Status of monument -> National monument
Published in the Official Gazette of BiH no. 40/10.
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 8 to 14 September 2009 the Commission adopted a
D E C I S I O N
I
The residential complex of the Čokljat family with shop in Zagrad mahala in Stolac is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).
The National Monument consists of the Čokljat tower-house (a tower and a family house) and outbuilding with a cookhouse, and the courtyard in which they stand.
The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot nos. I/306, I/308, I/313, I/314, I/315 and I/315 (old survey), Land Register entries nos. 121, 875, 122 and 2001, cadastral municipality Stolac, Municipality Stolac, 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, the following protection measures are hereby stipulated:
Protection Level I consists of the area defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision, to which the following protection measures shall apply:
- all works are prohibited other than conservation and restoration works, rehabilitation works, works designed to ensure the sustainable use of the property, and works designed to display the monument, with the approval of the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- a structural analysis of the condition of the bearing walls of the house and outbuilding with the cookhouse and a survey of the structural and non-structural cracks in the wall and superficial damage to the wall shall be conducted, the nature of the cracks in the wall and their depth, width and direction shall be determined and the reasons for their appearance shall be identified, the state of the structure shall be examined, a geomechanical examination of the soil shall be conducted if necessary, and a proposal for the structural repair of the tower and measures to protect the property shall be drawn up;
- 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 National Monument may be used for its original purpose and may be presented for educational and cultural purposes that pose no threat to the National Monument itself or its natural surroundings;
- the National Monument may be open to the public in a way to be agreed by the heritage protection authority and the owner of the property;
- the reinforced concrete elements of the hajat and krilo shall be removed and replaced by parts made to conform to their original state, using original materials and techniques;
- the later building in the entrance courtyard shall be removed.
Protection Level II applies to the area consisting of c.p. no. 215/1, the Križevac-Humčine pasture north and northwestwards to 29 November street, west and southwestwards to 25 October street, and east and southeastwards consisting of a 100 m wide strip. The protection measures prescribed for protection zone II in the Decision designating the historic site of the Stolac fort as a national monument (Official Gazette of BiH no. 15/03) shall apply to this area.
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.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: 02-2-40/09-55
9 September 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 7 February 2008, Čokljat (Salko) Semir of Stolac, the owner of the Čokljat tower-house, of Stolac, submitted a proposal/petition to designate the property as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Pursuant to 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 residential complex of the Čokljat family in Zagrad mahala in Stolac consists of a group of buildings of considerable townscape value. It is also unusually picturesque, thanks to its setting on a bluff, as though rising organically from it and blending into the natural surroundings. Judging from its resemblance to other properties of the same type, the complex was probably built in the 17th or 18th century, though there are no historical sources to confirm this. A traveller who visited Stolac in 1664 wrote that “for fear of the enemy, all the houses are built of solid materials, and some have towers with hipped roofs and iron doors (demir-kapije).” The Čokljat tower-house, which has windows only on the upper storeys, is one that tallies with this description. The building evolved from, and resembles, the feudal tower-houses that stood outside the town walls. Built of stone, they had two, three or sometimes more upper storeys, and were used as fortified homesteads.
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, architectural drawing and photographs;
- Details of war damage caused in 1993, data on restoration or other works on the property, etc;
- An inspection of the current condition of the property;
- Excerpt from the cadastral records and land register entry;
- Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property, as set out in the bibliography forming part of this Decision;
- Pursuant to Article 12 of the Law on the Implementation of Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments Established Pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the following procedures were carried out for the purpose of designating the property as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina:
- A letter ref. 02-35-23/09-60 of 21 May 2009, requesting documentation and views on the designation of the Čokljat family tower-house and appurtenances in Stolac, was sent to the owner, Stolac Municipality, the Federal Ministry of Regional Planning, the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sport, and the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
- A letter dated 27 May 2009 was received from the owner (Čokljat [Salko] Semir) expressing support for the designation of the property as a national monument.
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 residential complex of the Čokljat family in Zagrad mahala is located on a rocky bluff at the base of the western slope of the Stolac fort(1), above the Čokljat family shop at the intersection of 25 October and 29 November Streets.
Access to the architectural complex is from the south via stone steps(2) leading from the street at the foot of the slope northwards to the entrance to the complex through the ground floor of the tower-house. The dwelling consists of the tower-house and family house (čardak), which are connected by a shared hajat and krilo [landing]. To the northeast of the house is an outbuilding, consisting of a storeroom at courtyard level and a scullery and cookhouse level with the hajat of the house.
