj.

New monastery building – building 3

The monastery building, measuring 10.80 x 35.70 metres, is an edifice with a basement, ground floor, first and second floor and mansard, added in 1999.  Structurally, it is a two-wing building – the corridor wing of the monastery to the east facing the plateau outside the church, and a wider wing with west-facing rooms. The different storeys of the monastery wings are linked by two staircases, with that on the south side of more recent date, the result of the 1999 alteration works.

The basement below the wider wing of the monastery(95) contains a storeroom, cloakroom and toilets, and a small clubroom to the north. The eastern part of the ground floor contains the parish office, and a further three areas: the hallway, living room, and kitchen and toilet block, and separate refectory and toilet block for the nuns. The first floor contains a corridor wing to the east, the guardian's suite and study to the north, a small living room, and the friar's refectory. An indoor passageway to the south of the first and second floors links buildings 3 and 4. The second floor contains a corridor wing to the east, a large conference room, classrooms and suites, and the attic storey contains small rooms with bathroom facilities. This floor has windows along its entire length, providing the rooms with a superb view of Lake Rama.

A veranda abuts onto three storeys to the east of the building. The facade is faced with mudstone and articulaated by four moulded string courses. During alterations to the monastery building in 1999, new windows with insulating double glazing and a «ventilating» roof structure clad with Bramac tiles were installed, along with copper guttering, while in the interior the wooden ceilings (with a layer of rubble and «blind floors») were replaced by semi pre-fabricated Fert ceilings, somewhat increasing the height of the rooms.  The ceiling structure of plaster on reeds was replaced and new floors were laid: the vinaz tiles in the corridors were replaced by «floating floors with insulating layers» of stone slabs, and ceramic tiles replaced the terrazza tiles in the toilet blocks. The existing staircase was partly reepairred, and a new, side staircase to the east was installed, along with a lift.

In 1991, as part of the celebrations of the 700th anniversary of the Franciscan presence in Bosnia, an action was launched to gift art works for the Rama monastery. Numerous artists responded, as a result of which the monastery now possesses important and valuable works of art.  During our visit to the monastery, the following inventory of art works was provided:

