Status of monument -> National monument
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 9 to 12 February 2010 the Commission adopted a
D E C I S I O N
I
The architectural ensemble of the Lalića tower house and manors in Ljubuški is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).
The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 2718, 2719 (new survey), corresponding to c.p. 223/8, 223/9, 223/10, 223/11 and 223/12 (old survey); cadastral municipality Ljubuški; Municipality Ljubuški, 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 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 applies to the site defined in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision. The following protection measures are hereby prescribed for this area:
- all works are prohibited other than conservation and restoration works, works on the rehabilitation of the buildings, works designed to ensure the sustainable use of the monument, and works designed to present 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);
- a structural analysis of the state of the bearing walls of the cookhouse and servants’ quarters, as well as on the ruins of the other buildings forming part of the complex, a survey of the structural and non-structural cracks in the walls and of superficial damage shall be carried out, to determining the nature of the cracks in the walls and their depth, width and direction and to identify the causes of the cracks, the state of the structural shall be examined, a geomechanical examination of the soil shall be carried out if necessary, and a report on the structural repairs needed to the cookhouse, servants’ quarters and two buildings in ruins, with proposed measures to protect and preserve the property;
- 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 monument may be open to the public in a manner to be determined by agreement between the heritage protection authority and the owner of the property;
- all structures that compromise the integrity of the National Monument and that have been built of inappropriate building materials or in an inappropriate manner shall be removed.
The buffer zone consists of the plots adjoining the National Monument: c.p. 2716/1, 2716/2, 2709, 2708, 2708/1, 2708/2, 2708/3, 2708/4, 2708/5 and 2677/2. The following measures shall apply in this buffer zone:
- the restoration, reconstruction and adaptation of buildings that were in existence prior to 1992 shall be permitted, as is the infill of buildings with a maximum of two storeys (6.5 m to the roof cornice), with pitched roofs with a maximum pitch of 45 degrees, clad with stone slabs or tiles of light grey colour only, stone or rendered and white-painted façades, wooden window frames and doors left in their natural colour, and stone courtyard walls;
- the demolition of buildings dating from before 1945 is prohibited, as is the erection of industrial facilities, major infrastructure, and potential polluters as defined by the regulations.
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.kons.gov.ba)
VIII
Pursuant to Art. V para 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, decisions of the Commission are final.
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: 06.3-02.3-71/10-7
11 February 2010
Sarajevo
Chair of the Commission
Ljiljana Ševo
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 9 December 2008, Enver Ćerimović of Sarajevo submitted a proposal/petition to designate the immovable property of the Lalića tower house in Ljubuški as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Pursuant to the proposal, 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 architectural ensemble of the Lalića tower house and manors, built in 1774 (1188 AH), is a fortified ensemble built for defensive purposes and habitation. Of considerable townscape value, it constitutes the only vertical accent on the south-east slope of Buturovice hill below the old Ljubuški fort. The ensemble consists of a tower house, a manor house with stabling and a smithy, a cookhouse, servants’ quarters, the remains of two small buildings, and a well. The defensive nature of the complex is reflected principally in the architecture of the tower house, with loopholes on three sides of two storeys of the tower as well as in the courtyard walls which, together with the ground floors of the buildings, lacking openings, constitute the fortifications of the complex.
II – PRELIMINARY PROCEDURE
In the procedure preceding the adoption of a final decision to proclaim the property a national monument, the following documentation was inspected and views heard:
- Documentation on the location of the property and the current owner and occupant (copy of cadastral plan issued on 28 August 2008; transcript of title deed no. 208/2 issued on 13 January 2010)
- Data on the current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs, data of war damage, data on restoration or other works on the property, etc.
- An inspection of the condition of the property on 13 January 2010
- During the on-site visit the owner of the property, Enver Ćerimović, expressed his agreement that the Lalića tower house be open to the public under the owner's supervision
- 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 architectural ensemble of the Lalića tower house and manors in Ljubuški is located on the south-east slope of Buturovice hill, in a mahala on the eastern outskirts of the town of Ljubuški, south of the old road leading to the Ljubuški fort. Along with the tower house, which forms a vertical accent in the wider townscape, the ensemble includes a manor house with stabling and a smithy in the basement, a cookhouse, and servants’ quarters. The ensemble is surrounded by somewhat damaged courtyard walls. Also forming part of the complex are two buildings outside the walls, to the west and north of the servants’ quarters.
The north-east and north-west walls and the northern part of the south-west wall of the tower house lie outside the courtyard wall. Part of the manor with stabling and smithy, which are to the south-east of the tower house, also lies outside the walls – in this case, the north-east and south-east walls. The cookhouse and the servants’ quarters are to the south-west of the tower house and manor. The two buildings outside the walls are largely ruinous and currently inaccessible.
