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Decisions on Designation of Properties as National Monuments

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60th session - Decisions

Bistrik railway station, the historic monument

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Status of monument -> National monument

Pursuant to Article V para. 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 39 para. 1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, at a session held from 4 to 10 July 2006 the Commission adopted a

 

D E C I S I O N

 

I

 

The historic monument of the Bistrik railway station in Sarajevo is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no.. 167 (old survey), corresponding to c.p. nos. 2808, 2809 and 2810 (new survey), Land Register entry no.. CXV/JII, cadastral municipality Sarajevo IX, Municipality Stari grad Sarajevo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The provisions relating to protection measures set forth by the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of the Federation of  BiH nos. 2/02, 27/02 and 6/04) shall apply to the National Monument.

 

II

 

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the Government of the Federation) shall be responsible for ensuring and providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary to protect, conserve, display and rehabilitate 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

 

The protected zone of the National Monument consists of the area defined in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision.  Within this zone the following measures shall apply:

  • conservation and restoration works on the property, structural repair works, interior conversion to new use, making good the approach area and concomitent plots, and works designed to present the National Monument, shall be permitted, subject to the approval the approval of the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
  • the monument may be used for catering, educational and cultural purposes.

IV

 

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

 

V

 

Everyone, and in particular the competent authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Canton, and urban and municipal authorities, shall refrain from any action that might damage the National Monument or jeopardize the preservation thereof.

 

VI

 

The Government of the Federation, the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning, the Federation heritage protection authority, and the Municipal Authorities in charge of urban planning and land registry affairs, shall be notified of this Decision in order to carry out the measures stipulated in Articles II to V of this Decision, and the Authorized Municipal Court shall be notified for the purposes of registration in the Land Register.

 

VII

 

The elucidation and accompanying documentation form an integral part of this Decision, which may be viewed by interested parties on the premises or by accessing the website of the Commission (http://www.aneks8komisija.com.ba) 

 

VIII

 

Pursuant to Art. V para 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, decisions of the Commission are final.

 

IX

 

This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption and shall be published in the Official Gazette of BiH.

 

This Decision has been adopted by the following members of the Commission: Zeynep Ahunbay, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, Ljiljana Ševo and Tina Wik.

 

No: 06.2-2-140/06-5

5 July 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 25 April 2005, Elša Turkušić of Sarajevo submitted a petition to designate the property as a national monument.

Pursuant to the provisions of the law, the Commission proceeded to carry out the procedure for reaching a final decision to designate the Property as a National Monument, pursuant to Article V of Annex 8 and Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments.

 

II – PROCEDURE PRIOR TO DECISION

 

In the procedure preceding the adoption of a final decision to proclaim the property a national monument, the following documentation was inspected:

  • Documentation on the location and current owner and user of the property
  • Data on the current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs, data of war damage, data on restoration or other works on the property, etc.
  • Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property, as set out in the bibliography forming part of this Decision.

The findings based on the review of the above documentation and the condition of the site are as follows:

 

1. Details of the property

Location

The historic building of the Bistrik railway station in Sarajevo is in the residential quarter known as Bistrik, on the slopes of Mt. Trebević, in the Old City. The building stands on an elevation in the form of an island plateau surrounded by two busy roads. Bistrik street and the main city by-pass, and by Graplina and Huremuša streets. The plateau in front of the railway station offers an extensive view over the city.

The part of Bistrik where the railway station was built is now part of the zone of detached residential properties on the hillside areas of the city.

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no.. 167 (old survey),  corresponding to c.p. nos. 2808, 2809 and 2810 (new survey), cadastral municipality Sarajevo IX, Land Register entry no.. CXV/JII, Municipality Stari grad Sarajevo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Historical information

The first railway line in Bosnia and Herzegovina came into use in late December 1872. It was a standard-gauge track running from Banja Luka to Dobrljine, a distance of 87 km, and was laid as part of the Istanbul main line which was intended by the Ottoman Empire to link Istanbul and Vienna.