NO.      ARTIST             TECHNIQUE                             TITLE

1. Ivan Lacković Croata      portfolio - graphics                     The Podravski Way of the Cross
2. Ivan Lacković Croata      portfolio - graphics                     Chronicle of Misfortune, 1993.
3. Ivan Lacković Croata      portfolio - graphics                     -
4. Ivan Lacković Croata      portfolio - graphics                     -
5. Ivan Lacković Croata      portfolio - graphics                     -
6. Ivan Lacković Croata      portfolio - graphics                     -
7. Ivan Lacković Croata      portfolio - graphics                     -
8. Ivan Lacković Croata      portfolio - graphics                     -
9. Ivan Lacković Croata      portfolio - graphics                     -
10. Ivan Lacković Croata      portfolio - graphics                     -
11. Dorotić Branimir            -                                               East/West
12. Izidor Popijač Žiga         wood carving                             Christ
13. Vasilije Jordan  -           -
14. Branko Bahunek           -                                               -
15. Kuzma Kovačić             sculpture                                  Last Supper
16. Kuzma Kovačić             sculpture                                  Virgin of Grabovac
17. Kuzma Kovačić             sculpture                                  Mother of Mercy
18. Kuzma Kovačić             sculpture                                  Our Lady's gate
19. Kuzma Kovačić             sculpture                                  -
20. Josip Botteri Dini           oil on canvas                             Fr. Jerko Petričević
21. Josip Botteri Dini           oil on canvas                             St. Nikola Tavelić
22. Stjepan Večenaj                       -                                   -
23. Dubravka Vojnović                     -                                   -
24. Josip Vaništa    -                       -
25. Ljubomir Perčinlić                     -                                   -
26. Ivan Rabuzin                 oil on canvas                             Mađarevo
27. Martin Mehkek              -                                              -
28. Ivan Večenaj                 oil on glass                               -
29. Ivica Propadalo              -                                              -
30. Franjo Vujčec               -                                              -
31. Laora Blažević              oil on canvas                             Fr. Bono Milišić
32. Mile Blažević                sculpture, bronze, 4m                Rama cross
33. Mile Blažević                sculpture, bronze, 2,6 m            Rama mother
34. Mile Blažević                sculpture, bronze                      Medallion, friar with the people
35. Mile Blažević                sculpture, terracotta, 80 cm       Rama cross, 4 versions
36. Mile Blažević                sculpture, terracotta, 90 cm       Medallions, fragments of Rama cross
37. Mile Blažević                sculpture, terracotta, 30 cm       Rama crosses, 4 versions
38. Mile Blažević                tempera, gouache                     Rama crosses, 5 versions
39. Mile Blažević                oil on canvas                             Fr. Anto Ravlić
40. Jure Žaja                      sculpture, bronze                      Our Lady
41. Josip Kovačić                -                                              -
42. Marko Gugić                 -                                              -
43. Sonja Hržina                 -                                              -
44. Marko Majstorović         -                                              -
45. Vanja Radauš               -                                              -
46. Vanja Radauš               -                                              -
47. Vanja Radauš               -                                              -
48. Vanja Radauš               -                                              -
49. Petar Valdegg               -                                              -
50. Novak Demonjić            -                                              Fr. Ivo Žilić
51. Silva Kvasina                -                                              -
52. Edin Numankadić          -                                              -
53. Ljiljana Ivanišević           -                                              -
54. Biljana Sesar                -                                              -
55. Florijan Mićković           -                                              Recollection
56. Zlatko Melher                -                                              The urban in the spiritual
57. Drago Bušić                  sculpture                                  Tree of life
58. Drago Bušić                  relief                                        Šimun Ciranec
59. Zvonimir Gračan            sculpture                                  -
60. Dragutin Dubravčić        sculpture                                  -
61. Josip Stipeč                  sculpture                                  Barque II, 1993.
62. Franjo Primorac            oil on canvas                             Fr. Miroslav Abaz
63. Franjo Primorac            -                                              Pathos and light of Croatia
64. Vlado Puljić                  -                                              Carpet of  Bosnia
65. Ilija Marušić                  -                                              Monastery and church in Rama
66. Ferdo Kovač                 wood carving                             -
67. Ferdo Kovač                 -                                               After sin, mercy
68. Dragana Nuić                -                                              -
69. Nina Acković                 -                                              -
70. Igor Magić                    sculpture                                  Goldsmith's gold
71. Peruzović-Botteri           pastel                                      Son of Man
72. Ana Marija                    -                                              1994.
73. Hrvoje Marko Peruzović  oil on canvas, 50x60 cm           Resurrection, 1994.
74. Rudi Labaš                   oil on canvas                             Fr. Nikica Miličević
75. Rudi Labaš                   oil on canvas                             Fr. Bono Ivandić
76. Zvonimir Perko              -                                              -
77. Mladen Soldo                -                                              -
78. Robert Alilović               watercolour                               Monastery – view from the lake
79. Robert Alilović               oil on canvas                             Fr. Marijan Brkić
80. Mladen Mikulin              sculpture, bronze                      Fr. Grga Martić
81. Stjepan Gračan             sculpture, bronze                      Crucifixion
82. Nada Pivac                   oil on canvas                             Fr. Mladen Lucić
83. Ante Čulo                     oil on canvas                             Monastery and church in Rama
84. Gabrijel Jurkić               oil on canvas                 Our Lady of Rama with angels and the people
85. Gabrijel Jurkić               oil on canvas                             Fr. Kazimir Ivić
86. Đuro Seder                   oil on canvas                             Martyrs of Rama
87. Đuro Seder                   oil on canvas, 185x133 cm         Falling with the cross
88. Đuro Seder                   oil on canvas, 185x132 cm         Crucifixion
89. Đuro Seder                   oil on canvas, 185x132 cm         Jesus among the people
90. Đuro Seder                   oil on canvas                             Our Lady
91. Đuro Seder                   oil on canvas                             St Francis and the brothers
92. Đuro Seder                   oil on canvas                             Fr. Pavo Kudić
93. Vlatko Blažanović         oil on canvas, 90x116 cm          Golgotha
94. Vlatko Blažanović         oil on canvas                             Virgin of Grabovac
95. Vlatko Blažanović         oil on canvas                             Fr. Ivan Džolan
96. Vlatko Blažanović         oil on canvas                             Fr. Antun Antunović
97. Vlatko Blažanović         oil on canvas                             Fr. Ljubo Lucić
98. Vlatko Blažanović         oil on canvas                             Last Supper
99. Vlatko Blažanović         mosaic                                    Jesus calming the storm
100. Vlatko Blažanović         mosaic, 120x100 cm                 Madonna and child(96)  
101. Vlatko Blažanović         oil on canvas                             Gethsemane
102. Anđelko Mikulić            oil on canvas                             -
103. Anđelko Mikulić            oil on canvas                             Fr. Anto Ravlić
104. M. Ozrenski                 oil on canvas                             Fr. Ivo Žilić
105. M. Ozrenski                 oil on canvas                             Fr. Franjo Žili
106. Irfan Hozo                     oil on canvas                             Fr. Ljubo Lucić
107. Josip Biffel                    oil on canvas                             Fr. Eduard Žilić
108. Josip Biffel                    mural                                       Our Lady of Rama
109. Josip Biffel                    mural                                       Spirits
110. Josip Biffel                    mural                                       Nativity of the Virgin
111. Josip Biffel                    oil on canvas                             14 Stations of the Cross
112. Josip Biffel                    mural                                       St Teresa
113. Josip Biffel                    frieze on choir                           The sacraments
114. Josip Poljan                  stained glass                            -
115. Branimir Jakelić            oil on canvas                             Fr. Julijan Jurković
116. Ante Mamuša               oil on canvas                             Fr. Eduard Lončar
117. Ante Mamuša               oil on canvas                             Virgin of Grabovac
118. P. Vojković                   oil on canvas                             Fr. Nenad Petrović
119. Igor Rončević                oil on canvas                             Fr. Ivo Krešo
120. Dražen Trogrlić             oil on canvas                             Fr. Mladen Lucić
121. Blaženka Salavarda      mosaic, 150x57 cm                   Angel with trumpet
122. Blaženka Salavarda      mosaic, 140x70 cm                   Angel
123. Blaženka Salavarda      mosaic, 110x85 cm                   Annunciation
124. Blaženka Salavarda      mosaic, 120x80 cm                   Madonna and child
125. Blaženka Salavarda      mosaic, 70x130 cm                   Flight to Egypt
126. Blaženka Salavarda      mosaic, 120x80 cm                   Pieta II
127. Blaženka Salavarda      mosaic,  180x120 cm                St Clare
128. Blaženka Salavarda      mosaic, 180x120 cm                 St Anthony in lilies
129. Blaženka Salavarda      mosaic, 180x120 cm                 Stigma of St Francis
130. Edo Murtić                   acrylic on canvas, 114x146 cm  Landscape with grey sky
131. Miroslav Šutej               biro on paper, 140x100 cm        Stigmatisation I
132. Zlatko Keser                 oil on canvas. 195x145 cm        Conversion of St Francis
133. Igor Rončević                -                                              Four ages of man
134. Marko Vekić                 -                                              Last Supper
135. Marko Vekić                 -                                              Baptism in the Jordan
136. Nada Pivac                   -                                              Fr. Mladen Lucić
137. Boris Jovanović -                                                          Fr. Jerko Vladić

South annex of the monastery – building 4

Guided by the need to link the new and old monastery buildings functionally, the design for building 4 consists of two parts. The first has two storeys and consists of a hall and communications passageway, and a room housing the ethno-museum, as the link between old and new. The second has a total of six storeys (basement, ground floor, mezzanine, two upper storeys, and mansard) and is used for residential purposes.

