Status of monument -> National monument

Published in the “Official Gazette of BiH”, no. 97/09.

Pursuant to Article V para. 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 39 para. 1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, at a session held from 7 to 10 July 2009 the Commission adopted a

D E C I S I O N

I

The historic site of the memorial complex of the Battle for the Wounded on the Neretva in Jablanica, Municipality Jablanica, is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The National Monument consists of the site and buildings forming a record of the Battle of the Neretva: the museum building, an events area with an open-air theatre and a meeting point on the right bank of the Neretva, the remains of a bridge with access footpaths on both banks, an old Series 73 locomotive on the right bank and the bunker on the left bank of the Neretva.

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plots no. 1968/1; 1968/3 (new survey), Land Register entry no. 550, cadastral municipality Jablanica, and c.p. nos. 11/1; 12; 13; 14 and 15 (new survey), Land Register entry no. 190, c.m. Lug, Municipality Jablanica; and part of the river Neretva (c.p. no. 2311, new survey) with the ruined iron bridge, from the new road bridge to the north east downstream for a distance of 330 m; Municipality Jablanica; 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, restoration, rehabilitation and presentation of the National Monument.

The Commission to Preserve National Monuments (hereinafter: the Commission) shall determine the technical requirements and secure the funds for preparing and setting up signboards with basic details of the monument and the Decision to proclaim the property a National Monument.

III

To ensure the on-going protection of the National Monument on the area defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision, the following protection measures are hereby stipulated:

-       conservation and restoration works are permitted, including works designed for the presentation 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);

-       the National Monument may be used for cultural and educational purposes;

-       the bunker may be used as a catering establishment for the museum only, to generate income for the maintenance of the museum;

-       the newly-built parts of the bunker, which are detrimental to its authenticity, shall be removed;

-       routine maintenance works to ensure the sustainable use of the National Monument are permitted, with the approval of the relevant ministry and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority;

-       all works that could endanger the National Monument are prohibited, as is the erection of temporary facilities or permanent structures not designed solely for the protection and presentation of the National Monument.

The following protection measures are hereby prescribed for the movable heritage forming part of the National Monument (hereinafter: the movable heritage):

-       the Government of the Federation shall provide suitable physical and technical conditions for the safe-keeping of the movable heritage;

-       the display and other forms of presentation of the movable heritage in Bosnia and Herzegovina shall be effected under the terms and conditions stipulated by the Federal ministry responsible for culture;

-       supervision of the implementation of the protection measures pertaining to the movable heritage shall be exercised by the Federal ministry responsible for culture.

IV

All executive and area development planning acts not in accordance with the provisions of this Decision are hereby revoked.

V

Everyone, and in particular the competent authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Canton, and urban and municipal authorities, shall refrain from any action that might damage the National Monument or jeopardize the preservation and rehabilitation thereof.

VI

The removal of the movable heritage from Bosnia and Herzegovina is prohibited.

By way of exception to the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Clause, the temporary removal from Bosnia and Herzegovina of the movable heritage for the purposes of display or conservation shall be permitted if it is established that conservation works cannot be carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Permission for temporary removal under the conditions stipulated in the preceding paragraph shall be issued by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, if it is determined beyond doubt that it will not jeopardize the movable heritage in any way.

In granting permission for the temporary removal of the movable heritage from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Commission shall stipulate all the conditions under which the removal may take place, the date by which the items shall be returned to the country, and the responsibility of individual authorities and institutions for ensuring that these conditions are met, and shall notify the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the relevant security service, the customs authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the general public accordingly.

VII

The Government of the Federation, the Federal ministry responsible for regional planning, the Federal ministry responsible for culture, the heritage protection authority, and the Municipal Authorities in charge of urban planning and land registry affairs, shall be notified of this Decision in order to carry out the measures stipulated in Articles II to VI of this Decision, and the Authorized Municipal Court shall be notified for the purposes of registration in the Land Register.

VIII

The elucidation and accompanying documentation form an integral part of this Decision, which may be viewed by interested parties on the premises or by accessing the website of the Commission (http://www.aneks8komisija.com.ba)

IX

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.

X

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, Ljiljana Ševo and Tina Wik.

No: 02-2-40/09-42

8 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 6 January 2009 Ćamil Cero, director of the Museum of the Battle for the Wounded of the Neretva in Jablanica, submitted a petition to designate the property as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Pursuant to the provisions of the law, the Commission proceeded to carry out the procedure for reaching a final decision to designate the Property as a National Monument, pursuant to Article V para. 4 of Annex 8 and Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments.

