Status of monument -> National monument

Published in the “Official Gazette of BiH”, no. 94/09.

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 13 July 2009 the Commission adopted a

D E C I S I O N

I

The historic site of the necropolis with stećak tombstones at Crkvina (Pod) and the remains of the foundations of a mediaeval building, Donja Drežnica (Jasenjani), City of Mostar, is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The National Monument consists of a necropolis with 17 stećak tombstones (chest-shaped and slabs) and the remains of the foundations of a mediaeval building.

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 599/1, title deed nos. 36 and 180, Land Register entry no. 383, cadastral municipality Jasenjani, City of Mostar, 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 and presentation of the National Monument.

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

III

To ensure the on-going protection of the National Monument on the site defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision:

-          all works are prohibited other than conservation and restoration works, including those designed to display the 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 Government of the Federation shall be responsible in particular for:

-          conducting a geodetic survey and survey of the condition of the site

-          drawing up a project for the repair, restoration and conservation of the necropolis.

The repair, restoration and conservation project shall cover:

-          clearing lichen and moss from the stećak tombstones and making good any damage

-          tidying the site and clearing it of self-sown vegetation

-          drawing up and implementing a programme for the presentation of the National Monument.

IV

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

V

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

VI

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

VII

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

VIII

Pursuant to Art. V para 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, decisions of the Commission are final.

IX

This Decision shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Gazette of BiH.

This Decision has been adopted by the following members of the Commission: Zeynep Ahunbay, Martin Cherry, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, and Ljiljana Ševo.

No. 05.1-2-40/09-37

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 24 February 2008 Emir Šehić of Sarajevo submitted a proposal to designate the historic site of the necropolis with stećci at Crkvina, Donja Drežnica, City of Mostar, 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 monument consists of a necropolis with 17 stećak tombstones and the remains of the foundations of a mediaeval building the outlines of which are typical of a church (though it is unlikely that a church would have the entrance at the east end and the apse at the west end) has been recorded at Crkvina (Pod), on the left bank of the river Neretva, about 300 m downstream from its confluence with the Drežanka, in Donja Drežnica (Jasenjani). One stećak is decorated with a circular garland in relief.

The mediaeval building is similar in plan to a church, and lies east-west, but with the entrance at the east end and a semicircular apse at the west end. Its size, plan and architectural features suggest that it dates from the late mediaeval period, and that it could have been built in the 14th century and demolished in the 15th.

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 and Land Register entry),

-          Details of the current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs, data of war damage, data on restoration or other works on the property, etc.

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

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

1. Details of the property

Location

The necropolis with stećci and the remains of the foundations of a mediaeval building at Crkvina (Pod) is at an altitude of 131 m above sea level, latitude 43° 30.810' and longitude 17° 44.703', on the left bank of the river Neretva, about 300 m downstream from the confluence of the Drežanka.

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 599/1, title deed nos. 36 and 180, Land Register entry no. 383, cadastral municipality Jasenjani, City of Mostar, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Historical information

            In mediaeval times the Drežnica area, about which the historical records are very meagre, covered the Drežanka valley, Čvrsnica and the plain between Mts Čvrsnica and Vran. In the 1320s it became part of the Bosnian state.(1) In 1357 the western regions of Hum, including Drežnica, came into the possession of Hungary’s King Louis I [the Great, of the Angevin dynasty, 1342-1382] as the dowry of his wife Jelisaveta, daughter of Stjepan Kotromanić, uncle of Ban, later King Tvrtko I.

The landed Mesnović clan, vojvoda [duke/dux, military leader] Mastan Bubanjić and his heirs lived in Donja Drežnica. Mastan Bubanjić's inscription [engraved on a rock face in a place known as Toplo in Donja Drežnica], which can be roughly dated to the reign of King Louis and Bosnia's ban Tvrtko, 1356 to 1366, refers to Mastan's sons Radoslav and Miroslav(2); in 1381 Radoslav became a Ragusan noble.(3)

The inscription refers to the court of the Hum vojvoda Mes[te]n, who was not believed to be the same as the Bosnian knez [prince, earl] Mastan Bubanjić who featured as a witness to charters issued by ban Tvrtko Kotromanić in 1354 and 1355. The spelling of the first name, Mesten, and the surname Mesnović for his son Radoslav, feature in written sources from Dubrovnik dating from 1381 and 1382.(4)  

