Status of monument -> National monument
Published in the “Official Gazette of BiH” no. 36/09.
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 20 to 26 January 2009 the Commission adopted a
D E C I S I O N
I
The site and remains of the architectural ensemble of the Trzanska mosque (Ali-bey mosque, mosque at Trzanj) with harem in Žepče are 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. 132, title deed no. 116, cadastral municipality Žepče, Municipality Žepče, 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, restoration, 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.
sa osnovnim podacima o spomeniku i odluci o proglašenju dobra nacionalnim spomenikom.
III
To ensure the on-going protection of the National Monument on the site defined in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision, the following protection measures are hereby stipulated:
Site and remains of the Trzanska mosque:
- a mosque may be erected on the original site, retaining the original proportions of the building as it was prior to its destruction, using new materials and building methods, to a design approved by 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);
- during the construction of the new mosque, the introduction of new features (abdesthana) as required for the needs of the owner of the property shall be permitted, subject to preserving the mosque harem and providing for the appropriate presentation of the surviving nišan tombstones in the mosque harem;
- all original fragments of the mosque that are found on the plot or adjoining plots or that may be found on the site or elsewhere to which they were removed after the destruction of the property shall be catalogued, examined, conserved, returned to the site of the harem, and reintegrated into the reconstructed building wherever possible;
- any fragments found that are too badly damaged to be reused or cannot be reused for other justifiable reasons shall be suitably presented as part of the architectural ensemble.
The harem of the Trzanska mosque:
- conservation and restoration works shall be carried out on the nišan tombstones in the architectural ensemble, with approval from the relevant ministry and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority. All nišans that cannot be dated should, following suitable conservation, be presented in an appropriate manner;
- the introduction, if any, of a new building or structure must be wholly subordinate to the need for the appropriate protection and presentation of the protected harem;
- a conservation and restoration project shall be developed for the damaged nišans in the mosque harem, which shall then be conserved and restored accordingly.
On all the plots adjoining the protected area, the reconstruction of existing buildings shall be permitted subject to their retaining their existing footprint and height. The interpolation of residential properties of a maximum of two storeys (ground + 1) and a maximum height of approx. 6.50 m to the roof cornice may be permitted.
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 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 the day after its publication 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 Martin Cherry.
No: 07.1-02-40/09-8
22 January 2009
Sarajevo
Chair of the Commission
Dubravko Lovrenović
E l u c i d a t i o n
I – INTRODUCTION
Pursuant to Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a “National Monument” is an item of public property proclaimed by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments to be a National Monument pursuant to Articles V and VI of Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and property entered on the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of BiH no. 33/02) until the Commission reaches a final decision on its status, as to which there is no time limit and regardless of whether a petition for the property in question has been submitted or not.
On 15 August 2008 the Commission received a petition from the Majlis of the Islamic Community in Žepče to designate the Trzanska/Alibey mosque in Žepče 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 para. 4 of Annex 8 and Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments.
Statement of significance of the property
The Alibey mosque in Trzanj is the only domed mosque in Žepče. The architectural ensemble of the Trzanska (Alibey) mosque, or the mosque in Trzanj, consists of the mosque and harem – a small burial ground with some twenty nišan tombstones. The oldest tombstone dates from 1266 AH (1850); the others are of recent date.
There is no written source of information on when the mosque was built, nor is the date of the mosque known. The original mosque was probably built in the 17th-18th century, when Žepče was booming. Over the years the Trzanska mosque has been rebuilt or renovated on several occasions, and has altered in appearance; the first recognizable renovations were carried out in the late 19th century, during the Austro-Hungarian period. Old photographs reveal that the mosque was a single-space domed structure with a main prayer hall, stone minaret abutting against the mosque wall, and portico, which altered in appearance and structure with the passage of time. It was rendered and whitewashed.
The mosque was destroyed in 1993, during the war.
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 the current owner and user of the property (copy of cadastral plan),
- Details of 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 site and remains of the architectural ensemble of the Trzanska mosque (Alibey mosque, mosque at Trzanj) are located on a site designated as c.p. no. 132, Municipality Žepče.
