Status of monument -> National monument
Published in the Official Gazette of BiH, no. 62/10.
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 7 to 13 July 2009 the Commission adopted a
D E C I S I O N
I
The cultural landscape of the village of Lukomir (Gornji Lukomir), Municipality Konjic is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).
The National Monument consists of the properties in the village of Lukomir (96 properties, being 46 cottages, 49 shippens, the former school and the mosque), a necropolis with 18 stećak tombstones at Vlaško groblje and a necropolis with nine stećak tombstones at Jezerine.
The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 163, Land Register entry no. 1; c.p. 75/1 and 126, Land Register entry no. 4; c.p. 39, Land Register entry no. 7; c.p. 55/2, Land Register entry no. 9, c.p. 105, Land Register entry no. 10; c.p. 55/1 and 175, Land Register entry no. 12; c.p. 32, 77/1 and 138/1, Land Register entry no. 14; c.p. 28, 77/2 i 134, Land Register entry no. 15; c.p. 135, Land Register entry no. 16; c.p. 131 and 159, Land Register entry no. 18; c.p. 74/2 and 143/2, Land Register entry no. 20; c.p. 101, 127 and 128, Land Register entry no. 21; c.p. 78/1, 142 and 144, Land Register entry no. 22; c.p. 152/1, Land Register entry no. 24; c.p. 50, Land Register entry no. 25; c.p. 84 and 155/1, Land Register entry no. 26; c.p. 20, 29 and 38, Land Register entry no. 27; c.p. 133 and 138/2, Land Register entry no. 29; c.p. 75/2, 123, 124, 129 and 156, Land Register entry no. 31; c.p. 33, Land Register entry no. 35; c.p. 52, 95/1 and 177, Land Register entry no. 36; c.p. 54, Land Register entry no. 37; c.p. 96 and 97, Land Register entry no. 38; c.p. 16 and 114, Land Register entry no. 39; c.p. 47, Land Register entry no. 40; c.p. 17/1, 17/3, 42, 118, 143/4 and 166, Land Register entry no. 41; c.p. 49, 86, 98 and 104, Land Register entry no. 42; c.p. 62, 76 and 102, Land Register entry no. 43; c.p. 87 and 88, Land Register entry no. 44; c.p. 74/1 and 143/3, Land Register entry no. 45; c.p. 115 and 164, Land Register entry no. 46; c.p. 108, 111, 173 and 174, Land Register entry no. 47; c.p. 103, Land Register entry no. 49; c.p. 14/1, 146/1 and 167/2, Land Register entry no. 50; c.p. 116 and 119, Land Register entry no. 51; c.p. 17/2, 17/4, 43, 125, 145 and 165, Land Register entry no. 53; c.p. 19, 120, 121, 130, 168/1 and 169/1, Land Register entry no. 54; c.p. 22 and 36, Land Register entry no. 56; c.p. 137, 139 and 140, Land Register entry no. 58; c.p. 21 and 30, Land Register entry no. 59; c.p. 25 and 37, Land Register entry no. 60; c.p. 27 and 31, Land Register entry no. 61; c.p. 80, 85 and 112, Land Register entry no. 62; c.p. 81 and 151, Land Register entry no. 63; c.p. 23 and 113, Land Register entry no. 65; c.p. 18, 34, 153, 168/2 and 169/2, Land Register entry no. 66; c.p. 82, 83, 110 and 154, Land Register entry no. 67; c.p. 78/2, 99 and 157, Land Register entry no. 68; c.p. 155/2, Land Register entry no. 70; c.p. 15, 122, 146/2 and 167/1, Land Register entry no. 71; c.p. 109, Land Register entry no. 72; c.p. 73, 132 and 136, Land Register entry no. 73; c.p. 53, 95/2 and 176, Land Register entry no. 74; c.p. 117, 147 and 162, Land Register entry no. 75; c.p. 149, Land Register entry no. 76; c.p. 51 and 150, Land Register entry no. 77; c.p. 13, Land Register entry no. 79; c.p. 41/3, 44 and 61, Land Register entry no. 80; c.p. 35, 69, 79 and 143/1, Land Register entry no. 81; c.p. 141, Land Register entry no. 83; c.p. 178, Land Register entry no. 84; c.p. 64 and 94, Land Register entry no. 100; c.p. 63, 92, 93 and 106, Land Register entry no. 102; c.p. 171 and 172, Land Register entry no. 105; c.p. 160, Land Register entry no. 107; c.p. 26, 41/1, 46 and 72, Land Register entry no. 107; c.p. 41/2, Land Register entry no. 108; c.p. 45 and 161, Land Register entry no. 111; c.p. 24, 89and 107, Land Register entry no. 114; c.p. 68, 70 and 90, Land Register entry no. 116; c.p. 40, 48, 148 and 158, Land Register entry no. 118; c.p. 66 and 71, Land Register entry no. 121; c.p. 65, 67 and 91, Land Register entry no. 122; c.p. 170, Land Register entry no. 123 (new survey), cadastral municipality Lukomir, Municipality Konjic, 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, presentation and restoration 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 site defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision, the following protection measures are hereby prescribed:
- all works are prohibited other than conservation and restoration works, the reconstruction of original buildings or the original parts thereof, routine maintenance works, works designed to ensure the sustainable use of the buildings, works essential for the preservation of the rural economy, and works designed for the presentation of the National Monument, with the approval of the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning (hereinafter: the relevant ministry) and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the heritage protection authority);
- infrastructure works of any kind are prohibited without the approval of the relevant ministry;
- with a view to ensuring the sustainable future of the village and its environs (buildings, fauna and the long-term economic security and quality of life of the residents), a conservation shall be drawn up as a matter of urgency, covering the immovable, movable and intangible heritage, together with a sustainable economic development plan, taking fully into account all current proposals to designate the wider landscape as an area of outstanding national interest, and the financing and planning stages shall be carried out, together with current conservation and remedial works, from public and private sources so as to raise funds for the above plans and on-going conservation and remedial works;
- a maintenance programme and plan for the cultural landscape shall be drawn up, including the identification of the organizations or institutions to be responsible for carrying out the same programme;
- a survey of the current condition of the National Monument shall be conducted, with a preliminary technical assessment to identify the damage to the properties in the cultural landscape that could result in the loss of certain properties or parts thereof and to identifying illegal interventions detrimental to the appearance of the various buildings and to the value of the cultural landscape.
The following urgent measures are hereby prescribed for the protection of the National Monument:
- repairs and consolidation of buildings of which the walls and roof structure are at risk of collapsing (reconstruct roof timbers and cladding, using shingles; conservation of walls; and other necessary interventions);
- repairs to the shingle roof cladding of all the buildings.
Architectural heritage of the village of Lukomir:
- all works that could be detrimental to the National Monument (enlargement, extension, the demolition of existing buildings with the intention of erecting new ones on the same site, etc.) are prohibited, as is the erection of temporary facilities or permanent structures not designed solely for the protection and presentation of the National Monument;
- all properties forming part of the National Monument shall be the subject of a structural analysis, a detailed survey of their current condition shall be conducted, to include details of all damage and alterations, and individual restoration and conservation projects shall be drawn up which shall specify all necessary interventions to the property in question and the possibility of adapting it to modern living conditions;
- all original buildings that have been demolished or are in a state of dilapidation shall be restored or reconstructed;
- during the restoration, conservation and adaptation of the properties, their traditional appearance must be retained or restored (horizontal and vertical dimensions, size and arrangement of openings, architectural details, shape and pitch of roof), original materials (stone, wood and shingles) shall be used, and original methods of treating the materials and binders and original building methods shall be applied;
- elements on the properties that have resulted from interventions and that are not in harmony with the surroundings shall be replaced (gabled roofs, concrete elements and brick-block walls, etc.);
- the adaptation to the interior of existing properties to bring them into line with modern living conditions shall be allowed, but during adaptation the original materials from which the buildings were constructed shall be respected, as shall the features to be identified by a detailed assessment – to be carried out – of the historical significance of the interiors. Alterations to the interior shall not impact on or jeopardize the exterior appearance of the buildings (roofs without chimneys, pitch of the roofs, size and arrangement of the openings, walls without jetties, etc.);
- new buildings may be erected, with the approval of the relevant ministry, subject to the use of traditional materials (stone, wood and shingles) and an appearance that conforms to the surroundings (respecting the horizontal and vertical dimensions, pitch and shape of the roof, and the fenestration), and provided that such buildings do not alter the overall built density and morphology (layout of the buildings) of the village and its environs.
Necropolis with stećak tombstones:
The Government of the Federation shall be responsible in particular for drawing up a project for the repair, restoration and conservation of the necropolis, which shall cover:
- archaeological investigations;
- clearing the stećak tombstones of lichens and moss and making good any damage,
- tidying the necropolis and removing self-sown vegetation,
- drawing up and implementing a programme for the presentation of the National Monument.
Natural heritage:
- the path to the necropolis may be set in order to ensure safe access to the necropolis;
- benches, litter bins, signposts, route-marking signs etc may be installed;
- tree felling is prohibited except for the maintenance of forest health and vitality;
- dumping waste or litter in the open is prohibited.
A buffer zone is hereby prescribed, which shall correspond to the boundaries set forth in the Decision designating Igman, Bjelašnica, Treskavica and the Rakitnica gorge (Visočica) as an area with special features of importance to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH no. 8), and the measures set forth in that document shall apply to the buffer zone of the National Monument.
The following provisions shall apply to this area:
- In this buffer zone, the following are prohibited: quarrying of stone, tree-felling (with the exception of felling for the maintenance of forest health and vitality), the construction of industrial facilities and major infrastructure facilities and of any structures or facilities that during construction or operation could pose a threat to the National Monument and the protected area;
- potential environmental polluters as defined by the relevant legislation/regulations shall be located, remedial works shall be carried out, and a plan shall be drawn up for the management of waste, waste waters, the environment and natural resources.
IV
All executive and area development planning acts are hereby revoked to the extent that they are not in accordance with the provisions of this Decision.
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.kons.gov.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.
XI
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: 02-2-40/09-47
9 July 2009
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 12 December 2007 the Department of Economic, Financial and Social Affairs of Konjic Municipality submitted to the Commission a petition/proposal to designate the Village of Lukomir, Konjic Municipality, 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
The cultural landscape of the village of Lukomir (Gornji Lukomir) is the result of human activity in a markedly inhospitable high mountain region. At about 1472 m above sea level, heavy snowfall makes the village of Lukomir one of the most isolated villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina for six months of the year.
The village of Gornji Lukomir is on Mt Bjelašnica, in an area of outstanding beauty, and with a high degree of biodiversity in its flora and fauna.
Continuity of habitation in the area is attested to by 27 mediaeval stećak tombstones.
The most marked feature of the village of Lukomir is its vernacular architecture, dating from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s but modelled on cottages dating from much earlier times, reflecting the fact that the way of life, cultivation of the land and raising of livestock had undergone no significant changes until the 1992 war.