The basement contains the boiler room, workshop, machine shop, work rooms, storerooms and toilet block, while the ground floor and mezzaine contain semi-suites and a living room for the nuns. The first floors of the old and the new building are at the same level, with the old monastery building linked with the new building at ground floor and first floor level (by a passageway one branch of which also leads to the gallery of the church).

The first and second floors of the new section contain three suites and one semi-suite for priests, two guest rooms and a backup toilet block, the third floor contains living rooms, and the mansard contains suites. The basic residential unit is a suite consisting of living room with conversation area and study area, and a bedroom with bathroom.

The semi-suites consist of an entrance area with cloakroom and bathroom, and a bedsitting room.

The roof above the room housing the ethno-museum is treated as a flat roof and has six glazed skylights set zenithally, providing high quality natural lighting.

            The structural system of the building consists of vertical reinforced concrete slabs set 3.80, 4.40 and 6.80 m apart respectivedly with the horizontal reinforced concrete floor slabs set between them.  The higher section of the building measures approx. 11 x 17.40 m, and the facade surfaces are highly articulated.  The facade walls are faced with facade brick.

The monastery premises contain the local ethnographic collection. This dates from the late 20th century thanks to Fr. Mijo Džolan. The present guardian, fr. Mato Topić, has continued making acquisitions. In addition to costumes worn during the 19th and early 20th century, the collection includes items used in commerce, means of transport, the textiles cottage industry, household goods and traditional architecture.

West annex of the monastery – building 5

Between the existing monastery and the garage, a cinema hall was interpolated at basement level and a chapel, kitchen and guest refectory at ground level. The west annex is a two-storey building (basement and ground floor). The building lies north-south, with the south side abutting onto the south annex of the monastery, building 4.

The layout of the rooms in this building, grouped by function, is as follows: basement: entrance, foyer of cinema hall, toilets (ladies' and gents'), club area with bar for coffee and drinks, projection room, cinema hall, contractor's cloakroom, lift machinery, three storage areas for the monastery kitchen, storeroom and men's and women's toilets serving the guest kitchen;

Ground floor: passageway between the monastery and annex with men's and women's toilets, linked with the chapel, guest refectory, grounds and terrace of the garage, chapel linked by a passageway with the parish office, reception and grounds, guest kitchen, refectory linked by a passageway with the monastery and grounds: the guest kitchen and monastery kitchen are separate, but are linked by a passageway in case both are needed to prepare a large quantity of meals for guests.

The total usable area of the annex is 754,51 m2 (basement 338,70 m2 + chapel 132,00 m2 +  kitchen and refectory 198,54 m2 + passageway 85,27 m2).

The structure of the annex consists of load-bearing walls at basement and ground-floor level of brickblocks combined with reinforced concrete walls 20-25 cm thick, and a reinforced concrete floor slab 16 cm thick.

The works are still under way.

The souvenir shop to the north of the monastery plot is a single-storey building with a timber roof structure, built of modern materials (brick, concrete, glass).  

The monastery courtyard contains a number of sculptures, such as the Rama mother, Virgin of Grabovac, Last Supper and Rama Cross.

The Rama mother was set up in the monastery courtyard in 1999. It is the work of the sculptor Mile Blažević, and is a bronze 250 cm in height. The Rama mother is shown in the traditional costume of the Rama region, with a small child in her arms. Fr. Ivan Šarčević says of the Rama mother: «The sculpture is indeed large, not so as to show the physical size of the mothers of Rama but rather their inner strength, which Blažević conveys by means of the sharp, ungainly contours of the costume, from the headscarf to the apron and peasant footwear, which all them come together in the tender but resolute, reflective and meditative face, with its long neck and straight lines, but a face caught in prayer, eyes facing straight forward awaiting the coming of her loved ones, awaiting the «Providential Day», while below her huge, protective hands the tiny child at her bosom, knowing nothing of uncertainty, is barely to be seen.» (Šarčević, 2003, 90-91)

The Virgin of Grabovac, a work by the sculpture Kuzma Kovačić dating from 1997, is one of the three women of Rama, Our Lady and the Rama mother. The virgin is shown kneeling, hands clasped convulsively to her stomach and head, as though pleading, facing skywards. It is made of bronze.

The Last Supper is also the work of Kuzma Kovačić. The sculpture too is in bronze, of circular composition with a diameter of 308 cm and a height of 170 cm. The first sketches of the sculpture date from 1998. It was modelled in clay and cast in plaster during the first half of 2000. The casting in bronze took place in the second half of 2000 and early 2001 in the Ujević art foundry in Zagreb. The sculpture was on public display from 5 to 19 April 2001 in the Klovićevi dvori Gallery in Zagreb, as part of the «Passion heritage 2001», and finally set up in the garden of the Rama – Šćit Franciscan monastery on 20 June 2001.

While the theme of the Last Supper has been constantly changing throughout the history of Christianity, and there is now another detail in the foreground (Christ, Judas, the shape of the table, the betrayal, the Eucharist, the holy communion of the apostles...) Kovačić is struggling with the possibility of the Last Supper as a modern sculpture, as a result of which he synthesizes all the moments emphasized over the centuries in a response to his fundamental question.  His Last Supper as a whole is a dialogue with the earlier great artists, in which he always remains within his fundamental problem» (Jozić, 2001, 2-10; Schiller 1971, 89; Walter C. 1982, 198-199).

In the 1990s, thanks to the efforts of the guardian, fr. Živko Petričević, and the vicar of the monastery, fr. Mije Džolan, and of Božo Mišur, an initiative was launched to beautify the Rama church, monastery and courtyard with works of art. A group of intellectuals at that time associated with a branch of Matica Hrvatska, and a large number of people from different backgrounds, worked with them on the same idea.  As well as building a new monastery, the idea arose to set up a memorial to the victims of World War II (Šarčević, 2003, 80). The artist chosen to make the memorial was Mile Blažević, who made the Rama cross, which is 4 m in height and weighs 2 tonnes. It was cast in the Ujević art foundry in Zagreb, and set up in the monastery courtyard in 1996.