A number of charters name knez Priboje Masnović as witness. A charter issued by Tvrtko in Trstivnica on 10 April 1380 reveals that among the nobles in the king’s retinue was knez Priboje Masnović. He again features as a witness in a charter of 2 April 1394 by which Stjepan Dabiša, king of Bosnia, granting some land to Gojko Marnavić, and in another of 17 May 1395, in which King Stjepan Dabiša granted the village of Kolo to one Vukmor and his brothers. Charters issued by King Stjepan Ostoja where Priboje Masnović features as a witness include one of 15 January 1399 in which the king cedes Bosansko Primorje, the coastal region, to the Ragusans, and another of 5 February 1399 in which the king reaffirms certain privileges accorded to the Ragusans. It is not known exactly who this Priboje was, but he could have been one of Mastan’s sons(5). He features in known charters from 1378 to 1399, always as knez, a title he could have acquired on the basis of his father’s rank, since then as later it was the custom for a vojvoda’s son to bear the title of knez. Mastan was already vojvoda well before 1378, so if Priboje was his son, he could have been knez by then.(6)

It would seem that Mastan and his heirs, known after him as Masnović by surname, were of high standing in their time; certainly they had their own armorials.

            The earliest reference to Drežnica dates from the early 14th century, in a charter of King Ostoja, the terms of which included granting the “provincia” of Drežnica to the Radivojević brothers. At that time Drežnica had the status of an administrative entity equal to Blato or Broćno.(7)  

The ubication of the župa (county) of Večenike-Večerić is one of the most challenging problems in the historical topography of mediaeval Hum, yet without solving it, it is impossible to understand many important questions in the history of Hum over a long period, from the 9th to the 15th century.(8)

The earliest reference to the county is in the Chronicle of the Doclean Pope, the final redaction of which was completed around the mid 12th century. It lists the župas (županijas) in Hum land in the following order: Ston, Popovo, Žapska, Luka, Velika, Gorimita, Večenike, Dubrave and Dabar. This list provides three basic items of information: the existence of a county named Večenike, the fact that it belonged to Hum and, indirectly, some clues to its territorial extent (bordering Luka county to the south, Velika county to the south-west, Imota to the west, Rama and Neretva to the north, Kama and Nevesinje to the north-east, and Bišće and Dubrave to the east).(9)

Drežnica is an isolated area of a number of villages in the karst valley between Mts Čvrsnica and Čabulja. Though small in extent and population, it often enjoyed a certain administrative and political autarchy on account of its geographical isolation. In the early 15th century it was equal in status as an administrative entity to Blato or Broćno, and in the very early days of the Ottoman period, on account of its specific circumstances, Drežnica briefly became a nahija [minor administrative entity] alongside the Mostar nahija; from the mid 15th century, still as a nahija, it formed an integral part of the Mostar kadiluk [area under the jurisdiction of a kadi](10). From the latter half of the 16th right through to the 19th century the Mostar kadiluk covered the nahijas of Mostar, Broćno, Blato and Drežnica.

2. Description of the property

Seventeen stećci have been recorded in the necropolis, lying east-west (though stećak no. 13 is off true). The only stećci of which the form can be identified with certainty are five tall chests; some of the stećci are so deeply sunk into the ground or damaged that it is impossible even to say if they are chest-shaped or slabs. Two(11) or three(12) were decorated (relief motifs: a circular garland and a frieze of zigzag lines, the figure of a man with a sword and shield, and a deer-hunting scene).

Excavation of the graves provided no movable artefacts that might date them more accurately. The graves were made of stone slabs forming a rectangle narrowing toward the feet, and were covered by one or more slabs. The head of the deceased was at the west end.

Stećak no. 1, slab, measuring 176 x 60 x 15 cm, of wholly indeterminate shape.

Stećak no.2, measuring 98 x 60 x 16 cm, in a very poor state of preservation, broken.

Stećak no. 3, chest, measuring 175 x 74 x 33 cm, in a very poor state of preservation, chipped.

Stećak no. 4, measuring 148 x 96 x 25 cm, in a poor state of preservation, chipped.

Stećak no. 5, measuring 182 x 95 x 30 cm, in a poor state of preservation, chipped, leaning, partly buried, overgrown with vegetation.

Stećak no. 6, measuring 163 x 80 x 25 cm, in a poor state of preservation, top surface cracked, overgrown with vegetation.

Stećak no. 7, measuring 190 x 105 x 28 cm, in a very poor state of preservation, top surface cracked, partly buried, overgrown with vegetation.

Stećak no. 8, completely overgrown with low-growing and tall vegetation.

Stećak no. 9, chest, measuring 177 x 83 x 35 cm, in a very poor state of preservation, flaking, cracked.

Stećak no. 10, measuring 250 x 128 x 28 cm, in a poor state of preservation, overgrown with vegetation.

Stećci no. 11 and 12, completely overgrown with low-growing and tall vegetation.