The changes that began after the war, in 1995, and which are gaining pace each summer, threaten to destroy entirely the very values of the village that make it unique in Bosnia and Herzegovina – the obvious connection between man and nature, from land use to the arrangement of living space, and the specific features associated with the construction of the village itself.
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 legal status to date,
- 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.(1)
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
Mt. Bjelašnica, one of the highest mountains in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is to the south-west of Sarajevo. Its highest peak is at an altitude of 2,067 m above sea level. A high limestone plateau, it runs northeast-southwest, and is characterized by high, steep ridges. Its geological composition means that it is a bare, waterless mountain which, however, abounds in places with pastures(2), which make it suitable for herding.
There are a number of permanent villages on Bjelašnica, in the region of the source and upper reaches of the river Rakitnica: Brda, Umoljani, Milišići, Bobovica, Kramari, Lukavac, Šabići, Rakitnica, Gornji Lukomir, Gornja and Donja Tušila.(3)
The village of Lukomir is about 50 km from Sarajevo, on the steep slopes of the Rakitnica gorge, at an altitude of 1,472 m, between two peaks, Lovnica (1856 m) and Obalj (1896 m).
Historical background
Village of Lukomir
The references to Mt. Bjelašnica in the ethnological literature usually concern the movement of livestock. The basic reason for the movement of livestock was shortages of animal feed and. in places, water shortages in summer or winter, depending on the region concerned.(4) The livestock in question are mainly sheep (and also goats, in the past), and the movement of the flocks is a survival from the nomadic herding lifestyle of earlier times.
Herding, which was widespread in this part of the world, was one of the oldest and most important branches of the economy, as evidenced by numerous toponyms such as Katun, Katunište, Varda, Vardište, Stan, Stanovi.(5) The Illyrian tribes were herders, and so after them were the Slavs and the Vlachs.(6) In mediaeval times the herders of the Dinaric Alps spent the winter with their flocks on the Dalmatian coast and the Neretva and Sava valleys(7), while those of Montenegro, Rascia and Pazar used the pastures in the river Trebišnjica valley and those of Semberija and the Sava river basin. The same transhumance persisted into the Ottoman period, since the regions in which the herders moved had previously been under Ottoman imperial rule. The number of people engaged in herding increased during this period, a reflection of the overall state of society but also of the level of dues payable on herding, which was lower than those payable on crop-farming.(8) However, the shortage of grazing that arose later was not the result of the increased numbers of herders or of the break-up of extended families, but of the deterioration of existing pasturage caused by irrational use or overgrazing. Herders uprooted and burned mountain forests to acquire cultivable land, so creating the basis for permanent settlements rather than those that were inhabited only during the summer months. This occurred especially once Austro-Hungarian rule had been established in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The increase in land under crops in the mountains was at the expense of the pastures, and livestock numbers decreased accordingly. With the livestock numbers falling steadily from the end of the 19th century, there was also less need for the seasonal movement of the flocks. Despite this, herding remained the main branch of the economy in the mountains.
Proprietary rights over pasturage was two-fold. On the one hand, they belonged to the state, while on the other they were set aside from state ownership and ceded to the people to use as grazing for their flocks. Grazing rights on the mountains were acquired under certain conditions. There were families who had enjoyed grazing rights since time immemorial, as indigenous inhabitants, and others who had obtained them on the basis of a firman during the Ottoman period. Grazing rights could also be purchased from an aga, bey or pasha, while those who were unable to buy the rights could give their livestock to those who had grazing rights, subject to a certain level of compensation. After World War II, forests and high mountain pastures were declared to be public property, which resulted in many herder families losing their age-old grazing rights. To be able to continue herding, they had to pay dues to the forestry management bodies and cooperatives, and later to forestry estates.(9)
Prior to World War II, there were four kinds of movements of livestock in Bosnia and Herzegovina:
1. Transhumance to summer pastures, as:
a) izdig(10) and zdig without retention
b) zdig(11) with retention
2. Staged transhumance
3. Transhumance to winter pastures
4. Descent to the župa (county) in spring and autumn(12)
In the early 20th century Mt. Bjelašnica was divided between two Banates:
- the Herzegovina regions of Bjelašnica, consisting of eight mahalas(13) – Kekuše, Hrupe, Razošlje, Hajvazi, Raški do, Jasen, Zelene njive and Lovnica – belonged to the Primorja (coastal) banate;
- the Bosnian regions of Bjelašnica(14), consisting of seven mahalas – Karamustafini čairi, Pazarićka mahala, Mrtvanje, Opančak, Stanine, Krošnje and Gola kosa (brdo)(15) – belonged to the Drina banate.
Most of those who live on Bjelašnica are of Herzegovina origin(16), from the three counties of Nevesinje, Mostar and Ljubuški. On or around St George's Day, celebrated on 6 May, the herders would set off for the mountains, following the established routes, returning on or around St Luke's Day, 31 October. The herders of Nevesinje county came from three villages, Kamene, Žulja and Gornje and Donje Rabine. Those of Mostar county came from the villages around Mostar itself and the villages of the Podveleži region. Those from the Mostar region came from the villages of Bivolje brdo, Gubavica, Dračevice, Gnojnica and Hodbina, while those from the Podveleži region came from the villages of Svinjarine, Banj Dol, Opina, Dobrača and Dračevica. The herders of Ljubuški county who came to Bjelašnica were from the village of Gracka.(17) With the passage of time some of these herders settled permanently on Bjelašnica and created the villages of Blaca, Čuhovići, Lukomir, Umoljani, Rašumovci, Kramari, Milešići, Brda and Šabići. A few of those living on Bjelašnica are of Bosnian origin – the people of the villages of Lukavac and Rakitnica.(18) Herders from Sarajevo county came to the Bosnian part of Bjelašnica from the villages of Kasatići, Lokve, Pazarić, Budimlići, Bioča and Korča.(19)
In the early 20th century, the basic occupation of the people living in the permanent settlements on Bjelašnica was herding (sheep), making dairy products and producing wool. In the 1930s, there would be about 4,000 sheep in one mahala, or a total of about 60,000(20); by the 1960s, this total had fallen to about 20,000.(21) There was little crop-farming, and what there was consisted of growing potatoes and cereals such as wheat, barley, oats and rye. The herders living permanently in the villages of Bjelašnica would began to pasture their animals(22) in April; this took two forms, na popasak(23) and na vazdanak(24). Grazing continued until snowfall. During this period, a sheep could yield more than 30 litres of milk in a good year.(25) At home the milk was made into kajmak (clotted cream), butter, urda (the mildest kind of cheese) and cheese. Part of this was kept for the households' own use, and the rest was sold. Milk was not the only product; the sheep and lambs also provided wool. One sheep would yield about a kilogram of unwashed wool, and a lamb about a quarter of a kilogram. The sheep were shorn on or around St Peter's Day (12 July) and the lambs between St Elias' Day and the Feast of the Assumption (2 to 28 August). Most of the wool was used for the household's own needs, as raw wool from which cloth for garments and blankets were made.
In the early 20th century the village of Gornji (Upper) Lukomir is referred to as a summer village, where the villagers of Donji (Lower) Lukomir) took their animals to pasture in the summer months(26). The distance between the two places was about 300 metres as the crow flies. The village was inhabited by people from two families, the Čomor and the Masleša families. In the 1950s, the people living in Donji Lukomir moved to Gornji Lukomir. In 1956, three families were recorded as still living permanently in Donji Lukomir(27). The present villagers of Gornji Lukomir remember the move, saying that it was the result of improved road linkages between Gornji Lukomir and Konjic municipality, as well as with other villages on Bjelašnica. According to the people of Gornji Lukomir, they built their cottages in the 1960s(28) and 1970s. Until then they lived in the stone huts they had been using while pasturing their animals when they were still living in Donji Lukomir(29). The last villagers ceased spending the winter in Donji Lukomir in the 1960s. During a study conducted in 1985, the Ethnological Section of the National Museum in Sarajevo recorded 43 permanent households in Gornji Lukomir, whereas Donji Lukomir had been completely abandoned. Electricity and telephone lines were brought to the village a few years before the 1992-1995 war.
According to Muhamed Čomor (aged about 70) from the village of Gornji Lukomir, the Čomor family settled permanently on Bjelašnica more than a hundred years ago. They came from the Stolac region or from the village of Vranjevića in Podveležje. Three brothers, Salih, Omer and Meho, nicknamed Šanja, came to the village of Donji Lukomir. This original family later extended to about forty households. Muhamed Čomor is a descendant of Salih's(30). His wife is from the village of Rakitnica, but according to Mr Čomor most of the villagers intermarried until recently, including his three sons, who married Čomor wives.
The village of Gornji Lukomir was permanently settled from the 1950s to the late 1970s. The reason for the villagers' move from Donji to Gornji Lukomir was that the latter has better road links with other villages on Bjelašnica, and is also abundantly supplied with potable water.
During this period cottages, a school and a mosque were built. Depending on which resident is consulted, the first cottages were built between 1952 and 1955, and the last, they say, was built in 1974. The pace at which the cottages were built depended on the financial circumstances of the owner.
Until the 1992-1995 war, the primary school in Lukomir had 40 to 50 pupils.
The following families now live all year round in the village:
- Čomor Salih with his son and daughter-in-law,
- Čomor Nura,
- Čomor Ismet with his wife,
- Čomor Salem with his wife and son,
- Čomor Vejsil with his wife,
- Čomor Halil with his wife, child and mother,
- Masleša Hamid with his wife, two sons and a daughter-in-law.
According to Muhamed Čomor, more young people left Gornji Lukomir during the 1990s, after the 1992-1995 war. Young people with children left the village and moved into the abandoned cottages of Serb villagers in Pazarić, Hadžići and Vlakovo, but had to leave them when evicted. In the late 1990s they mostly bought land there and settled permanently, on the whole no longer rearing livestock, but coming to Bjelašnica in summer to mow the grass and sell the hay. Some of them collect medicinal plants. Older people with their daughters-in-law and grandchildren spent the summer months in Gornji Lukomir.
2. Description of the property
Evolving as they did over a long period in specific natural, socio-economic and cultural conditions, the traditional cottages of the rural population of Bosnia and Herzegovina developed distinctive features, most of them belonging to the Dinaric type of cottage.
Old Balkan and Slav, western and eastern European, and oriental and Mediterranean traditions all became incorporated into their ancient roots.
The principal traditional rural cottages, differing in the use of building materials and building techniques, their formal expression, and their layout, crystallized over time into several types and variants, more or less widespread, with only a few of them confined solely to present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The basic form of the family house of the rural population of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so diverse in ethnic and confessional structure, is closely associated with the place and the past.
The types of village house depend on region, level of development and structural solution. The way of life of their occupants also influenced their form, as did their socio-political status, economic status and, to some extent, their religious and ethnic affiliation.(31)
Planning concept of Lukomir
The village of Lukomir was formed by those living there, villagers who shaped its morphology to suit the terrain, their own finances, and the bitter winter months.