The cross stands on a pedestal in the form of a stylized stećak tombstone with a design of the round dance. The front of the cross bears the crucified Jesus, who is surrounded by the apostles as a wreath. The left-hand arm of the cross features the archangel Michael, and the right the Deposition of Jesus in the tomb.

The other side of the cross has Jesus as the last judge, in the dignified stance of judge of the living and the dead, with his right hand raised and his left holding a book on his knee. He is surrounded by the symbols of the four evangelists, Matthew (an angel), Mark (a lion), Luke (a bullock) and John (an eagle) (Šarčević, 2003, 86; Glavan, 1993).

3. Legal status to date

«The Franciscan monastery Šćit» in Prozor (Rama) is on the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted at the 15th session of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments in its former complement, held on 14 June 2000.

4. Research and conservation and restoration works

The roof of the old monastery building began to leak, and in 1965, at the request of the Conservators' Institute of Mostar, the old monastery was roofed with wooden shingles. The last time shingles had been laid on the monastery roof was 1937. (97)  

The Šćit-Rama Franciscan monastery ordered an executive project to be drawn up for the reconstruction and repair of the old Franciscan monastery in Šćit. In February 2005, the company Plan d.o.o. of Prozor-Rama drew up a project, under chief designer architect Ante Tomić.

5. Current condition of the property                

Other than the remains of the old monastery building – building 1 – which is in ruins and exposed to the effects of the elements, thus to progressive deterioration, the physical condition of the other buildings in the monastery complex is good.

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

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.iii.      the building or group of buildings is part of a group or site

G.  Authenticity

G.iii.     use and function

G.vi.     spirit and feeling

G.vii.     other internal and external factors

The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:

• Copy of cadastral plan (copy of cadastral plan c.p. no. 5/15/1, c.m.Proslap, plan no. 19,scale1:2500, issued 30.11.2005 by Administrative Department of Geodetics and Property Affairs, Municipality Prozor-Rama)
• Copy of land register entry and proof of title;
• Photodocumentation;
• Drawings
• Projects:

o        Technical study for prospective works on the church in Šćit, Belgrade, 1966

o        Drawing of the main altar of the parish church in Šćit, architect Mladen Fučić, Zagreb, 27 April 1968.

o        Project of the existing condition of the monastery in Šćitu, drawn up by: Predrag Krošnjar and architecture students Bojan Jovanović and Goran Tijanić, Sarajevo, July 1984

o        Design project for the adaptation and extension of the Franciscan monastery in Šćit, Sarajevo, December 1984.

o        Design project for the adaptation and extension of the Franciscan monastery in  Šćit, architects Vinko Grabovac and R. Marković, Sarajevo, November 1985.

o        Executive project for the reconstruction and repair of the old Franciscan monastery in  Šćitu; «Plan» d.o.o. of Prozor-Rama, chief designer architect Ante Tomić, February 2005. (the project includes a survey of the condition of the building prior to devastation)

o        Blueprints of the existing condition of the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Šćit, ground plans of ground floor and gallery; surveyed and drawn up by architecture students Nermina Katkić and Lejla Šabić, Sarajevo, 2005.

Bibliography

During the procedure to designate the natural and historic site of the Franciscan Monastery and Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Šćit as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:

1971.    Schiller G., Iconography of Christian Art, London, 1971

1882.    Fra Vladić, Jeronim: Uspomene o Rami i ramskom franjevačkom samostanu (Mementoes of Rama and the Rama Franciscan Monastery) (Zagreb, 1882), reprint edition Zagreb, 1991

1982.    Walter C., Art and Ritual of the  Byzantine Church, London, 1982

1980.    Institute for architecture, town planning and regional planning of the Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo, Regional Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina; Stage «B» - valorization of natural, cultural and historical monuments, Sarajevo, 1980.

1984.    Bogdanović, fr. Marijan: Ljetopis kreševskog samostana (1765-1817), (Chronicle of the Kreševo Monastery [1765-1817]) Sarajevo, 1984

1984.    Catalogue, various authors, Stari franjevački samostani BiH (Old Franciscan monasteries of BiH), Sarajevo, 1984.

1990.    Karamatić, Dr. Marko – Nikić, Dr. Andrija, Blago franjevačkih samostana Bosne i Hercegovine (Treasures of the Franciscan monasteries of BiH) Privredni vjesnik – tourist publicity, Zagreb, 1990.

1990.    Jelenić, Julijan, Kultura i bosanski franjevci I i II (Culture and the Bosnian Franciscans I and II), Phototype of the 1912 edition, Svjetlost, Sarajevo, 1990

1993.    Darko Glavan, Mile Blažević, Rami - zemlji preblizu ljepoti i stradanju (To Rama – a land too close to beauty and suffering), Zagreb 1993.

1997.    Šahmanović, Sadžida: Bosna i Hercegovina u kartografskoj zbirci Nacionalne i univerzitetske biblioteke Bosne i Hercegovine (BiH in the cartographic collections of the National and University Library of BiH) Bibliotekarstvo, vol. 42 (1997), pp. 97-99, Sarajevo

1998.    Anić, Vladimir: Rječnik hrvatskog jezika (Dictionary of the Croatian Language), 3rd enlarged ed., Zagreb, 1998

1999.    Executive project (adaptation and extension of the monastery) , architects Damir Derjanović and Emil Bersak,  Zagreb,  February 1999.

