Status of monument -> National monument
Published in the “Official Gazette of BiH” no. 3/09.
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 27 May to 2 June 2008 the Commission adopted a
D E C I S I O N
I.
The historic site of the necropolis with stećak tombstones in Donji Ivančići, Municipality Ilijaš, is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).
The National Monument consists of a necropolis with 13 stećak tombstones, 10 gabled, 2 chest-shaped and one slab-shaped.
The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 474/5, title deed no. 223, Land Register entry no. 413, and part of c.p. no. 474/4, Land Register entry no. 476, cadastral municipality Ivančići, Municipality Ilijaš, 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, 6/04 and 51/07) 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 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 erecting 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 area defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision, the following protection measures are hereby stipulated.
- all works are prohibited other than research and conservation and restoration works, including those designed to display the 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 stećak tombstones that are located on c.p. nos. 474/4 and 474/5 are at constant risk, and must urgently be moved to a site within the necropolis, following archaeological works,
- buildings that have been unlawfully and illegally erected may not be legalized and should be removed, and the site restored to its prior condition,
- works on the infrastructure are permitted solely with the approval of the relevant ministry and subject to the expert opinion of the heritage protection authority,
- all building and works of any kind that could have the effect of altering the site are prohibited, as is the erection of temporary or permanent structures not designed solely to protect and present the National Monument
- the site of the monument shall be open and accessible to the public, and may be used for educational and cultural purposes,
- the dumping of waste is prohibited.
The Government of the Federation shall be responsible in particular for ensuring that a programme of systematic archaeological investigations and conservation of the necropolis and a programme for its presentation are drawn up.
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: 02-02-43/08-9
28 May 2008
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 December 2002, Ilijaš Municipality submitted a proposal/petition to designate the necropolis with stećak tombstones in Ivančići 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 para. 4 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 register entry);
- Data on the current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs, data of war damage, data on restoration or other works on the property, etc.;
- Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property, as set out in the bibliography forming part of this Decision.
The findings based on the review of the above documentation and the condition of the property are as follows:
1. Details of the property
Location
The village of Ivančići(1) lies in the Ljubina river valley, close to the Sarajevo-Tuzla road, in Ilijaš Municipality. It is about 22 km as the crow flies to the north-east of the town of Ilijaš. The necropolis with stećak tombstones is on the left bank of the river Ljubina, and also on the left-hand side of the road from Donji Čevljanovići to Gornji Donji Čevljanovići.
The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 474/5, title deed no. 223, Land Register entry no. 413, and part of c.p. no. 474/4, Land Register entry no. 476, cadastral municipality Ivančići, Municipality Ilijaš, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The site on which the necropolis with stećak tombstones is located is recorded in the Municipal Court in Sarajevo as immovable property in the sole ownership of Avdagić (Muris) Dževad.
Historical information
The earliest traces of life in the area of present-day Ilijaš Municipality are associated with the Palaeolithic, as evidenced by the complex of the Bijambara caves on the Crna Rijeka plateau. This is in an area that formerly belonged administratively to the village of Nišići in Srednje Municipality, and is still known to the local people as the Krivajevička cave(2) (M. Malez, 1968, 159-178).
Further evidence for the presence of prehistoric sites in this area is to be found in the places known locally as Gradina, Gradac, Grad etc. (trans.: all names suggesting a hill fort or fortifications of some kind) (M. Kadrić, 1995, 23).
During the Illyrian period, from the 9th century BCE to the coming of the Romans in 9 CE, the area was inhabited by the Daesitiates tribe, with its stronghold in Breza (Hedum castellum Daeisitiatum) (I. Bojanovski, 1984, 49-51).
An inscription from Breza dating from 2 BCE, princeps Daesitiatum, indicating that the rank of prince existed in this tribe, suggests that it was well organized (B. Čović, 1976, 198).
