Status of monument -> National monument
Published
in the “Official Gazette of BiH”, no. 84/09.
Pursuant
to Article V para 4. 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 9 to 16 March 2009 the
Commission adopted a
D E C I S
I O N
I
The
historic monument of the Krajinaputevi (Krajina Roads) building in Bihać 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.5073
(new survey), corresponding to c.p. 1/487 and 1/488 (old survey), cadastral
municipality Bihać, 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, no 2/02,
22/07, 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
setting up signboards with basic details of the monument and the Decision to
proclaim the property a National Monument.
III
To ensure
the on-going protection of the National Monument, the following protection
measures are hereby stipulated:
Protection
Zone I consists of the site defined in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision.
In this zone:
-
all works are prohibited
other than conservation and restoration works, routine maintenance works, works
designed to present the monument, routine maintenance works, and works designed
to ensure the sustainable use of the property, with the approval of the Federal
Ministry responsible for regional planning and under the expert supervision of
the heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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 day following its publication in the
Official Gazette of BiH.
This Decision
has been adopted by the following members of the Commission: Zeynep Ahunbay,
Martin Cherry, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, and Ljiljana Ševo.
No: 061-2-40/09-14
11 March 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 23
November 2007 the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage of
Bihać submitted to the Commission to Preserve National Monuments a proposal to
designate the Krajina Roads building dating from the Austro-Hungarian period, a
public building, 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.
Statement of Significance
The
former Office of Civil Engineering in Bihać was built in 1916 to a design by
the Austrian architect Ludwig Huber. The Department of Construction of the
Provincial Government in Sarajevo was the
Austro-Hungarian authority responsible for the construction of public edifices
and infrastructure in Bosnia
and Herzegovina. Its headquarters was in Sarajevo, but it had
regional offices in several towns around the country, including this one in
Bihać. Like many public buildings, it was designed in the Renaissance revival
style typical of Habsburg buildings throughout the Dual Empire. The main façade
of the building is particularly well preserved.
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 the cadastral
plan and the title of deed).
-
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.
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
Krajina Roads Building, the property of Krajinaputevi of Bihać, is located
between a branch of the river Una and Bedem street, in Bihać town centre,
occupying a prominent central position in that part of the town centre.
The
National Monument is located on cadastral plot no 5073, cadastral municipality
Bihać town, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Historical information(1)
Most
historians are of the view that the earliest mention of the toponym Bihać is in
a charter or deed of gift of 1260 issued by Hungary’s King Bela IV. In
mediaeval times the town developed as a free royal town with a fort, two
monasteries – one Dominican and one Franciscan – and several churches, numerous
commercial and residential properties, and a number of defensive towers.
In the
14th century Bihać and the surrounding forts became part of the Military
Frontier forming a fortified line of defences against the increasingly frequent
incursions by Ottoman troops.
Ottoman
troops took the fort in June 1592. Over the next three centuries, Bihać was to
become a major fort on the westernmost frontier of the Ottoman Empire, and the
base from which the Ottomans launched their incursions and exerted constant
pressure on the borders of Croatia.
What
distinguishes this fortified town from others in Bosnia and Herzegovina dating from
the Ottoman period is that the earlier mediaeval urban structure within the
town walls has been preserved.
“In the
early years of the Austro-Hungarian administration, building and architectural
works in Bosnia and Herzegovina
were initiated in specific circumstances, dictated on the one hand by the
existing conditions and on the other by the needs of the new authorities. The
gap between the existing facilities and these new needs largely dictated the
extent and intensity of building activity in those early years” (Krzović,
1987, 13).
“The old
way of building was unsuited to the new social circumstances, nor was it
appropriate to the new need for multi-purpose buildings. The introduction of
new solutions, usually classical in expression, from the cities of Western and Central Europe, led to a meeting between a new style of
architecture and the old. The geodetic survey of the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to compile a
general cadastre, the establishment of a Land Register, and the adoption of
Building Regulations in Bosnia
and Herzegovina, created the basis for
planned, coordinated action. The establishment of the Department of
Construction of the Provincial Government in Sarajevo, where numerous
architects from Austria and Bohemia were employed, and the establishment of
civil engineering offices in smaller towns throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina,
ensured many commissions for public and residential buildings in Bihać, Cazin,
Bosanska Krupa, Ključ and Sanski Most, in all of which these architects were
active.