The original approach to the architectural ensemble of the Lalića tower house and manors was from the old road to the Ljubuški fort, through an entrance gateway in the wall to the north-east of the tower, which continued on towards the south-east wall of the tower. Access to the old manor house, which had an entrance at basement level in the south-east wall, was from the south-east. The entrance to the cookhouse was in the south-east wall, and that to the servants’ quarters was in the south-west wall.
The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 2718, 2719 (new survey), corresponding to c.p. 223/8, 223/9, 223/10, 223/11 and 223/12 (old survey); cadastral municipality Ljubuški; Municipality Ljubuški, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Historical information
Ljubuški once had seven tower houses(1) in seven of the town’s mahalas, the property of the Lalić, Mahić, Bećirović, Muminagić, Sadiković, Ljijina and Piper families. All were three-storey buildings(2).
The year 1188 AH (corresponding to 1774(3) in the Gregorian calendar) is carved into the north-west courtyard wall by the entrance gateway, denoting the year the property was built.
The Lalića tower house belongs to the type of fortified residential property.
Tower houses, as fortified residential structures, are a distinct “type of older Muslim house. . . the semi-fortified manors of feudal lords and, to all appearances, an offshoot of the mediaeval lifestyle(4).” This type of building is to be found throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, erected by “spahis and zaimi [holders of large feudal estates] on their estates and by captains in the centres of their captaincies(5).” Most of those that are still extant are in the former frontiers with Dalmatia, Dubrovnik and Montenegro, where they were built for strategic reasons. This is certainly true of the towers in Ljubuški. The Lalića tower house stands on a hill where it has a view of the approach roads from the north-east, east, south and south-west and of the kasaba or little town of Ljubuški in the valley below.
They were also built as administrative premises for the captains who occupied these fortified structures with their garrisons to guard the frontiers. “Until the late 17th century there were captaincies only along Bosnia and Herzegovina’s borders with Austria and the Venetian Republic, but from the early 18th century until the [captaincies] were abolished in 1835, there were also captaincies along major roads leading to the interior of the country.(6)” Captains’ tower houses were built in the same fashion as those of spahis, except that there were dungeons on the ground floor and in the basement. As the borders shifted, so tower houses became increasingly widespread.
Tower houses were almost invariably surrounded by various appurtenances. The houses built alongside the tower houses were known as odžak, while the other buildings and the odžak were known collectively as dvori or manors. As a result, this type of architectural ensemble is known as a “tower house with manors.”
As well as the tower house and odžak, these complexes also included outbuildings such as a cookhouse, stables, and so on. In the case of tower houses built for defensive purposes, the “manors” would also be used by the garrison of the tower house, as well as a refuge for nearby residents.
Tower houses with manors were surrounded by high courtyard walls, which were not only there for defensive purposes but also for privacy.
2. Description of the property
The architectural ensemble consists of the tower house, the manor house with stabling and a smithy in the basement, the cookhouse and the servants’ quarters, surrounded by high stone-built courtyard walls, which are damaged in places.
The tower house is a building with a high ground floor and two upper storeys. It is rectangular in plan, with sides of 6.00 x 6.35 m. The south-east wall is 8.50 m in height and the north-west wall 7.50 m. The overall height of the tower is 10.35 m.
Three stone steps lead up to the entrance to the tower house, which is at the south corner of the south-west wall. The entrance doorway is accentuated by a stone frame with two pillars and a stone arch, on which is a decoration in relief of “a small rifle, a mace and a damascene sabre(7).” The single-valved wooden door was fitted with reinforcements consisting of inset hinges and wedges of wrought iron and a special Dubrovnik lock(8). Further security was provided by an oak beam on the inside of the door, which was drawn out of its socket in the wall and across the door when it was closed. In case of the Lalića tower house, there are holes in the wall for this purpose on both sides of the door. There are no other openings on the ground floor. A steep wooden staircase by the south-west wall leads up to the first floor. The room was originally used as a shelter or dungeon, and when the property was converted for residential use it became a storeroom.
As well as the main entrance on the ground floor, the tower house had another on the first floor, also framed by a segmental arch with a relief decoration of a protruding sphere. It was not uncommon for tower houses to have an entrance at first-floor level as in the case of the Lalića tower house. Rajković notes that tower houses with a first-floor entrance had solid stone steps with no stone railing. This tower house had stone steps of this kind by the south-west wall, to the north-west of the ground-floor entrance, against the tower below the first-floor doorway. Observation of the juncture of the wall reveals that the walls of the tower house and the stone steps were not built at the same time, but that the steps are a later addition, whereas the doorway is original.