In Roman times, too, the area around present-day Breza in the river Stavnja valley remained one of inner Bosnia's major political centres. There are also traces of settlements of this period around the confluence of the river Misoča and the Bosna, in present-day Ilijaš (P. Anđelić, 1971, 343).
In early mediaeval times the župa (county) of Vidogošća or Vogošća occupied the Bosna river basin between the Sarajevo and Visoko plains. In mediaeval times, the village of Kamenica, which was a market where ore was sold, was located on the Crnoriječka plateau between Olovo and Vareš, Srednje and Čevljanovići (M. Kadrić, 1995, 23).
Among the forts and residences of overlords in this part of the world was the fort of Dubrovnik, first referred to in written sources on 11 June 1404. Its actual name is Dabrovnik (M. Vego, 1957, 37).(3)
The mediaeval tombstones of Bosnia and Hum known as stećci became the subject of scholarly interest in not entirely favorable circumstances, hundreds of years after they had become a relic of a historic age. At the turn of the 18th-19th century, the western world began to hear of the unusual art to be found on tombstones in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dalmatia, initially from the accounts of travelers that were not well documented enough to give rise to any significant interest in the west, particularly since western scholarship was then occupied with the analysis of entirely different works of art; as a result, the realistic, and indeed clumsy scenes on the stećci neither appealed to scholars nor aroused their interest. In Ottoman Bosnia itself, there were no forces capable independently of studying and presenting these treasures of mediaeval art (A. Benac, 1963, XVII, XXIX). In these circumstances, by the mid 19th century – when the process of modern national coalescence was in full swing and the question of whom Bosnia belonged to increasingly took on political and even apocalyptic significance – scholars were inclined to see the art of the stećci as having arisen from Bogomil teachings (A. Benac, 1963, XXIX). Nor was there any lack of efforts to give the stećci a purely Serbian or Croatian national stamp (V. Glušac, 1924, 31-35, 36-37, 50; Südland, 1990, 95, 96). From the mid 20th century, the prevailing scholarly opinion was that the stećci could not be explained by either “bogomilization” or any exclusively national theory, but rather than they should be situated in their own authentic world, the world in which they came into being, evolved and then died out in the late 15th century, after the mediaeval Bosnian state had itself come to an end.
The Bosnian context for the emergence of the stećci was dictated by the growing economic power of 14th century Bosnian feudal society, the opening of mines, and urbanization, along with the desire of individuals to mark their standing and power by the outward image of a tombstone. The large number of graves and burial grounds without stećci attest to the deep class differences of feudal society, which means that, chronologically speaking, the stećci echoed both the advance and the decline of feudalism and the development of towns and the bourgeoisie.
The opening of the mines and the urbanization of mediaeval Bosnia are the context for the appearance of stećak tombstones (pl. stećci), as a new expression of the marking of tombs that began in Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries with the development of towns and the bourgeois class.
The mediaeval tombstones known as stećci (sing. stećak) are typical of the old Bosnian state (S. Bešlagić, 1982, 32). They form part of the unbroken sepulchral continuity of the Bosnian region reaching back deep into prehistoric times, where their connection with the sites of ancient times – prehistoric settlements and religious sites, agglomerations and burial grounds dating from antiquity, late antique and early mediaeval churches and fortified towns.
They are distributed throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the exception of the Sava valley region and the western parts of the Bosnian Krajina or frontier region, with smaller numbers in western Serbia and Montenegro, Dalmatia and in parts of Lika.
Their epitaphs attest to various other names used in tandem to denote the stećci: bilig, kâm (stone), zlamen, kuća (house) and eternal abode. Popular names long in use include mramorje (marbles), mašeti, Greek tombs, old tombs, kaursko groblje (giaours' or infidels' burial grounds), and giants' stones.
The name most commonly used in reference works is stećak, deriving from the fact that they were designed to stand over graves as a monument. The word comes from the present participle of the verb stajati, to stand – stojeći or, as it used to be pronounced, steći.