Statement of Significance

The historic landscape in which the Museum of the Battle for the Wounded or Battle of the Neretva in Jablanica is located is a memorial complex associated with the fourth offensive, an event that took place in February and March 1943, during which troops from the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army rescued more than 4,000 sick and injured despite the concerted attacks by Axis forces. The site is of great symbolic and historic significance, now including the architectural ensemble of the Museum of the Battle for the Wounded or Battle of the Neretva in Jablanica, consisting of the memorial complex of the Museum building (an example of modern architectural design) and its exhibits. The memorial bridge is the main museum exhibit, testifying to the specific tactics of Partisan warfare and to a World War II battle that, more perhaps than any other, was waged for humanitarian reasons. The museum itself, designed by architects Branko Tadić, Zdravko Dunđerović and Mustafa Ramić and regarded at the time as a major example of modernist brutalism, was opened on 12 November 1978 to mark the 35th anniversary of the Battle of the Neretva.

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:

-       Data on the current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs

-       An inspection of the condition of the property

-       Copy of cadastral plan

-       Copy of land register entry

-       Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property, as set out in the bibliography forming part of this Decision.

The findings based on the review of the above documentation and the condition of the property are as follows:

1. Details of the property

Location

The National Monument is in Jablanica, on the right bank of the Neretva, beside the demolished iron bridge on the Neretva. The road leading to the complex forks off to the south-east from the main Konjic-Mostar road. Within the grounds, a road leads to a car park, with an area of 1,850 m2. The road from the car park southwards leads to the back entrance to the museum, to the south-west. A footpath with steps and ramps leads from the car park to the entrance to the main hall to the north-west and the museum entrance to the north-east of the museum of the Battle for the Wounded on the Neretva.

Another footpath forks off from the footpath to the museum, leading north-east to the events area with open-air stage and on to the meeting point and eternal flame. South-eastwards from the eternal flame, footpaths have been rebuilt along the right bank of the Neretva to the site of the wooden bridge by which combatants and the wounded crossed in March 1943.

Another footpath runs along the north-east boundary of the events area south-eastwards to the remains of the demolished bridge on the right bank of the Neretva, with the remains of a railway line.

The remains of the demolished iron bridge lie on the steep left bank of the Neretva. To the north-east of the remains of the bridge, also on the left bank of the Neretva, is an early 20th century bunker. Also forming part of the National Monument is the old railway tunnel on the left bank of the Neretva, not far from the remains of the bridge.

Historical information

The Battle of the Neretva, fought in February and March 1943, was preceded by many military and political events and operations. Since the summer of 1941, the organization and increasing strength of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY), headed by Josip Broz Tito, and of the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army and Partisan units of Yugoslavia (YPLA and the Partisans)(1), had resulted in a new and unexpected front opening up in Europe.

In a series of military operations, the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army had successfully repulsed in fascist troops from Bihać(2) by the end of 1942, and had created about 48,000 km2 of free territory, extending from Banja Luka to Rijeka and from Imotski to the approaches to Zagreb.

Hitler's plan was for Axis troops to secure the main routes through the Balkans, both for logistical reasons and to carve up the free territory under the control of Yugoslav People's Liberation Army troops.

In November 1942, recognizing that the YPLA troops were a serious threat, Hitler had convened an emergency meeting with the commander of German forces in the Balkans, General [Generaloberst] Alexander Löhr, and Ante Pavelić, with a view to organizing a major winter offensive against the Partisans. The conclusions of the meeting, which was held in Vinica, Slovenia, were that the objectives were to annihilate the YPLA and Partisan forces, to deport the population of the free territory to concentration camps, and to wipe out all means of sustenance in the free territory(3).

Details of the offensive against the Partisans were agreed at the series of meetings that followed. Hitler convened a meeting in Rastenburg, East Prussia, on 18 and 19 December, attended by the foreign ministers and chiefs of staff of Germany and Italy. The decision was taken for a joint German and Italian action to be launched against the Yugoslav People's Liberation Army. The next meeting, held on 3 January 1943 in Rome, was attended by Mussolini, Marshal Cavalerio (Mussolini's Chief of General Staff), General Löhr (now raised to the status of Commander-in-Chief, South-East), General Roata (commanding officer of Italy's Second Army in Yugoslavia), and high-ranking German and Italian officers. It was agreed at this meeting that the offensive would be carried out in the winter [early months] of 1943, in three phases, which the Germans code-named Operation Weiss I, Weiss II, and Weiss III. The objective of the military operations to be conducted during Weiss I and Weiss II was to annihilate the main strength of the YPLA of Yugoslavia in the Bosnian krajina (frontier region) and Croatia.

Operation Weiss III, the objective of which was to disarm the Chetniks in Herzegovina and Montenegro under Italian command, was never carried out. The Germans feared that in the event of an Allied invasion, the Chetnik formations in those areas could change sides, abandoning the Axis and joining forces with the Anglo-American allies. As a result, the Germans abandoned Weiss III and instead joined forces with these Chetniks in an attempt to annihilate the YPLA troops on the Neretva(4).