After the 1878 Berlin Congress, Bosnia and Herzegovina came under the authority of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. In 1878 the Austro-Hungarian authorities began an intensive programme of laying a rail network in the river Bosna valley.

On 10 September 1878, the first Railways Directorate of Bosnia and Herzegovina was founded in Derventa, entitled “Directorate of the Imperial and  Royal Bosnian Railways.” The first director was engineer Major Johan Tomašek. The directorate staff were from Austria-Hungary, with local workers as ancillary staff.

The railway line was completed on 5 October 1882, when the locomotive “Rama” brought the first train to Sarajevo. The overall length of the track was 270,117 km.

The construction of the southern line from Metković to Sarajevo was completed on 1 August 1891.

            The development of the rail network included the start of laying the eastern line, which consisted of two tracks: Sarajevo-Uvac and Međeđa-Vardište. The route was extremely complicated, leaving Sarajevo via the river Miljacka valley and thence following the watershed, through an 850 m long tunnel down into the river Prača valley; following the course of this river in turn, it reached the river Drina valley. The eastern line was 161.5 km long.  It was a narrow-gauge track, which took about 15 years to lay, coming into use on 4 July 1906.  It was one of the most expensive to lay, incorporating 99 tunnels, and numerous embankments, cuttings and retaining walls. Each kilometre of track cost 450,000 gold crowns.

The railway station in Bistrik was also built in that same year. The building was designed by the Technical Department of the Bosnia and Herzegovina State Railways.

The Bistrik railway station was built as a type project (the same type was built in Pale); the architect is not known.

The construction of the railway station and its ancillary facilities, the station buffet, manager’s offices and warehousing, as well as of the embankments, tunnels and bridge, completed altered the appearance of the old mahala. It did not destroy the overall townscape, since the complex fitted relatively well into this part of Bistrik as a whole.

With the closure of the eastern line in 1973, the Bistrik railway station lost its original importance.

The Bistrik railway station is now in poor structural condition, partly because of the war and partly because of inappropriate structural interventions. All that remains of the rest of the complex is ruins. The city bypass road now runs along the former route of the railway line.

 

2.  Description of the property

With its markedly pitched roofs and elaborately worked wooden eaves, the Bistrik railway station building in Sarajevo is a typical example of the Alpine or romantic style of architecture of the Austro-Hungarian period.

The building lies south-west/north-east, and has two main entrances, one to the south-east, where the waiting room was formerly located, and the other to the north-west, leading onto the platform.

The Bistrik railway station extends horizontally through three sections of varying heights.  Functionally, these were interconnected only at ground-floor level.

The first and tallest section of the railway station consisted of a basement, ground floor, first floor and attic. The basement is 2.3 m in height, the ground floor 3.5 m, the first floor 3.2 m, and the attic 3 m.  The height of this section, as measured from the outside, is approx. 9.5 m to the eaves, and approx. 14.0 m to the roof ridge. The ground plan measurements of this section are approx. 12.35 x 12.85 m. The ground floor had the following premises: waiting room (measuring 6.0 x 5.2 m), station master’s office (5.5 x 4.0 m), and traffic office (5.5 x 4.0 m), the ticket office (5.8 x 3.0 m), toilet (1.75 x 0.9 m) and staircase. A single-flight wooden staircase approx. 90 cm in width leads to the upper floors.  The stairwell measures approx. 5,8 x 2.85 m.

The second, central section of the railway station is a single-storey building. This was the roofed platform area, enclosed on three sides and open to the south-east, where the line ran. This section is approx. 4.0 m in height to the eaves and approx. 7.0 m to the roof ridge, measured on the outside. To the south-east, the roof was supported by six decoratively carved wooden pillars. The ground plan of this section measured approx. 19.60 x 5.10 m, and was 3.75 m in height on the inside.

The third section of the railway station consists of a ground floor and high attic area. The ground floor contained the toilet block and luggage office. The ground plan of this section measures approx. 4.75 x 7.30 m. The ground floor is 3.5 m in height. Measured from the outside, this section is approx. 5.0 m to the eaves and approx. 8.3 m to the roof ridge.