One of the primary meanings of the stećci is development, growth and metamorphosis from smaller and simpler to larger and more complex forms. Though the classification of stećci has not yet been fully worked out, a possible starting point is the total of nine different shapes represented in Radimlja near Stolac, ranging from slabs, slabs with plinths, chest-shaped tombstones, chests with plinths and tall chests without or with plinth to sarcophagus-shaped or gabled tombstones without or with plinth and cruciform tombstones.
The basic shape of the stećci is a recumbent or erect stone monolith. Erect stone monoliths may be in the form of a stela, obelisk or nišan. Tombstones of this type are found in greater numbers in north-eastern Bosnia (in the Srebrenica and Zvornik area), featuring only singly in other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most stećci are recumbent monoliths, which take three shapes: slabs, chests and sarcophagi (gabled tombstones).
Slabs are the most common, followed by chest-shaped stećci; gabled stećci are the least common. These recumbent tombstones are the primary and principal form of the stećak, and are found throughout the area of their distribution.
The artistic treatment of the stećci is to be seen in their form and decoration. As well as their pure function as lasting grave markers, stećci are designed to arouse in the observe a feeling of beauty, the aesthetic tendency of which is reflected in the forms of the gabled tombstones (sarcophagi) and the so-called tall chests.
The basic artistic quality of the stećci is their decoration, executed using two different techniques – usually in bas relief, though incised lines are not uncommon.
The decorative motifs on the stećci possess the marked symbolism characteristic of mediaeval art, and fall into five groups that overlap and complement each other: social and religious symbols, representations of the posthumous round dance, figural scenes and pure ornament.
There is also a sixth group of unclassified motifs: those of symbolic function, geometric forms, representations of certain unusual articles, and damaged motifs of which the meaning cannot be deciphered.(4)
As a whole, the ornamentation of stećci reveals the mindset and sentiments of an entire era, both of the people who were involved in making them and of the deceased who found their last resting place beneath them, and to whose wishes – as some epitaphs relate – the stećci were carved.(5)
The municipalities of Nevesinje and Konjic in Herzegovina lead the field in numbers of stećci, with 3,000 to 4,000 specimens; in Bosnia, Rogatica municipality stands out with 2.268 stećci. The number of stećci in the various necropolises is also a major indicator of social trends in mediaeval Bosnia in the 14th and 15th centuries. Given that most contain fewer than ten stećci, and that necropolises belonging to large communities, with more than 300 stećci, are rare, small burial grounds may generally be regarded as family necropolises, indicating an advanced state of disintegration of the old clan-based society and the emergence of small family-based communities organizing their own burial grounds as a marker of their “new” identity (P. Anđelić, 1966, 455-495).
The mediaeval conception of death changed in western Europe with the Protestant reformers, who “based their ideas and beliefs solely on the Bible, rather than on a combination of the Bible and 'tradition' which had built up over the centuries” (Daniell, 1997, 196-199). Following a brief transitional period marked by the emergence of a hybrid stećak-nišan tombstone, the burial practices embodied in the stećci died out in the decades following the establishment of Ottoman rule in Bosnia and Hum, when gravestones began to differ by confession.
2. Description of the property
Though the term central Bosnia is somewhat imprecise, it indicates an area known in mediaeval sources as contrata del re – Crown lands – which, from the political perspective, constituted the central region of mediaeval Bosnia. Ever since ancient times, major roads had intersected there, and numerous fortified towns had been built there, including the royal residences of bans (rulers) and kings. There were many mines there, alongside which settlements and colonies of merchants from Dubrovnik were formed. Until the mid 13th century the Bosnian Catholic bishop's see was based there, as was, later, the see of the Bosnian Church, while the Franciscan vicariate was also based there; in addition, it was the political centre of the state, with the tomb and coronation church of the Kotromanić's in Mile near Visoko. Lastly, it was here that German Saxon miners were a significant presence (Š.Bešlagić, 1967, 5-12). All this gave rise to a remarkable cultural, ethnic, religious and economic patchwork, with Visoko as a kind of cultural metropolis – a centre of literacy, of political and religious life, and of extensive artistic and architectural activity without equal in Bosnia at that time (P. Anđelić, 1984, 293-294).