A study of the morphology of Lukomir reveals that it took shape on hilly land between a valley to the south and hills to the east and west. The lie of the land on which the village took shape dictated the distribution of the buildings, which form four groups on four hillocks, interconnected by narrow beaten earth paths the position of which is dictated by the seemingly random arrangement of the cottages and farm buildings. The cottages and farm buildings in the village stand side by side, with the living quarters and shippen forming a single entity in each case.
Another feature of the arrangement of the buildings in small groups is that few of the cottages have fenced yards, though some have a wooden fence around the front yard. The shippens are not fenced either. The absence of fences and the way the living quarters and shippens are linked by paths reveals much about the way of life in the village.
The village-scape is dominated by the mosque, on account of its shape, function and location at the western end of the village, the school; a burial ground, and the burial ground necropolis with stećci in the south-eastern part of the village, all on the very edge of the village.
The village-scape is characterized by its small stone cottages with high hipped roofs set between the green pastures and the rocky hills.
There are no asphalt roads in the village of Lukomir. Infrastructure (mains water and sewerage, and electricity) were laid in the latter half of the 1980s.
Architecture of the cottages of Lukomir
Popović says of the cottages of the Herzegovina herders of Bjelašnica in the early 1930s that they were mainly one-roomed stone cottages, with only a few built of timber. He saw the reason for the use of stone as building material in the absence of forests on the mountain as well as the fact that the Herzegovina herders who settled on the mountain had no right to fell state forests free of charge.
He also noted that the dry-stone walls of the cottages were 30 to 40 cm thick, and the walls were 120 to 140 cm high from ground to roof. The door, which was the only opening in the hut, was of the same height. The footprint of these cottages ranged from 5 to 6 x 3.5 to 4 m, and the overall height with the roof was about 3 m.
The side or postarni and the front walls of these cottages might be built na lastavicu(32) or na somić.(33) A hatula (tie-beam) or wall-plate would be laid on the stone walls. The beam on the longer wall was called a long atula and the beam on the shorter wall, a short atula. Popović goes on to say: “The rafters are fixed to the wall-plate. The rafters are joined in twos by collar beams. Battens are nailed to the rafters, and the roof is then laid over them.”(34) The roofs of the cottages are clad with shingles(35), boarding(36) or kaplama(37). He also notes that in some mahalas (Raški do, Jasen, Zelene njive and Gola kosa) the cottages had thatched roofs.(38)
The interior of the cottage was known as the kuća (literally, house).(39) It consisted of a single room(40), with an earth floor and open to the rafters, with no ceiling. The roof had a badža (roof vent) to allow for the smoke from the open hearth in the middle of the room to escape. Raised beds made of thick boards about 15 cm above floor level were set on either side of the hearth. Each bed was about 100 cm wide and 150 cm long, with homespun blankets laid over the boards. People slept in their clothes. A stand with chains hung over the hearth; the utensils consisted of a cauldron for scalding milk, a sadžak (trivet on which cooking pans stood over the fire), a saksija and sač (earthenware dish and cover used for baking bread), a ćusegija (coal shovel) and fire tongs, a coffee pot and fildžans (small handle-less coffee cups), a burilo (water butt), a milking tub, a curdling vat, a kneading trough, a škip (wooden bowl), a kajmak tub, a cheese vat and churn, and spoons, copper dishes, baking trays, frying pans, goblets, and wooden bowls and pitchers. Food was eaten at a sinija (low round table). There were no knives and forks, because the main foodstuffs were dairy products and pura (cornmeal).
When the cottages were adapted to suit year-round living on the mountain, and with the introduction of crop-farming and improved economic circumstances, the kuća was partitioned into two: a kuća, still used for the same purpose – cooking and sleeping – and a soba (room), mainly used as a bedroom by young married couples or guests.(41)
Sheep-pens known as struge, torarice, with dry-stone walls, were built around the cottage.
In the 1960s major interior alterations to some cottages were made by creating an attic room, used either as living quarters or for storage.(42) Such cottages were known as cottages with a čardak, and are typical of the villages of Mt Bjelašnica and its foothills, but are also found in other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Croatia and Slovenia.(43) They were built on steeply sloping sites, set across the contour lines. Part of the cottage thus had three storeys (a cellar set into the slope, a floor above it, and the čardak in only part of the attic space), while the rest had only one storey (the kuća).
In number of storeys, the cottages fall into four categories: single-storey without a cellar, single-storey with a cellar, single-storey with an attic room, and two-storey. In the first half of the 20th century, the most common in numbers and distribution in the hilly and mountainous regions of Bosnia was the single-storey cottage with a cellar under part of the cottage, set lengthwise along the slope. Rather fewer in number were houses of this kind with a narrow two-storey frontage, typical of houses in the Dinaric cultural area, mainly in northern Herzegovina, and less common in the rest of Herzegovina.(44)
At first the cottages were not enlarged sideways, continuing to consist of two rooms: the kuća, with its hearth, and the soba, above the cellar.
In some cases this layout would be altered as the result of dividing the cottage between two brothers by means of longitudinal partition walls separating it into two equal halves, each with half of the kuća, soba, cellar and čardak.
One hundred buildings were identified during a visit to the village of Lukomir in July 2008 and May 2009: 46 cottages, 49 shippens, a social centre (the former school), a mosque, one building in ruins, one being built, and a separate outdoor privy. Though these buildings differ in purpose and typology, they all share the following common features:
- with the exception of a few of the buildings in the very centre of the village, they are on steeply-sloping sites with their longer side at right-angles to the slope,
- they are wholly or largely set on rock,
- they are built of stone(45),
- they have tall, usually hipped roofs, which form a dominant part of the village-scape,
- they were originally clad with shingles, traces of which can still be seen on the roofs or underneath galvanized cladding.
Shippens
The most numerous buildings in the village are shippens.
These are single-storey structures if built on level ground, or have a single storey but with a cellar below if built on sloping ground, in which case they appear to be two-storeyed on one side and single-storeyed on the other. Regardless of which type they belong to, the shippens are rectangular in plan, and are built of undressed stone in lime mortar, with quoins of larger hewn stone.
There is an entrance to both the cellar and the ground floor, through a single-valved wooden door in the hip end wall of the building where it consists of only one storey, and set about 60 cm above ground level, with a small wooden ramp leading up to it, to enable the livestock to enter the shippen when the snow cover is deep.
The building also has small square windows defined by hewn stone blocks. The shippens have tall hipped roofs, in some cases with the roof panes shorter on the hip end than on the longer sides.
In the case of shippens built as single-storey structures with a basement, the livestock was housed below and hay was stored above.
Cottages
Next most numerous are cottages.
It is as hard to classify the cottages of Lukomir as belong to a specific type of cottage as it is to trace their evolution and transition from one form to another. This is because the village is in fact of relatively recent date, originating in the 1960s on the site of what was formerly the villagers' summer pasturage. The original cottages, used only in summer, were simple single-storey, one-room stone cottages, and have either been lost in fires or turned into shippens where the animals are kept. The form and layout of the new cottages was dictated by the villagers' previous experience and knowledge, and their needs at the time. As a result, the original cottages remained unaltered, but were built from the outset just as they remain to this day.(46)
The various developmental features overlap and are not followed consistently. The form and layout of the cottages in Lukomir is dictated primarily by climatic conditions, available building materials, and the needs and way of life of the owners.
The cottages in Lukomir are not the most basic type in form or layout, but represent one of the more evolved forms of architectural concept.
In terms of layout, all the cottages in the village of Lukomir are bipartite, or in other words have two rooms(47), known as the “house” and the “room.” This layout is the result of building onto the original, single-room cottage that constitutes the most primitive form of rural cottage.(48)
A further division in terms of layout is into single-family and two-family cottages.
As regards the number of storeys(49), most of the cottages in Lukomir are “semi-two-storeyed”(50) (in Kadić's typology), or single-storeyed with cellar (in Bugarski's typology). As Kadić notes, the storeroom, set back into the slope, and the room above it, result from the lie of the land, whether intended or not.(51) Other types are the single-storey cottage (in Kadić's typology) or the single-storey cottage with no cellar (in Bugarski's typology), and the cottage with a čardak between the rafters (in Kadić's typology) or the cottage with a loft (in Bugarski's typology).(52)
Cottages with a čardak between the rafters constitute the next stage in the evolution of the cottage in terms of storeys.(53) It came into being as the result of efforts to make the best possible use of the large roof space. The čardak between the rafters in the cottages in Lukomir is not the classic Bosnian čardak, characterized by the division of the front eaves of the roof heightwise into two; the Lukomir cottages with a čardak between the rafters more closely resemble other types of upland cottage. The čardak is created by means of a simple jetty on the front gable wall of the cottage(54), with a roof of the type known as “na romak,” a four-paned roof with the eaves at the front formed simply as the beginning of the roof plane.(55) The gable wall usually has just the one čardak window, typically smaller than the rest of the windows of the cottage, and closed off or even walled up on many of the cottages. Many of the cottages with a čardak between the rafters use this loft space for storage.
As Astrida Bugarski notes, tradition has it that houses in this part of the world began to acquire an extra storey when a cellar or magaza was added below part of a single-storey building, while attic rooms were a later development. It is very common to find cottages in the mountainous regions with the later addition of an attic room used as living quarters. This was a widespread practice, given that the considerable space under the rafters of the tall, steeply-pitched roofs of these mountain cottages proved to be the most convenient way of adding extra rooms without enlarging the footprint of the cottage. Mountain cottages with attic rooms usually have two-paned roofs with or without hip ends.(56)
As regards the material used to build the cottages, all the cottages in Lukomir are of mixed type, with stone walls and wooden roofs. Only in the case of the few cottages built as “semi two-storeyed,” with a cellar under part of the house, is the wall above the cellar half-timbered with timber infill.
The roofs are clad with the type of shingles known as šimla, a type of roof cladding characterized by the way the shingles are cut and laid: šimla are cut in a wedge-shape towards the middle, and laid side by side, with a board beneath the joint to keep the rain out. The wooden roof cladding was rendered more durable by the smoke from the hearth, which acted as a preservative, rising straight from the hearth and impregnating the roof cladding with smoke and soot particles.(57)
Analyzing the outside influences that shaped the type of rural cottage, Kadić suggests that the šimla roof cladding, together with its name, probably came to this part of the world from the Alps, via Lika.(58)
All the cottages in the village are either single-storey with a cellar or single-storey with a cellar and an attic room. According to some of the villagers in Lukomir, they were not altered from the first kind to the second, but were built as single-storey cottages with a cellar and an attic room. The attic rooms were never used as living quarters. The war and the exodus of villagers put an end to the development of the cottages.
The cottages were built between 1952 and 1955 (depending on which resident one speaks to) and the mid 1970s (the last cottage was built in 1974).
The cottages stand on steeply sloping sites with their long side at right-angles to the contour lines. Seen from the side, the single-storey cottages, both those with cellar alone and those with an attic room, look as though part of the cottage is three storeyed and the rest only single-storeyed.