Historical information
The period from the arrival of the Ottomans to the end of the 18th century, when it began to stagnate and decline in importance, was the most significant for the development of the settlement. The arrival of Austria-Hungary in the late 19th century brought no significant changes. The development, or lack of it, of the settlement was dictated by its position remote from major road intersections.
There is no written or other source of information on when the mosque was built, and nor is it possible to determine the date of the original building from the architectural features of building that can be identified from photographs taken prior to its destruction, since these show the appearance of the mosque following interventions in the Austro-Hungarian period. It seems likely that the original mosque was built in the 17th-18th century, when Žepče was flourishing.
Though the Trzanska mosque was restored several times over the years, the first identifiable renovations were carried out in the late 19th century, during the Austro-hungarian period, when the walls of the mosque and the drum were restored; the remains of the stone walls of the mosque, made of local limestone, typically dark in colour and of rather poor quality, were built up using Austrian-format brick. The entire drum was rebuilt in brick.
Old photographs show that the mosque originally had an open wooden portico, which was later walled in and raised slightly. In the 1980s, an open portico with three small concrete domes on four concrete pillars with pointed arches between and an infill of façade brick was built against the mosque wall.
The mosque was destroyed in 1993, during the war.
The remains of the mosque – three walls to their full height, the drum and the exterior portico – survived on the site until September 2008, when the Majlis of the Islamic community in Žepče demolished them and cleared the site to make way for the mosque to be rebuilt.
2. Description of the property
The architectural ensemble consisted of the mosque and harem with nišan tombstones.
The Alibey mosque at Trzanj was the only domed mosque in Žepče.
The only available source of information on its earlier appearance are old photographs.
The mosque was altered in appearance over the years. Old photographs show that it was a single-space domed building with a main prayer hall, stone minaret abutting onto the mosque wall, and portico, which was altered in appearance and structure as time elapsed. The mosque was plastered and painted white. No information on the interior is to be found.
The main body of the mosque measured 11 x 11 m in plan, and the portico was 3 m deep.
Inside, the single prayer hall of the mosque was accentuated visually by arches built of Austrian-format brick, forming the transition from the square plan of the mosque to the octagonal drum. Photographs of the remains of the mosque prior to its demolition in September 2008 reveal that the interior was plastered and painted white. All that could be seen of its architectural features was the remains of the mihrab, which was altered in appearance during works on the mosque in the Austro-Hungarian period. The lower zone of the mihrab and mihrab niche were of stone and the upper zone, with the pronounced mihrab frame, were of Austrian-format brick. The top of the niche was also of brick, with projecting courses and a terminal in the form of a slightly pointed brick arch, above which was a niche with a plaque bearing an inscription. The entire mihrab space was accentuated by a terminal in the form of the concave panes of a roof.
The minaret stood against the south-west wall of the building. The base of the minaret was square and abutted against the mosque wall for its full height of 8 m. The rectangular transition to the shaft of the minaret, rather smaller in size than the base, was almost level with the top of the drum. Above it was a short conical transition the top of which was level with the cornice of the dome. The minaret was 19 m in height to the alem (finial). The shaft of the minaret was circular in section. The šerefe (balcony) of the mosque was accentuated by a stone bowl, and had a wrought iron railing. The minaret was topped by an alem.
The octagonal drum forming the base of the dome was 1 m high with sides of 4 m. The apex of the dome to the finial was at an absolute height of 13 m. It is not known what the dome was built of; and that the old photographs of the outside of the mosque reveal is that it was clad with lead sheet.
The windows at ground-floor level, two on each side of the mosque, were rectangular, somewhat elongated, and fitted with grilles on the outside. The upper windows, one on each side of the mosque, were smaller and round-headed. The drum windows, in the axis of four sides of the drum, were round.
The mosque was plastered on the outside, with the stone socle left exposed to a height of about 0.5 m. The stone socle of the minaret was rather higher, at about 1 m.
Among the older nišan tombstones in the burial ground beside the mosque was that of Kapetanović (kapudan-zade) Mahmud-bey, son of Hajji Mustafa-aga, who died in 1280 AH (1863). The other tombstones are of more recent date (Mujezinović, 1998, p. 249).