According to the studies conducted by Šefik Bešlagić in central Bosnia from 1964 to 1966, 330 sites with mediaeval necropolises were recorded in 216 settlements, with a total of 4,758 stećci. Every kind of stećak to be seen in other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina is represented there: the majority, 3659 (77%) are chest-shaped, followed by gabled tombstones (14%), slabs (8%), cruciform tombstones (0.7%), and erect stećci (0.2%). Other forms, apart from stećci, used as tombstones are mausolea; five epitaphs are recorded on mausolea (Gračanica, Rječica, Podbrežje, Mali Mošunj and Turbe). The stećci from this region are of poorer workmanship and smaller in size than those of Herzegovina as well as some in other regions of Bosnia. The majority of the chest-shaped tombstones have plinths, somewhat narrower and shorter at the base. A typical feature of this area is the so-called double-gabled tombstone, but only in Ilijaš municipality, and still rarer are gabled stećci with two plinths, i.e. a gabled tombstone with a plinth on a separate plinth (Sudići and Kopošić near Ilijaš). The cruciform tombstones of this region differ in appearance from those of other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, having a round head and one or more arched incisions below, visually evoking the cross arms that do not in fact exist. These are restricted to the Travnik-Zenica area. In all, 185 stećci, or 4% of the total number, are decorated.
Sixty-five different motifs have been recorded in central Bosnia, recurring 840 times. These decorative motifs include decorations, symbols and figural scenes.
Seventeen different decorative motifs are represented in various combinations and with certain variations. Most common is the rope twist (found 130 times), followed by a plain sculpted band (60 times); there are fewer instances of a band with zigzag lines (8), a band of parallel diagonal lines (5), a twining vine with trefoils (3), a band of curving acanthus leaves (13), a band of stylized cinquefoils and hexafoils (3), a band of stylized fleur de lis 91) and friezes of combined circles and triangles.
The most numerous decorative motifs in central Bosnia are symbols, with thirty different motifs of this type, recurring 593 times. The most common is the rosette (occurring 244 times), followed by the crescent moon (68), the circle and corona or sun disc (29), a relief semi-orb (27), a cross (35), floral stylizations with symmetrical spirals (61), S-spirals (4), and other floral stylizations (17). There are also representations of a bunch of grapes (2), a shield (3), a sword (4), a banner or standard (4), an arm with a spear (1), an arm with a mace (1), a staff (4), and – once each – a goblet, a hammer, a water mill, a table with fish, and cups.
The cruciform tombstones bear a knife motif, a unique coat of arms (a stylized wolf's head, at Zabrđe near Kiseljak), an arm (7 times), an arcade (51), an orb on the roof ridge of gabled tombstones (15), parallel ribbing or grooving (1), and roof shingles (7). Incised lines also belong to the group of symbols.
The group of motifs that feature relatively less frequently is figural scenes, with 18 different motifs recurring 21 times. In number of figures, two scenes with horses and riders on a gabled tombstone from Zgošća stand out. Hunting scenes occur three times, as do scenes with people and horses; other scenes with human figures feature four times, there is one scene of a man and a horse, and one of two birds.