2001.    Benedikt Kuripešić: Putopis kroz Bosnu, Srbiju, Bugarsku i Rumeliju 1530 (Travels through Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Rumelia 1530 [trans. from the German of Itinerarium, Wegrayss. Kun. May. potschaft gen.Constantinopel dem Türkischen Keiser Soleyman. Anno XXX-MDXXXI. Reprint ed.: Sarajevo : Svjetlost, 1950 by Đorđe Pejanović (Sarajevo : Oslobođenje)]) - Reprint ed. – Belgrade: Čigoja Press, 2001

2001.    Fra Vladić, Jeronim: Urežnjaci iz Rame (?? from Rama) (first published in the Vrhbosna newsheet in Sarajevo, 1920 and 1921) Franciscan Monastery Rama, Zagreb, 2001

2002.    Fra Lucić, Ljubo: Rama kroz stoljeća (Rama through the centuries) (Publishers: Franciscan Monastery Rama-Šćit, Svijetlo riječi Sarajevo), Rama-Šćit, 2002

2003.    Baltić, Jako: Godišnjak od događaja crkvenih, svietskih i promine vrimena u Bosni i Hercegovini (Annual of ecclesiastical and secular events and changing times in BiH) ; ed., and Latin and Italian sections translated, with introduction and notes, by Andrija Zirdum - Sarajevo, Zagreb 2003

2003.    Benić, Bono: Letopis sutješkog samostana (Chronicle of the Sutjeska monastery), ed., and Latin and Italian sections translated,with introduction and notes, by Ignacije Gavran. – Zagreb;  Sarajevo :Synopsis, 2003 (Library of Bosnia Argentina),

2003.    Lašvanin Nikola: Ljetopis  (Chronicle) ed., and Latin and Italian sections translated,with introduction ed., and Latin and Italian sections translated,with introduction and notes, by Ignacije Gavran. – Zagreb;  Sarajevo :Synopsis, 2003 (Čakovec : "Zrinski"). -  (Library of Bosnia Argentina),

2003.    Ćiro Truhelka, Djevojački grob (Virgin's grave), Rama, 2003.

2003.    Fra Anto Šarčević, Umjetnička djela crkve i franjevačkog samostana Rama – Šćit, Lijepo i sveto u susretu (Art works of the church and Franciscan monastery of Rama-Šćit, the beautiful and the sacred meet) – Svetište Gospe ramske. 2003. 73-115

2005.    Fra Topić, Mato: Ramske starine (Rama antiquities) publishers: Franciscan monastery Rama-Šćit and Svjetlo riječi-Sarajevo, 2005

Milan Bešlić, Builder of Form, www. Rama.co.ba

(1) The river arose from three sources: Rama, Buka and Krupića, and a number of smaller tributaries. The construction of a dam and the artificial Jablanica lake/reservoir in 1945 flooded the lower course of the Rama, and in 1968 the construction of a dam in Kovačo Polje and the creation of another artificial lake/reservoir,  Lake Rama, the upper course of the Rama and much of the Upper Rama gorge was also flooded.

 (2) Rama consists of Upper and Lower Rama. The first regional map of Bosnia was published by the Italian cartographer Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola (Giacomo Cantelli da Vignola: Ill Regno delle Bossina, diuisso nelle sur Prouincie principali, 1:800.000, 55x50, Roma 1689) with the title: "Il regno della Bosnia, diuso nelle sue Provincie principali: Bossina Inferiore, Bossina Superiore, Rama Superiore, Rama Inferiore, Sale Superiore, Sale Inferiore". The map thus refers to Upper and Lower Rama. Upper Rama consists of the upper Rama valley and the counties of Šćit, Rumboci, Prozor and Uzdol, while Lower Rama covers the counties Gračac and Doljani (Šahmanović, Sadžida: Bosna i Hercegovina u kartografskoj zbirci Nacionalne i univerzitetske biblioteke Bosne i Hercegovine, Bibliotekarstvo, vol. 42 (1997), pp. 97-99, Sarajevo, 1997).

(3) In the late 1970s, when the reservoir was built, several hundred families from Ram had to move out, reducing the population of the parish. The parish now consists of the villages of Šćit, Družnovići, Jaklići, Kozo, Maglice, Mluša, Orašac, Ploča, Podbor, Proslap, Ripci, Sopot, Tribiševo and Zlopolje.

(4) According to the copy provided of the cadastral plan, c.m. Proslap, plan no. 19, scale 1:2500, issued on 30.11.2005 by the Administrative Dept. of Geodetic and Property Affairs of Municipality Prozor-Rama

(5) In 1291 Pope Nicholas IV (MASCI, Jeronim, papa Nikola IV; Ascoli Piceno, ? – Rim, 4. IV. 1292.; the first Franciscan to be elected as pope (1288)), ordered the Provincial of Sclavoniae (Croatia) “to send two Franciscans leading model lives and well informed in theology and able to speak the local language to work permanently in those parts to "seek out heresy". That year is regarded as the beginning of the activities of the Bosnian Franciscans.” (Jelenić: 1990, II vol, p. 686)

(6) The first Turkish conquest of Rama coincides with the conquest of Bosnia (1463). No sooner had they fallen than the Herzegovinian and Hungarian army conquered and seized Prozor and Rama, holding them until the Turks regained them in 1482. Rama remained under Turkish rule for four centuries.

(7) Vigilius Greiderer: Germania Franciscana, Innsbruck 1777/1778, p. 66

(8) Srebrenica, after which the province of Bosnia Argentina is named, since the main monastery in that province was the one in Srebrenica, while it was named Croatia-Bosnia, since it had its own monasteries there and there, Kampania or Mačva, Soli, present-day Tuzla, Olovo, Sutjeska, Visoki, Fojnice, Kreševo, Rama, Konjic, Mostar, Ljubuški, Zaostrog and Makarska, and since Bosnia now has its own thirteen monasteries, remained without any objection the name of the province or so-called vicariate, which three years later was turned into the name of the [Franciscan] state (Fra Vladić, Jeronim: Uspomene o Rami i ramskom franjevačkom samostanu, (Zagreb, 1882), reprint ed. Zagreb, 1991, p. 33)

(9) In addition to a transcript of the epitaph on a tombstone about which fr. Martin Nedić wrote (Herald of the Bishopric of Djakovao and Srijem, 1880, no. 21), there is relevant information provided by the Obituaries and Martyrology of the order composed in the chronicles of the Franciscan monastery in Kraljeva Sutjeska, according to which this event occurred on 21 April 1557 (Vladić, Jeronim: 1882, pp. 36-37).