In 2008 the Majlis of the Islamic Community of Žepče commissioned a project for the reconstruction and extension of the Trzanska mosque in Žepče. This provided for the construction of a completely new building on the site of the destroyed mosque, with exterior dimensions identical to the old mosque prior to its destruction. In plan, the building was in two sections – the entrance area of the open portico, and the main prayer hall. In the entrance area, right and left of the central entrance doorway, an abdesthana (premises for ritual ablutions) and toilets was planned as a free-standing facility to the left of the entrance but treated visually as an extension of the portico. The project provided for the new mosque to be built using a skeleton structure (reinforced concrete ring beams and girders) with a brick-block infill.
There is a small burial ground beside the destroyed Ali-bey mosque in Žepče, with some twenty nišan tombstones, some of which are broken or have been scattered around the burial ground.
1. Woman's nišan without epitaph, 14 x 13 cm in section with a height of 68 cm.
2. Nišan in the shape of a stela, without epitaph, measuring 18 x 12 x 42 cm.
3. Nišan without epitaph, square in section at 15 x 15 cm with a height of 46 cm.
4. Woman's nišan, partly buried, without epitaph, 15 x 12 cm in section with a height of 50 cm.
5. Small woman's nišan, partly buried, without epitaph, 12 x 12 cm in section with a height of 40 cm.
6. Small man's nišan with turban, square in section at 10 x 10 cm with a height of 36 cm. The nišan has no epitaph.
7. Nišan in the shape of a stela, measuring 20 x 8 x 63 cm, with an epitaph in prose in Arabic.
لا اله الا الله محمد رسول الله المرحومة و المغفورة المحتاجة الي رحمة ربه الغفور امة بنت صالح غفر الله لهما و لوالديهما رضاء لله الفاتحة سنة 266 ج
There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God. Deceased and forgiven Ema, may God have mercy upon her, daughter of Salih, may God forgive them both and their parents. For God's pleasure recite Fatiha. Year 1266, Jumada-l-Ula (March/April 1850).
8. Nišan in the shape of a stela, measuring 14 x 6 x 50 cm, with an epitaph in prose in Turkish and Arabic, carved in small naskh script, making it hard to read:
لا اله الا الله محمد رسول الله ................... بو ستان جان مقام حنت اولان مرحومه مليحه بنت عثمان .... غفر الله لهما و لوالديهما و لمن احسن اليهما الفاتحة مات (ت) في اليوم اثنان و االعشرين شهر ربيع الاخر سنة 1267
There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God .... may the garden of Jannah [Eden] be the abode of her soul. Deceased Meliha, daughter of Osman ... may God forgive them, their parents, and those who recite Fatiha for them. She died on 22 Rabi' al-Akhira 1267 (24 February 1851).
9. Man's nišan with pleated turban, without epitaph, square in section at 14 x 14 cm with a height of 90 cm.
10. Nišan meausring 14 x 9 x 36 cm of which the top has been knocked off, with an epitaph in Arabic in thuluth script:
المرحوم والمغفور طوبحي زاده عثمان بك بن حسن اغا روح شريفه فاتحة سنة 1272
Deceased and forgiven Topčić Osman-bey, son of Hasan-aga. Recite Fatiha to [his] noble soul. Year 1271 (1855/56).
11. Man's nišan with pleated turban, rectangular in section at 16 x 12 cm with a height of 93 cm, with an epitaph in Arabic:
هو المرحوم و المغفور قبودان زاده محمود بك بن حاجي مصطفي غفر الله له و لوالديه و حسنه الفاتحة سنة 1280
He. Deceased and forgiven Kapetanović Mahmud-bey, son of hajji Mustafa, may God forgive him and his parents. Fatiha. Year 1280 (1863/64).
12. Man's nišan with turban, overturned, rectangular in section at 15 x 14 cm with a height of 90 cm, with an epitaph in Arabic:
هو الحي الباقي المرحوم و المغفور عمر بن حسن غفر الله له و حسنه الفاتحة سنة 1271
He is the Living, the Eternal. Deceased and forgiven Omer, son of Hasan, may God forgive him. Fatiha. Year 1271 (1854/55).