The Bistrik railway station was built of traditional materials. Three basic materials were used to build it – stone, timber and brick.

The foundations are of quarry stone and are approx. 60 cm thick. The socle is 90 cm high and is made of cut stone. The solid outer walls of the ground floor, first floor and attic storey are brick-built,and are approx. 45 cm thick. The internal partition walls are of brick, and are 15 cm thick. All the walls are plastered and painted inside and out. The floor joists consist of wooden beams with a wooden floor laid over them.

All three sections of the building have gabled roofs clad with interlocking tiles. The roofs are tall and steeply pitched, with very elaborately worked wooden eaves. The roofs of the first and third sections of the building are surrounded by a small roof pane decorated at the top by a metal obelisk.  The first section has two gabled roofs set at right angles to one another.

The south-east façade has nine windows, three of which are the large first-floor windows of the first section, measuring approx. 0.9 x 1.8 m. The windows are wooden with six panes, and have arches made of façade bricks on the façade. This façade also has two double doors, glazed at the top (one to the waiting room and the other to the office).  The waiting room doors measured approx. 1.5 x 2.5 m and had a fanlight and fixed glazed leaf on both sides.  The office doors measured approx. 1.5 x 2.5 m and had a fanlight.

The north-west façade had nine windows of varying sizes on the first and third sections, while the platform section had four blind windows (indicated with a frame and arches of façade bricks, with no openings). On the first section, this façade had one single glazed door measuring approx. 0.9 x 2.5 m, and one double door, glazed at the top, measuring approx. 1.5 x 2.5 m, in the platform area.

The south-west façade had four windows and one oculus, and the north-east façade had six windows of varying sizes. On the third section, this façade had three single, glazed doors with fanlights, measuring 0.9 x 2.5 m.

 

3. Legal status to date

There is no information as to whether the Bistrik railway station was under state protection.

 

4. Research and conservation and restoration works

There is no information as to whether conservation and restoration works have ever been carried out on the property.

           

5. Current condition of the property

The Bistrik railway station is in very poor structural condition.     

Apart from the ravages of war, the property has also undergone major alterations as a result of illegal building works.

The building is currently used for residential purposes, both the main area (the former office building) and the canopy roof area (the former roofed railway platform area).

In order to convert the railway station into residential premises, it underwent a number of structural alterations to form five housing units for five families, the number currently occupying the building.  Installing partition walls to create these housing units, and alterations to the façades to make new doors and windows, have undermined its authenticity.

            The south-east, platform façade has suffered particularly badly from the demolition of the wooden uprights of the porch and the construction of a wall with new, unsuitable doors and windows.

The entrance area of the former veranda has been fitted with a door with black door furniture, and the windows do not match the originals either. The façades of the old railway station have been largely damaged or destroyed. 

 

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:

B. Historical value

C. Artistic and aesthetic value

C.iv.      composition

F. Townscape/ Landscape value

F.ii.      meaning in the townscape

G. Authenticity

G.i.       form and design

G.ii.      material and content

G.v.      location and setting

I. Completeness

I.i.        physical coherence

I.ii.        homogeneity

I.iii.       completeness

 

The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:

-          Copy of cadastral plan

-          Copy of land register entry and proof of title;

-          Photodocumentation;

-          Drawings

 

Bibliography

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

 

2003.    Ajdin Fevzija, Iz istorijata bosanskohercegovačkih željeznica (From the History of BiH Railways) Calendar of the Federation Railways, Sarajevo 2003

 

2005.    Turkušić Elša, Sjećanje na željezničku stanicu na Bistriku (Reminiscences of the Railway Station in Bistrik), Sarajevo, AGD Magazine for architecture, building and design of BiH, June 2005

 

Design for the railway station dating from 1902, obtained from Mr. Mirsad Komarica

 



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Railroad car and auxiliary building    


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