(10) Citing these details from the Santovski chronicle, the names of the friars are mentioned by Fr. Petar Bakula (Petar Bakula: I Martirii della missione francesca osservatne in Ercegovina, 1862.)

(11) “.., the epitaph, which is sadly no longer in existence, since it does not mention father Andrija Glavadanović, was destroyed during the building of the parish house, ..” (Vladić, Jeronim: 1882, p. 38)

The mortal remains of the friars who were killed were buried in a common grave by the left-hand entrance door of the present-day church (Fra Lucić, Ljubo: Rama kroz stoljeća, Rama-Šćit, 2002, p. 25). The common grave of the friars is not now marked by a tombstone nor is its position indicated. (op. E. Softić) 

(12) The activities of Fr. Andrija Glavadanović are associated with the period 1828-1860. In a List of priests active in Rama from 1700 to the present day (Fra Lucić, Ljubo: Rama kroz stoljeća, Rama-Šćit, 2002, pp. 60-68), the name of fr. Andrija is associated with 1828, when he is referred to as atttending the Chapter held on 30 July 1860 in the Fojnica monastery (Baltić, Jako: Godišnjak od događaja crkvenih, svietskih i promine vrimena u Bosni; ed. Latin and Italian sections translated, with introduction and notes by Andrija Zirdum) - Sarajevo , Zagreb 2003, p. 298

(13) Gonzaga, Francesco: De origine seraphicae religionis Franciscanae eiusque progressibus, de Regularis obseruanciae institutione, forma administrationis ac legibus, admirabilique eius propagatione. F. Francisci Gonzagae eiusdem religionis ministri generalis ... opus in quatuor partes diuisum. Earum quid unaquaeque contineat, sequens pagina indicabit. Romae, 1587 (Romae : ex typographia Dominici Basae, 1587.), p. 515

(14) Jelenić: 1990, II vol, pp. 127-128

(15) Fabianich Donato: Storia dei Frati Minori dai primordi della loro istituzione in Dalmazia e Bossina, vol. I, Zadar 1864, p. 277.

(16) The original uses the word uzgor, a regional folk term. 1. upwards, towards the top 2.. upright (set ~) pr.: downwards (Anić, Vladimir: Rječnik hrvatskog jezika, 3rd enlarged ed.., Zagreb, 1998, p. 1279)

(17) Vladić, Jeronim: 1882, p. 38

(18) Between 1618 and 1625, the Holy See had entrusted the administration of the Bosnian bishopric to the  Bishop of Skradin. (Vladić: 1882, p. 40)

(19) Fra Lucić:, 2002, p. 25; Vladić: 1882, pp. 38-39; Fr. Vladić Jeronim refers to the source: Daniele Farlati: Illyricum Sacrum, Venedik, Vellimi IV, 1769, p. 195

(20) generalness visitator, who visited the Province on behalf of the Order before a Chapter to ascertain the personnel needs of the Province and chair the election of the new leadership (Bogdanović, fr. Marijan: Ljetopis kreševskog samostana (1765-1817), Rječnik nepoznath riječi , Sarajevo, 1984, p.306)

(21) One of the highest offices of the Catholic Church. The reference hear is to the Congregation for the mission known as the “Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith” (S. Congregatio de propaganda fide) or  Propaganda for short. Benić and others translate it as: Sv. skup (Benić, Bono: Letopis sutješkog samostana, 2003, chapter: Rječnik nepoznatih riječi, p. 354)

(22) "I have become Provincial of this poor province; I was elected unanimously in peace by all the respected fathers, and unity and peace was agreed throughout the entire province... From Rama, 30 June 1640, fr. Martin Provincial of Bosnia Argentina."Fra Lucić: 2002, p. 27 (source Mandić, Dominik: Franjevačka Bosna, Rome, 1968)

(23) The Candian war (1645-1669). This was fought mainly between the Venetian Republic and the Ottoman Empire.

(24) Vladić: 1882, pp. 45-46

(25) Vladić: 1882, pp. 47-48 (from the Archives of the Sutjeska monastery)

(26) Fra Vladić, Jeronim: Urežnjaci iz Rame, (first publ. in Vrhbosna in Sarajevo, 1920 and 1921) Franciscan monastery, Zagreb, 2001, p. 16

(27) “ 6 jaspras made one para, and 40 paras one groschen. The Venetian ducat was worth 482 jaspras at that time, which means that the Rama monastery had to pay a fine of 165 Venetian gold ducats” (Batinić, Mijo Vjenceslav: Djelovanje franjevaca u Bosni i Hercegovini za prvih šest viekova njihova boravka, II, Zagreb, 1883, p. 134).   

(28) Fra Lucić:, 2002, p. 30 (from Lašvanin Nikola: Ljetopis, 2003, p. 269)

(29) Vladić: 1882, p. 50 (from: Liber archivalis Proviae Smi. Redemptoris u Sinju. Mss.-Matas: first report, etc. p. 14)

(30) Vladić: 1882, p. 51

(31) Vladić: 1882, p. 51

(32)  “…The notebook of the guardian of the Rama monastery, they say, has been kept in the Sinj archives since 1667-1672, it is not known who the guardian was.  In this excerpt of Matas, send to me by v.č. father Stjepan Zlatović, there is a note: 1667. Guardian unknolwn. 1669. N.N. 1672. Guardian Ante Ilijić, who is resiging, represents Grga of Drežnica. It may be surmised from this that the Rama monastery must have burned down for a second time in 1667, since Matas was of the view that everything in the church was destroyed by fire…  … This seems most likely to us, that this fire was in 1670, it would not be right to say, taking into consideration these circumstances, that the buildings could be rebuilt in just two years and the personnel housed there again …” (Vladić: 1882, p. 51-53)

(33) Vladić: 1882, p. 54 (referring to the source Arkiv vjeroplodničin vol. II ad an. 1674. die 22/1.)