Cottages with their long side following the slope, and with a narrow frontage, have cellars (known as magaza or izba) at the front, mainly used for storage or commercial purposes. It has always been very rare, if at all, in the villages of Bjelašnica, for these basement areas to be used to house livestock. In some cases, a young married couple would sleep there, but in most cases they were used to store potatoes, cabbages, dairy products and other foodstuffs. They were also used to keep the chests where household textile wares were stored, and during the summer the loom would also be kept there.(59)
The people of Lukomir never used the cellars as living quarters. They now use them to store foodstuffs (potatoes, grain etc.), animal feed, and agricultural tools
The next level up of the cottage is the living quarters, which are partly set straight on the ground and partly over the cellar area. The living quarters usually consist of two rooms, one with an open hearth, the kuća, at ground level and the other, used as a bedroom, above the cellar. The floor of the kuća consists of floorboards covered by synthetic carpeting, with a woven ćilim (kilim, flat-weave rug) over it. This is the room that is used most of the time, and where the family both eat and sleep. In the late 20th century other items of furniture were introduced to this room, such as one or two sofas, a low rectangular table as well as the sinija, and the inevitable television and radio.(60)
The soba has wooden floorboards, usually with ćilims laid over them. The room is lit by two or more windows, and heated by an earthenware stove with lončići (hollow cups set into the stove to increase the surface area). In the old days the stove was fed from the kuća, but later from the soba. Somewhat later these stoves were replaced by so-called fijakeri stoves.(61) Another important feature of the interior of the soba was the wash-basin, a square, shallow trough, originally wood and later concrete, about 20-30 cm above level and fitted with a drain. The wash-basin was usually in the corner of the soba next to the partition wall between it and the kuća. At first the soba contained any furniture other than a clothes chest; it was not until the 1980s that factory-made beds, and perhaps a wardrobe(62), began to be used.
In the case of cottages with an attic room, the third level up of the cottage was over the ground-floor room, and was a loft which, according to the villagers, was never used as living quarters, but served as additional storage space for foodstuffs (barley) and for drying meat. Again according to the villagers, people began to close the loft space in the 1970s when the open hearth was replaced by a stove.(63) The smoke now rose from the chimney flue into the loft area, drying the meat hanging there and impregnating the roof timbers.
The lavatory was an outside privy in the yard.
The entrance to the cottage was usually at ground level, sometimes with a stone and earth ramp or a couple of stone steps, and led straight into the room with the open hearth, which in turn led into the soba.
The cottage had two windows on each side, lighting the soba and the attic room. The single window of the room with the open hearth was on the longer side of the cottage.
The small window in the gable wall of the loft space served as ventilation.
In the 1980s there were alterations to the interior, where the room with the open heart, the kuća, was partitioned to create a new layout, mainly a corridor and staircase linking the kuća, the soba and the attic room. The partition wall could be either longitudinal or transversal. The longitudinal division created two areas of unequal size, the narrower of the two used mainly as a corridor. The transversal division created two rooms of roughly equal size, with the one in the middle still used mainly as a corridor, but retaining the name kuća.
Another feature of this period was the addition of extra rooms, usually next to the kuća, by the entrance door, making the kuća the central room. This room was usually used to prepare food. It usually had wooden floor boards, and contained a cooking stove(64) (nowadays, an electric stove is usually used as well as a wood-fired one, and the room also contains a refrigerator), and various articles of country-made kitchen furniture (now factory-made). The kuća retains its original function(65).
Several so-called divided cottages were built in Lukomir, consisting in fact of two semi-detached single-family cottages, identical along the long axis, with two separate cellars and two separate sets of living quarters. The entrances are also separate. The interior layout of each is identical to that of a single-family cottage. Such cottages were usually built by two brothers.
The cottages in Lukomir are entirely built of quarry or hewn stone with the quoins consisting of larger dressed blocks. The wall (duvar) has no clear horizontal joints or courses. Some of the properties show the remains of larger or smaller areas of lime plaster, but the plaster has fallen away from most of them, leaving the stone exposed. The outbuildings are wholly built of wood.(66)
The cottages have high half-hipped roofs with the roof panes at the hip ends more or less shorter than those of the long sides. The hip ends are shortened or angled to fit into the wall face of the attic space. Some of the hip end roof panes are so short that the roofs could better be described as gabled. Most of the roofs are fitted with smoke vents.(67)
The basic roof frame consists of four wall plates, four ridge beams (known as mahija) and several pairs of rafters. The front of the roof frame consists of a single rafter and several shorter members (known as dumenjaci) or merely of shortened rafters. The bottom ends of the rafters, ridge beams and shortened rafters rest on the wall plates laid on the perimeter walls. Each pair of rafters is joined by tongue-and-groove to the ridge, and reinforced by a collar beam (known as a panta) about half-way along.(68) Some of the cottages have double wall plates, one above the other.
The roof cladding of the cottages with a čardak consists of small planks, tongue-and-grooved shingles that are wedge-shaped in section and laid in horizontal courses. The shingles are 60-100 cm long, 10-30 cm wide, and 0.2-3 cm thick, with the thinner side (the blade or underlap) from 0.2 to 0.5 cm thick and the thicker side (the arka or rounded end) from 1.5 to 3 cm thick.(69) The laying of the shingles began from the bottom right-hand corner. They overlap by 2-3 cm, with the thicker side, the arka, which is on the left-hand side, overlying the thinner side or blade, which is the right hand side of the adjacent shingle.(70)
It should be noted that the area of the villages of the Bjelašnica foothills is one of the very few where the use of the wedge-profile, tongue-and-groove shingles known as šimla is still widespread. Roofs of this kind provide outstanding protection against the bitter winter climate of Bjelašnica.(71)
In the late 1980s the people of Lukomir sought to protect the shingles from the elements by covering them with sheets of galvanized iron.(72)
Two properties are distinct in use and form from the rest: the school and the mosque.
The school was built in 1958. By the time war broke out in 1992 there were no more children of school age in the village, and the building became redundant. It was restored and adapted to its new use as an international education centre, run by the GEA+ Foundation for sustainable development and environmental protection.
The ex school building stands out on account of its size. It is considerably larger than the other buildings in the village, and is a single-storey building with living quarters in the attic space. Apart from its size, it is perfectly in harmony with its surroundings.
The ground floor is divided into two, with two separate entrances, one containing a classroom and the other living quarters, with a staircase leading up into more rooms in the high attic premises. It is stone-built, with a wooden first-floor jutty, and has a multi-paned roof clad with shingles.
The mosque is on the western edge of the village It was built in 1968 and formally opened in 1970. It has a hipped roof clad with shingles. The building is of undressed stone, with the quoins consisting of large hewn stone blocks. The stone of the walls is left exposed. The entrance to the mosque has a substantial stone door lintel.
The minaret was erected beside the mosque, with a gap between them of about 70 cm. The stone base of the minaret is quadrangular, and the round shaft is wooden.
The mosque was restored after the 1992-1995 war and is in regular use.
The burial ground is not beside the mosque, but at the other end of the village.
Necropolis with stećci
A large community of Vlach shepherds, known as katunar, lived on the high plains of Mts Bjelašnica and Visočica as permanent occupants of the katun (pasturelands) that were the counterpart of the rural (agricultural) Slav communities. The geographical location of the area where evidence of Vlachs has been found indicates that herding was their principal occupation. The fact that Vlach toponomastics are associated with certain areas suggests that it dates from a time when Vlach settlements had become at least relatively permanent.(73)
The place known as Divča, the name, location and local beliefs of which suggest the cult of the goddess known as Diva, Deva or Djeva among the Slavs, also indicates earlier habitation in the village of Lukomir. Typical of this type of site are high karst rockfaces, precipitous on at least one side, outside but not far from the settlement. Local tradition has it that girls threatened with the loss of their virginity would throw themselves from such places.(74)
The mediaeval tombstones of Bosnia and Hum known as stećci became the subject of scholarly interest in not entirely favourable 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 travellers 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.(75) (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.(76) Nor was there any lack of efforts to give the stećci a purely Serbian or Croatian national stamp.(77)
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.(78)
There are 18 stećci (17 chest-shaped and one gabled) in the south-western part of the village, on a hillock known as Vlaško groblje (Vlach burial ground), by the road running through the necropolis.(79) Eleven of the stećci are outside the fence around the Muslim burial ground still in use, and the other seven are inside the burial ground. The stećci lie north-east/south-west. Six are decorated with symbolic motifs (grooved lines, a stylized cross, swords, a shield and a swastika).
Condition of the stećci
Stećak no. 1 – chest-shaped without plinth, undecorated, roughly finished, covered with lichen; the stećak measures 200 x 95 x 36 cm;
Stećak no. 2 – chest-shaped without plinth, undecorated, part missing on the north-east side; the stećak measures 168 x 80 x 34 cm;
Stećak no. 3 – chest-shaped with decoration, damaged top surface, partly buried; the stećak measures 122 x 67 x 34 cm. The top is decorated with a shield, which is damaged, with the lower part of the decoration missing. The decoration is in relief;
Stećak no. 4 – chest-shaped without decoration, partly buried and overgrown with grass; the stećak measures 116 x 63 x 24 cm;
Stećak no. 5 – chest-shaped without plinth, undecorated, covered with lichen, overgrown with grass and partly buried; the stećak measures 163 x 72 x 13 cm;
Stećak no. 6 – chest-shaped without plinth, with decoration, covered with lichen and partly buried; the stećak measures 183 x 116 x 41 cm. The stećak is decorated with two long, straight swords with crossguards and grips ending in a circle. The decorations are in reverse relief. Between the swords is a grooved line indicating that this is a double grave;
Stećak no. 7 – chest-shaped without plinth, undecorated, roughly finished, covered with lichen; the stećak measures 132 x 84 x 32 cm;
Stećak no. 8 – chest-shaped without plinth, undecorated, covered with lichen, overgrown with grass and partly buried; the stećak measures 169 x 84 x 72 cm;
Stećak no. 9 – gabled without plinth, undecorated, finely finished and partly buried at the north-east end, covered with lichen and overgrown with grass; the stećak measures 177 x 90 x 112 cm;
Stećak no. 10 – chest-shaped without plinth, with decoration, finely finished partly buried at the north-east end, covered with lichen and overgrown with grass, part of the decoration damaged (part of the circle on the top bar missing); the stećak measures 165 x 88 x 67 cm. The tombstone is decorated with a cross with equal-sized crossbars and a top bar ending in a circle; the bottom bar is longer and widens at the base. The decoration is in relief;
Stećak no. 11 – chest-shaped without plinth, with decoration, partly buried, covered with lichen, overgrown with grass and brambles; the stećak measures 176 x 76 x 33 cm. The tombstone is decorated with a stylized cross in a combination of relief and reverse relief;
Stećak no. 12 – chest-shaped with decoration, partly buried, covered with lichen and overgrown with grass, inside the burial ground; the stećak measures 199 x 139 x 40 cm. The tombstone is in the form of a rectangle with the south-west end slanting and with rounded edges. In Š. Bešlagić's classification this is a type of tombstone of which the end is shaped as an arch.(80) The stećak is decorated with a swastika (crux gammata) in reverse relief;
Stećak no. 13 – chest-shaped with decoration, partly buried, covered with lichen and overgrown with grass, inside the burial ground; the stećak measures 175 cm long x 100 cm wide. A grooved line runs along the middle of the top, indicating that this is a double grave;
Stećak no. 14 – chest-shaped without decoration, partly buried, covered with lichen and overgrown with grass, inside the burial ground; the stećak measures 180 x 75 x 10 cm;
Stećak no. 15 – chest-shaped without decoration, partly buried, covered with lichen and overgrown with grass, inside the burial ground; the stećak measures 160 x 68 x 15 cm;
Stećak no. 16 – chest-shaped without decoration, partly buried, covered with lichen and overgrown with grass, inside the burial ground; the stećak measures 156 x 83 x 36 cm;
Stećak no. 17 – chest-shaped without decoration, partly buried, covered with lichen and overgrown with grass, inside the burial ground; the stećak measures 148 x 87 x 16 cm;
Stećak no. 18 – chest-shaped without decoration, partly buried, covered with lichen and overgrown with grass, inside the burial ground; the stećak measures 170 x 83 x 43 cm.