On 9 January 1943, just before Operation Weiss I was due to begin, the German and Italian commanders-in-chief, Löhr and Roata, met in Zagreb to fine-tune their strategy. The offensive against the YPLA was scheduled to begin on 15 January, but for reasons unknown was deferred to 20 January. The joint Axis forces, commanded by Germany's General Lüters(5) and Italy's General Gloria, were given two days to annihilate the Partisans in the Karlovac – Ogulin – Gospić – Knin – Ključ – Sanski Most – Kostajnica – Glina area. They would then form a demarcation line in the free territory along the Karlovac – Slunj – Bihać – Bosanski Petrovac line, and “cleanse” the terrain.

In 1942, since the beginning of the Fourth Enemy Offensive (as the operation called Fall Weiss by the Germans against the YPLA is also known), four hospital centres had been set up in western Bosnia and Croatia, with several buildings of various sizes used for different purposes. These were wooden huts put together out of old timbers, in secret locations, mainly in woodland(6), two of them in the Bosnian krajina(7), one in Lika and one in Kordun.

By the start of Operation Weiss I, these four hospitals already housed more than 3,000 sick and wounded. Since there was no doubt that German and Italian troops would launch an assault on this territory, careful plans were laid for a general evacuation of all the sick and wounded, who would otherwise have been killed.

On 24 January 1943, four days after the offensive began, the evacuation of the hospitals to Drvar began, as directed by the Supreme Commander, Josip Broz Tito. The plan was for the convoys of wounded were to leave the Drvar and Mlinište area and make their way via the Glamoč plain to the Livno plain, ending up in Prozorska Kotlina. After the first group of sick and injured reached Drvar, on 30 January, Josip Broz Tito decided to redirect the evacuees towards the Main Operational Group heading for Herzegovina.

            The Supreme Command had also learned, in early 1943, that German and Italian troops were concentrating in Karlovac and Knin and assembling Chetniks in Herzegovina. Since this was clear evidence that an attack could be imminent (Weiss I), plans were drawn up for a counter-offensive. On 24 and 25 January, the Supreme Command HQ was relocated from Ostrošac (near Bihać) to Drvar, and just two days later, on 27 January, Josip Broz Tito issued the first preparatory orders for the counter-offensive. Each stage of the counter-offensive was planned and agreed between 28 January and 1 February at a series of meetings attended by representatives of the Central Committee of the CPY and the Supreme Command. The essence of the plan was for the 1st Bosnian and 1st Croatian corps to defend the free territory and to hold up or at least slow the advance of the German and Italian troops. This would enable the Main Operational Group to embark on a counter-offensive on Herzegovina, Montenegro and, ultimately, Serbia(8). In addition, to widen the area from which the counter-offensive was to be launched, the 1st and 3rd Divisions were ordered, in early February 1943, to redeploy from the Teslić – Prnjavor – Kotorvaroš area and the Bosna and Lašva valleys respectively, where they had been fighting, to Gornji Vakuf and Prozor.

On 8 February, as General Löhr and Italy's General Robotti were meeting in Belgrade to discuss the completion of Operation Weiss I and the launch of Operation Weiss II, Tito convened a meeting in Drvar of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd HQ and put the counter-offensive plan to them. It was agreed that the counter-offensive would be conducted in three stages. The first stage was to force the Neretva, the second the Drina, and the last the Lim. The counter-offensive was led by the Main Operational Group, consisting of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 9th Divisions(9).

Operation Weiss I came to an unsuccessful conclusion on 17 February 1943, when YPLA troops prevented the Axis troops from cutting the free territory in half and then “cleansing” it. After Operation Weiss I, the German troops retreated from Grmeč and began redeploying for Operation Weiss II. The plan was for Operation Weiss II to begin on 25 February and continue until 20 March 1943. However, hoping to avoid any unforeseen situation that could put the entire operation at risk, military strikes began a few days earlier.

Over the next few days, combined German and Italian troops managed to take some important strategic positions. On 22 February, the Vogl group took Gornji Vakuf, and the Anaker group captured positions on Ivan-Sedlo. The situation in the area from Bosanski Petrovac to Ključ, Mrkonić Grad, Jajce and Livno was particularly worrying, leaving the Main Operational Group of the YPLA very vulnerable, despite their successfully resisting attacks by German and Italian troops. The Vogl group continued to advance, taking Karaulica on 27 and 28 February and beginning to make its way down into the Dreševo area, where there were wounded evacuees.

