Status of monument -> National monument
Published in the “Official Gazette of BiH” no. 18/09.
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 16 to 22 May 2006 the Commission adopted a
D E C I S I O N
I
The historic site of the necropolis with stećak tombstones at Križevac in Doljani, Konjic Municipality, is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).
The National Monument consists of a necropolis with 15 stećak tombstones.
The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 953, Land Register entry no. KKU 52/1, cadastral municipality Mokro, Konjic Municipality, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The provisions relating to protection measures set forth by the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH nos. 2/02, 27/02 and 6/04) shall apply to the National Monument.
II
The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the Government of the Federation) shall be responsible for ensuring and providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary for the protection, conservation and presentation of the National Monument.
The Commission to Preserve National Monuments (hereinafter: the Commission) shall determine the technical requirements and secure the funds for preparing and setting up signboards with basic details of the monument and the Decision to proclaim the property a National Monument.
III
To ensure the on-going protection of the National Monument on the site defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision, the following measures are hereby stipulated:
- all works are prohibited with the exception of research, conservation and restoration works, routine maintenance works, and works designed to present the monument, with the approval of the Federation ministry responsible for regional planning (hereinafter: the relevant ministry) and with the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the heritage protection authority);
- the site shall be open and accessible to the public, and may be used for educational and cultural purposes;
- infrastructural works are permitted solely with the approval of the relevant ministry and subject to the expert opinion of the heritage protection authority;
- the dumping of waste is prohibited.
To ensure the on-going protection of the National Monument, a buffer zone is hereby stipulated, consisting of a 50 m wide strip around the borders of the site defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision.
In this buffer zone the following protection measures shall apply:
- the construction of full-profile roads, houses and all buildings or facilities that during construction or operation could be detrimental to the National Monument is prohibited;
- the dumping of waste is prohibited.
The Government of the Federation is required in particular to provide for:
- making good cracked and broken stećak tombstones;
- drawing up and implementing a programme for the presentation of the National Monument.
IV
All executive and area development planning acts not in accordance with the provisions of this Decision are hereby revoked.
V
Everyone, and in particular the competent authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and urban and municipal authorities, shall refrain from any action that might damage the National Monument or jeopardize the preservation thereof.
VI
The Government of the Federation, the relevant ministry, the heritage protection authority, and the Municipal Authorities in charge of urban planning and land registry affairs, shall be notified of this Decision in order to carry out the measures stipulated in Articles II to V of this Decision, and the Authorized Municipal Court shall be notified for the purposes of registration in the Land Register.
VII
The elucidation and accompanying documentation form an integral part of this Decision, which may be viewed by interested parties on the premises or by accessing the website of the Commission (http://www.aneks8komisija.com.ba)
VIII
Pursuant to Art. V para 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, decisions of the Commission are final.
IX
This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption and shall be published in the Official Gazette of BiH.
This Decision has been adopted by the following members of the Commission: Zeynep Ahunbay, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, Ljiljana Ševo and Tina Wik.
No: 05.2-2-313/05-2
17 May 2006
Sarajevo
Chair of the Commission
Amra Hadžimuhamedović
E l u c i d a t i o n
I – INTRODUCTION
Pursuant to Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a “National Monument” is an item of public property proclaimed by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments to be a National Monument pursuant to Articles V and VI of Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and property entered on the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of BiH no. 33/02) until the Commission reaches a final decision on its status, as to which there is no time limit and regardless of whether a petition for the property in question has been submitted or not.
On 8 December 2005 the Office for Economic, Financial and Social Affairs of Konjic Municipality submitted a proposal/petition to designate the historic site of the necropolis with stećak tombstones at Križevac in Doljani as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Pursuant to the provisions of the law, the Commission proceeded to carry out the procedure for reaching a final decision to designate the Property as a National Monument, pursuant to Article V of Annex 8 and Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments.
II – PROCEDURE PRIOR TO DECISION
In the procedure preceding the adoption of a final decision to proclaim the property a national monument, the following documentation was inspected:
- Documentation on the location and current owner and user of the property (copy of cadastral plan and copy of land registry entry);
- Data on the current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs, data of war damage, data on restoration or other works on the property, etc.;
- Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property.