Scenes with individual figures consist of an isolated figure of a horse, another of a seated male figure with a book and staff, a cockerel, a leopard tied to a tree, and a dragon. In central Bosnia, twenty epitaphs in bosančica (Bosnian Cyrillic) have been recorded on stećci, mainly in the Ilijaš-Kakanj-Zenica-Travnik region. Four are on a mausoleum plaque; the remainder are on stećci. The origin and development of the stećak tombstone in this region began back in the 13th century, remained a powerful feature of the 14th and 15th centuries, and came to an end in the mid 16th century. In or near most of these mediaeval necropolises are burial grounds of later date, indicating continuity of habitation in the area (Š. Bešlagić, 1967, 87-112).(6)
Necropolis with stećak tombstones in Donji Ivančići
The necropolis is on the left bank of the river Ljubina and the left-hand side of the road from Donji Čevljanovići to Gornji Čevljanovići. It is surrounded by a wire fence. It consists of 13 stećak tombstones, 10 of which are gabled, two chest-shaped and one slab-shaped.
The gabled tombstones have plinths, and most are cut so as to be narrower at the base. Among the chest-shaped tombstones, no. 2 has a plinth, as does slab no. 8.
The stećci lie in rows running from the south-east to the north-west, with the tombstones themselves lying north-east/south-west. One stećak (no. 8) lies north-west/south-east.
The stećci are of dressed stone and are well preserved, with the exception of two gabled tombstones, nos. 10 and 11, which have completely sunk into the ground, and gabled tombstone no. 13 and chest no 2, which are overturned and partly buried.
Decorations can be seen on two stećak tombstones (gabled no. 7 and slab no. 8). Stećak no. 1 has been erected outside the entrance to the garage on plot no. c.p. 474/5, and stećak no. 13 is on c.p. no. 474/4. There is also a large semicircular stone on the site, with no decoration of any kind and covered with lichens, so that it is hard to imagine what its purpose or meaning might be.
A letter from the Social Services Department of Ilijaš Municipality, dated 16 April 2008, sets out the ownership history of c.p. no. 474/5, revealing that it is 50% owned by Avdagić (Osman) Muris.
A letter from the Regional Planning, Housing and Utilities Department of Ilijaš Municipality, dated 28 April 2008, states that no building permit was granted for a weekend cottage on the plot designated as c.p. 474/5 in Ivančići.
Condition of the stećak tombstones
Stećak no.1 – gabled, of dressed stone, without decoration; displaced and erected outside the garage and front yard of theowner of the plot. Size of stećak: 174 x 68 x 64 cm; size of plinth: 188 x 75 x 17 cm, depth of plinth at the front 12 cm and at the sides 14 cm.
Stećak no. 2 – chest, overturned onto its south-east side and more than half sunken, covered with moss; it was not possible to measure it.(7)
Stećak no. 3 – gabled, of good workmanship and well preserved. Size of stećak: 192 x 71 x 55 cm; size of plinth: 205 x 88 x 8 cm visible height, depth of plinth at the front 15 cm and at the sides 20 cm.
Stećak no. 4 – gabled, of good workmanship and well preserved, overgrown with shrubs and weeds to the north-east. Size of stećak: 187 x 75 x 74 cm, size of plinth: 210 x 99 x 15 cm, depth of plinth at the front 17 cm and at the sides 20 cm.
Stećak no. 5 – gabled, of good workmanship and well preserved. Size of stećak: 187 x 72 x 53 cm, size of plinth: 211 x 91 x 17 cm, depth of plinth at the front 16 cm and at the sides 20 cm.
Stećak no. 6 – gabled, of good workmanship but damaged. Size of stećak: 142 x 49 x 42 cm, size of plinth: 144 x 60 x 18 cm, damage to the north side, depth of plinth at the front 9 cm and at the sides 9 cm.
Stećak no. 7 – gabled, richly decorated. The ends are decorated with a double spiral combined with a cross and fleur-de-lis, with one of the gables framed by a triangle. Above and to the right and left of this decoration is a small rosette. A rope-twist runs along the gable and horizontal edges of the “roof“. Two such rope-twists also run over the roof pans. Size of stećak: 133 x 52 x 44 cm, size of plinth: 140 x 68 x 15, depth of plinth at the front 11 cm and at the sides 10 cm.
