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60th session - Decisions

Building of Krajinaroads, the historic monument

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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



Building of KrajinaroadsBuilding of Krajinaroads, photo from 1963Building of Krajinaroads, photo from 1975Southeast view
West viewDetail on facadeThe tower covered by neo – baroque domeTimpanon
Window, ground floor   


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