Stećci at Jezerine(81)
About 100 m as the crow flies to the north-west of Vlaško groblje is Jezerine, where there are nine chest-shaped stećci. They stand on a plot designated as c.p. nos. 22, 23 and 25, and lie north-east/south-west.
Stećak no. 1 – chest-shaped without plinth, undecorated, partly buried, covered with lichen and overgrown with grass; the stećak measures 166 x 75 x 25 cm;
Stećak no. 2 – chest-shaped without plinth, undecorated, completely buried, with only part of the outline showing;
Stećak no. 3 – chest-shaped without plinth, undecorated, partly buried, covered with lichen and overgrown with grass; the stećak measures 130 x 46 x 11 cm;
Stećak no. 4 – chest-shaped without plinth, undecorated, partly buried, covered with lichen and overgrown with grass; the stećak measures 174 x 64 x 15 cm;
Stećak no. 5 – chest-shaped without plinth, undecorated, covered with lichen, overgrown with grass and partly buried; the stećak measures 194 x 94 x 24 cm;
Stećak no. 6 – chest-shaped without plinth, undecorated, covered with lichen, overgrown with grass and partly buried; the stećak measures 172 x 70 x 6 cm;
Stećak no. 7 – chest-shaped without plinth, undecorated, covered with soil, overgrown with grass; the stećak measures 179 cm long x 100 cm wide;
Stećak no. 8 – chest-shaped without plinth, undecorated, partly buried and overgrown with grass; the stećak measures 119 cm long x 33 cm wide;
These necropolises date from the late mediaeval period (latter half of the 14th and first half of the 15th century).(82)
Natural heritage
The mountain massif of Bjelašnica and Igman belongs to the central region of the Dinaric alps, in the area of the high mountains of Površi and Brda; in geotectonic terms, they belong to the zone of mesozoic limestone and dolomites with the central Bosnian schist mountains at the core.(83) Rendzina soils dominate the zone from 1300 to 2000 m above sea level. These geomorphological features have combined with the climatic conditions to create a very heterogeneous soil and plant cover.(84)
The geographical location and orographic structure have dictated the area's specific climate. This mountain massif separates an area with a markedly Mediterranean climate from one with a continental climate. Generally speaking, there are two types of climate here – an upland climate on the lower reaches of the high plains and an alpine climate at high altitudes(85).The coldest month is February (Bjelašnica - 7.4oC) and the warmest is June (Bjelašnica 10.1oC). The average monthly and annual air temperature on Bjelanica is 1oC. The heaviest precipitation is in September, October and November, a total of 382 mm. Snow cover lasts from September until late May or mid June, and it is not unusual for Bjelašnica to be snow-covered even in summer. The wind alternates between southerly winds off the sea and north winds off the mainland, and there are high winds almost every third day.(86)
Pločnik brook runs along the foot of Lovnica peak, west of the village, from north to south, and down into the gorge to join the river Rakitnica. The villagers call this part of the brook Koto, and a branch possibly of this brook, which dries up in summer, or perhaps a separate spring, to the north of the village, they call Vodene glavice. To the east of Gornji Lukomir, on the slopes of Obalj peak, are two piped spring, one of which supplies the main fountain in the village. Peruće brook runs on the other side of Obalj peak, through Donji Lukomir, and into the Rakitnica. The natural abundance of water is one of the reasons why this specific location is suitable for year-round habitation.
As a result of these abiotic factors, combined with considerable zooanthropological factors, a distinctive flora and vegetation has evolved on Bjelašnica.(87)
Gornji Lukomir is largely covered with low-growing vegetation. The slopes of Lovnica peak, west of the village, has no plant cover on the left-hand side but is covered with beech woods on the right-hand side. Obalj peak, east of the village, has the same vegetation but in mirror image. Plots can be seen below the tree line on both peaks which have been marked out with stones. These might have been used to grow potatoes and barley, the only crops that will grow successfully in Gornji Lukomir according to the villagers. These plots, shaped by human hand and forming part of the mountain landscape, reflect the harmony between nature and the villagers, fitting in perfectly with the landscape and giving it its characteristic appearance and function.
The surrounding hills and mountain peaks forming the wider setting for the village, and the slopes of the Rakitnica gorge, have either similar vegetation or are a dense cover of mixed mountain-spur forest. Gornji Lukomir and the peaks, the surrounding hills, and the view down into the gorge form a single natural landscape of outstanding beauty. This is the highest-altitude village in Bosnia and Herzegovina.(88)
The Dinaric forest communities of beech and fir (with spruce) of neutrophile character, constituting a marked band of forest vegetation, formed on limestone soils, dolomitizing limestones and moraines. This community is one of the forest communities of Bjelašnica that is richest in plant species, predominantly mesophile neutrophile basiphile species. The dominant trees are beech, fir and spruce, which are absent from the areas influenced by the sub-Mediterranean climate. The shrub layer includes Euonymus latifolia, Lonicera alpigena, Lonicera xylosteum, Lonicera nigra and Rhamnus fallax, and the ground layer includes Asarum europaeum, Pulmonaria officinalis, Lilium martagon, Paris quadrifolia, and Cardamine enneaphyllos.
Above these stands is a band of subalpine beech forest (Aceri-Fagetum subalpinum Horv. et.al. 1974) of typical fastigiate habit, with a relatively short growing vegetative period. The extreme climate conditions, which are even more pronounced towards the upper limit of this stand, means that it has a primarily protective role. The tree and shrub layer includes Fagus sylvatica, Acer pseudoplatanus, Rhamnus fallax, Salix silesiaca, Lonicera barbasiama, Ribes alpinum and Rubus saxatilis. The ground layer species include Adenostyles alliariae, Cirsium erisithales, Ranunculus platanifolius, Valeriana montana and Valeriana tripteris. At the limit of these stands are small groups of mountain pine on the slopes of Hranisava (Mugo-Pinetum leucodermis Fuk. 1966). These are relict stands largely destroyed by grazing, and constitute a natural feature that should be protected. Thermophile species are to be found within this community, including Scabiosa leucophylla, Erica carnea, Brachypodium pinnatum and Calamagrostis varia.
The Rakitnica gorge, with its steep slopes and crags and shallow soils much influenced by the sub-Mediterranean climate, contains thermophile communities of downy oak and hop hornbeam (Querco-Ostryetum carpinifoliae Horv. 1938 s.lat) and of manna ash and hop hornbeam (Ostryo-Ornetum Fuk. et Stef. 1958). The tree species found within these communities include Quercus pubescens, Ostrya carpinifolia, Fraxinus ornus and Sorbus torminalis; shrubby species include Cornus mas, Rhamnus cathartica, Viburnum lantana, Cotinus coggygria, Amelanchier ovalis and Cotoneaster tomentosa. The ground-plant layer includes many light-loving species, including Chrysanthemum corymbosum, Teucrium chamaedrys, Mercurialis ovata, Galium lucidum, Stachys recta and Thymus serpyllum.(89)
Endemic alpine meadow species
- Sesleria juncifolia
- Sesleria coerulens
- Festuca panciciana
- Festuca bosniaca
- Senecio bosniacus
- Veronica satureioides
- Gentiana dinarica
- Gentiana symphyandra
- Gentianella crispata
Glacial relicts
- Dryas octopetala
- Polygonum viviparum
- Gentiana kochiana
- Nigritella nigra
- Potentilla clusiana
- Arnica montana
- Jasione orbiculata
- Achillea lingulata
- Lilium bosniacum
High alpine flora of the alpine pastures, rocky terrain and Rakitnica gorge
Plants found in the glacial cirques of Bjelašnica belong to the endemic association Amphoricarpion autariati, and communities in the limestone gorge of the Rakitnica and on dolomitic soils, where the following species of this distinctive flora have been recorded:
- Edraianthus serpyllifolius
- Saxifraga caryophylla
- Minuartia clandestina
- Silene pusilla
- Alchemilla velebitica
- Cerastium dinaricum
The following species are found on limestone soils:
- Dripis linneana
- Arabis alpina,
- Heracleum balcanicum,
- Stachys recta(90)
As regards fauna, the ichthyopopulation of the Tušilačka river and Rakitnica consists exclusively of salmonids.(91)
Reptiles include the globally endangered Meadow Viper, Vipera ursini macrops, on the IUCN Red List as Endangered, along with other vipers V. berus bosniaca and V. amodites, and other snakes including Coronella austriaca, Coluber sp., the slowworm Anguis fragilis, other lizards Lacerta vivipara, L. viridis, L. fragilis and L. muralis, and two recorded frog species, Hyla arborea and Rana agilis.
The area is also rich in invertebrates, with 127 recorded species of butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) and 29 of grasshoppers (Orthoptera). The area is also the habitat of no fewer than 24 species recorded as endangered in Europe.
The following invertebrate species endangered or otherwise at risk in Europe are found in the Igman-Bjelašnica-Treskavica-Visočica area:
- endangered: Maculinea nausithous (Dusky Large Blue Butterfly), Maculinea teleius (Scarce Large Blue Butterfly), Apatura metis (Freyer’s Purple Emperor Butterfly);
- vulnerable: Dolomedes plantarius (Great Raft Spider), Sago pedo (Predatory Bush Cricket), Hyles hippophaes (Seathorn Hawk Moth);
- rare: Helix pomatia (Edible Snail), Troglophantes gracilis (spider), Troglophantes similes (spider), Troglophantes spinipes (spider), Parnassius apollo (Mountain Apollo Butterfly), Erebia ottomana (Ottoman Brassy Ringlet Butterfly), Epimyrma ravouxii (Ravoux’s Slavemaker Ant);
- data deficient: Microcondylaea compressa (a fresh water bivalve mollusc), Unio elegantus (a fresh water bivalve mollusc), Hirudo medicinalis (European Medicinal Leech), Leucorrhinia pectoralis (Yellow-spotted White-faced Dragonfly), Myrmeleon formicarius (a species of Antlion), Syrichtus tesselum (a species of Skipper butterfly in the family Hesperiidae), Papilio alexanor (Southern Swallowtail Butterfly), Zerynthia polyxena (Southern Festoon butterfly), Erebia calcaria (Lorkovic’s Brassy Ringlet Butterfly).
