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 16 to 22 January 2007 the Commission adopted a
D E C I S I O N
I
The historic building of the site and remains of the Sulejmanpašić tower in Odžak, Bugojno Municipality 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. 94 and 96, Land Register entry no. 311, cadastral municipality Gornji Odžak, Municipality Bugojno, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the area of the buffer zone defined in Clause III of this Decision.
The provisions relating to protection and rehabilitation 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, restore 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 defined in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision. The following protection measures shall apply in this zone:
- all works are prohibited other than conservation and restoration works on the National Monument, 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 area within the National Monument shall be cleared of weeds and self-sown trees,
- a structural statics analysis of the state of the load-bearing walls of the tower, structural and nonstructural cracks in the wall and superficial damage to the wall shall be conducted, the nature of the cracks in the wall and their depth, width and direction shall be ascertained along with the cause of these cracks, the condition of the structure shall be examined, geomechanical examinations shall be carried out if necessary, and a study of structural and statics repairs to the tower with proposed measures for the protection of the tower and to safeguard passers-by from falling stones from the walls.
A buffer zone with a radius of approx. 150 m around the National Monument is stipulated, as defined on the map forming an integral part of this Decision. In this zone the following protection measures are hereby stipulated:
- on the cadastral plots within the area of the buffer zone of the National Monument, owners may repair existing buildings and erect new ones with the proviso that they shall not in appearance, size, use of materials and spatial relationships be to the detriment of the scenic value of the site of the National Monument.
All protection works, regardless of their type and extent, must be carried out subject to the prior approval of the relevant ministry and under the expert supervision of 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
Everyone, and in particular the competent authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Canton, and urban and municipal authorities, shall refrain from any action that might damage the National Monument or jeopardize the preservation and rehabilitation thereof.
VI
The Government of the Federation, the relevant ministry, 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
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. 158.
X
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: 06.1-2-216/05-7
17 January 2007
Sarajevo
Chair of the Commission
Ljiljana Ševo
E l u c i d a t i o n
I – INTRODUCTION
Pursuant to Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a “National Monument” is an item of public property proclaimed by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments to be a National Monument pursuant to Articles V and VI of Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and property entered on the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of BiH no. 33/02) until the Commission reaches a final decision on its status, as to which there is no time limit and regardless of whether a petition for the property in question has been submitted or not.
The Commission to Preserve National Monuments issued a Decision to add the Sulejmanpašić tower in Odžak to the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, numbered as 158.
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 current condition and current use of the property, including a description and photographs,
- Data on war damage, data on restoration or other works on the property, etc.
- Inspection of the current condition of the property,
- Copy of cadastral plan
- Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property, as set out in the bibliography forming part of this Decision.
The findings based on the review of the above documentation and the condition of the site are as follows:
1. Details of the property
Location
In the fertile Skoplje valley, which extends over a length of 27 kilometres and an average width of 4.5 km from Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje via Bugojno to Donji Vakuf, midway along the Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje to Bugojno road, a side road leads from Vrbanje to Odžak, at a distance of 4 km, on the right bank of the Vrbas river. The Rustempašić tower was built approx. 200 m. to the north-west of the mosque in the present-day centre of Odžak.
Historical information
The necropolises of stećak tombstones in Šušljici(1), the stećak tombstones in Gračanica(2) and Susid fort(3), sites in the immediate environs of Odžak, are evidence of the existence of mediaeval settlements. In the years following the conquest of Bosnia by the Ottomans in 1463, the Skoplje valley came under their rule. At this time, Uskoplje was a sizeable nahija, extending along the upper Vrbas valley on both sides of the river, and with three existing mediaeval fortified towns: Susid, Vesela Straža and Prusac, as well as the market in Gračanica(4). Vesela Straža was abandoned in the early 16th century(5), and from the early 16th century to 1550 Susid fort lost its importance(6), but from the end of the 16th century Prusac was the political and cultural centre of the župa (county) of Skoplje and the official centre of the nahije(7) from 1580 to 1878. Gornji Vakuf, and later Bugojno also, were crafts centres, while Donji Vakuf, Odžak and Jemanlići were the holdings of feudal lords(8).
The brothers Rustem-pasha Skopljak(9) and Ali-pasha Skopljak came to the place later to be known as Odžak from some nearby place in the Skoplje valley(10).