The buildings stand in a courtyard surrounded by a high stone wall to the east and northeast. The boundaries of the complex to the south consist of the south walls of the tower-house and čardak, and to the west and northeast of shops on the Mejdan(3) along 25 October and 29 November Streets. Set as it is on a bluff, the architectural complex has an entrance courtyard to the north and an upper courtyard to the east.
The Čokljat family shop abuts onto the west courtyard wall of the complex, by 25 October Street.
Historical information
Tower-houses were the main type of building in Stolac in the 17th and 18th centuries, suggesting that the Čokljat family complex, like the nearby Turković tower-house, was built at that time. There is no other historical evidence for this. It originally belonged to the Hrle family(4).
Evliya Çelibi visited Stolac in 1664, and recorded that it was the seat of a kadiluk [area under the jurisdiction of a qadi or Islamic judge/administrator]. He wrote of the town: “For fear of enemies, the houses are built of solid material, and some have square towers with iron doors (demir-kapi)(5).” This description applies equally to the Čokljat house.
Feudal tower-houses are “in fact the semi-fortified manors of feudal lords and, to all appearances, are an offshoot of the mediaeval residential culture. They are rectangular or square stone buildings with two, three or more storeys(6).” They were usually built outside towns, and were of a combined residential and defensive nature. They were found throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina(7). Rajković notes that before 1878 there were more than two hundred of them in Herzegovina. A manor house would be built by the tower-house as the family’s living quarters, along with outbuildings, stabling and so on.
The complex consists of the tower-house and dwelling house. The tower-house is rectangular in plan, and has three storeys; the house used as the family’s living quarters (the čardak) was built beside it, but its setting and its location within the fort mean that it cannot be regarded as a feudal tower-house. The tower-house and dwelling house share a single roof, which may be seen, in the light of other similar cases (such as the tower-house of Ahmet-aga Mahmutćehajić), as part of past alterations to the property, when one storey meaning that they are not a true tower-house.
A study of old postcards reveals that the residential complex indubitably survived intact in footprint, proportions and the relationships between its various parts, from the late 19th century until it was vandalized in 1993. The changes caused by works carried out by the owner in the latter half of the 20th century had no essential impact on its setting.
All this suggests that the Čokljat house is best classified as a transitional type from the feudal tower-house to the town house.
2. Description of the property
The following description is of the property as it was before being vandalized. The architectural complex now consists of the tower-house and the dwelling house, an outbuilding with a cookhouse, and a shared north (entrance) and east (upper) courtyard. Also forming part of the architectural ensemble are the stone steps leading to the ground floor of the tower-house. The buildings and courtyards are surrounded by high stone boundary walls. The Čokljat family shop on 25 October street, abutting onto the west courtyard wall of the complex, also forms part of the architectural ensemble.
The Čokljat family’s residential complex consists of the tower-house and dwelling house, joined by a shared hajat and krilo. The main entrance to the architectural ensemble is to the south of the ground floor of the tower-house, which has three stories. It is rectangular in plan, with sides of 5.85 and 4.98 m. The west façade is 6.98 m in height, the south 7.17 m, the east 4.90 m, and the north, facing the courtyard, 7.15 m. On account of its setting on a steep, rocky slope, the family house extends over two storeys corresponding to the storeys of the tower-house. The east wall of the tower-house forms the west wall of the family house. The first floor of the family house is an irregular rectangle in plan, with sides of 4.65, 4.38, 3.95 and 4.44 m. The second floor extends towards the slope to the east and measures 7.39 x 4.51 x 6.87 x 4.49m. The south façade is 4.90 m in height, the east 4.00 m and the north 6.50 m, the differences occasioned by its setting on the rocky bluff.
The ground floor of the dwelling house consists solely of the ground floor of the tower-house. Just how the house was entered through the ground floor remains a matter of conjecture, since the usual arrangement in residential complexes of the same date in this part of the world was for the ground floor to be used as stabling.