13. Man's nišan with turban, rectangular in section at 16 x 15 cm with a height of 80 cm, with an epitaph in Arabic:
هو الحي الباقي المرحوم و المغفور مصطفي افندي بن ابراهيم لروحه الفاتحة سنة 1269
He is the Living, the Eternal. Deceased and forgiven Mustafa-effendi, son of Ibrahim.Fatiha for his soul. Year 1269 (1852/53).
14. Nišan in the shape of a stela measuring 20 x 9 x 78 cm, broken and lying on the ground. The epitaph in Arabic is in naskh script:
المرحومة و المغفورة لها المحتاجة الي رحمة ربه الغفور كلثومة بن محمد غفر الله لها و لوالديها رضاء لله الفاتحة سنة 1260 في 15 ن
Deceased and forgiven Kulsum, may God have mercy upon her, daughter [the Arabic reads bin – son] of Muhammad, may God forgive her and her parents. For God's pleasure, recite Fatiha. Year 1260, 15 Ramadan (28 September 1844).
15. Man's nišan with pleated turban, without epitaph, 13 x 12 cm in section with a height of 60 cm, broken and lying on the ground.
16. Nišan, probably a footstone, lying on the ground, without epitaph, measuring 12 x 12 x 62 cm.
17. Nišan with the turban broken off, lying on the ground, rectangular in section at 13 x 12 cm with a height of 50 cm. It bears a finely carved hajji's band below which is the year written from right to left, even though in Arabic numbers are written from left to right. Below the year is the epitaph in Arabic, set in five framed panels:
مرحوم و مغفور له عثمان ابن عمر غفر الله و لولاديه الفاتحة 1187
1187 (1773/74). Deceased and forgiven Osman, son of Omer, may God forgive him and his parents. Al-Fatiha.
18. Broken-off turban with horizontal pleats, lying on the ground. The turban is 85 cm in circumference and 40 cm in height.
19. Broken-off and broken pleated turban, lying on the ground. The turban is 69 cm in circumference and 27 cm in height.
20. Nišan in the shape of a stela, measuring 17 x 8 x 50 cm, broken and lying on the ground, without epitaph.
21. Broken-off pleated turban, lying on the ground. The turban is 97 cm in circumference and 57 cm in height.
22. Damaged nišan in the shape of a stela, measuring 20 x 17 x 53 cm, without epitaph.
23. Man's nišan [the original of the decision reads Man's turban, no doubt in error] with pleated turban, the front of which is damaged, measuring 13 x 13 x 60 cm. The nišan has no epitaph.
24. Nišan in the shape of a stela, measuring 19 x 20 x 40 cm, without epitaph.
25. Man's nišan with pleated turban, without epitaph, 15 x 13 cm in section with a height of 54 cm, lying on the ground broken.
3. Legal status to date
According to the information supplied by the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sport, the Trzanska mosque in Žepče was listed but not protected by the Institute.
4. Research and conservation and restoration works
No information is available on any conservation and restoration works to date.
5. Current condition of the property
An inspection of the current condition of the site revealed that works have been completed on laying the concrete foundations of the mosque and installing the rebars to concrete the base of the minaret. The concrete foundations of the additional building planned as an abdesthana have also been laid. Fragments of the mosque and the remains of some of the nišan tombstones can be seen on the site. The brick blocks to be used in the new building are being stored on the western part of the site, very close to the remains of some nišan tombstones.
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
E. Symbolic value
E.ii. religious value
E.iv. relation to rituals or ceremonies
E.v. significance for the identity of a group of people
The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:
- copy of geodetic plan,
- outline proposal for the reconstruction and extension of the mosque in Žepče,
- photodocumentation – photographs taken by the Commission in September 2008
Bibliography
During the procedure to designate the monument as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:
1998. Mujezinović, Mehmed, Islamska epigrafika Bosne i Hercegovine (Islamic epigraphics of BiH), bk. II, Istočna i centralna Bosna (Eastern and Central Bosnia), 3rd ed., Cultural Heritage Series, Sarajevo Publishing, 1998.
2000. Ayverdi Dr Ekrem Hakki, Avupra’da Osmanli Mimari Eserlera Yugoslavya II, 3 kitab, Istanbul, 2000.
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