The steps leading to the first floor of the tower house were fitted with a hatch door at the top. The first floor originally had two openings in the south-east wall, of which the one to the west has retained its original form as a small rectangular openings framed with dressed stone blocks on the outside. Inside, the opening is rectangular with a semidome. The other window has been altered to a larger rectangular opening. Alongside the north-west wall is a musandera [built-in wall cupboard] with a washroom and staircase to the second floor. Each of the south-west, north-west and north-east walls of the tower house has three loopholes, “so placed as to be able to defend the tower house from all side by cross fire.”(9)
On the second floor, three loopholes again feature in the south-west, north-west and north-east walls of the tower house. The south-east wall has two windows, of which the one at the east end of the wall has retained its original shape, while the one to the west has been widened. This storey also has another widened window in the south-west wall. The north-west wall, facing the road to the fort, has machicolations, “large openings through which boiling water or hot oil could be poured onto the enemy at the foot of the tower.”(10) The northern end of the south-west wall is fitted with two stone projections, the purpose of which is uncertain.
The chimney is in the north-east wall of the Lalića tower house. During the later conversions to the interior the first- and second-storey fireplaces were removed and walled up.
The tower house was built of limestone rubblestone in lime mortar, with dressed stone quoins. The oak ceiling joists of each storey are still in good condition.
The tower house has a gabled roof of which the pitch alters slightly at the top of the walls, with the roof panes facing south-west and north-east. The roof cladding consists of stone slates. The original windows and doors had stone frames on the outside.
Inside, the house is lime washed with an admixture of blue vitriol [copper sulphate], so that the walls were originally pale blue. Initially, they were decorated with a stencil pattern, which lasted until the 20th century, vestiges of which can be seen on the second floor of the Lalića tower house.
The musanderas are of more recent date than the tower house, further evidence that it was converted for residential use in the late 19th century. The woodwork and furniture in the Lalića tower house had no carved decorations. The floors and ceilings are wooden, of simple finish.
The manor with stabling and a smithy in the basement is a square building with sides of 9.50 m, with a hipped roof. The basement is of varying heights, reflecting the sloping terrain, with the north-east half much higher than the south-west.
The entrance to the north-east half of the basement is through a stone-framed doorway in the south-east wall of the house. The stone steps to the first floor are by the wall that divides the house into two from north-west to south-east. Since the remains of horseshoes and farrier’s tools were found in the house, and the house opened straight onto the street, it is likely that the north-east part of the house contained a smithy and stabling for horses. The entrance to the south-west part of the basement is through a doorway in the south-west wall. This part of the basement has a walled-up opening in the form of a low arch. Since the floors of the two sections of the basement are at different levels, the purpose of this opening remains a mystery. It seems likely that the south-west part of the basement was used to store feed, which was thrown through this opening into the north-east part of the basement.
The entrance to the first floor of the house was originally from the north-east part of the basement, via stone steps. The first floor contained two large rooms with an interconnecting door in the dividing wall. Both rooms have rectangular windows with semidomes in the south-east wall, with fireplaces between. The north-east all also had two identical windows, on either side of which were small rectangular dolafs [wall cupboards]. The north-west wall of the house also had dolafs – two small ones with a larger one between them. The fenestration of the south-west room is identical. The original outer south-west wall above the basement is no longer extant. Three stone projections still survive midway along the north-west wall.
The house is built of limestone rubblestone in lime mortar with dressed stone quoins. The oak ceiling joists of each storey are still in good condition. The house has a hipped roof clad with stone slates.
Inside, the walls are lime washed, with no traces of colour.
The cookhouse to the south-west of the tower house and manor house is a small, square, single-roomed house with sides of 4.50 and 5,50 m, and a pent roof, standing at a lower level than the tower house, and with a hearth in the north-west wall.
It was built of limestone rubblestone in lime mortar. The pent roof faces south-east, and consists of a timber frame clad with stone slabs.
The servants’ quarters are by the south-west wall of the cookhouse. This house was rectangular in plan, with sides of 7.50 and 4.50 m, and had a basement and upper storey, with a gabled roof. The ceiling joists and roof frame were timber, and the roof was originally clad with stone slabs. Originally, another two houses stood to the west and north of the servants’ quarters; what little remains of these is overgrown with ivy.
The well is in the courtyard, below the servants’ quarters.
The architectural ensemble of the Lalića house with manors was surrounded by a courtyard wall which, together with the ground floors of the buildings in which there were no openings, constituted the defensive structure of the complex. The courtyard wall was built of limestone rubblestone in lime mortar.
The entrance gateway in the north-west wall has a finely dressed, slightly arched frame and double oak doors. On the wall outside, next to the entrance gateway, the year the complex was built – 1188 AH (1774 CE) – has been carved.