The oldest forebear of the Sulejmanpašić's was Ali-pasha Skopljak, who was the sanžakbeg(11) of Herzegovina in 1694(12). Ali-pasha Skopljak's descendants were known as Alipašić until the first half of the 19th century, when they became known as Sulejmanpašić, after Sulejman-pasha Skopljak(13).
The descendants of Rustem-pasha would call themselves Rustempašić: Rustem-pasha's son, Gazi Ahmed-pasha(14), was the first to use the surname Rustempašić in 1717.
The Rustempašić and Sulejmanpašić families produced two Bosnian viziers, one beglerbeg (supreme military and civilian commander of a district or province) and five Klis sandžakbegs (governors of a sanjak); without doubt, the two best-known figures are Ahmed-pasha Rustempašić and Sulejman-pasha Skopljak.
The Rustempašić towers were built in the late 17th century in present-day Odžak(15). The first to be built was the Gazi-Ahmed-pasha tower, which was 15 m in height and had four storeys. The basement contained a well for drinking water, the ground floor was stone-built, and the upper storeys were timber-built, with a wooden roof structure clad with shingles. This tower was burned down in 1831 during the time of Gradaščević's “Autonomy Movement”(16).
The second Rustempašić tower, which has survived to this day, was built very close to this, and at the same time.
Odžaks (a loose translation of which would be manor houses) were built in the spacious, formerly cobbled courtyard, close to the tower, for residential purposes(17).The entire residential complex was surrounded by a stone wall 3 metres in height(18). All that now survives is part of the wall, over a length of approx. 10 metres running north-south and abutting onto the south wall of the Rustempašić tower(19).
As the family grew and the size of the population with it, and given that there was not enough space to build a house within the walls, residential buildings were also erected outside the fortified area(20), and the settlement that took shape was named Odžak after the odžaks within the walls.
About 100 metres to the south-east of the former main gateway was a han (hostel)(21). Below the han, about 200 metres to the south-east of the Rustempašić tower, a mosque was built prior to 1754(22).
The last tower to be built in Odžak was the Sulejmanpašić tower, which dates from the end of the 18th century, and was twice set on fire(23): in 1814 and in 1831. It stood about 350 metres east of the surviving Rustempašić tower, and at the time it was built, stood outside the walls surrounding the Rustempašić odžak and tower.
According to Alija Bejtića, an “unusually large ahar(24)” was built below the Sulejmanpašić tower.
With the altered socio-political and economic circumstances of the Austro-Hungarian period, Odžak lost its former importance. The Austro-Hungarian authorities divided Bosnia into six districts, which were subdivided into subdistricts (srez) and branches. The srezes were divided into municipalities, and these in turn into mahalas (urban residential quarters) and hamlets. At this time, Odžak formed part of the Bugojno srez(25) and had the status of a rural municipality. At that time, the Rustempašić family, apart from Husref effendi Rustempašić(26), who lived in the Rustempašić tower in Odžak, played no significant part in political, cultural or educational life. On the other hand, the Sulejmanpašić family retained its status as a wealthy beg (aristocratic) family and retained its property until the end of World War I.
The Austro-Hungarian authorities held population censuses, which showed that in 1879, Odžak had 55 houses and 67 housing units with a population of 296; in 1885, it had 54 houses and 56 housing units with a population of 276; in 1895, it hade 52 houses and 50 housing units with a population of 228; in 1910, it had 47 houses and 40 housing units with a population of 257. These census figures show that the number of houses and housing units, as well as the population, was dwindling as people moved from Odžak to Bugojno, Gornji Vakuf and Turkey(27).
Just before World War II, the descendants of the old local Sulejmanpašić and Rustempašić families, two Mandžić families and one Ždralović family (who had moved in from the village of Ždralovići near Prusac) were living in Odžak. At that time, Alibeg Rustempašić was living in the Rustempašić tower(28).
From the information provided by the Land Register entry supplied for the Sulejmanpašić tower(29), a total of 30 people(30) have registered title to the property.
2. Description of the property
The tower was built in the 18th century, and belongs to the residential type of feudal house (or "spahi's" tower, as Prof. Hamdija Kreševljaković calls them in his work)(31).
The tower was built on a steeply sloping site, on an elevation providing a view of Odžak. It has a square ground plan with the sides measuring approx. 9.95 metres. It is now in a ruinous state: all that remains of the tower are the four outside walls, to the height of the former third storey of the tower. Measured from ground level at the corners of the tower, the walls are approx. 8 m high at the north-east corner, 14 m high at the south-east corner, 13 m high at the south-west corner, and 11 m at the north-west corner.