(34) “…there is more here than a studium and the noviciate itself…  among those known to use from this year are father. Grga Odričević, guardian, father  Andrija Sovićanin, lecturer or professor, father Ivan Anić, teacher of the novices and professor of fine arts.”  Vladić: 1882, p. 54-55; (referring to source Arkiv vjeroplodničin vol. II ad an. 1674. die 22/1.)

(35) Nikić, Andrija: Regesta Kongregacije “De propaganda fide, u Nova et vetera, vols. 1-2, Sarajevo, 1988, p. 239

(36)  novak, new student, member of a community, etc. (Anić: 1998, p. 637)

(37) noviciate, period during which those who wish to join a religious order are prepared and tested (Anić: 1998, p. 638)

(38) Jelenić, Julijan: Kultura i bosanski franjevci I , Phototype of the 1912 ed., Svjetlost, Sarajevo, 1990, p. 211

(39) Fr. Lucić: 2002, p. 34

(40) Provincial of Bosnia Argentina Fra Franjo Ogramić (1658-1661)

(41) Fr. Lucić: 2002, p. 34

(42) Fr. Nedić, Martin: Stanje redodržave Bosne Srebrene, Đakovo, 1884, p. 63-64

(43) Lašvanin Nikola: Chronicle; ed, Latin and Italian sections translated, introduction and notes by Ignacije Gavran. - Sarajevo; Zagreb: Synopsis, 2003 (Čakovec : "Zrinski"). - (Biblioteka Iz Bosne Srebrene), p. 259

(44) the next Chapter was held in 1684 in the Franciscan monastery in Kreševo (op. E. Softić)

(45) The debt amounted to 1700 groschen and was not fully repaid, and the Rama friars moved to Dalmatia. The Franciscan monastery in Fojnica took over the liability to repay the debt. In 1724 they also paid Kasum interest in the amount of 180.000 jaspras. The Fojnica monastery also had to pay taxes (julus) on the ruines of the Rama church and monastery until 1836 (Fra Lucić: 2002, p. 44-46).

(46) The war between Austria and Turkey (the Vienna war). Many Catholics moved out of Bosnia to the regions liberated from Turkish rule (Slavonia, Dalmatia). The Franciscans were also forced to abandon many of theirmonasteries, which were then demolished or set on fire: Modriča in 1685, Rama, Srebrenica and Olovo in 1687, Gradovrh and Visoko in 1688, Donja Tuzla in 1690. The number of Catholics fell to fewer than 20,000, of whom there were about thirty Franciscans. Some estimates are that more than 100,000 Catholics moved out of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A further cause of this was the campaign by Eugene of Savoy against Sarajevo in 1697. Under the terms of the 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz it was agreed that the border between Bosnia and Austria should be the river Sava, and that with Dalmatia Mr. Dinara. The Franciscan province of Bosnia Argentian then extended over parts of three states. (Jelenić: 1990, II vol., p. 687)

(47) Jelenić: 1990, I vol, pp. 171-174

(48) lemozina (from the Italian) monetary contributions collected for the church after mass, alms (Anić, Vladimir: Rječnik hrvatskog jezika, 3rd enlarged ed., Zagreb, 1998, p. 482)

(49) Fr. Vladić, Jeronim: Urežnjaci iz Rame, 2001, p. 18

(50) According to reports by the Apostolic Vicar fr. Pavle Dragićević to the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, in 1744 Rama had 83 Christian households with 857 souls.

(51) Housed in the monastery library, and destroyed by fire on 13 July 1942.

(52) Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin

(53) Vladić: 1882, p. 91

(54) Vladić: 1882, p. 91

(55) Fra Vladić, Jeronim: Urežnjaci iz Rame, 2001, p. 35 (from: Libar od kase manastira sv. Duha  u Fojnici pag. 17.)

(56) Vladić: 1882, p. 98 (from: Libar od kase manastira sv. Duha  u Fojnici pag. 17.)

(57) During these works, Fr. Franjo caught a cold, dying in the spring of 1856. (Fra Vladić, Jeronim: 2001, p. 35)

(58) It is clear from old photographs of the monastery that the entire façade was plastered.

(59) Fra Vladić, Jeronim: 2001, p. 35-36

(60) The parish of Rama had 2872 Catholics in 1813, 3,102 in 1877, and 5,138 in 1935. In 1814 about 1,000 people died of the plague in Rama. In 1991 the parish had a population of 3,500; it now has 3,193 parishioners.

(61) The Franciscans of Rama thereby directly incorporated education into their pastoral work. During a visit by Fr. Paško Vujica, Apostolic Visitator in Bosnia, to the Kraljeva Sutjeska monastery on 5 March 1868, an assembly of Franciscans was held at which the debate included primary school reform. One of the many resolutions adopted was that schoolhouses should be built as soon as possible in Busovača, Brestovski, Bučići, Orašje, Ivanjski, Ljubunčić, Rama, Neretva-Pothum, Osova, Plehan, Brod, Dervent, Potočani, Garevo, Vidovice, Brčko, Tuzla and Domaljevac (Jelenić: 1990, II vol., p. 333-335)

(62) “..The very next year, 1864, he had two limekilns fired at his own expense, and the parishioners transported the lime free of charge; it was spread in a trench  there, where there is now a bakery. Everyone would then procure some timber or beam and deposit it in one place, covering it well with straw to prevent it from rotting, and when a good quantity had been collected, it was used as it was, uncut, to make a sudurma, on which more timber and beams would be laid, to prevent them from becoming rain-soaked and rotting. The following year, a long, deep, wide trench was dug in a boggy place in the orchard, and walled in places at the centre to prevent the swollen land from breaking down the walls; in this trench up to 200 loads of lime were spread, and covered with soil and sods, like the previous one. He asked local craftsmen and masons where the best stone was to be found, and each of them brought a few pieces to try out, from a designated place; these he left throughout the winter to be rained upon, and to freeze, to see which was the most resistant to rain and frost. …” (Fra Vladić, Jeronim: 2001, p. 41)