Following Josip Broz Tito's orders to the Supreme Command's sapper company, all the bridges over the Neretva and the Rama from Karaula to Ostrošac were blown up between 1 and 4 March, including the Jablanica bridge. The notes by the sapper who laid the explosives on the Jablanica bridge read: “Jablanica bridge, 80 metres long, very high, more than 35 m; its old, out-dated “fish-belly” truss construction of a design that was easy to demolish. Following a brief calculation, I decided to place only 12 kilograms of kaminktite(10) on the Rama bridge and to use all the TNT and the rest of the kaminktite for the Jablanica bridge.”(11)   

During the night of 5 to 6 March, on completion of their computations, a group of engineers, sappers and soldiers placed various explosives on the bridge and detonated them. Gojko Jokić relates the recollections of a member of the group: “The explosion was a typical gunpowder explosion, with lots of black smoke and not much noise, but enough to break the structure apart and collapse it into the Neretva, where the strong current swept the structure, weighing many tons, several metres downstream.”(12)

The operational plan to force the river Neretva, begun on 6 March, was to consist of the following actions:

-       the 2nd Proletarian Division, with the 1st Proletarian Brigade, a howitzer division and tanks, were to force the Neretva;

-       the 3rd Division was to secure the left flank and repulse the 718th German Division to Konjic, and to cross the Neretva at Ostrošac;

-       the 7th Banija Division was initially to secure the right flank of the strike echelon, and then to advance into the Nevesinje plain along with the 10th Herzegovinian;

-       the 9th Dalmatian Division was to protect the south and south-east approaches to Jablanica;

-       the 1st Proletarian Division was to secure the Gornji Vakuf – Prozor and Ravno – Prozor routes(13).

In the evening and night of 6 to 7 March, YPLA troops crossed via the demolished Jablanica bridge, clashing with strong Chetnik forces on the left bank, deployed in two well fortified battle lines (a bunker with Chetnik troops was located near the demolished bridge). Following fierce fighting, the Chetniks were routed and forced back; that same day the Partisans rapidly established a substantial bridgehead about 8 km away(14).

At 8 p.m. on 7 March, the Supreme Command's sapper company, with a strength of 35, began erecting a temporary wooden bridge by the demolished iron bridge(15). The wooden bridge, which was 56 m long and 2.5 m wide, was erected in just 18 hours, the sappers completing it at 3 a.m. on 8 March 1943.

On 8 March, the 2nd Proletarian and 7th Banija Divisions crossed over to the left bank of the Neretva, reinforcing the defence and enabling the convoy of some 4,000 wounded to cross, as well as refugees, troops, and finally the Supreme Command. The crossing began on 8 March: “By the light of about a dozen burning car tyres, the seemingly endless convoy crossed the Neretva and made its way along the path to its destinations. A member of the Central Committee of the Yugoslav Communist Party, Krsto Popivoda, and a group of sappers oversaw the crossing of the bridge. That night the first seriously wounded were carried across. They were taken along the steep zigzag path cut in the bank down to the bridge on stretchers, each carried by two Italians and men from the Banija Division. [...] The path [from the bridge] was cut into the cliff or followed the wet rocks above the river itself. It took more than half an hour for the stretcher-bearers to cover those few hundred metres and climb the steep slope to the tunnel. The stretchers were accompanied by an escort, nurses and doctors, who lent a hand, fearful that the wounded would end up in the river.”(16)  

Against this, on 10 March German troops took Prozor and advanced onto Jablanica, which they took on 17 March. The final battle for the wounded in the Battle of the Neretva was waged from 15 to 21 March by brigades of the 1st Proletarian Division, the 3rd Sanjak and the 3rd and 7th Krajina Divisions. Though exhausted and half-starved, they heroically protected the evacuation of the rearguard hospital echelons from the assaults of German, Italian and Chetnik troops from Konjic and Jablanica, while at the same time collecting up and transferring on all the remaining wounded and burying many of those who had fallen in battle or died. After their final withdrawal to Boračko Lake, the enemy found they had left not a single surviving YPLA combatant behind(17). General Löhr, Commander-in-Chief for the Balkans, wrote in his report: “The Partisans succeeded in crossing the Neretva and in retreating, to the last man, to the northern part of Montenegro. They broke through a section of the front held by the Italians and Chetniks. There was no booty and no prisoners. Not one Partisan, wounded or even dead, was found, though to judge from our own heavy losses, they must also have had a great many losses.”(18)  

Before crossing, the Partisans also destroyed their heavy weaponry, dumping cannon, tanks and lorries in the Neretva.

The final stage of the Battle of the Neretva was the defeat of the Chetniks. Though Draža Mihajlović had mobilized a large number of Chetniks (about 18,000), his troops were defeated in battle on 17 and 18 March on the Lipeta – Krstac – Zaborani route.

The liberation of Nevesinje, Kalinovik and the region between these two towns marked the end of the Battle of the Neretva. At the same time, the hospital had been moved to a safer place in the upper Neretva valley, where the medical corps was able to treat the sick and wounded in relative safety(19).