Before the last fire that ravaged the tower in 1831, it was about 25 m in height(32). It was built of limestone, with the quoins consisting of interlocking blocks of ashlar (some of the quoin blocks are about 50-80 cm long and 35-50 cm wide and high). The wall faces were of hewn stone with the joints pointed, while the ashlar quoin were dressed with a fine-toothed mason's saw. The walls of the tower were built with a slight inward batter(33). They are approx. 130 cm thick at ground-floor level and approx. 100 cm thick on the upper storeys.
Judging from a photograph of the condition of the tower before 1941 and details from a professional paper by Alija Bejtić published in 1941(34), and from the architectural treatment of the surviving Rustempašić tower, which was built before the Sulejmanpašić tower, the latter probably had a basement, four storeys and a čatma constituting the fifth storey, with a wooden roof above it.
The entrance to the tower was through a door measuring approx. 92 x 200 cm in the south wall. The door was raised by some 2 metres above ground level at the base of thesouth wall. The outer masonry opening of the door was executed with a pointed arch,
Some hints of the interior layout of the tower can be found in Alija Bejtić's description: "Over the entrance two beams project outwards, which would have supported a roof above the entrance, while to each side of the entrance are two holes serving to close the door by inserting two solid wooden beams, known as mandalas, into the holes, behind the closed door. The entrance led into the ground floor, which occupied the smaller half of the horizontal cross-section of the tower. A number of steps to the right of the main entrance led to the first floor of the tower.Below this floor the larger half of the ground floor was occupied by two vaulted storerooms (or perhaps a shelter and a prison cell), lying north-south. The vaults of the storerooms have now collapsed. The entrance to the storerooms must have been from the ground floor, just after the main entrance to the tower." (35)
Nowadays(36) there are six window openings in the west wall of the tower, measuring 80 x 170 cm, and nine in the south wall. In 1941, Alija Bejtić wrote of the fenestration: "To the south and west of the tower are large window openings, twelve on the former and ten on the latter. When the tower was intact it would seem to have had 27 windows.(37)" The outside masonry openings of the windows have pointed arches. The east and north wall had loopholes instead of windows, arranged in five rows of three loopholes each(38). The north wall had two openings measuring approx. 90 x 190 cm close to the angle with the east wall, directly one above the other at first-floor and third-floor level respectively.
The ceilings were composed of wooden joists. The 1941 work by Alija Bejtić already referred to notes: "Inside the tower, above the windows, are the remains of part-burned wooden beams projecting from the walls, a clear sign that the tower was ravaged by fire, and also that the fire reached only as far as the ceiling of the third floor, since the beams above the fourth-floor windows and even the floor beams of that storey remain intact.
The first two storeys of the tower have recesses in the west wall which formerly held earthenware stoves, while above the recesses were chimneys running vertically through the wall. The next two storeys (and probably the fifth as well?) had stoves against the south wall." (39)
3. Legal status to date
By Ruling of the National Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Natural Rarities of the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, no. 1452/50 dated 28 October 1950, the monument was a legally protected property, and by Ruling of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, no. 02-743-3 dated 18 April 1962, the Sulejmanpašić tower in Odžak, owned by the Sulejmanpašić family, was entered in the Register of immovable cultural monuments.
The property is on the Provisional List of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the heading Sulejmanpašić tower in Odžak, serial no. 158.
4. Research and conservation and restoration works
There is no available data on any restoration or conservation works.
5. Current condition of the property
The building has not been in use since the fire in 1831. It has probably been without its roof for the past 175 years, exposed to the constant damaging effects of the elements. Comparing the present condition of the property with that seen in the 1941 photograph, it is obvious that during the past sixty years or so the third and fourth storeys of the tower have effectively collapsed.
Self-sown trees and weeds make it impossible to enter the area within the walls. This vegetation too poses an additional threat to the property.
6. Specific risks
There are visible vertical structural cracks in the east wall, running through all the storeys. The cracks are about 1-2 cm wide, and are weakening the building and undermining its stability, particularly in the event of earthquake. There are similar cracks, though not so long (structural cracks extending from the window openings on the first floor down to the ground) in the west wall.