(63) during the reign of Abdul-Aziz, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1861-1876)

(64) Fra Lucić: 2002, p. 84

(65) …The people helped with the greatest of pleasure to bring material and work alongside the craftsmen, who were paid by the people as follows: municipalities  Rumboci and Varvara 2 irgets. Proslap and Kovačipolje 2. Orašac and Višnjani 2. Jaklići, Ripci, Lapsuni, Družinovići, Šlimac 2. Sopot, Podbor, Ploča, Mluša 2.” (Vladić, Jeronim: 2001, p. 48)

(66) “…who were approached in writing on the initiative of the Proconsul in Livno, Josip Dragomanović…” (Vladić: 1882, p. 103-104)

(67) (Vladić, Jeronim: 2001, p. 48)

(68) -residence- (guest house, hospice) of a monastic house that does not have the full status of monastery, Bono: Letopis sutješkog samostana, 2003, chapter: Rječnik nepoznatih riječi, p. 358)

At the Chapter of the Bosnian Province held on 2 August 1882 in the Fojnica monastery, the General of the Order Reda Bernardin Romantino ordered that,  among other thinks “…like Krajina, so too Jajce and Rama, be residentie independantes giving them the best parishes, …” (Baltić: 2003, p. 424-425 )

(69) “At the Provincial Chapter in 1939 Rama, along with Sarajevo and Visoko, was designated as a monastery,and fr Anto Perković was appointed as its first guardian…” (Fra Lucić: 2002, p. 102)

(70) Fr. Lucić: 2002, p. 86

 (71) Franz Holz also carried out works to complete the Franciscan church in Gorica (building a reinforced concrete vault above the existing load-bearers, pave the church suitably, decorate the walls and ceiling, and erect a second, northern belltower) to a design by Josip Vancaš dating from 1903.

The Franciscan high school in Visoko was also enlarged in 1913, to blueprints by Franz Holz.

(72) Fr. Lucić: 2002, p. 100-101

(73) The bomb, which weighed 100 kg, was dismantled by the Partisans, and its explosives used to demolish bridges on the Neretva (Fra Lucić: 2002, p. 135; from: Ljubo j. Mihić: Bitka za ranjenike, Prozor, 1978, p. 316)

(74) Fr. Lucić: 2002, p. 143-144

(75) Fr. Lucić: 2002, p. 152

(76) Fr. Lucić: 2002, p. 162-163

(77) Fr. Lucić: 2002, p. 175-178

(78) “cathedral” glass is usually taken to mean a lead-framed window usually glazed with stained glass.

(79) Fr. Lucić: 2002, p. 178

(80) Fr. Lucić: 2002, p. 179

(81) Project in the Archives of the Rama monastery, relating to the monastery building erected 1913-1930.

(82) There is no designer’s signature on the surviving drawings (op. E. Softić).

(83) Technical study for prospective works on the church in Šćit, Belgrade, 1966.

(84) A type of soft stone

(85) the text of the firman was translated by Hazim Numanagić in 2006.

(86) “…At the request of Bishop Šunjić, in 1860 Guča Gora also acquired an old organ from the church in the Vienna suburb of Altlerchenfeld, using it until after the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina when, receiving a new one, it passed [the old one] on to the church in Rama. …” (Jelenić: 1990, II vol, p. 586)

(87) The cost of the windows was to be 130,000 dinars per sq. m (Lucić, 2002, 190)

(88) Born 1933 in Zagreb, where he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts. Since 1960, has exhibited in Croatia and abroad. Works as full professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, dept. of painting.

(89) Official title Our Lady of Sinj. (Šarčević, 2003, 80)

(90) Born in Hvar n 6.6.1952. Completed studies in sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1976.  Learned to work in glass in Murano. Made glass sculptures in 1980 and 1982. Has mounted some thirty solo exhibitions in Croatia and abroad. Has created many well-known religious works, and of gold and silver coins for general circulation and special occasions in the Republic of Croatia. Has received some 20 national and international prizes and awards for his work. Full professor of sculpture at the Art Academy of the university of Split.

(91) The local term is diva – the ikavian form of the word djeva, djevica, inevitably linked with the Virgin, the Mother of Mercy (Šarčević, 2003., 98)

(92) Our Lady of Sinj was allegedly from Rama. However, in 1687, after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire outside Vienna, the Rama friars took her to Sinj, where they founded a new monastery. According to tradition, the friars took the painting out of the church through that very door as they fled from the Ottoman army. (Lucić, 2002, 36-43)

(93) According to the legend, the Kedžara and grave of the Virgin is located on the slopes of Mt. Vran near Doljani. In the early 20th century the archaeologist Ćiro Truhelka excavated the grave and found that a girl of 16 or 17 was buried there. From a folk tradition, it turned into a legend which became the narrative of the Virgin's grave, published in Zagreb, n.d. The legend recounts the tragic fate of a Christian girl of Rama, Diva of Grabovac, from Brajinov Doc, from the village of Zahum.  Tahirbeg of Vukovski fell in love with the girl and sought her hand in marriage. On account of this the girl's parents sent her to Mt Vran to live among the shepherds, but he found her, tried to rape her and, when she fought back, killed her. The girl was buried where she was killed, and her grave was marked by a cross. Later a stone wall was built around the grave, with a funereal chapel and a wall around the burial ground.  The legend was recounted to Truhelka by Arsnalaga Zukić, a friend and godparent of the Grabovac family, who avenged her death, allegedly killing Tahirbeg.  Women have since visited the site and prayed in her memory, and the grave is a place of pilgrimage for the first Sunday after St Peter's Day (Lucić, 2002, 206-207; Truhelka, 2003)

(94) Inscription from a saying of fr. Mijo Džolan (Šarčević, 2003, 95)

(95) there is no basement in the area below the narrower linking wing of the monastery (op. E. Softić)

(96) The mosaic is in the church in Podbor

(97) Fr. Lucić: 2002, p. 184