2. Description of the property

The historic site of the National Monument includes the museum building, an events area with an open-air theatre and a meeting point on the right bank of the Neretva, the remains of a bridge with access footpaths on both banks, an old Series 73 locomotive on the right bank and the bunker on the left bank of the Neretva. It covers an area of 4 17 42 ha on the right bank of the Neretva, and 1 10 55 ha on the left bank, together with 300 m downstream from the bridge of the Neretva river itself.

The Museum of the Battle for the Wounded (the Battle of the Neretva) is housed in a three-storey building (basement, ground floor, first floor), designed by architects Branko Tadić, Zdravko Dunđerović and Mustafa Ramić. The building has a total floor area of 4,873 m2. The Museum was ceremonially opened by Josip Broz Tito 12 November 1978. From the outside, the building forms a range of interlinked cubes.

The Museum has three main entrances: a rear entrance to the basement, to the south-west; the entrance to the main hall on the ground floor, to the north-west; and the main entrance to the museum, to the north-east. The building also has a service door to the buffet storeroom on the ground floor, to the north-east, and the office entrance to the north-west. The emergency exit is to the south-west, leading to the tradesmen's driveway.

The basement houses utility rooms and plant, among them the boiler room and air-conditioning plan, the stoker’s room and workshops, the theatre workshops, a photo lab with dark room, the housekeeper’s and concierge’s rooms, a staff toilet block and another toilet block for guests of the main hall. The basement has an area of 1,063m2.

The ground floor houses the museum exhibits and the main hall with its service quarters.

The entrance to the museum is on the north-east side of the building. Beside it, in the outer portico, is an artificial water feature spanned by a wooden bridge leading into a screen door space. Beside the water feature is a model of the Battle of the Neretva and a fountain. The screen door space leads into the museum hall, which also contains the doorman's office and a spiral staircase down into the basement and up to the offices on the first floor. The entrance hall opens onto the exhibition hall to the south-east, which is on three levels: the first at -1'25, the second at -1'88, and the third at -2'50, with staircases leading from one to the other. The north-east and south-east walls of the exhibition hall are entirely glazed, with a view of the memorial bridge. To the south-east, by the exhibition hall, is a loggia. The second level of the exhibition hall leads into a small hall at the third level, at -1'88. A flight of stairs leads to the second level at -1'56 and the first at -1'25. There is also a door to the small hall from the entrance hall. The small hall has a capacity of approx. 100.

The entrance hall also leads into a room for special receptions to the north-east, with sliding doors into the buffet. The doorway from the entrance hall of the museum to the lobby of the main hall is in a glass partition wall. This part of the entrance lobby of the main hall is also at a level of -1'25, and leads into the buffet, with a storeroom and WC to the north. A separate service entrance leads to the entrance to the buffet storeroom.

The entrance to the lobby of the main hall is on the north-west side of the building. A covered portico houses the ticket office and information desk and the main entrance to the lobby of the main hall. The entrance and lobby of the main hall are at a level of 0'00. The lobby of the main hall is entered from the covered portico, through a screen door anteroom. The air space above the anteroom and part of the lobby of the main hall is covered by a space truss. The anteroom also leads into a stairwell with a steel spiral staircase up to the library on the first floor. To the north-west, at a level of +1'20, is an office with an outside entrance, and a small toilet block.

The principal entrance to the main hall is from the entrance lobby to the north-east, through a double-valved door, at a level of 0'00. The side doors to the main hall are to the east and west of the principal entrance, at a level of -1'25; beside the west entrance is a terrace. The entrance lobby of the main hall has a visitors' cloakroom to the north-west, with a door to the ticket office. The other cloakroom is to the north-east, by the lower-level part of the hall, used for exhibitions, between the lobby of the main hall and the museum hall. Next to the north-west cloakroom is a stairwell with a steel spiral staircase leading down to the visitors' toilets in the basement.

The main hall has a seating capacity of about 500, on three levels (-0'00, -1'25 and - 2'50) with ramps between, forming the auditorium. The stage is to the south of the hall, and incorporates a side stage to the south-west, with a spiral staircase leading to the theatre workshops. The side stage leads into a corridor, which opens onto the dressing rooms, a kitchenette and clubroom, and the theatre wardrobe. The entrance to the stage is from the south-east wing of the corridor where a double-flight performers' staircase leading to the back yard at basement level. Another stage entrance is from the corridor by the control room, which connects the stage and the small hall. The emergency exit is to the south-west of the main hall, just by the stage. The main hall and stage rise through two storeys.

The ground floor has an area of 3,155m2.

A steel spiral staircase leads from the entrance lobby of the museum to the corridor of the office premises on the first floor (at a level of +3'12), which consist of three curators' offices, the director's office with a terrace to the south-east, the general office and toilets.

The steps to the library, to the north-west, lead to the library corridor on the first floor (also at a level of +3'12). The library consists of a lending section, reference library (reading room), stack-room, a periodicals room, a disc and tape library, toilet block and corridor. The reading room opens onto an open-air terrace to the south-east. At the end of the corridor, to the south, is the entrance to the projection room and lighting control room above the main hall.