The findings based on the review of the above documentation and the condition of the site are as follows:
1. Details of the property
Location
The village of Doljani is in the Bjelimići region. From the centre of Bjelimići, which is in the town of Odžaci, one takes the road for a few metres in the Kalinovik direction, turning southwards after 100-200 m onto the road leading to the village of Doljani. The village of Doljani is so called because it sprawls along a sunny slope about 3 km in length. It is a mountain village, where there has been building in recent times close to the main Konjic-Kalinovik road. At one time the village houses were concentrated in an area about 3 km from Odžak. The necropolis with stećak tombstones is about 2.5 km from the main Konjic-Kalinovok asphalt road. Križevac is on this road a little before and above the former centre of the village of Doljani. The locals call the road through the village the “muddy road,” because the ground is extremely soft and when it rains the road becomes soggy.
Historical information
In the late mediaeval period, Bjelimići was in the administrative district (contato) of the mediaeval town of Veletin. This town, and its administrative district, was part of the župa (county) of Zagorje, and belonged to the Bosnian state. It is not known whether the county was previously held by the Sanković family. In the 15th century Zagorje county was held by the Kosača family. Although Bjelimići was a Kosača holding, sources dating from 1442 to 1465 record that it was in Bosnia (Anđelić, 1982, 112). The earliest references to the town of Veletin in historical sources date from 1442 to 1465, during which time it is mentioned three times. A Dubrovnik source dating from 29 June 1442 records that Veletin (with the whole of Bjelimići) belonged to Bosnia. A source dated 4 April 1465 allows one to deduce that the governor of the town at that time was the prominent landowner Juraj Čemerović (Anđelić, 1975, -118-119; 1982, 100-103). Juraj Čemerović was a well-known diplomat whom vojvoda (duke, dux), later herceg (duke) Stjepan sent to Italy on several occasions. The Čemerović family had a manor in Odžak (not far from Doljani), and their own holdings, which were later in the timar of the Šurković begs (Anđelić, 1982, 88, 99). The town of Veletin is referred to as a Kosača possession in charters dating from 1444, 1448 and 1454. There is no information on the way the town functioned during the Ottoman period (Dinić, 1978, 234; Anđelić, 1975,149-151). The town was built far from any roads, but a charter dating from 1442 refers to its outskirts. This part of the Herceg's lands came under Ottoman rule in 1465. Doljani is referred to in the name list of the sanjak of the vilayet of Herzegovina drawn up in 1475-1477 (Aličić, 1985, 209,353,467,483).
2. Description of the property
Križevac is right beside the road that runs through the village of Doljani in a north-west/south-east direction, where there is an area of approx. 150 m2 on which is a necropolis with stećak tombstones. The necropolis is 2.5 km from the asphalt road to the south. The necropolis contains 15 stećak tombstones, 12 of them chest-shaped (or transitional in form from chest to slab) and 3 are ridge-shaped (gabled) (Bešlagić, 1971, 333; Anđelić, 1975, 203).
The necropolis lies north-west/south-east, following the natural lie of the land.
The stećak tombstones are of very good workmanship. They were cut from local stone that is prone to splitting, so that some of them, as well as being sunk into the ground, have split or broken at the corners. The tombstones that could be reached are monolithic chest-shaped or gabled stones with plinths.
Two gabled and two chest-shaped tombstones are decorated. The decorations on these four stećak are executed in bas-relief. The decorative motifs are rope twist, a frieze of twining stems with trefoils, a rosette in a twisted garland, shields with swords, and a round-dance scene with three figures and a horse and rider facing the round-dance (Š.Bešlagić, 1971, 333).
Only four of the stećak tombstones can be reached; the remainder are overgrown with bushes. In the first group, three tombstones could be reached, while 50 m to the south-east of this group one more tombstone could be reached.
Stećak no. 1, chest with plinth, of good workmanship. Measurements: chest, 1.37 x 0.82 x 0.5 m; plinth 2 x 1.10 x 0.3 m. The chest is damaged on the upper horizontal edge on the side facing the road, and one corner of the plinth is breaking up. The stećak is alongside the road that has now been widened right up to the tombstone itself, which is thus at risk, since the road is narrow and muddy.
Stećak no. 2, gabled with plinth. Measurements: gabled 1.47 x 0.55 (0.50) x 0.90 m (of which the chest is 0.72 m in height); plinth 1.9 x 0.9 x 0.2 m. Decorated with a rope twist where the chest section and the gabled section meet.