Stećak no. 13, tall chest, measuring 162 x 110 x 65 cm, oriented north-east/south-west, in a poor state of preservation, overgrown with vegetation, cracked.

Stećak no. 14, tall chest, measuring 198 x 85 x 60 cm, top surface beginning to crack, overgrown with vegetation.

Stećak no. 15, tall chest, measuring 158 x 72 x 66 cm, decorated with a circular garland in relief on the west end.

Stećak no. 16, tall chest, measuring 177 x 103 x 60 cm, overgrown with vegetation.

Stećak no. 17, tall chest, measuring 180 x 105 x 60 cm, overgrown with vegetation.

Archaeological excavations at Crkvina uncovered the foundations of a building that Atanacković-Salčić assumed were the remains of a church or chapel measuring 13.30 x 6.80 m(13). The foundations, which were covered by a thin layer of stones and soil and overgrown with trees, were in the grounds of a village house(14). Before excavations began in the grounds, which measured 30 x 15 m, there were no visible signs of a building other than some dressed stone on the surface. Soundings in quadrants D-3 and D-4 revealed evidence of a wall with lime mortar at a depth of only 40 cm. East of the building were 13 stećci, covered with soil and overgrown with trees. The building consisted of a single space measuring 6 x 5.45 m. The entrance area was not properly excavated, and part had been destroyed when a well or cistern was dug. It seems likely, however, that there was a small parvis, measuring 5.45 x 1.80 m, outside the entrance to the nave(15). The building lay east-west, with the entrance at the east end and a semicircular apse at the west end, and measured 5 x 2.50 m. The apse was divided from the nave by a partition wall 60 cm thick. A small walled area of laid stone and large slabs had been built by the north-west part of the apse. Adjoining this was a wall running north, the purpose of which is not known(16). The foundation walls were built of large river pebbles and dressed stone with lime mortar (with a fairly high proportion of sand), above which the walls were of sizeable, neatly dressed stone blocks. Judging from the way it was built, its architectural features, and the size of the building, Atanacković-Salčić suggested that even so it was probably a church dating from the later mediaeval period, built in the 14th century and demolished in the 15th(17). It is not possible to say with certainty whether the church was burned down or pulled down. A layer of black earth was found in the entire cultural layer above floor level, and there was a heap of soot outside the south wall of the church, in which the head of a mediaeval spear was found. The remains of a plaster floor and part of the wall plaster with a thickness of 3 cm were found in the north-west corner. There were no surviving traces of frescoes.

3. Legal status to date

            For some time the Regional Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Nature in Mostar carried out protective works on cultural monuments, thanks to the hydro power plant on the Neretva at Jablanica which allocated funds for the works. In the first phase, the large necropolis with stećci in Raška Gora near Mostar was investigated, in 1977. The second phase began in September and October 1979, and covered two archaeological sites in Drežnica and Donji Jasenjani.

The Regional Plan for BiH to 2000 lists 69 sites of necropolises with stećci (1208 tombstones) in the City of Mostar area as Category III monuments, without precisely identifying them.

The property is not on the Provisional List of National Monuments of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments; this Decision is rendered on the basis of the petition referred to above.

4. Research and conservation and restoration works

In the 1950s the management of the National Museum in Sarajevo began the systematic investigation of necropolises with stećci in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In an article in the Annual of the Historical Society of BiH, Š. Bešlagić states that there is a necropolis with about twenty stećci, quite damaged and partly buried, 300 m downstream from the confluence of the Drežanka and the Neretva, on an area of level ground between the road and the Neretva. Just across the road, on a small hillock, is another group of a number of chest-shaped tombstones. This means that the road cut through the necropolis(18). (Š. Bešlagić, 1955, 71).

He also states that there is a necropolis with twenty chest-shaped stećci lying east-west and the remains of an old building, probably a church, at Crkvina, also known as Pod, on the left bank of the Neretva.(19)

Vol. III of the Archaeological Lexicon lists Crkvina (Pod), Donji Jasenjani, Mostar, where there are the remains of a mediaeval church and necropolis. The excavations were carried out by V. Atanacković-Salčić in 1979-1981, uncovering the foundations of a church measuring 13.30 x 6.80 m, lying east-west, and a necropolis with 17 slab-shaped and chest-shaped stećci; six graves constructed from stone slabs were excavated. Date: late mediaeval.(20)

5. Current condition of the property

The findings of an on-site inspection conducted on 26 June 2009 are as follows:

-          the necropolis is completely overgrown with tall grass and scrub, and it was not possible to determine the exact number of stećci(21),

-          the condition of the necropolis made it impossible to measure three of the stećci or to identify the basic shape of each tombstone (partly buried, of indeterminate shape),

-          plant organisms which are destroying the structure of the stone are present on most of the stećci,

-          17 visible stećci were recorded,

-          the stećci are in poor condition (cracked, damaged, chipped, flaking),

-          the remains of the foundations of the mediaeval building are completely overgrown with tall scrub and grass, and only the exterior conserved outlines of the walls can be made out.