The floor of the ground floor of the tower-house is uneven and slopes towards the south, so allowing water to drain from the courtyard through the ground floor and out beyond the complex. To this end, a drainage channel 30 cm in width runs through the ground floor from north to south. The ceiling height also varies in the ground floor; at the angle of the south and east wall it is 2.17 m, the east and west wall 1.99 m, and the west and north wall 2.02 m. The corner of the north and east wall consists of the bedrock on which the tower-house was built. The ceiling was originally a stone vault, but this has been removed and replaced by a reinforced concrete slab. The entrance door to the ground floor, which is 117.5 cm wide and 204 cm high from the stone threshold to the wooden lintel beam, is in the south wall. To the west of and 108.5 cm from the door, 123 cm above floor level, is a ventilation aperture of 24 x 32 cm on the inside, narrowing from side to side to a width of 4 cm on the outside. Below this ventilation aperture, along the south wall, are the sides of what was once a trough with a spigot. The west wall has two ventilation apertures: one 33 cm from the south wall, at a height of 110.5 cm, measuring 26 x 32 cm; and another 109.5 cm from the north wall, at a height of 111 cm, measuring 28 x 32 cm. The north wall has a doorway to the courtyard, 72 cm from the west wall, with a width of 189 cm and a height of 198 cm. Two reinforced concrete posts joined by a reinforced concrete beam against the east wall of the ground floor of the tower-house support the new slab over the ground floor. The post by the north wall is 71.5 cm long, 23 cm wide and 185.5 cm high; the other, which is 242 cm from the first, is 125 cm long and 23 cm wide. The crossbeam is 23 cm wide and 16 cm high, and extends cantilever-style to the south wall. 18 cm to the north of the second post, 99.5 cm above floor level, is a dolaf [wall cupboard] measuring 40 x 27 cm. The doorway in the north wall leads out into the courtyard.
Stone steps (six treads and seven risers) lead up to the first floor of the Čokljat house, to a hajat [open-fronted porch] 1.36 m above courtyard level and 2.25 m above ground-floor level. The hajat, which measures 4.64 x 3.25 m, originally had three wooden posts with headtrees and stone ćulsije(8), on which the beams of the krilo of the Čokljat house rested.
The hajat leads through a door in the north wall of the tower-house to the first floor, the floor of which originally consisted of the top of the vault over the ground floor, now replaced by a reinforced concrete slab(9). The first floor of the tower-house has two windows in the west wall and one in the south, all rectangular and of approx. 80 x 95 cm(10), semi-domed on the inside and rectangular on the outside, with stone casings. The ceiling joists over the first floor were timber, and the ceiling was 2.19 m high. At a distance of 91 cm [from the corner?] in the east wall is a dolaf with a width of 65 cm. Midway along the south wall is a walled-up fireplace.
The opening at the eastern end of the north wall, where there was probably a double-valved door, leads into the izba [ground floor room] on the first floor of the family house. The izba is not quite square in plan, with sides of 3.95 x 3.32 x 3.39 x 3.38m. An opening in the west wall of the izba has been walled up; behind it is the dolaf of the first floor of the tower-house. There was also a small window, also walled up, in the north wall.
Stone courtyard steps lead up from the hajat towards the slope to the east into the upper (east) courtyard), 75 cm above the floor of the hajat, and thence into the scullery and cookhouse of the outbuilding. An outside staircase leads from this level of the east (upper) courtyard to the upper-floor krilo of the Čokljat house.
The second floor of the Čokljat house consists of a krilo leading into the second floor of the tower-house and a room on the second floor of the family house. The krilo, which originally measured 4.64 x 3.25 m, also had three wooden posts with headtrees supporting one of the bearing beams of the roof. The west wall of the krilo has a rectangular window of 81 x 60 cm terminating in a semi-dome. The height of the window from the base to the top of the semi-dome is 104 cm.
A door in the north wall of the tower-house leads from the krilo to the second floor of the tower-house, where there are two windows in the west wall and two in the south, all rectangular and measuring approx. 80 x 95 cm(11), terminating in semi-domes on the inside and rectangular on the outside, with stone casings. The ceiling joists over the second floor were timber. In the west wall, 159 cm from the south wall, is a 75 cm wide fireplace. The original chimneys have been demolished, and now only the south wall of the tower-house has a chimney, rectangular in section and 1.40 m in height.
The door in the north wall of the family house, by the east wall of the tower-house, has been walled up. 118 cm to the east of this door is the present-day door into the second-floor room of the family house. This wall also contains another dolaf and a semi-domed window of 75 x 139 cm facing north. The west wall of the room (which is the east wall of the tower-house) contains a walled-in dolaf 81 cm wide and 108 cm high. Since there is a partly walled-in dolaf 89 cm in width where the south and west walls meet, it seems likely that there was originally a musandera [range of built-in wall cupboards] along the west wall. It is also possible that the room was entered through the musandara, as was almost always the case. There is no record of when the door and dolaf were walled up. The west wall of the family house ends in a gable the top of which is 3.80 m above floor level. The south wall has two windows, originally the same as the one in the north wall: rectangular, terminating in a semi-dome. The east-facing window is now rectangular; the west-facing window is also rectangular, but has been enlarged to double the width, and the top part is damaged. The east wall of the family house also ends in a gable the top of which is 3.80 m above floor level. This wall also contains a small dolaf.