Stećak no. 3, gabled with plinth. Measurements: gabled 1.7 x 0.70 x 1.06 m (of which the chest is 0.8 m in height); plinth 2.1 x 1.1 x 0.16 m. The upper half of the vertical sides of the chest is decorated with a frieze of twining stems. The frieze is framed by horizontal rope twists above and below the stems. The chest is partly sunk into the ground, and the decorations are hard to make out.
Stećak no. 4, chest with plinth. Measurements: chest 1.57 x 0.83 x 0.60 m; plinth 1.9 x 1.05 x 0.30 m. The upper half of the vertical sides of the chest is decorated with a frieze of twining stems. The friest is framed by horizontal rope twists above and below the stems. The chest is partly sunk into the ground, and the decorations are hard to make out.
In 1897 a teacher in Bjelimici, Marko Hrgić, recorded that there was a stećak in the shape of a large slab with a cross in the “old Muhammadan graveyard” in the village of Doljani, on Križ hill. It had no epitaph. His description continues by saying that there was another slab, measuring 3 x 2 x 0.4 m, sixty paces from the graveyard on the summit of Križ hill. The third item of information he gives is a stećak with an epitaph which Anđelić read, from the accompanying sketch by the teacher, as Here lies Radibrat with his brother Vuksan, two Miloradović's. The fate of this tombstone is not known (Anđelić, 1975, 203).
3. Legal status to date
The property is not on the Provisional List of National Monuments of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments; rather, the decision is adopted on the basis of the above-noted petition.
The Regional Plan for BiH to 2000 lists all the stećak tombstones of Konjic municipality as Category III monuments.
4. Research and conservation and restoration works
Reconnaissance of the site in the 1960s.
5. Current condition of the property
An on site inspection on 2 and 8 January 2006 established that many of the tombstones are sunken or overgrown with scrub, and the local limestone from which they were made is subject to damage and deterioration as a result of weathering and the presence of plant organisms, lichens and moss. Access to the necropolis is difficult, because the narrow macadam road is soft and passable only to all-terrain vehicles.
6. Specific risks to which the property is exposed
- Climatic factors, risk of pollution, deteriorating materials;
- Lack of funds for maintenance; vegetation with which the necropolis is overgrown; unmade access to the tombstones; failure to make good cracks.
III – CONCLUSION
Applying the Criteria for the adoption of a decision on proclaiming an item of property a national monument (Official Gazette of BiH nos. 33/02 and 15/03), the Commission has enacted the Decision cited above.
The Decision was based on the following criteria:
A. Time frame
B. Historical value
C. Artistic and aesthetic value
C.iv. composition
C.v. value of details
G. Authenticity
G.i. form and design
G.v. location and setting
The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:
- Copy of cadastral plan;
- Copy of land register entry;
- Drawings – plan of the necropolis dated 2006;
- Photo documentation of the Commission taken on site, April 2006.
Bibliography
During the procedure to designate the monument as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:
1971. Bešlagić, Šefik, Stećci, kataloško-topografski pregled (Stećak tombstones, a catalogue and topographical survey), Veselin Masleša, Sarajevo, 1971, 142-143.
1975. Anđelić, Pavao, Historjski spomenici Konjica i okoline I (Historic monuments of Konjic and environs), Konjic Municipal Assembly, Konjic, 1975.
1978. Dinić, Mihailo, “Zemlje hercega Sv. Save” (Lands of Herceg St. Sava) In: Srpske zemlje u srednjem veku (Serbian lands in the mediaeval period), Belgrade, 1978, 178-269.
1982. Anđelić, Pavao, “Teritorijalno politička organizacija župe Neretve i njezino mjesto u širim političkim okvirima” (Territorial and political organization of the Neretva County and its place in the broader political context) In: Studije o teritorijalno-političkoj organizaciji srednjovjekovne Bosne (Studies on the territorial and political organization of mediaeval Bosnia). Sarajevo, 1982, 85-116.
1982. Bešlagić, Šefik, Stećci. Kultura i umjetnost (Stećak tombstones – culture and art), Veselin Masleša, Sarajevo, 1982.
1985. Aličić, S. Ahmed, Poimenični popis sandžaka vilajeta Hercegovina (Name list of the sanjak of the vilayet of Herzegovina), Oriental Institute in Sarajevo, Sarajevo, 1985.
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