The fact that the walls are constantly crumbling, and that the tower stands right by a local road, poses a risk of serious injury to people using the road. The height of the crown of the south wall of the tower, from which stones might well fall, is approx. 16 m above road level, which further increases the danger to passers-by.
III – CONCLUSION
Applying the Criteria for the adoption of a decision on proclaiming an item of property a national monument (Official Gazette of BiH nos. 33/02 and 15/03), the Commission has enacted the Decision cited above.
The Decision was based on the following criteria:
A. Time frame
B. Historical value
D. Clarity
D. iv. evidence of a particular type, style or regional manner
D. v. evidence of a typical way of life at a specific period
E. Symbolic value
E.iii. traditional value
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.i. form and design
G.ii. material and content
G.iv. traditions and techniques
G.v. location and setting
The photodocumentation and drawings cited below and annexed to this Decision form an integral part thereof:
- Legal documentation
- Map indicating protection zones
- Sulejmanpašić tower, copy of cadastral plan, c.p.. 2143, c.m. Odžak, Plan no. 9, scale 1:2500, issued on 17.08.2005. by the Municipal Geodetics Authority of Bugojno, Municipality Bugojno, Central Bosnian Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- Land Registry entry, c.p. no.. 94 and 96, cadastral municipality Gornji Odžak, Nar. no. 2270/05, entry no. 311, issued on 17.08.2005. by the Land Register Office of the Municipal Court in Bugojno, Central Bosnian Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- Ruling of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, no. 02-743-3 dated 18.04.1962 on the protection of the Sulejmanpašić tower in Odžak.
- Photographs of its condition prior to 1941 (source: Bejtić, Alija, Odžak na Vrbasu, El-Hidaje, no, 2-3, Sarajevo, 4 December 1941, p. 65)
- Photographs of the property taken on 17.08.2005 (by architect Emir Softić)
Bibliography
During the procedure to designate the historic building of the Sulejmanpašić tower in Odžak near Bugojno as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:
1900 Bašagić, Safvet-beg, Kratka uputa u prošlost Bosne i Hercegovine: (od g. 1463-1850) (Brief Introduction to the History of BiH, 1463-1850) / Safvet beg Bašagić-Redžepašić (Mirza Safvet), Sarajevo, 1900
1931 Bašagić, Safvet-beg, Znameniti Hrvati, Bošnjaci i Hercegovci u Turskoj carevini (Prominent Croats, Bosniacs and Herzegovinians in the Turkish Empire), Zagreb, 1931
1941 Bejtić, Alija, Odžak na Vrbasu (Odžak on the Vrbas) El-Hidaje, Sarajevo
1954 Kreševljaković, Hamdija, Kule i odžaci u Bosni i Hercegovini, (Towers and odžaks in BiH) Naše starine, II, Annual of the National Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Natural Rarities of NR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo
1990 Klaić, Vjekoslav, Poviest Bosne (History of Bosnia) / Vjekoslav Klaić ; [ed. and with foreword by Dubravko Lovrenović]. - Sarajevo : Svjetlost, 1990
1995 Isaković, Alija: Rječnik bosanskoga jezika (Dictionary of the Bosnian Language), Sarajevo
2001 Kico, Ahmed, Nastanak, razvoj i vakifi Gračanice Skopaljske (Origins, development and legators of Gračanica Skopaljska) Annual 2005, pp. 291-310, Preporod Bugojno, Bosniac Cultural Association Preporod Municipal Association of Bugojno
2004 Hadžibegović, Iljas, Bosanskohercegovački gradovi na razmeđu između 19. i 20. stoljeća (Towns of BiH at the Turn of the 19th/20th century), Historical Monographs 1, Institute of History in Sarajevo
2005 Rustempašić, Selma, Odžak i najpoznatije porodice Rustempašići i Sulejmanpašići (Odžak and its Best-known Families the Rustempašić and Sulejmanpašić’s) Annual 2005, pp. 275-290, Preporod Bugojno, Bosniac Cultural Association Preporod Municipal Association of Bugojno
2005 Drino, Dževad, Granica i naselja nahije Uskoplje (Borders and Settlements of the Uskoplje Nahija) Annual 2005, pp. 171-198, Preporod Bugojno, Bosniac Cultural Association Preporod Municipal Association of Bugojno
(1) Necropolis of stećak tombstones with 23 surviving stećaks, at an altitude of 1050 above sea level, 4 km to the north-east of Odžak;
(2) Site 2 km from Odžak, which developed from a former mediaeval marketplace and the settlement below the Susid fort. There is reference to it in 1444, and in Turkish defters of 1469, 1574 and 1604. (Drino, Dževad, Granica i naselja nahije Uskoplje, Annual 2005. Preporod Bugojno, Bosniac Cultural Association Preporod Municipal Association of Bugojno, p. 179).