The Čokljat house was built of rubble limestone in lime mortar, with quoins of cut stone set in alternate directions. It stands on a rocky bluff. The walls of the tower-house are approx 70 cm thick to the west and south, and 60 cm thick to the east and north. The walls of the family house are approx. 55 cm thick. All the ceilings joists of the house are timber, except for the reinforced concrete slab over the ground floor and hajat. The complex of the Čokljat house (the tower-house and family house) was under a single hipped roof, originally clad with stone slabs.
The outbuilding with the cookhouse is of elongated irregular rectangular plan, with the entrance to the ground floor from the north courtyard and to the scullery and cookhouse from the east courtyard. It measures 9.25 x 5.16 x 8.67 x 5.24 m on the outside. The west façade is 6.11 m in height, the south 4.70 m, the east 3.89 m and the north 5.25 m.
The ground floor of the outbuilding consists of a storeroom, entered from the north (entrance) courtyard. The ground-floor ceiling is 2.46 m in height. Above it is a scullery with a ceiling height of 2.25 m, entered from the east courtyard. The west wall, facing onto the courtyard, has two windows and the remains of a hearth. The chimney has survived, and rises 77 cm in height above the top of the gable. The remains of a wall niche can be seen in the north wall, next to the east wall, indicating that there was a musandera along the east wall of the room. The cookhouse is next to the east courtyard, in the eastern part of the outbuilding, and is an irregular rectangle in plan, with sides of 4.22 x 4.14 x 3.80 x 4.22 m. The entrance door to the cookhouse is in the south wall facing the courtyard, where there is also a window. The outbuilding with the cookhouse has a gabled roof, and was built of rubble limestone in lime mortar. The outside walls are approx. 56 cm thick, and the partition wall between it and the cookhouse is 43 cm thick.
Also forming part of the Čokljat family’s architecture ensemble in Zagrad mahala is a shop abutting onto the west courtyard wall of the residential part of the complex. The shop is of irregular rectangular plan, with a street front of 7.50 m and a depth of 2.70 m. It has two storeys and a pent roof clad with tiles. It was built during the Austro-Hungarian period in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the exact year is not known. The shop has two doors at ground-floor level and three rectangular upstairs windows, all facing west, onto the street.
3. Legal status to date
The property was listed by the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of BiH under the heading “Residential property in the ownership of Čokljat Omer at no. 5, 25 October street, storeys ground + 2.” The property was not entered in the register the Institute(12).
Under the terms of the decision designating the historic site of the Stolac fort as a national monument, the Čokljat tower-house was located in the buffer zone.
4. Research and conservation-restoration works
Nothing is known of any research or conservation works on the property.
Works carried out by the owner in the latter half of the 20th century resulted in the following alterations:
- The original stone vault over the ground floor of the tower was replaced by a reinforced concrete slab;
- The floor of the hajat on the first floor of the Čokljat house was concreted over. The original stone bases and wooden posts with headtrees and beams bearing the krilo of the Čokljat house were replaced by reinforced concrete posts and beams and the reinforced concrete slab of the krilo.
5. Current condition of the property
All the buildings forming the residential complex of the Čokljat family were set on fire in 1993. All the woodwork was destroyed in the fire: the ceiling joists, roof trusses, staircases and joinery. The stonework of the buildings was not destroyed, but constant exposure to the elements over the past 16 years has resulted in considerable damage to the masonry.
6. Specific risks
- lack of maintenance,
- continued deterioration,
- adverse effects of the elements.
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
F. Townscape/ Landscape value
F.i. relation to other elements of the site
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.iv. traditions and techniques
G.v. location and setting
The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:
- Ownership documentation:
- copy of cadastral plan for cadastral plot nos. I/315, I/314 and I/308 (old survey), c.m. Stolac, issued on 8 January 2008, with excerpts from title deeds nos. 937, 802 issued on 7 January 2008;
- copy of Land Register entry no. 121 (for c.p. I/308), 122 (for c.p. I/315), 875 (for c.p. I/306, I/313 and I/314) and 2001 (for c.p. I/316), c.m. Stolac.