3. Legal status to date
The Lalića tower house in Ljubuški was listed by the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but was not on the register of immovable cultural properties.
4. Research and conservation-restoration works
There are no details of any investigative or conservation works on the property.
The tower was built for defensive purposes, and adapted for residential use in the late 19th century, when one opening on the first floor and two on the second were widened.
The workmanship of the partition walls of the first and second floors suggest that they date from the latter half of the 20th century, when the fireplaces were walled up and the rooms subdivided. The electric wiring was passed through the partition walls. To the stone steps to the first floor of the tower house, themselves a later addition, a concrete wall and concrete slab were added, forming a terrace by the tower house.
The entrance courtyard gateway was later partly walled up to make it smaller, and then boarded up. The new gateway now in use is in the wall at right angles to the south-east wall of the tower house, by the entrance doorway to the tower house.
5. Current condition of the property
The findings of an on-site inspection conducted on 13 January 2010 are as follows:
In 2009 the owner of the property carried out the following works:
- repairs to the roof structure of the tower house and replacement of the damaged stone slabs;
- reinforcement of the oak ceiling joists by the installation of temporary posts and beams;
- injection of the cracks in the south-west wall using an injection compound;
- addition of a lavatory by the north-east wall of the tower house;
- demolition of the chimney above the roof of the tower house;
- structural reinforcement of the manor house by installing a reinforced concrete ring beam at the top of all the outer walls;
- addition of a wooden terrace with wooden steps by the south-west façade of the manor house; this is not in line with traditional techniques or forms;
- alteration of the roof on the manor house, originally hipped, to a three-paned roof clad with tiles instead of stone slabs;
- replacement of the dilapidated oak beams above the basement in the south-west part of the house with new ones as exact copies of the originals;
- reconstruction of the door and two windows on either side of it in the south-west wall of the manor house by the wooden terrace extension.
No works have been carried out on the other buildings.
The cookhouse and the servants’ quarters are in disrepair. The roof of the cookhouse is damaged and the south-east wall has fallen in. The servants’ quarters are also in a ruinous state. The south-west wall of the servants’ quarters has largely fallen in and the entire building is overgrown with ivy.
The houses to the west and north of the servants’ quarters are in ruins and covered with ivy.
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
C. Artistic and aesthetic value
C.iii. proportions
C.iv. composition
D. Clarity
D.iv. evidence of a particular type, style or regional manner
D.v. evidence of a typical way of life at a specific period
F. Townscape/Landscape value
F.i. relation to other elements of the site
F.ii. meaning in the townscape
F.iii. the building or group of buildings is part of a group or site
G. Authenticity
G.iv. traditions and techniques
G.v. location and setting
I. Completeness
I.i. physical coherence
The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:
- Ownership documentation:
- copy of cadastral plan c.p. 2718, c.m. Ljubuški, Municipality Ljubuški, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, issued on 28 August 2008.
- transcript of title deed no. 208/2 for c.p. 2718, c.m. Ljubuški, Municipality Ljubuški, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, issued on 13 January 2010.
- Photodocumentation:
- photographs of the Lalića tower house with manors, Municipality Ljubuški, photographed on 13 January 2010 by architect Medina Hadžihasanović-Katana using Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H10 digital camera.
Bibliography
During the procedure to designate the property 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) in Prilozi za orijentalnu filologiju i istoriju jugoslovenskih naroda pod turskom vladavinom (Contributions to oriental philology and the history of the Yugoslav peoples under Turkish rule). volume. III-IV. Sarajevo: Oriental Institute, Veselin Masleša, 1953.
1954 Kreševljaković, Hamdija. “Kule i odžaci u Bosni i Hercegovini” (Towers and Manors in BiH). Naše starine II. Annual of the National Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Natural Rarities of NR Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sarajevo, 1954
(1) The owners of the tower houses were the Lalić, Mahić, Bećirović, Muminagić, Sadiković, Ljijina and Piper families.
(2) Kreševljaković, Hamdija., “Kule i odžaci u Bosni i Hercegovini” in Naše starine II-Annual of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of SR Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo: 1954), 80.
(3) Conversion to the formula: C=(32*H/33)+622 (C-Gregorian calendar; H-Islamic calendar)
(4) Bejtić, Alija, “Spomenici osmanlijske arhitekture u Bosni i Hercegovini” in Prilozi za orijentalnu filologiju i istoriju jugoslovenskih naroda pod turskom vladavinom, III-IV (Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša. 1953), 280
(5) Ibid., 281
(6) Kreševljaković, Hamdija, Op.cit, Sarajevo: 1954, 71
(7) Ibid., 13
(8) This anti-theft safety lock was known as a Dubrovnik lock because it was made by craftsmen from Dubrovnik.
(9) Ibid., 17.
(10) Ibid., 17.
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