Stećak no. 8 – slab with plinth, decorated, lying north-west/south-east, covered with lichens and damage. The flat top, which is covered with moss, has a barely visible rectangular border. Size of stećak: 146 x 68 x 23 cm, size of plinth: 164 x 85 x visible height 14 cm.
Stećak no. 9 – chest, lying north-west/south-east, covered with lichens, and with earth piled against the south side. Size of stećak: 127 x 67 x 32 cm.
Stećak no. 10 – gabled, completely sunken into the ground, overgrown with shrubs and weeds and standing right by the fence and road. The end of the tombstone can be seen from the road, through the bushes, revealing that it is of good workmanship. It lies north-east/south-west, and the part that is above ground, like the front end, is covered in lichens.
Stećak. no. 11– gabled, completely sunken into the ground, overgrown with shrubs and weeds and standing right by the fence and road, in front of stećak no. 10. It was not possible to measure it, but it is clearly of good workmanship, and lies north-east/south-west.
Stećak. no. 12– gabled, standing to the left of the road in the inaccessible middle part of the plot, overgrown with shrubs and weeds. It would roll down onto the road if the shrubs that are taking its entire weight were to be cut down. It was impossible to measure this stećak, but it is clearly of good workmanship, lying north-east/south-west, and is covered with moss.
Stećak no. 13 – gabled, lying on its side (overturned towards the south-west), about 200 m to the north of the other stećci, covered with lichens, and lying north-east/south-west.
There is also a large semicircular stone on the site, with no decoration of any kind and covered with lichens, so that it is hard to imagine what its purpose or meaning might be.
3. Legal status to date
The Regional Plan for BiH to 2000 lists 22 sites of necropolises with stećak tombstones (505 in all) as Category III monuments, without identifying them more accurately (various authors, 1980, p. 50).
A letter from the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sport dated 20 February 2008 states that the necropolis with stećci in Donji Ivančići is listed as “Mediaeval necropolis of Ivančići, Municipality Ilijaš.” The property was not in the Register of cultural monuments of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
4. Research and conservation and restoration works
Research works, consisting of recording and visiting sites and describing their existing condition in Ilijaš Municipality, were conducted by Šefik Bešlagić from 1964 to 1966; he published his findings in 1967 in Stećci centrale Bosne (Stećci of Central Bosnia). His findings were as follows: “The village of Ivančići is about 2 km to the north-east of Donji Čevljanovići, in the Ljubina valley, close to the Sarajevo-Olovo road, but the entire area, with several small villages, is also known by this name. Two necropolises were recorded in the Ivančići area. About 300 m to the south of the village houses is a necropolis with eleven stećak tombstones, ten gabled and one chest-shaped. The tombstones are of good workmanship and well preserved (two are tilted). They lie west-east. Two are decorated – one gabled and one chest-shaped. The ends of the gabled tombstone are carved with a double spiral. The chest has a rectangular border of diagonal lines on the flat top.“ (Š. Bešlagić 1967, 21).
No conservation or restoration works have been carried out.
5. Current condition of the property
The findings from an on site inspection on 18 January 2008 are as follows:
- thirteen stećci were found on the site (ten gabled, two chest-shaped and one slab-shaped),
- the stećci are of good workmanship and well preserved,
- stećci nos. 2 and 9 are chest-shaped, no. 8 is slab-shaped,and the rest are gabled,
- stećak no. 1, which has been moved, is very handsome, of good workmanship and well preserved, without decoration. It now stands outside a garage entrance, adorning the yard of the owner of the plot,
- stećak no. 2 is more than half sunken into the ground and covered with moss,
- stećci nos.3-7 are of good workmanship and well preserved,
- stećak no. 6 is missing part of its plinth,
- stećak no. 7 is decorated, and has a damaged plinth,
- stećak no. 8 is covered with lichens and has a damaged plinth,
- stećak no. 9 is covered with lichens and earth is piled up against its south side,
- stećak no. 10 is completely sunken into the ground, overgrown with shrubs and weeds and stands right by the fence and road; the part above ground is covered with lichens,
- stećak no. 11 is completely sunken into the ground, overgrown with shrubs and weeds and stands right by the fence and road, in front of stećak no. 10,
- stećak no. 12 is to the left of the road in the inaccessible middle part of the plot, overgrown with shrubs and weeds. It would roll down onto the road if the shrubs that are taking its entire weight were to be cut down,
- stećak no. 13 is about 200 m to the north of the other tombstones, below a large boundary stone, lying on its side (overturned towards the south-west), and covered with lichens. It is at constant risk of pollution by organic matter from the field latrine just above it,
- most of the stećci are affected by plant organisms, mainly lichens and moss, which are damaging the structure of the stone,
- the site of the necropolis becomes overgrown with grass, weeds and shrubs when plant growth begins again in spring,
- the stećci are at risk of rapid deterioration as a result of lack of regular maintenance.