(3) Fortress above the village of Gračanica, built on the heights in the gorge of the river Bunta and close to the village of Kordići. In 1800, there were 5 mustafhiz (men of the garrison), a dizdar (garrison commander) and a fortress čehaja (deputy) in the fortress. The fortress was abandoned by 1833. (Drino, Dževad, Granica i naselja nahije Uskoplje, Annual 2005. Preporod Bugojno, Bosniac Cultural Association Preporod Municipal Association of Bugojno, pp. 188, 197).
(4) Hadžibegović, Iljas, Bosanskohercegovački gradovi na razmeđu između 19. i 20. stoljeća, Historical monographs 1, Institute of History in Sarajevo, 2004, p. 260
(5) “Dubrovnik intelligence reports passed on to King Matthias Corvinus reveal that in 1456 and 1457 the Ottomans delayed in Uskoplje County or very nearby. With the fall of Bosnia to Ottoman rule in mid 1463, Uskoplje County also fell. The counteroffensive by Hungarian forces and their allies, including Vladislav Hercegović,son of Herceg Stjepan, began in October that year. He liberated part of south-western Bosnia, Rama, Uskoplje with Vesela Straža and Livno. King Matthias bestowed the said landholdings on hi on 6 December 1463. The facts remain hazy until 1503, when the nahija of Skoplje finally came under Ottoman rule, but it is not known exactly how long Vladislav Hercegović held these lands between 1463 and 1469, when he left Bosnia. The Dubrovnik archives contain information dating from 4 March 1466 to the effect that two Vlachs made off with a servant Mihoča Vukotić and handed him over to the Ottomans in Vesela Straža (Jalimam, 2001, 378, nm. 69). Under the terms of a 1503 treaty between the Hungarians and Ottomans, Vesela Straža belonged definitively to the Ottoman Empire. The vakufnama of Mustaj-beg Skenderpašić dating from 1517 makes reference to the village of Vesela Straža. There are no further references to the fortress (Kemura, 1915, 596; Šabanović, 1982, 42, 126-128, 152).
In Ottoman sources, the village of Vesela, on the outskirts of the old fort, is referred to only by the name Vesela Straža. In the 16th century, 100 to 111 taxpaying households were recorded in it. The vakuf of Mustaj-beg Skenderpašić was in the village (quoted from the Decision designating the Historic site of the old Vesela Straža Fort, Bugojno Municipality, FBiH, as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina, published under no. 05.2-02-192/05-7, Official Gazette of BiH no. 42/06).
(6) “It would appear that not even Susjed held out for long in these new circumstances, for in the 1550 census Prusac was listed as the only varoš in the nahija of Uskoplje” (Iljas Hadžibegović, Bosanskohercegovački gradovi na razmeđu između 19. i 20. stoljeća, Historical Monographs 1, Institute for History in Sarajevo, 2004, p. 260)
(7) The Uskoplje nahija formed part of the Klis sandžak from its foundation on 12 March 1537. godine (Drino, Dževad, Granica i naselja nahije Uskoplje, Godišnjak 2005. Preporod Bugojno, Bosniac Cultural Association Preporod Municipal Association of Bugojno, p. 171).
(8) Kico, Ahmed, Nastanak, razvoj i vakifi Gračanice Skopaljske, Annual 2005. Preporod Bugojno, Bosniac Cultural Association Preporod Municipal Association of Bugojno, pp.295-296
(9) “…The earliest reference to the forebears of the present-day Rustempašić family dates from 1683, when Rustem-pasha Skopljak was governor in Karamanija, and muhafiz (commander of a major fortress) of Sofia in 1689, where he died. The genealogy of his descendants is fully established. It is known that his brother Ali-pasha held a post in the Herzegovina sandžak in 1694. Rustem-pasha’s son, Gazi Osman-pasha, also held a prominent post in the Bosnian eyalet, as did his son Ibrahim pasha. …”(Rustempašić, Selma: 2005, p. 278)
(10) “… as confirmed by their nickname – Skopljak.” (Rustempašić, Selma: 2005, p. 287)
(11) A sandžak was initially a military district, and then later an administrative unit in the Ottoman Empire; a sandžakbeg was the District Prefect.