The construction of the museum building is a combination of a reinforced concrete framework and steel structure. The roof structure above the museum is a steel Mero space truss resting on reinforced concrete beams around the edges of the building, with a span of 22.5 m. The roof of the entrance lobby of the main hall is also a steel Mero space truss, with a span of 9.8 m. The main hall itself has a planar steel truss. The other interstorey structures consist of a reinforced concrete frame slab and beams, walls and pillars. The spiral staircases are of steel. The foundations consist of continuous footings and piers. The light well is of rolled steel section over which the panels were laid.

The flooring consists of flagstones (entrance hall and museum), carpeting (the main hall), parquet and decking, and floor tiles. The walls of the museum and buffet are clad with stone slabs. The walls of the entrance lobby, the cloakroom and buffet are clad with unglazed ceramic 40 x 40 cm tiles painted with emulsion paint. The walls of the main hall are wood-panelled, with acoustic insulation.

The façades are rendered with washed coulure(20) with river aggregate.

The archives of the Museum of the Battle for the Wounded contain original and copies of photographs, maps and documents relating to the battle. Some of its exhibits (rifles, uniforms, model aircraft, grenades, helmets etc.) are on loan from the Historical Museum in Sarajevo.

The exhibition hall contains two paintings showing the wounded being carried across the river.

-       Ismet Mujezinović (Tuzla, 2 December 1907 – Tuzla, 1 January 1984), Carrying the Wounded, oil on canvas, 172 x 128 cm. Jablanica: Museum of the Battle for the Wounded (original location: Sarajevo, Historical Museum).

The composition of Carrying the Wounded is rectangular in format. Though it includes some areas of landscape, the composition shows two full-length human figures in close-up. The artist has shown great skill in the portrayal of their bodies under the weight of their burden, testing them to the extreme. In the foreground, the white dress and youthful face of a woman stands out against the dark composition. Her body is bent under her double burden – that of the wounded man she is carrying on her back, and of the rifle slung in front of her. The body of the wounded man is as if coiled around the girl's body and dress, seeming to merge with it so that for a moment they cannot be told apart. Though she is stepping out strongly, creating perfect balance as she reaches for the next piece of ground, her large black eyes are tired, and are focused on the banks of the Neretva. The head of the wounded man, eyes closed, is resting on the girl's right shoulder, resigned to his helplessness.

-       S. Gavrilović, Carrying the Wounded, 1950, oil on canvas, 161 x 126 cm. Jablanica: Museum of the Battle for the Wounded (original location: Sarajevo, Historical Museum).

The composition, also rectangular in format, deals with the same subject, carrying the wounded, but differs from Mujezinović's treatment in that it depicts a group of the wounded moving down the banks of the Neretva from the top of the painting. Women and the wounded on stretchers form an indistinct, straggling but continuous line of figures. This makes the painting harder to read, but on the other hand compels the viewer to study each separate element. The convoy is headed by two women, portrayed in the foreground, cut off at waist level by the frame at the moment of leaving the composition with a wounded man on a stretcher. Drawing on the legacy of cubism, the artist has constructed the composition with the bold, sharp-edged black contours of the human figures and natural surroundings.

The artist signed and dated the composition in the bottom left corner: SGavrilović/1950.

The events area is to the north-east of the museum, by the entrance to the grounds. It is used for special events and large gatherings, as well as forming an open-air foyer for the museum building. It includes an open-air stage of white flagstones surrounded on three sides by a five-tier auditorium. The events area including the stage covers an area of 1,480m2; the stage itself has an area of 200m2.

The meeting point to the north-east of the events area symbolically represents the place where combatants and the wounded assembled before crossing the Neretva. It includes an eternal flame with an area for laying wreaths and a flagpole. The meeting point is paved with flagstones. From it runs a reconstruction of the footpath used by the wounded and combatants to cross the demolished bridge to the far bank of the Neretva. The meeting point is 180m2 in area. The footpath on the right bank leading to the place where the combatants and wounded crossed the Neretva is 1.20 m wide and 180 m long. Another footpath on the left bank leads southwards up from the bridge; it is 1.20 m wide and 150 m long.

The memorial bridge is a symbol of the Battle of the Neretva and the Battle for the Wounded, and the central monument of the entire complex.

The bridge, which was demolished in March 1943 during the battle for the wounded, was built in 1888. The structure of the bridge was a linear truss with an inverted arch on the underside. The span of the arch was 78 m, and the rise 10 m. The bridge rested on stone abutments on each bank. The bridge truss on its abutments was 3 m in height.

In August 1943 the Germans built a new bridge on the site of the demolished bridge. The construction of this bridge was a space truss of rectangular cross-section. The span of the bridge was 78 m and the height of the truss 8 m. The bridge, which was 5 m wide, rested on the existing stone abutments. The height of the truss at the abutments was lower than before, at 5 m at both ends of the bridge.