The wider area has some 110 species of bird, including, among confirmed birds of prey, the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and the short-toed eagle (Circaetus gallicus), the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), the common kestrel (Falco tinninculus), the goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), the Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) and the Levant sparrowhawk (Accipiter brevipes).Only one species on the 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the globally near-threatened corncrake (Crex crex), is found in the area.(92)
Key species of mammals are present in the area; chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra balcanica L), as well as the brown bear (Ursus arctos L) and the wolf (Canis lupus) Lin the wider area, and another sixty or so species of mammal.
The anthropogenic nature of the site is obvious from the monuments dating from mediaeval times as well as the continuity of habitation in the villages of Donji and Gornji Lukomir. Herding is not the only pursuit on Mt. Bjelašnica: the residents also hunt large mammals and birds, as do the members of hunting clubs. Hunting is often a threat to key species such as the chamois, which uses Gornji Lukomir as part of its territory.(93) The site can also be used as grazing for small farm animals.
An additional problem for this landscape is the failure to find a proper solution to the problem of rubbish collection. During a visit to Gornji Lukomir on 26 May 2009, it was observed that there is no rubbish collection in the village. Most of the rubbish is recycled, burned or taken to an open space “for the wind to blow away,” to quote the villagers. This could lead to the accumulation of waste, particularly plastic, in the landscape, and especially the rivers. Polluting the environment and the rivers poses a threat to all living organisms. Since the village of Gornji Lukomir is often visited by tourists, who often bring plastic articles of one kind or another, this problem must be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.
Another issue raised in conversation with the villagers is that wood for stoves and heating is not cut from the slopes around the villages, but on the north side of Lovnica hill. This is unchecked, but is only for the personal use of the villagers. If the number of residents should increase, especially of those who remain in the village over winter, this kind of felling could pose a problem and lead to soil erosion.
3. Legal status to date
The site is not listed in the Register of immovable cultural monuments, and has not been subject to a protection regime.
On 12 December 2007 the Department of Economic, Financial and Social Affairs of Konjic Municipality submitted to the Commission a petition/proposal to designate the Village of Lukomir, Konjic Municipality, as a National Monument.
4. Research and conservation and restoration works
No conservation or restoration works have been carried out on the properties in Lukomir under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority.
After the 1992-1995 war the school was restored and adapted to its new use, and the mosque was restored.
The remaining properties have been restored by their owners.
Research consisting of recording the stećci was carried out by Šefik Bešlagić, who published in 1971, and Pavao Anđelić, who published in 1975.
No conservation or restoration works have been carried out on the stećci.
5. Current condition of the property
The current condition of the village of Lukomir has been dictated by the village way of life, the use of the properties, and the financial standing of the owners of the properties.
The most serious changes to the cottages in the village of Lukomir are taking place at this very moment, and are the result of the mass exodus of the villagers after the 1992-1995 war.
Young people left the village after 1995 and have settled permanently in the villages and small towns around Sarajevo.
Only seven families now live in Lukomir all year round. All the other cottages are used solely during the summer months, when their owners come to spend their holidays there or to cultivate their land. Most of the families spend no more than two to three weeks in the village. The only people who spend longer there are older people. As a result, most of the cottages are not kept regularly maintained.
The altered age structure of the villagers has led to changes inland use. Another effect is that most of the houses are not kept routinely maintained.
In addition, most of the owners are in straitened circumstances, and unable to repair their cottages. To provide basic living conditions, and given the lack of understanding on the part of donors, most of the cottages have been repaired with concrete or brick blocks since the 1992-1995 war. There are also signs of cement plaster on the walls.
As well as introducing new materials to the existing buildings, there are more and more alterations to the buildings themselves: the addition of an extra storey, changes to the shape of the roof, the removal of the open hearth, the addition of a ceiling between the kuća and the loft space, the loss of roof vents and the introduction of chimneys, and even the addition of outside stairs – all these are changes that have taken place in the past ten years or so.
New buildings are appearing in the village-scape, built without regard for the existing surroundings. These changes are most marked as regards the shape of the roof – the high, steep, shingle-clad roofs are being replaced by less steeply pitched gabled roofs clad with tiles.
Some of the buildings are completely derelict. Buildings that have been abandoned, and hence left without any maintenance, soon fall into ruin.
The findings of an on-site visit conducted in July 2008 are as follows:
- seven properties, five of them shippens, have been demolished or are in ruins,
- on some of the properties, the outer wall facing is falling away or parts of the walls are missing completely,
- on most of the properties the mortar has gone from the walls(94),
- all the properties have minor cracks in the walls,
- cement mortar has been used to repair the walls,
- on most of the damaged walls repairs and the replacement of missing sections of the wall have been carried out with brick blocks, and some have been fitted with reinforced concrete ring beams,
- concrete has been used to build or repair the outbuildings of some of the properties,
- the properties that were badly damaged during the 1992-1995 war (with the roof or part of the building destroyed) have been renovated and extended using concrete and brick block,
- some of the properties have had chimneys added and the smoke-vents removed,
- some of the properties have sagging roof frames,
- the only properties still completely clad with shingles are the school and the mosque, thanks to their having been restored after the 1992-1995 war; all the rest have flat or corrugated galvanized iron laid over all or part of the shingles, and in most cases the metal is rusting,
- window openings have been repaired using cement mortar and polyurethane foam which is still visible on the façade,
- a new building is currently going up on the northern edge of the village; brick block is being used to build it,
- one new building, on the southern edge of the village, has been built partly on the foundations of an older one; this too has been built of brick block,
- now that children have left the village the school has been restored and turned into a cultural centre.
During a further on-site visit in May 2009 the following changes were observed since the visit a year earlier:
- the building on the northern edge of the village, which was under construction, has been completed. The shape and height of the roof and the materials used to build it are completely out of character with the rest of the village,
- three buildings which were previously found to have been abandoned were in very poor condition. The roof structure was at risk of collapse or had already fallen in as a result of the winter and lack of maintenance.
The changes that began in the village after the war, in 1995, and which are gaining momentum each summer, are slowly but surely destroying all the values that make this village unique in Bosnia and Herzegovina – the obvious link between man and nature, ranging from land use to the shaping of living quarters – as well as the specific features of the architecture of the village.
The findings of on-site inspections of the necropolis and the environs conducted on 27 June 2008 and 26 May 2009 are as follows:
- a road runs through the stećci at Vlaško groblje, leaving some of them within a Muslim burial ground in active use and the rest outside it, about 5 to 15 m away. The location with stećci outside the burial ground is at risk of landslip, the result of possible erosion caused by the villagers' digging just below it;
- the stećci at Jezerine are almost completely buried, and only five were found on the first visit, with another four found on the second visit. The site with stećci is on a plot used by the owners for cultivation;
- some of the stećci are chipped, damaged, overturned or partly or completely buried;
- the stećci are at risk of rapid deterioration as a result of neglect;
- the stećci are covered with lichen and moss to a greater or lesser extent;
- during the second visit to Lukomir, we were told by the villagers that there are ten to fifteen stećci in Donji Lukomir. A further study of the relevant reference works revealed that these have not been recorded;
- there is no proper rubbish collection system.
6. Specific risks
- alterations to the properties by building extensions or the use of modern materials,
- deterioration and collapse of the buildings from disuse,
- urbanization of the settlement.
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.ii. quality of materials
C.iii. proportions
C.iv. composition
C.v. value of details
D. Clarity
D.i. material evidence of a lesser known historical era
D.ii. evidence of historical change
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 landscape
F.iii. the building or group of buildings is part of a group or site
G. Authenticity
G.i. form and design
G.ii. material and content
G.iii. use and function
G.iv. traditions and techniques
G.v. location and setting
G.vi. spirit and feeling
G.vii. other internal and external factors
H. Rarity and representativity
H.i. unique or rare example of a certain type or style
I. Completeness
I.i. physical coherence
I.ii. homogeneity
I.iii. completeness
I.iv. undamaged condition
The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:
- Copy of cadastral plans
- Proof of title
- Photodocumentation
- Drawings
- Photodocumentation, photographs taken by the Commission in June and July 2008 and May 2009
Bibliography
During the procedure to designate the historic landscape of the village of Lukomir, Konjic Municipality, as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:
1908. Jefto Dedijer. “Vrste nepokretne svojine u Herzegovina” (Types of real property ownership in Herzegovina). Jnl of the Provincial Museum, vol. XX. Sarajevo, 1908, 387-402
1909. Dedijer, Jefto. Hercegovina. Serbian Royal Academy, Ethnographic papers, vol. 12, Naselja srpskih zemalja (Settlements on Serbian lands), vol. VI. Belgrade, 1909
1914. Dedijer, Jefto. “Stočarske zone u planinama dinarskog sistema” (Herding zones in the mountains of the Dinaric system). Jnl of the Serbian Geographical Society, yr.III, vols. 3 and 4. Belgrade, 1914
1918. Skok, Petar. “Češka knjiga o vlaškom pravu” (Czech book of Vlach law), Jnl of the Provincial Museum XXIX, 1917. Sarajevo, 1918
1924. Glušac, Vaso. “Srednjovekovna ‘bosanska crkva’” (The mediaeval Bosnian Church), in Prilozi za književnost, jezik, istoriju i folklor (Contributions to Literature, Language, History and Folklore), IV. Belgrade, 1924
1922. Cvijić, Jovan. Balkansko poluostrvo i južnoslovenske zemlje (The Balkan Peninsula and South Slav lands), vol.I. Belgrade, 1922
1932. Soldo, Špiro. “Tipovi kuća i zgrada u pređašnjoj Bosni i Hercegovini” (Types of houses and buildings in old-time Bosnia and Herzegovina). Special publication of the Geographical Society, vol.13. Belgrade, 1932
1932. Popović, Jovo. “Ljetni stanovi (mahale) na planini Bjelašnici” (Summer residences [Mahalas] on Mt. Bjelašnica). Jnl of the National Museum, vol. XLIV. Sarajevo, 1931
1958/9 Hadžibegić, Hamid. “Porez na sitnu stoku i korišćenje ispaša” (Tax on small livestock and the use of grazing). Contributions to Oriental Philology, VIII-IX. Sarajevo, 1958/9
1963. Benac, Alojz. Stećci. Beograd: Prosveta, 1963
1966. Beljkašić Hadžidedić, Ljiljana. “Nošnja na Bjelašnici” (Costumes on Bjelašnica). Jnl of the National Museum, vol. XX/XXI. Sarajevo, 1966, 117-133
1967. Kadić, Muhamed. Starinska seoska kuća u Bosni i Hercegovini (Old village houses in BiH). Sarajevo: Cultural Heritage Series, 1967
1971. Bešlagić, Šefik. Stećci, kataloško-topografski pregled (Stećak tombstones, a catalogue and topographical survey). Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša, 1971
1971. Bugarski, Astrida. “Daščani krovovi u Bosni” (Plank roofs in Bosnia). Jnl of the National Museum, vol. XXVI. Sarajevo, 1971, 85-115
1972/73. Bugarski, Astrida. "Kuća sa ‘čardakom’ u Podbjelašničkim selima" (Houses with an attic room in the foothill villages of Bjelašnica). Jnl of the National Museum, vol. XXVII/XXVIII. Sarajevo, 1972/73, 231-247
1975. Anđelić, Pavao. Historijski spomenici Konjica i okoline (Historic monuments of Konjic and environs). Konjic, 1975
1980. Various authors. Regional Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina; Stage B - valorization of natural, cultural and historical monuments. Sarajevo: Institute for architecture, town planning and regional planning of the Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo, 1980
1980/81. Pavković, Nikola. “Društveni život stočara na letnjim stanovima u Bosni” (Social life of herdsmen in summer residences in Bosnia). Jnl of the National Museum N.S., vol. 35/36. Sarajevo, 1980/81, 87-114
1982. Bešlagić, Šefik. Stećci-kultura i umjetnost (Stećak tombstones – culture and art). Sarajevo, 1982
1988. Arheološki leksikon Bosne i Hercegovine (Archaeological Lexicon of BiH). Sarajevo, 1988
1989. Bugarski, Astrida. “Nastambe stočara u sezonskim naseljima Bosne i Hercegovine” (Living quarters of herdsmen in seasonal settlements in BiH). Jnl of the National Museum, vol. 43/44. Sarajevo, 1989, 61-94
1980. 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
1991. Tabaković-Tošić, Mara et.al. “Prilog poznavanju faune carabidae (Coleoptera) planinskog masiva Igman-Bjelašnica” (Contribution to knowledge of the Carabidae [Coleoptera] fauna of the Igman-Bjelašnica mountain massif). Jnl of the National Museum of BiH – Natural History. Sarajevo, 1991, 139-154
1992/1995. Bugarski, Astrida. “Savremene promjene u kulturi stanovanja seoskog stanovništva u Bosni i Hercegovini” (Contemporary changes in the lifestyle of the rural population in BiH). Jnl of the National Museum, NS 47. Sarajevo, 1992/95, 223-244
2000. Bugarski, Astrida. “Organizacija počivanja u tradicionalnoj kulturi ruralnog stanovništva Bosne i Hercegovine” (The organization of resting in the traditional culture of the rural population of BiH). Jnl of the National Museum, NS 48/49. Sarajevo, 2000, 103-125
2001. Bugarski, Astrida. Sjećanje na korijenje - Tradicionalne stambene zgrade Hrvata Bosne i Hercegovine u drugoj polovici XIX i prvoj polovici XX stoljeća (Remembering one's roots – traditional houses of the Croats of BiH in the 2nd half of the 19th and 1st half of the 20th century). Sarajevo: Matica Hrvatska, 2001.