(12) Bašagić, Safvet-beg: Znameniti Hrvati, Bošnjaci i Hercegovci u Turskoj carevini, Zagreb, 1931, p. 11
(13) He was appointed as beglerbeg of Ćustendilo by imperial berat (decree) of 1804. In 1808 he was appointed as mutesarif (district prefect) of the Klis sandžak, and that same year he was appointed as kajmekan (deputy) to the then vizier of Bosnia, Ali-pasha Derendelija. He played a significant role in crushing the first Serbian uprising (he commanded the army that recaptured Belgrade). After that he was appointed to the post of vizier of the Bosnian pashaluk in Travnik. In 1818 he was recalled from the post of Bosnian vizier and appointed as vizier in Solun (Thessaloniki) where he died. He was buried in Kosovo Polje. His sons: Ćor-Mustafa pasha, Ibrahim-beg and Osman-pasha (the last Bosniac vizier in Bosnia) also held high posts in the Bosnian eyalet. (Rustempašić, Selma: 2005, pp. 279-281)
(14) In 1717 he was muhafiz of the Novi fortress, and in 1725 he was appointed as sandžak-beg of Herzegovina. In early 1727, one of the many wars between the Ottomans and the Persians broke out on the border between the two. Bosnia was required to equip and send 5,200 spahis and other soldiers to the Persian battlefield. They set off for Persia in April 1727, under the command of the Herzegovina sandžak Gazi Ahmed-beg Rustempašić and his son of the Klis sandžak Rustem-beg, to quell the insurrection in the Hamadan and Isfahan districts. A year later, in April 1728, only five hundred sick, exhausted men of that army returned to Bosnia. In 1728. Ahmed-beg Rustempašić was appointed as vizier of the Bosnian eyalet. In 1730 he was appoinbted as beglerbeg of Rumelia, and he died while holding the post of muhafiz of Niš in 1732. (Rustempašić, Selma: 2005, pp. 278-279).
(15) There is reference to three Rustempašić towers in all. To the west of the surviving Rustempašić tower was another, older one. "Beside this tower, to the west, the outlines of an older Rustempašić tower can be made out on the ground, in the middle of which the remains of a well could be made out until recently “,…” (Alija Bejtić, Odžak na Vrbasu, El-Hidaje, Sarajevo, 1941, p. 66).
"There were formerly two Rustempašić towers in Odžak, and they also had one tower in Kordići near Susid" (Selma Rustempašić, Odžak i najpoznatije porodice Rustempašići i Sulejmanpašići, Annual 2005. Preporod Bugojno, Bosniac Cultural Association Preporod Municipal Association of Bugojno, p. 281).
(16) (Rustempašić, Selma: 2005, p. 281)
(17) “…But since the towers provided little living space, separate buildings were erected for that purpose in the immediate vicinity of the tower, known as odžak or konak. … The towers were tall buildings, but the odžaks spread out horizontally. The tower always had several storeys, but the odžak (konak) was normally a two-storey building. The ground plan of the tower was almost invariably square, and only rarely rectangular, which that of the odžak was always rectangular. … The towers were stone-built, but the odžaks were built of stone, unbaked (adobe) brick and timber. …” (Kreševljaković, Hamdija: 1954, p. 71)
(18) “…According to Tahir Rustempašić, a retired 72-year-old economist with whom I have had several conversations over the past few months, these two towers and odžaks were surrounded by thick stone walls three metres in height and up to 90 cm thick. The stone walls were capped with shingles. Tahir clearly recalls the remains of this wall. All that now survives is a small section up to the point where the main gateway formerly stood. There were two gateways in the wall, the main gate and a goods entry for the use of the army. According to Azemina Rustempašić, a retired official with whom I have also had several conversations, the main gate was of iron and had a large doorknocker which survived until the 1940s. …” (Rustempašić, Selma: 2005, p. 277)
(19) Recorded on 17 August 2005, during a visit to the site of the National Monument (op. E. Softić)
(20) This may be inferred from an observation of the Geodetics map of Odžak. In the immediate environs of the former fortified residential complex, a densely plotted area can be seen, consisting of small plots on which properties were erected.
(21) In her paper, Rustempašić Selma in fact refers to this as ano ahar (=stabling for horses; Isaković, Alija: Rječnik bosanskoga jezika, Sarajevo, 1995, p. 5), but on the basis of the description given below it can be assumed to have been a han.