The plans
for properties built in the Bosnian Krajina (frontier region) often bear the
names of the Provincial Government’s most prominent architects: Josip Vancaš,
Ludwig Huber, Rudolf Tönnies, Franz Blažek, Karel Pánek and others. At that
time, most construction activity was centred on buildings in county or district
towns and cities, administrative buildings and law courts, but also religious
edifices, especially churches, and commercial-cum-residential properties, which
went up as the streets and town centres were regulated. Another important
building activity was the construction of schools – primary, secondary and
grammar schools, and of banks and post offices. In Bihać, even though a postal
service had been established in 1867, during the Ottoman period, a new post
office was built, followed in 1911 by a hydro power plant, when the town was
electrified. By 1900 part of the town had already been provided with a sewerage
system, and mains water was installed in 1907.
Among the
first edifices to be built by the Austro-Hungarian authorities were local
government headquarters. In Bihać, and also in Ključ, the Konak was adapted for
that purpose. The building was in the pseudo-Moorish style, but has lost almost
all its decoration over the years.
The Law Court in Bihać
was built in 1906, and in 1909 plans were laid to build a Town Hall to a design
by Rudolf Tönnies, but this came to nothing. At first the Captain’s Tower was
converted into a prison, but later, in 1910, a new prison was built. Council
offices housing the administration were built in all the larger towns in the
Bosnian Krajina. A representative building of this kind in the neo-Renaissance
style was built in Cazin, while slightly less ambitious council offices in the
Secessionist style were built in Bosanski Petrovac and Bosanska Krupa.
The
architect Josip Vancaš designed the Lesser Grammar School in Bihać, to which an
additional storey was soon added, making it the Greater Grammar School. In
addition, a secondary commercial school was built, followed by a Ruždija [high
school] and a Medresa. The grammar school and secondary commercial school were
in the neo-Renaissance style, and the Ruždija and Medresa in the pseudo-Moorish
style.”(2)
The Civil
Engineering Office, now the headquarters of Krajina Roads, Bihać, was built in
1916 to a design by Ludwig Huber(3). Since 1962 it has been in use as the headquarters of
Krajinaputevi d.d. of Bihać(4).
2. Description of the property
The
building erected for the Civil Engineering Office in Bihać has a lower ground
floor/cellar(5), ground
floor and first floor, and an outside terrace by the west façade, with an area
of 42 m2, functionally forming part of the restaurant and beer cellar on the
lower ground floor.
The
building was designed with a symmetrical rectangular ground plan, with a
footprint of approx. 7.37 m wide x 22.74 m long, accentuated by a wide
projection on the east façade of approx. 1.15 x 14.75 m. Vertically, the design
is asymmetrical, with a turret topped by a neo-Baroque onion dome at the
south-east corner and a first-floor balcony at the north-east corner.
A double-flight
stone staircase in the south-east corner of the building links the
storeys. The stairwell measures approx. 2.8 x 6.35 m on the inside, and the
steps are approx. 1.25 m wide (with 12 risers of 18 cm high, and 11 treads 28
cm deep). The staircase has no “mirror space” [sic – landing?]; there is a wall
face of approx. 30 cm in width between the flights. The staircase is located at
the southern end of the corridor, and runs from basement to first floor with an
opening into the roof space.
The basement/lower
ground floor houses a restaurant with a beer cellar, kitchen and service
quarters above the original ground floor; the lower ground floor of the annex
to the building contains offices. The basement ceiling is approx. 2.75 m high. The
transverse walls of the basement, which are approx. 50 cm thick and 7.12 m
long, are pierced by openings of approx. 2.35 x 4.12 m topped by shallow arches
with a span of approx. 4.12 m and a rise of approx. 1.00 m.
Structurally,
the ground floor has longitudinal bearing walls approx. 50 cm thick; in
layout, it consists of a wing and half-wing. To the east, facing the street,
are four offices in a wing approx. 5.00 m deep; to the west, the half-wing
contains a corridor. A conference room of approx. 3.95 x 6.37 m is located at
the northernmost end of the building.
The annex
has four small ground-floor offices, a passage and a toilet block.
The
layout of the first floor is almost identical to the ground floor,
except for the balcony at the north-east corner of the building, which measures
approx. 1.88 m x 4.50 m wide. In the annex, two small offices and the corridor
have been converted into a single larger office. The toilet block is in the
same position.
The
ceilings of both ground and first floor are approx. 3.30 m high. The
interstorey construction consists of wooden joists.