- Documentation on previous protection of the property:
- Letter from the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Federal Ministry of Culture and sport ref. 07-40-4-2046-1/09 of 1 June 2009.
- Photodocumentation:
- photographs of the Čokljat family architectural ensemble in Zagrad mahala, Municipality Stolac, taken on 13 May 2009 and 3 June 2009 by Nermina Katkić, final-year architecture student, using Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H10 digital camera;
- archive of old postcards, property of International Forum Bosna, Sarajevo.
- Other documentation:
- architectural drawing of the Čokljat family architectural ensemble in Zagrad mahala, Municipality Stolac, surveyed by Medina Hadžihasanović-Katana BSc Arch and Nermina Katkić, final-year architecture student, and drawn by Nermina Katkić.
Bibliography
During the procedure to designate the monument as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:
1953. Bejtić, Alija, “Spomenici osmanlijske arhitekture u Bosni i Hercegovini” (Monuments of Ottoman architecture in Bosnia and Herzegovina) offprint – Contributions to oriental philology and the history of the Yugoslav peoples under Turkish rule, volume. III-IV, Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša, 1952-53.
1954. Kreševljaković, Hamdija, “Kule i odžaci u Bosni i Hercegovini” (Towers and Manors in Bosnia and Herzegovina), Naše starine, II, Annual of the National Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Natural Rarities of NR Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, 1954.
1982. Rajković, Salih, “Kule i odžaci u Hercegovini, Stambeno-fortifikacioni objekti” (Tower-houses and Manors in Herzegovina, Fortified Residential Properties), Sarajevo, 1982, print
1988. Poljarević, Ale M., Arhitektura povijesne jezgre Stoca (Architecture of the Historic Centre of Stolac), master’s dissertation, University of Zagreb, Centre for Postgraduate Studies Dubrovnik, Stolac, 1988, print
1990. Hasandedić, Hivzija, Muslimanska baština u istočnoj Hercegovini (Muslim heritage in east Herzegovina), Sarajevo
1991. Poljarević, Ale M., Stolac, grad i arhitektura (Stolac, the Town and its Architecture), doctoral dissertation, University of Zagreb, Department of the History of Art, Stolac, 1991, print
2003. Decision designating the historic site of the Stolac fort as a national monument, Official Gazette of BiH no. 15/03, Sarajevo, 2003.
2009. Decision designating the architectural ensemble of the Turković tower-house in Stolac as a national monument, Official Gazette of BiH no. 44/09, Sarajevo, 2009.
(1) “The Stolac fort is situated on the dome-shaped hill known as Veli-dedino brdo, whose western slope towards Zagrad mahala (quarter) is known as Šetnica, the northern slope facing the present town centre is known as Carinska side, and the eastern slope towards Uzinovići street is known as Križevac. The fort is situated on the left bank of the Bregava river, above Stolac, with a view over the town, the fertile Vidovo plain, the Bregava river and the surrounding hills: Hrgud to the north, Komanje hill to the east, Ošanići to the west and Bašnik rise to the south, and the end of Vidovo plain.” (Decision designating the historic site of the Stolac fort as a national monument, Official Gazette of BiH no. 15/03, Sarajevo, 2003)
(2) The steps are on the western slope, below the architectural complex.
(3) The area between the Podgrad bridge and the Podgrad mosque was known as Mejdan, suggesting that during the Ottoman period there was a market there where livestock, agricultural products and other wares were sold. It was also the location of the Muftića-han [Muftić caravanserai] and several artisans’ shops-cum-workshops.
(4) Poljarević, Ale M., Stolac, grad i arhitektura, doctoral dissertation, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Philosophy, Department of the History of Art, Stolac, 1991, 6
(5) Poljarević, Ale M., 1991, 96
(6) Bejtić, Alija, “Spomenici osmanlijske arhitekture u Bosni i Hercegovini”, Prilozi za orijentalnu filologiju i istoriju jugoslovenskih naroda pod turskom vladavinom, III-IV, 1952-53, Veselin Masleša, 280
(7) Rajković,Salih, Kule i odžaci u Hercegovini, 1982, 17
(8) ćulsija – the stone base of a wooden post
(9) Introduced by the owner in the latter half of the 20th century
(10) All these openings differ in size; these measurements are thus indicative only.
(11) ditto
(12) Letter from the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Federal Ministry of Culture and sport ref.07-40-4-2046-1/09 of 01.06.2009.
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