2004. Brown, Jessica, Mitchell, Nora and Beresford, Michael (Eds) (2004). The Protected Landscape Approach: Linking Nature, Culture and Community. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK
2004. Bešlagić, Šefik. Leksikon stećaka (Lexicon of stećci). Sarajevo, 2004
2005. Mušeta-Aščerić, Vesna. Sarajevo i njegova okolina u 15. stoljeću (Sarajevo and environs in the 15th century)
2005. Gomez, Matias. Zaboravljena Ljepota (Forgotten beauty). Sarajevo, 2005
2006. Karović, Elma, i Kunovac, Saša. Područje sa posebnim karakteristikama: Igman-Bjelašnica-Treskavica i Kanjon Rakitnice (Visočica) (An area with distinctive features: Igman-Bjelašnica-Treskavica and the Rakitnica gorge [Visočica]). Sarajevo, 2006
2006. Berilo, Zejnil. Aktuelno stanje populacije Velikog Tetrijeba u planinskom kompleksu Igmana i Bjelašnice (Current state of the Capercaillie population of on the Igman and Bjelašnica mountain complex). Sarajevo, 2006.
(1) In view of the large number of owners and the inability of Commission staff to notify every owner individually (since many of the houses are occupied only from time to time), a letter was sent to Konjic Municipality during the preparation of this Decision with a request that Municipality staff notify all these owners that the procedure for the designation of the cultural landscape of the village of Lukomir as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina was under way. The Commission was not notified of the views of the owners on the procedure within the specified term of 15 days, and as a result, pursuant to the letter, the owners are regarded as having given their assent to the procedure.
(2) The grasses typical of Bjelašnica are Nardus stricta, Festuca varia var. Pungens, Agrostis vulgaris, Phleum alpinum, Phleum michelii, Poa annua and Poa pratensis (Popović, 1932, 56).
(3) Beljkašić-Hadžidedić Ljiljana, “Nošnja na Bjelašnici,” Jnl of the National Museum, Sarajevo, vol. XX/XXI, 1966, 118
(4) Bosnia typically has shortages of animal feed in winter, because it has sufficient pasturage around the villages or on nearby mountains in summer, while in Herzegovina the reverse is true: there are shortages of animal feed in summer, when the sun burns up the grass and springs run dry. (Popović, 1963, 107)
(5) The small wooden or stone buildings constructed on summer pastures are known as koliba or stan.
(6) With time, the name Vlach became synonymous with mountain herder. (Skok, 1918, 298)
(7) Cvijić, Jovan, Balkansko poluostrvo i južnoslovenske zemlje, Vol.I, Belgrade, 1922, 281-282.
(8) Hadžibegić, Hamid, “Porez na sitnu stoku i korišćenje ispaša”, Prilozi za orijentalnu filologiju, VIII-IX, Sarajevo 1958/9
(9) Dedijer, Jefto, “Vrste nepokretne svojine u Hercegovini,” Jnl of the National Museum, Sarajevo, vol. XX, 1908, 392 and Pavković, Nikola, “Društveni život stočara na letnjim stanovima u Bosni,” Jnl of the National Museum N.S. vol. 35/36, Sarajevo, 1980/81, 94
(10) The term izdig denotes the transhumance of stock to the mountains. (Popović, 1963, 108)
(11) The term zdig denotes the transhumance back from the mountains. (Popović, 1963, 108)
(12) Popović, Jovo, “Ljetni stanovi (mahale) na planini Bjelašnici,” Jnl of the National Museum, Sarajevo, vol. XLIV, 1931, 107-108
(13) Several buildings of the kind known as stan – groups of buildings on pastureland – formed a mahala, but the word mahala could also mean part of the pastureland (Pavković, 1980/81, 88).
(14) The people of Bjelašnica call the regions on the northern slopes of the mountain Bosnia, as well as the villages below Mts. Treskavica and Hojta (Popović, Jovo, “Ljetni stanovi (mahale) na planini Bjelašnici,” Jnl of the National Museum, Sarajevo, vol. XLIV, 1931, 59)
(15) The inhabitants of Sarajevo County, from the villages of Kastići, Lokve, Pazarić, Budimlići, Bioča and Korča, took their animals to graze in these mahalas. These villages are of alpine type, and are at an altitude of 600-900 m above sea level; however, the primary occupation of their inhabitants is agriculture, with herding in second place (Popović, Jovo, “Ljetni stanovi (mahale) na planini Bjelašnici,” Jnl of the National Museum, Sarajevo, vol. XLIV, 1931, 77)
(16) Popović calls these herders Humnjaci.
(17) Popović, Jovo, “Ljetni stanovi (mahale) na planini Bjelašnici,” Jnl of the National Museum, Sarajevo, vol. XLIV, 1931, 69-76
(18) Popović, Jovo, “Ljetni stanovi (mahale) na planini Bjelašnici,” Jnl of the National Museum, Sarajevo, vol. XLIV, 1931, 59
(19) Popović, Jovo, “Ljetni stanovi (mahale) na planini Bjelašnici,” Jnl of the National Museum, Sarajevo, vol. XLIV, 1931, 77
(20) Popović, Jovo, “Ljetni stanovi (mahale) na planini Bjelašnici,” Jnl of the National Museum, Sarajevo, vol. XLIV, 1931, 58
(21) Popović, Jovo, “Ljetni stanovi (mahale) na planini Bjelašnici,” Jnl of the National Museum, Sarajevo, vol. XLIV, 1931, 114
(22) The livestock consisted of sheep, with fewer larger animals such as horses and cows
(23) Popasak means taking the animals to pasture at about 8 in the morning and keeping them there until the afternoon, when they are returned to the sheep pen for milking. As long as popasak lasted (to the end of June), the sheep were milked three times a day, in the morning, afternoon and evening.
(24) Vazdanak means taking the animals to pasture after the afternoon milking, and leaving them there until six o'clock.
(25) A good year is one in which there is sufficient rainfall.
(26) Dedijer, Jefto, “Stočarske zone u planinama dinarskog sistema,” Jnl of the Serbian Geographical Society, yr.III, vols. 3 and 4 , Belgrade 1914, 52
(27) Bugaski, Astrida, “Nastambe stočara u sezonskim naseljima Bosne i Hercegovine,” Jnl of the National Museum, vol. 43/44, Sarajevo, 1989, 71
(28) Referring to houses with a čardak (an attic room), typical of the southern slopes of the Bjelašnica massif, Astrida Bugarski says they were built in the 1960s, and that the older surviving houses with čardak were built 150 years ago. It is not known when such houses first began to be built in this part of the world, but in the early 20th century only wealthier people had them (Bugarski, 1972/73, 233)
(29) One house of the older type, the summer hut, survives, the property of Čomor Nura (aged about 75)
(30) Family oral tradition has it that the reason the Čomor family moved permanently to Bjelašnica was murder – one of the brothers used to fish with a net and one of his neighbours kept stealing his catch. This led to a quarrel, and then to murder. To avoid the hand of the law, members of the Čomor family fled from their own region to another county. They chose an inaccessible place, the village of Donji Lukomir. Muhamed Čomor, who related this, did not know whether his forebears had been herders before coming to Bjelašnica and whether they had come to the mountain with their animals previously, and had for that reason chosen Donji Lukomir as their new abode, or whether it was a haphazard choice.
(31) Bugarski, Astrida, Sjećanje na korijenje - Tradicionalne stambene zgrade Hrvata Bosne i Hercegovine u drugoj polovici XIX i prvoj polovici XX stoljeća, Matica Hrvatska, Sarajevo, 2001.
(32) The term na lastavicu denotes building a stone wall to below the roof.
(33) The term na somić denotes a method of construction where the area between the stone wall and the roof is closed off with weatherboarding.
(34) Popović, Jovo, “Ljetni stanovi (mahale) na planini Bjelašnici,” Jnl of the National Museum, Sarajevo, vol. XLIV, 1931, 89
(35) The shingles used, known as šimla, are rectangular in shape, with one side grooved and the other side tongued (Popović, 1932, 89).