“…It was built like a fortress, surrounded by a thick wall, and was used as a hostel for passing travellers. Bed and board was free of charge for travellers and their escorts for three days. The ahar was thirty metres long and ten metres wide, and had two storeys. The first floor of the ahar was of ashlar stone and was used as stabling for the horses. The second floor was timber-built and contained rooms for travellers. To the south of the ahar there were loopholes. The remains of the ahar are still visible, and a family house has been built on part of the wall, which now belongs to Ibrahim Rustempašić.” (Rustempašić, Selma: 2005, pp. 277-278)
(22) In his work Odžak na Vrbasu, engineer Alija Bejtić writes of the mosque:”… We have already mentioned that among the old buildings of Odžak, in addition to the two towers, was a mosque with a stone minaret. The interior of the mosque was extremely austere, but it had a sizeable, though simple, portico. The mosque harem was surrounded by a thickstone wall, and the entrance to the harem was covered, in the form of a round cut stone arch. At the right-hand end of the harem was a maktab, which was of modern date. The Sulejmanpašić mosque is said to have been built by Sulejmanpaša Skopljak, and the portico and the wall surrounding the harem by his sons. As for the latter, I do not know whether it is true (perhaps it is?) but of the former, that the mosque was built by Sulejmanpaša Skopljak, this is likely to be wrong. This is why. Alongside the mosque, among other graves is a woman’s with a tombstone bearing an epitaph and the date 1168 AH, which is 1754-5 AD. As a rule, almost without exception, it is true to say that the graves around a mosque date from after the construction of the mosque. Even if by sheer chance Odžak was an exception, and these graves antedate the mosque, I doubt that a tombstone with the date 1168 AH (1754-5) could have survived intact while the mosque was being built, all the more so since the grave is right beside the mosque. All in all, it seems that the mosque was built prior to 1754, while Sulejmanpaša Skopljak, bearing in mind that he died at a great age in 1818, could only just have been born or been in his earliest youth.” (Bejtić, Alija, Odžak na Vrbasu, El-Hidaje, no 2.-3., Sarajevo, 1941, p. 69)
(23) “…That fine old man Mehmedbeg Rustempašić told me that the tower had caught fire twice, which is fully in accordance with history. There is no doubt that the tower was first set on fire in 1814, during the time of the infamous Bosnian vizier Alipasha Derendelija. The people of Sarajevo were in conflict with those of Visoko at the time, and defeated vizier Alipasha in Pirot near Travnik; the Sulejmanpašić family took his side, so that some of the people of Sarajevo and Visoko went after them as far as Odžak and set their tower on fire. The second and still worse fire was in 1831, during Husejin-kapetan Gradaščević’s movement against Sultan Mahmud II’s reforms. When Husejin-kapetan and his insurgents entered Travnik and captured the vizier, Ali Namik-pasha, since the sons of Suleman-pasha Skopljak again took the side of the Travnik vizier in favour of the Sultan’s reforms, the rebels drove the Sulejmanpašić’s all the way back to Odžak and mercilessly set fire to his manor. The people of Odžak were much surprised by this event. The Sarajevans therefore sent a town crier to go about Odžak and announce that they would not harm them, only the Sulejmanpašić’s. To this day it is often told in Odžak how during this attack the women padded the windows of the towers with mattresses and quilts to stop the bullets. After the people from Sarajevo and Visoko had set the tower and konak on fire, causing immense damage to the Sulejmanpašić’s, and had set off back to Travnik, they were met by Serbs, serfs of the Sulejmanpašić’s, below Mt Vranica, and there was much trouble there. After this disastrous fire, the tower was not rebuilt, but was abandoned by the Sulejmanpašić family, who built a large Bosnian-style house somewhat lower down. Since then the tower has been left to the ravages of time, and stone by stone the tower has been falling down, until it was levelled to the ground. …” (Bejtić, Alija:, 1941, p. 68)