This bridge was demolished again in 1968 during the filming of the film Bitka na Neretvi (The Battle of the Neretva) produced by Veljko Bulajić.

As part of the project for the museum of the Battle for the Wounded in Jablanica, a project was drawn up for the restoration of the memorial bridge in May 1977. The opening ceremony for the museum and its accompanying amenities was held in 1978. The restoration works were as follows:

-       the existing truss structure of the demolished iron bridge, which had been left lying against the left bank of the Neretva after its demolition in 1968, remained in the same place, after being protected against the risk of further destruction;

-       the Neretva was bridged to the existing bridge and between the footpaths with the same type of construction as the surviving part of the bridge. The new section was placed almost horizontally, with a slight slant to the section of the bridge on the left bank. This new section of the bridge was mounted on new foundations in the riverbed and on the banks;

-       upstream of the new section of the bridge, wooden logs were laid crosswise with the footpath of the wooden bridge laid over them. This bridge is used to cross from the right to the left bank as a reminder of the battle;

-       a Series 73 locomotive (express passenger train) is on display on the right bank of the Neretva, the only surviving example of that series in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The bunker on the left bank of the Neretva was built in the early 20th century. It is rectangular in plan, with sides of 10 x 6 m and with 2 m wide chamfered corners, and consists of a single room. The walls are approx. 6 m high. The bunker has an octagonal roof. The entrance is through an arched doorway in the south-west façade, where there is one window to the west of the doorway and three below the roof. The south-east façade has three windows at the base of the building and four below the roof, and the north-west façade two small windows at the base, one large one facing south, and five small ones below the roof. The north-east façade has one small and one large window at the base of the building and three below the roof. The chamfered corners each have two windows, one at the base and one below the roof.

The windows at the base of the bunker are rectangular, the sides with a ratio of 1:2 on the outside, narrowing to the top on the inside to form a square opening. The windows below the roof have sides with a ratio of 1:1.5 on the outside, also narrowing to the top on the inside. All the windows are accentuated on the outside with a simple rectangular moulding below and a frame in imitation of a stone arch above. The entrance doorway to the bunker is also surmounted by an imitation stone arch.

The bunker was built of solid brick with quoins of interlocking stone ashlar. The façades are rendered.

3. Legal status to date

Until 1997 the Museum of the Battle for the Wounded (Battle of the Neretva) was a state institution forming part of the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina (former Museum of the Revolution). Since 1997 it has been an independent public institution by the name Museum of the Battle for the Wounded of the Neretva, Jablanica.

4. Investigative and conservation works

Nothing is known of any investigative or conservation works on the historic site or any of its buildings and facilities.

5. Current condition of the property

The buildings and contents of the architectural ensemble of the Museum of the Battle for the Wounded in Jablanica have retained their authentic appearance to a limited extent, depending on which part of the complex is in question.

The museum building has not suffered any significant damage. The flat roof is dilapidated and needs repair. The rest of the building is in relatively good condition, considering it is little used and that it has only limited museum exhibits.

The events area and meeting point are in good condition, and are restricted to the use for which they were originally designed.

The remains of the memorial bridge on the banks – the footings of the bridge on the right bank and the remains of the bridge on the left bank – are in good condition. The horizontal section of the bridge (the steel grid and the horizontal wooden footbridge) added during reconstruction in 1978 were twisted at a right-angle and broken by a wave surge. This part of the bridge is still attached to the vertical steel grid on the left bank, but cannot be restored to its original position. Plans are in hand to make a replica of the horizontal steel grid and wooden footbridge which was an integral part of the memorial bridge.

The bunker is no longer part of the complex, but has been leased to a private owner who has opened a restaurant there and built lean-tos on three sides. Reversible alterations have been made to the interior. The present tenant has built a horizontal structure inside the building, which impairs its original appearance.

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:

B.         Historical value

D.         Clarity (documentary, scientific and educational value)

D.i.       material evidence of a lesser known historical era

D.ii.      evidence of historical change

E.         Symbolic value

E.v.      significance for the identity of a group of people

F.         Townscape/ Landscape value

F.iii.      the building or group of buildings is part of a group or site

I.          Completeness

I.iv.       undamaged condition

The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:

-       Photodocumentation;

-       Drawings

Bibliography

During the procedure to designate the monument as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:

1977     Institute for Architecture and Town Planning, Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Sarajevo: outline project: Memorial Complex, Jablanica, designers: Branko Tadić, BSc Arch; Zdravko Dunđerović, BSc Arch; Mustafa Ramić, BSc Arch; 1977