The loft
space is formed by a wooden gabled roof formed by a system of transverse
hanging trusses with collar beams. The roof has no jamb walls. The lower
purlins measure 16 x 17 cm and the upper 15 x 15 cm; the posts of the hanging
trusses measure 15 x 15 cm and the struts 14 x 14 cm, the frame timbers 22 x 27
cm, and the rafters 12 x 16 cm. The roof is clad with bitumen shingles.
The façades
bear both neo-Baroque and neo-Classical features. The most representative
façade is the east front, facing the street. The central projection of approx.
1.15 x 14.75 m has five window axes.
The socle
is faced with cyclopean-bond stone, giving it a rustic appearance. It has a
total of six windows with a width of 65 cm or 125 cm and a height of 65 cm
through which light enters the basement.
The
ground-floor windows, with masonry openings of approx. 120 x 205 cm, have
simple moulded frames with keystones. The moulded bands below the windows are
dentilled beneath at the ends. The windows are fitted with wrought iron
grilles.
The
first-floor windows, also with masonry openings of approx. 120 x 205 cm, have
bas-relief frames surmounted by segmental frontons at the top of which is a
cartouche in the form of bas-relief fluting. The moulded bands below the
windows are dentilled beneath at the ends.
The
façade is articulated by simple string courses at interstorey level and a roof
cornice.
The
corners of the central projection and of the building itself are accentuated by
bas-relief vertical bands of bossage approx. 70-75 cm wide, as are the spaces
between the windows, where the bossage bands are approx. 50 cm wide.
The
street door at the south-east corner of the building, measuring 110 x 210 cm,
is topped by a gabled canopy roof. Above the roof cornice, at “half-landing”
level (approx. 200 cm), the turret has three oculi with a diameter of approx.
60 cm set approx. 25 cm apart on the east and south sides, through which light
enters the topmost flight of stairs, leading into the roof space. Above the
oculi are arcaded friezes of moulded archivolts with keystones. The stairwell
is also lit by a single window with a masonry opening of approx. 110 x 220 cm
between the ground and first floor on the east façade of the building. The turret
is surmounted by a neo-baroque onion dome of approx. 270 cm in height with a
finial of approx. 215 cm in height.
All the
windows on the main façade have overlights.
Over the
central window axis on this façade, above the roof cornice, in the wall plane of
the east façade, is a round-headed tympanum, 396 cm wide and 192 cm high,
within which is a window admitting light into the roof space. The window is
semicircular, with a radius of approx. 90 cm, and is topped by a keystone.
3. Legal status to date
According
to the information provided by the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of
the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sport, the Krajina Roads building in Bihać
was neither registered nor protected by the Institute for the Protection of the
Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of BiH(6).
4. Research and conservation and
restoration works
There is
no information on any conservation or restoration works. Certain conclusions
may be drawn from an inspection of two photographs of the building taken in 1963
and 1975, and from the inspection of its current condition.
The
property has undergone certain alterations over the years, in the form of an
extension to the building at some time prior to 1963(7). This consists of an annex with
a footprint of approx. 5.53 x 9.22 m, with a lower ground floor, ground floor
and first floor and a pent roof with a pitch of 15 degrees, and a side entrance
of approx. 1.65 x 3.53 m at ground-floor level on the south side of the
building. A single flight of steps with a stone balustrade against the south
façade of the building led to the side-door extension, which had a three-pane
wooden roof.
The
photograph taken in 1975(8) reveals
that no further extensions had been added to the building. Technical drawings
of the property made in 2001 clearly reveal that the annex, which originally
measured approx. 5.53 x 9.92 m, had been further altered to the south-west some
time between 1975 and 2001, with a further extension to the south of
approx. 1.65 m over all three storeys, incorporating the former side-door
extension that originally abutted onto the south façade of the building.
The
gabled canopy roof and annex roof are clad with bitumen shingles, and the
window openings of approx. 118 x 140 cm are fitted with PVC windows.
5. Current condition of the
property
The
exterior façades have been somewhat damaged by exposure to the elements,
causing flaking of the paint and plaster on the roof cornice, the corners of
the projection on the east façade, the window sills and parapets, and the
parapet zone of the south-east corner of the property.
6. Specific risks
Failure
to carry out maintenance works, and unsuitable extension works carried out
without guidelines or approval from the protection authority.
III - CONCLUSION
The
property is a representative example of a public building, associated with the
urban development of Bihać town centre during the Austro-Hungarian period and
the implementation of the regulatory plan as part of the planning legislation
applied by the relevant authorities. It is a surviving example of a public
building dating from the Austro-Hungarian period.