6. Specific risks
- the stećci being moved (e.g. stećak nos. 1 and 13),
- constant threat to stećak no. 13 from pollution by organic matter,
- if the shrubs currently taking the weight of stećak no. 12 were to be cut down, it would roll down onto the road,
- disintegration of the necropolis resulting from long-term lack of maintenance,
- adverse weather conditions,
- self-sown vegetation.
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.i. quality of workmanship
C.v. value of details
D. Clarity (documentary, scientific and educational value)
D.i. material evidence of a lesser known historical era
E. Symbolic value
E.i. ontological value
G. Authenticity
G.i. form and design
The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:
- Copy of cadastral plan;
- Copy of land register entry and proof of title;
- Photo documentation – photographs taken on site.
Bibliography
During the procedure to designate the monument as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:
1924. Glušac, Vaso, “Srednjovekovna ‘bosanska crkva’", in: Prilozi za književnost, jezik, istoriju i folklor, IV (The Mediaeval “Bosnian Church,”, in Contributions to Literature, Language, History and Folklore, IV, Belgrade, 1924
1957. Vego, Marko, Naselja srednjovjekovne bosanske države (Settlements of the Mediaeval Bosnian State) Svjetlost, Sarajevo, 1957
1963. Benac, Alojz, Stećci, Prosveta, Belgrade, 1963
1963. Vego, Marko, “Patarenstvo u Hercegovini u svjetlu arheoloških spomenika” (Patarinism in Herzegovina in the Light of Archaeological Monuments), Jnl of the National Museum, n.s. (A), XVIII, Sarajevo, 1963
1966. Anđelić,Pavao, “Doba srednjovjekovne bosanske države”, in: Kulturna istorija Bosne i Hercegovine od najstarijih vremena do početka turske vladavine, Sarajevo, 1966
1967. Bešlagić, Šefik, Stećci Centralne Bosne (Stećak Tombstones of Central Bosnia), Sarajevo, 1967
1968. Malez, Mirko, “Bijambarske pećine kod Olova u središnjoj Bosni” (The Bijambara Caves near Olovo in Central Bosnia), Jnl of the National Museum, natural history, vol. VII, Sarajevo, 1968
1971. Anđelić, Pavao, “Stara bosanska župa Vidogošća ili Vogošća” (The Old Bosnian County of Vidogošća or Vogošća), Jnl of the National Museum, Archaeology. n.s. vol. XXVI, Sarajevo, 1971
1976. Čović, Borivoj, Od Butmira do Ilira (From Butmir to the Illyrians), Sarajevo, 1976
1980. Various authors, Regional Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina; Stage B - valorization of natural, cultural and historical monuments, Institute for architecture, town planning and regional planning of the Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo and Town Planning Institute for BiH, Sarajevo, Sarajevo, 1980
1982. Bešlagić, Šefik, Stećci. Kultura i umjetnost (Stećak tombstones – culture and art), Veselin Masleša, Sarajevo, 1982
1984. Bojanovski, Ivo, Razdoblje rimske uprave u Visoko i okolina kroz historiju I, (predhistorija, antika i srednji vijek) (The Roman Era, in Visoko and Environs Through History I [Prehistory, Antiquity, Mediaeval]), Visoko, 1984
1990. Basler, Đuro, Kršćanska arheologija, II. izdanje, Crkva na kamenu (Christian Archaeology, 2nd ed, Churches in Stone), Mostar, 1990
1990. Südland, L. V. (Ivo Pilar), Južnoslavensko pitanje. Prikaz cjelokupnog pitanja, Varaždin (The Yugoslav Question. Full account of the issue, Varaždin). Title of original: L. v. SÜDLAND, Die Südslawische Frage und der Weltkrieg. Übersichtliche Darstellung des Gesamt-Problems, Wien, 1990
1995. Kadrić, Merima, Monografija općine Ilijaš (Monograph of Ilijaš Municipality), Breza, 1995
1997. Daniell, Christopher, Death and Burial in Medieval England, 1066-1550, Routledge, London and New York, 1997
(1) The name Ivančići is also used to denote the entire area, with several smallish villages and hamlets.