6. Specific risks

-          long-term neglect of the site,

-          adverse weather conditions,

-          self-sown vegetation.

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.iii.      proportions

C.v.      value of details

E.         Symbolic value

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

G.         Authenticity

G.iii.     use and function

G.iv.     traditions and techniques

The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:

-          Copy of cadastral plan

-          Copy of land register entry

-          Photodocumentation, 11 photographs taken on site

Bibliography

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

1955.    Bešlagić, Šefik. “Mastan Bubanjić,” Annual of the Historical Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sarajevo: 1955.

1971.    Bešlagić, Šefik. Stećci, kataloško-topografski pregled (Stećci, a Catalogue and Topographical Overview). Sarajevo: 1971.

1980.    Atanacković – Salčić. Arheološki pregled 21 (Archaeological Survey 21). Belgrade: 1980.

1982.    Anđelić, Pavao. Studije o teritorijalnopolitičkoj organizaciji srednjovjekovne Bosne (Study of the Territorial and Political Organization of Mediaeval Bosnia). Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1982.

1982.    Anđelić, Pavao. “Mesnovići, Masnovići, Bubanjići – humska i bosanska vlastela” (Mesnovići, Masnovići, Bubanjići – Hum and Bosnian landed nobility), offprint from the periodical Hercegovina, no. 2/1982, Mostar, 1982.

1983.    Niškanović, Miroslav. “Porijeklo stanovništva Drežnice” (Origins of the Population of Drežnica), Jnl of the National Museum in Sarajevo, Ethnology. Sarajevo: 1983.

1988.    Čović, Borivoj (ed.). Arheološki leksikon Bosne i Hercegovine (Archaeological Lexicon of BiH), vol. 3, National Museum in Sarajevo. Sarajevo: 1988.

2009.    Lovrenović, Dubravko. Stećci. Sarajevo: Rabic, 2009.

(1) Šefik Bešlagić, “Mastan Bubanjić,” Annual of the History Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo: 1955, 67

(2) For more on Mastan Bubanjić, see the decision designating the cultural landscape with Mastan Bubanjić's inscription in Donja Drežnica near Mostar as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (no. 05.1-2-309/05-6 of 17 May 2006 and the Commission's web site, www.aneks8komisija.com.ba

(3) Šefik Bešlagić, op.cit., 1955, 74

(4) Dubravko Lovrenović, Stećci, Sarajevo: Rabic, 2009, 96

(5) Šefik Bešlagić, op.cit., 1955, 75

(6) Idem, 75

(7) Miroslav Niškanović, “Porijeklo stanovništva Drežnice,” in Jnl of the National Museum in Sarajevo, ethnology, Sarajevo, 1983, 4

(8) Pavao Anđelić, Studije o teritorijalnopolitičkoj organizaciji srednjovjekovne Bosne, Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1982, 117-119

(9) These are basically the areas of Čitluk, Lištica (Široki Brijeg) and Mostar (City of Mostar) municipalities, in the older nomenclature they are Broćno, Blato and the environs of Mostar (with Bijelo polje and Drežnica) (Anđelić, 1982, 135)

(10) Pavao Anđelić, op.cit., 1982, 137

(11) According to Š. Bešlagić (Bešlagić, 1971, 338)

(12) According to V. Atanacković-Salčić (.Atanacković-Salčić, 1980, 154)

(13) Atanacković-Salčić, in Arheološki pregled 21, Belgrade: 1980, 153

(14) “...the property of Franjo Perić.” (Atanacković-Salčić, op.cit., 1980, 153).

(15) Atanacković-Salčić, op.cit., 1980, 153

(16) “This northern part was probably demolished when F. Perić's house was built.” (Atanacković-Salčić, op.cit., 1980, 153).

(17) Atanacković-Salčić, op.cit., 1980, 153

(18) Šefik Bešlagić, op.cit., 1955, 71

(19) Šefik Bešlagić, Stećci, kataloško-topografski pregled, Sarajevo: 1971, 338

(20) Borivoj Čović (ed..), Arheološki leksikon Bosne i Hercegovine, Vol. III, Sarajevo: 1988, 294

(21) The text of the Decision shows that Š. Bešlagić refers to about 20 stećci and Atanacković-Salčić to 17 (a total of 17 were recorded on the site)