(36) The boards were rectangular, and trimmed to the same shape on both sides. They were laid side by side, with another board known as a podvlačak where each pair of boards met (Popović, 1932, 89)
(37) A kaplama is a board with one narrow and one wider edge, which were laid overlapping (Popović, 1932, 89)
(38) The rafters were covered by beechwood planks, thicker on one side and narrower on the other, set side to side with the thatch laid over them. Stone slabs were placed on the thatch to prevent it being blown away by the wind (Popović, 1932, 89)
(39) Although the kuća was originally one room, it was divided functionally into two areas: one for sleeping and sitting, and the other as a dairy and place to store the dairy products.
(40) In Herzegovina the principal system was a one-room building based on single-family occupancy, and was mainly favoured by herders, who were the least concerned with comfort (Bugarski, 2000, 109)
(41) Astrida Bugarski notes that in the late 1980s she stayed with one of the wealthier families in Gornji Lukomir. They lived in a cramped cottage with household goods of a traditional nature and of old artisanal and factory make. The host and hostess slept in the kitchen (kuća), and the son and daughter-in-law with their children in the soba. (Bugarski 1992/95, 232)
(42) This was a widespread practice, given that the considerable space under the rafters of the tall, steeply-pitched roofs of these mountain cottages, proved to be the most suitable way of adding extra rooms without enlarging the footprint of the house.
(43) Bugarski, Astrida, “Kuća sa 'čardakom' u Podbjelašničkim selima,” Jnl of the National Museum, vol. XXVII/XXVIII, Sarajevo, 1972/73, 232
(44) Bugarski, Astrida, Sjećanje na korijenje - Tradicionalne stambene zgrade Hrvata Bosne i Hercegovine u drugoj polovici XIX i prvoj polovici XX stoljeća, Matica Hrvatska, Sarajevo, 2001
(45) When the properties were renovated after the 1992-1995 war, the building materials used on some of the houses were concrete or, more frequently, concrete blocks.
(46) Regrettably, the appearance of the cottages in the village of Lukomir is changing rapidly as extensions are built on, cottages are pulled down and new ones are built.
(47) The term bipartite was introduced by Cvijić. In Kadić's view, this type of cottage would more properly be called a two-wing or double-unit cottage, from the architectural and structural point of view. Kadić, Dr. Muhamed, Starinska seoska kuća u Bosni i Hercegovini, Cultural Heritage Series, Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša, 1967, 23.
(48) The suggestion that the bipartite cottage came about by being partitioned rather than extended comes from Kadić, Dr. Muhamed, Starinska seoska kuća u Bosni i Hercegovini, Cultural Heritage Series, Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša, 1967, 23.
(49) The description of the typology of the cottages uses the terms introduced by Kadić and those used by Bugarski. The terminology used is the only difference between the types described.
(50) “The first step in this development by storey was the addition of rooms below or above the original single-storey building. A storeroom or cellar would be created under a single-storey wooden house, while the term used for the space created below a stone-built single-storey house was konoba. The room created above them was known as a čardak. In neither case did these additions constitute an entirely new storey; rather, they were an enlargement of the original single-storey layout. For this reason we have called these houses “semi-two-storeyed.” Kadić, Dr. Muhamed, Starinska seoska kuća u Bosni i Hercegovini, Cultural Heritage Series, Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša, 1967, 45
(51) Kadić, Dr. Muhamed, Starinska seoska kuća u Bosni i Hercegovini, Cultural Heritage Series, Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša, 1967, 117.
(52) The type of cottage with a room in the loft, regardless of the shape of the roof, is what Kadić calls a cottage with a čardak. Bugarski distinguishes between cottages with a čardak and cottages with a room in the loft, based on the shape of the roof.
(53) Kadić, Dr. Muhamed, Starinska seoska kuća u Bosni i Hercegovini, Cultural Heritage Series, Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša, 1967, 50.
(54) It is because the roof in the loft was created in this way, without any alteration to the structure of the roof, that Bugarski calls this type of cottage a single-storey cottage with cellar and loft room.
(55) Describing the formal characteristics of the cottage with a čardak, Kadić suggests that cottages in which the čardak is not the classic Bosnian čardak between the rafters are in fact more recent, and were built under the powerful influence of foreign models borrowed from railway stations and police barracks. Kadić, Dr. Muhamed, Starinska seoska kuća u Bosni i Hercegovini, Cultural Heritage Series, Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša, 1967, 55.
(56) Bugarski, Astrida, “Kuća sa 'čardakom' u Podbjelašničkim selima,” Jnl of the National Museum, vol. XXVII/XXVIII, Sarajevo, 1972/73
(57) Kadić, Dr. Muhamed, Starinska seoska kuća u Bosni i Hercegovini, Cultural Heritage Series, Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša, 1967, 100-101.
(58) Kadić, Dr. Muhamed, Starinska seoska kuća u Bosni i Hercegovini, Cultural Heritage Series, Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša, 1967, 132.
(59) Bugarski, Astrida, “Kuća sa 'čardakom' u Podbjelašničkim selima,” Jnl of the National Museum, vol. XXVII/XXVIII, Sarajevo, 1972/73, 242-244
(60) Bugarski, Astrida, “Savremene promjene u kulturi stanovanja seoskog stanovništva u Bosni i Hercegovini,” Jnl of the National Museum, Sarajevo, NS 47, Sarajevo, 1992/95, 223-244
(61) Translator’s note: are these stoves named after the (foot) stoves used to heat horse-drawn coaches (fiacre)? I cannot find the word in any dictionary except as relating to coaches.
(62) Cupboards never became a standard item of furniture on account of the unusual ceiling height of the room.
(63) According to some of the residents of the village, cottages built in the 1970s never had an open hearth, but were fitted with a stove from the outset.
(64) The use of open hearths and open fires was banned in 1959, but open hearths continued in use for much longer in the high-altitude mountain villages.
(65) Bugarski, Astrida, “Savremene promjene u kulturi stanovanja seoskog stanovništva u Bosni i Hercegovini,” Jnl of the National Museum, Sarajevo, NS 47, Sarajevo, 1992/95, 223-244
(66) Only a few outbuildings now survive with their timber construction left exposed. Some have been clad with sheet metal, and some built of concrete.
(67) Chimneys and covered smoke vents were added to some houses in the village.
(68) Bugarski, Astrida, “Kuća sa 'čardakom' u Podbjelašničkim selima,” Jnl of the National Museum, vol. XXVII/XXVIII, Sarajevo, 1972/73
(69) Bugarski, Astrida, “Daščani krovovi u Bosni.,” Jnl of the National Museum, vol. XXVI, Sarajevo, 1971, 96
(70) Bugarski, Astrida, “Daščani krovovi u Bosni,” Jnl of the National Museum, vol. XXVI, Sarajevo, 1971, 98
(71) Bugarski, Astrida, “Kuća sa 'čardakom' u Podbjelašničkim selima,” Jnl of the National Museum, vol. XXVII/XXVIII, Sarajevo, 1972/73
(72) On some of the houses it is evident that the sheet metal from drums (oil drums, presumably: trans.) has been used as cladding.
(73) Anđelić, Pavao, Historijski spomenici Konjica i okoline, Konjic, 1975, 266, 267
(74) Anđelić, Pavao, Historijski spomenici Konjica i okoline, Konjic, 1975, 287-288
(75) Benac, Alojz, Stećci, Beograd: Prosveta, 1963, xvii, xxix
(76) Benac, Alojz, Stećci, Beograd: Prosveta, 1963, xxix
(77) Glušac, Vaso, “Srednjovekovna 'bosanska crkva',” in Prilozi za književnost, jezik, istoriju i folklor, IV, Belgrade 1924, 31-35, 36-37, 50 and Südland, L. V. (Ivo Pilar), Južnoslavensko pitanje. Prikaz cjelokupnog pitanja, Varaždin. Original title: L. v. SÜDLAND, Die Südslawische Frage und der Weltkrieg. Übersichtliche Darstellung des Gesamt-Problems, Wien 1990, 95, 96
(78) For more on stećci, see decision of the Commission designating the historic site of the Mramorje necropolis with stećci and old nišan tombstones in Lavšići, Municipality Olovo, as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina, no: 02-02-228/07-95, November 2008, and the Commission's web site: www.kons.gov.ba
(79) P. Anđelić and Š Bešlagić recorded 22 stećci at Vlaško groblje in the village of Gornji Lukomir (21 chest-shaped and one gabled. P. Anđelić also notes that Vaclav Radimsky recorded 39 stećci and one cross in Gornji Lukomir (P Anđelić, 1975, 211; Š Bešlagić, 1971, 330).
(80) Bešlagić, Šefik, Stećci, Kultura i umjetnost, Sarajevo: IP Veselin Masleša, 1982, 87
(81) P. Anđelić and Š. Bešlagić recorded 7 chest-shaped stećci at Jezerine in Gornji Lukomir (P. Anđelić, 1975, 211; Š. Bešlagić, 1971, 330).
(82) Arheološki leksikon Bosne i Hercegovine, Sarajevo, 1988, 217 and 225
(83) Tabaković-Tošić, Mara et.al., “Prilog poznavanju faune carabidae (Coleoptera) planinskog masiva Igman-Bjelašnica,” Jnl of the National Museum of BiH – Natural History, Sarajevo, 1991, 139
(84) Berilo, Zejnil, Aktuelno stanje populacije Velikog Tetrijeba u planinskom kompleksu Igmana i Bjelašnice, Sarajevo 2006, 6-7
(85) Tabaković-Tošić, Mara et.al., “Prilog poznavanju faune carabidae (Coleoptera) planinskog masiva Igman-Bjelašnica,” Jnl of the National Museum of BiH – Natural History, Sarajevo, 1991, 140
(86) Berilo, Zejnil, Aktuelno stanje populacije Velikog Tetrijeba u planinskom kompleksu Igmana i Bjelašnice, Sarajevo 2006, 8-9
(87) Tabaković-Tošić, Mara et.al., “Prilog poznavanju faune carabidae (Coleoptera) planinskog masiva Igman-Bjelašnica,” Jnl of the National Museum of BiH – Natural History, Sarajevo, 1991, 140
(88) Gomez, Matias, Zaboravljena Ljepota, Sarajevo, 2005, 115
(89) Karović, Elma, Kunovac, Saša, Područje sa posebnim karakteristikama: Igman-Bjelašnica-Treskavica i Kanjon Rakitnice (Visočica), Sarajevo, 2006, 10-12
(90) Karović, Elma, Kunovac, Saša, Područje sa posebnim karakteristikama: Igman-Bjelašnica-Treskavica i Kanjon Rakitnice (Visočica), Sarajevo, 2006, 8-9
(91) Various authors, Prirodna baština, 2008, 116
(92) Karović, Elma, Kunovac, Saša, Područje sa posebnim karakteristikama: Igman-Bjelašnica-Treskavica i Kanjon Rakitnice (Visočica), Sarajevo, 2006, 28
(93) Karović, Elma, Kunovac, Saša, Područje sa posebnim karakteristikama: Igman-Bjelašnica-Treskavica i Kanjon Rakitnice (Visočica), Sarajevo, 2006, 31
(94) Most of the properties need to have the joints in the stone walls cleaned and repointed, and the loose sections of the walls made good.
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