(24) “…Immediately beneath this tower there was at one time an unusually large ahar. If one believes the accounts of the locals, that it extended from hill to hill, where they pointed out the width of the foundations, then the length of the ahar or konak could not have been less than 120 m and its width 40 m. It consisted of three parts. The first part of the ahar, to the right of the tower, housed the beg’s servants; below this section, the ground floor contained storerooms. The next one-third of the ahar served as a musafirluk (hostel) for travellers. Beneath this and the first part of the ahar, where the two parts met, there was such a large passageway from west to east that a fully-laden haycart could pass through it. The final one-third of the ahar was the women’s harem (private quarters). Two entrances led into the ahar, one from one widthways side and one from the other. There were large and unusually solid steps by the entrances. Old Mehmedbeg recounted that one Arifbeg Miralem of the Jemanlić family from Donji Vakuf entered the upper part of the ahar on horseback beside these steps when he came with wedding guests to Odžak to lead Azemina, daughter of Mustajbeg Sulejmanpašić. Behind the right-hand part of the ahar was stabling and other outbuildings. The ahar, too, was damaged beyond repair by the 1831 fire. Mehmedbeg Rustempašić remembered part of the abandoned ahar, and it is only thanks to him that we now know what it was once like. He recounted that the last part of the ahar fell down when he was a child, sitting in the maktab with the muallim [teacher], and that was some time before 1890.” (Bejtić, Alija:, 1941, pp. 68-69)
(25) which included the entire Skoplje valley
(26) in 1898 he was a shari’a judge in Bugojno
(27) (Rustempašić, Selma: 2005, pp. 284-287)
(28) (Bejtić, Alija:, 1941, pp. 63-65)
(29) Land Register entry for plot nos. 94 and 96, cadastral municipality Gornji Odžak, issue no. 2270/05, Land Register entry no. 311, issued on 17 August 2005 by the Land Registry Office of the Municipal Court in Bugojno, Central Bosnia Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina
(30) The heirs listed in section B) of the title deed of the said Land Register entry enjoy various shares, which are listed beside the names of each: 1/192, 9.128, 3/128, 9/256, 1/12, 1/48, 1/24, 1/15, 1/120, 1/720, 3/16.
(31) “…Apart from the tower of feudal lords such towers were also build as office buildings, occupied by captains and their garrisons guarding the border. …
…The towers are also known as original houses, built around major forts, where the wealthier spent their summers. Such towers sometimes had stabling on the ground floor. In addition to the ground floor, they would have only one or two more storeys. These towers had loopholes. There were many such towers around Sarajevo, particularly in the area below Mt Igman, from Hrasnica to Vrelo Bosne (the source of the river Bosna). The same name was also used for the watchtowers alongside major roads, which were built in the same fashion as the towers of the feudal lords. …” (Kreševljaković, Hamdija: 1954, pp. 71-73)
(32) From a visual observation of the remains of the tower, which must have been carried out before 1941, eng. Alija Bejtić concluded that the tower was about 25 m in height. He writes: “There are no partition walls remaining inside the tower, but the outlines of the various storeys can clearly be seen on the walls. These reveal that the tower had four storeys, and I was told in the 1960s by old Mehmedbeg Rustempašić, a local, that the tower had had a fifth storey, above which, according to him, it was surrounded by loopholes and downpipes for pouring boiling water onto the enemy in the event of an assault on the tower. Above the loopholes was a rather wider wooden čatma (the topmost part of the tower). Consequently, when it was intact the height of the tower was in excess of 25 m. There was a wooden roof on the čatma, which was still standing until just before the 1878 Occupation.” (Alija Bejtić, Odžak na Vrbasu, El-Hidaje, no 2-3, Sarajevo, 1941, p. 66)
(33) Observed on site and also visible on photographs of the property taken on 17 August 2005
(34) Professional paper by eng. Alija Bejtić, published in El-Hidaje, no. 2-3, Sarajevo, 4 December 1941. The photograph, which is published in the periodical, shows the tower with a basement and four upper storeys, with part of the wall structure of the fifth floor still surviving (Note E. Softić).
(35) Alija Bejtić, Odžak na Vrbasu, El-Hidaje, no. 2-3, Sarajevo, 1941, p. 66
(36) Condition of the property on 17 August 2005
(37) Alija Bejtić, Odžak na Vrbasu, El-Hidaje, no. 2-3, Sarajevo, 1941, p. 66
(38) This pertains to the state of the property before 1941. Now that so much of the walls are in a ruinous state (over the past 60-odd years the third and fourth storeys have in effect collapsed), in 2005 there were only three rows of loopholes remaining.
(39) Alija Bejtić, Odžak na Vrbasu, El-Hidaje, no. 2-3, Sarajevo, 1941, p. 68
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