(2) The cave complex was first investigated in September 1967 by Mirko Malez, who concluded from the materials he found that they belonged to the Epigravettian culture, i.e. the most recent period of the Upper Palaeolithic. These were also the first finds of this Palaeolithic culture in accurately fixed deposits in Bosnia. In addition, pottery shards from the late Bronze Age and the Hallstadt periods were found in the complex (M. Malez, 1968, 159-178).
(3) Bosnian Dubrovnik is also referred to in an agreement of 20 August 1503 between Hungary's King Vladislav and the Ottoman Empire (M. Vego, 1957, 37). Dubrovnik is referred to in a sidžil (Turkish sicil:protocol of a shari'ah court) issued by the mullah (qadi) of Sarajevo in 1565/66 as a fort to the east of Visoko, but is more often described as the seat of a nahija (minor administrative unit). The fort belonged to Bosnia's knez (prince) Batić, as evidenced by a stećak tombstone with an epitaph from Kopošići (M. Kadrić, 1995, 23). At its 10th session, held from 7 to 11 October 2003, the Commission to Preserve National Monuments issued a Decision designating the archaeological site of the Dubrovnik Fort in Višnjica, Municipality Ilijaš, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
(4) The world of Bosnia's and Hum's stećci abounds in symbolism, full of crosses, crescent moons, solar discs, swastikas and stars, scenes of the round dance, tournaments, cavalry processions, military weapons, shields and arcades, vines and bunches of grapes, stylized fleur de lis and rosettes, deer and wild boar, coats of arms, swords and spears, portraits of the deceased with a disproportionately large raised hand, books, roofs and representations of houses.
(5) In line with the specific political, economic and cultural situation of various regions, the art of the stećak led to the formation of distinctive local styles. The leading role is that of the stonemasons' yard in Herzegovina, based in the Stolac region, in Trebinje and Bileća, and in Gacko and Nevesinje. A fourth stonemasons' yard was active in the wider Konjic area, and a fifth in the Lištica region. The principal stonemasons' centres in western Bosnia covered the area between Kupres and Duvno, and those of central Bosnia provided for the area around Travnik. In eastern Bosnia, the work of four stonemasons' yards can be identified: one between Kladanj, Olovo and Ilijaš, another around Zvornik, a third in Ludmer and a fourth around Rogatica. There were also centres of scribes, with the Herzegovina school – probably with several centres or workshops – again in first place. A significant centre of epigraphic literacy was to be found in the Stolac area, with Semorad as its most prominent figure (Š. Bešlagić, 1982, 479-482).
(6) For further information see the Decision designating the historic site of the Srednje necropolis with stećak tombstones, Municipality Ilijaš, as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
(7) The stećak is sunken into the ground, so it could not be measured.
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