1977     Institute for Architecture and Town Planning, Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Sarajevo, working design: Memorial Complex, Jablanica, Museum; designers: Branko Tadić, BSc Arch; Zdravko Dunđerović, BSc Arch; Mustafa Ramić, BSc Arch; 1977

1977     Institute for Architecture and Town Planning, Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Sarajevo: outline project, interior: Memorial Complex, Jablanica, Museum; designers: Branko Tadić, BSc Arch; Zdravko Dunđerović, BSc Arch; 1977

1977     Energoinvest Sarajevo: outline treatment: Memorial bridge in Jablanica; Miloš Janjić BSc Civ Eng.; 1977

1977     Energoinvest Sarajevo: main building project: Memorial bridge in Jablanica; Miloš Janjić BSc Civ Eng.; 1977

1979     Đonlagić, Ahmed. Bitka na Neretvi (The Battle of the Neretva), 2nd ed.; Museum of the Revolution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo; NIU “Narodna armija” Belgrade, 1979

1979     Jokić, Gojko. Neretva-Makljen Jablanica-Prozor, tourist guide; Museum of the Revolution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo and NIŠRO Tourism Press Belgrade; BIGZ, 1979.

1985     Krzović, Ibrahim. Ismet Mujezinović. Yugoslav Portrait Gallery Tuzla, Tuzla: 1985

www.muzej-jablanica.com

(1) Since the autumn of 1942, new brigades, divisions, corps and military logistics and troops had been created as part of the YPLA and the Partisans. Bitka na Neretvi, Sarajevo: Museum of the Revolution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1979, 5.

(2) After its liberation, the first session of people's representatives was held in Bihać on 26 and 27 November 1942, and the Antifascist Council of the National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) was formed.

(3) Gojko Jokić, Neretva – Makljen. Jablanica – Prozor, in: Tourist Guide to Monuments of the Revolution. Sarajevo: BIGZ, 1979, 7.

(4) Ahmed Đonlagić, Bitka na Neretvi, Sarajevo: Museum of the Revolution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1979, n. 1, 10.

(5) The offensive was to be headed by the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen, the 369th Infantry Division, reinforced by one regiment of the 187th Reserve Division and the 3rd Croatian Home Guard Mountain Brigade, the 714th and 717th Divisions with the 2nd Croatian Home Guard Mountain Brigade, and the 2nd Tank Battalion, commanded by Germany's General Lüters, and the 12th Infantry Division Sassari, the 13th Infantry Division Re and the 57th Infantry Division Lombardia with seven Ustasha battalions and [about 20,000] Chetniks commanded by Italy's General Gloria.

(6) The Germany army had special units whose job was to find concealed hospitals so as to destroy them and kill the wounded.

(7) In late 1942, the hospital in Bosanski Petrovac and environs alone had 1,200 wounded. There were hospitals in Grmeč, Lika, Banija and Kordun, and the sick and wounded were also treated in towns that had been liberated. Gojko Jokić, op.cit., 1979, 7.

(8) Gojko Jokić, op.cit., 1979, 10.

(9) The orders issued by Tito in Drvar gave each division a precise task:

-       the 1st Division was to take the enemy stronghold between Ivan-Sedlo and Konjic to block the road to Sarajevo;

-       the 2nd Division was to secure the route south from Mostar by eliminating the enemy between Mostar and Jablanica;

-       the 3rd Division was to take Prozor, Rama, Ostrožac and Konjic and secure the Neretva crossing;

-       the 7th Division was to defend the Bihać – Bosanski Petrovac – Drvar – Livno – Prozor route, and

-       the 9th Division was to protect the right flank of the main forces on the Neretva, from Imotski to Vrlica and Ljubuški.

Gojko Jokić, op.cit., 1979, 11.

(10) Translator’s note: this word could not be found on the internet or in any dictionary available to me, and is perhaps a proprietary name for a type of explosive.

(11) Gojko Jokić, op.cit., 16.

(12) Idem., 17.

(13) Idem., 18.

(14) Idem., 1979, 18.

(15) Ahmed Đonlagić continues: “Smirnov had in fact made a long wooden terrace, fixed to the demolished iron structure of the bridge by telephone poles. It was over this terrace that the troops surged, soon followed by the convoys of the wounded.” Ahmed Đonlagić. Bitka na Neretvi. Sarajevo: Museum of the Revolution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1979, 82.

(16) Idem., 1979, 92.

(17) Idem., 97.

(18) Gojko Jokić, op.cit., 1979, 19.

(19) Ahmed Đonlagić, op.cit., 101.

(20) Translator’s note: the term “prani kulir” to describe the render on the façades, where the first word literally means “washed” and the second I assume to be the local-language phonetic transcription of the French word “coulure”, has me baffled. “Coulure” has three meanings that I am aware of, none of which seems to fit here except possibly the one that derives from the verb couler, to run, as in paint, or to flow, as in a liquid; the second relates to viticulture, and the third to fishing.