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.iii. proportions
C.iv. composition
C.v. value of details
C.vi. value of construction
D. Clarity
D.iii. work of a major artist or builder
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.ii. meaning in the townscape
F.iii. the building or group of buildings is part
of a group or site
G. Authenticity
G.v. location and setting
The
following documents form an integral part of this Decision:
-
Copy of cadastral plan
-
Proof of title
-
Photodocumentation from
the Una-Sana Museum, Bihać:
-
Photograph taken on 24
February 1963, no. 524/5
-
Photograph taken on 23
June 1975, no. 950/7
-
Photodocumentation from the
Institute for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage of Bihać
-
Photodocumentation of the
building, photographed on 27 November 2008, using digital camera Canon Power
Shot A450, by architect Emir Softić
-
Documentation – drawings
provided by the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage of Bihać:
-
plan of basement, scale
1:50
-
plan of ground floor,
scale 1:50
-
plan of first floor, scale
1:50
-
plan of roof frame, scale
1:50
-
front elevation, scale
1:50
-
side elevation, scale 1:50
-
cross-section A-A, scale
1:50
Bibliography
During
the procedure to designate the Krajina Roads building in Bihać as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following
works are consulted:
1890. Lopašić, Radoslav. Bihać i Bihaćka krajina (Bihać and the
Bihać Frontier). Zagreb:
1890.
1953. Kreševljaković, Hamdija. Stari bosanski gradovi (Old
Bosnian towns)
1987. Krzović, Ibrahim. Arhitektura BIH 1878-1918 (Architecture
of BIH, 1878-1918). Sarajevo:
1987
1989. Dimitrijević, Branka. Arhitekt Karl Pařik, dissertation. Zagreb: Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb, 1989.
1989. Božić, Jela. Arhitekt Josip Vancaš, Značaj i doprinos
arhitekturi Sarajeva u periodu Austrougarske uprave (Architect Josip
Vancaš: importance and contribution to the architecture of Sarajevo in the Austro-Hungarian period),
doctoral dissertation. Sarajevo: Faculty of
Architecture, University of Sarajevo
2004. Krzović, Ibrahim. Arhitektura secesije u BIH (Secessionist
Architecture in BiH). Sarajevo:
Cultural Heritage series, 2004.
2007. Text by Mirza Mujadzić, head of the Institute for the Protection
of the Cultural Heritage of Bihać, on Austro-Hungarian properties in Bihać
Material
provided by the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage of Bihać
(1) For more on the
history of the town of Bihać, see the Decision
designating the historic building of the Captain’s Tower and the architectural
ensemble of the Fethija mosque with harem, nine gravestones and epitaphs in
Bihać as national monuments of Bosnia
and Herzegovina.
(2) From the
text by Mirza Mujadžić, head of the Institute for the Protection of the
Cultural Heritage of Bihać, on the Austro-Hungarian buildings of Bihać.
(3) Ludwig
Huber, technician (Siegharting near Scherting, Austria, 12 August 1889 –
Sarajevo, 17 July 1921). Graduated from the National
School of Art, Department of
Architecture in Salzburg
in 1881. Before coming to Bosnia
he worked for a number of construction companies in Austria. He worked in Mostar 1889,
before moving to Sarajevo
in 1890, where he worked in the Civil Engineering section of the Department of
Construction of the Provincial Government. Source: Archive of Bosnia and Herzegovina – personal
list; Bosnische Bote for 1899 et seq. (Krzović, 1987, 248)
(4)
Krajinaputevi d.d. is a joint stock company.
Its principal activity is the construction, reconstruction and repair of the roads of
Bihać
(5) The
building stands on a relatively narrow site, approx. 20 m in width at its
widest point, lying north-south, between a branch of the river Una and Canal
street. The site slopes quite steeply from east to west, as a result of which
the east wing has a cellar and the west wing a lower ground floor (op. E. Softić).
(6) Letter from the
Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Federal Ministry of Culture
and Sport no 07-40-4-4919-1/07,dated 5 December 2007, to the Commission to
Preserve National Monuments
(7) As revealed
on the photograph taken on 24 February 1963, photograph no.524/5, from the
photographic records of the Una-Sana
Museum in Bihać.
(8) Photograph
taken on 23 June 1975, photograph no.950/7, from the photographic records of
the Una-Sana Museum in Bihać
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