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Decisions on Designation of Properties as National Monuments

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Building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held, the site of the historic monument

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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 26 to 28 March 2012 the Commission adopted a

 

D E C I S I O N

 

I

 

The site of the historic monument of the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held in Sanski Most 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 nos. 234 and 229/1 (old survey), Land Register entry no. 423, corresponding to c.p. nos. 722 and 728 (new survey), title deed no. 423/01, cadastral municipality Sanski Most I, Municipality Sanski Most, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The provisions relating to protection and rehabilitation measures set forth by the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH nos. 2/02, 27/02, 6/04 and 51/07) shall apply to the National Monument.

 

II

 

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the Government of the Federation) shall be responsible for providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary for the protection, conservation, presentation and rehabilitation 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 area defined in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision, the following protection measures are hereby stipulated.

-          a memorial may be erected in contemporary architectural style, of the same horizontal and vertical dimensions as the original, using modern materials and building methods;

-          the building where may be used for memorial (commemorating the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH), educational, cultural, sports, tourism and catering purposes, with the possibility of restoring it to its previous ethnology museum use;

-          a planning project shall be produced to cover the landscaping of the plot and the design and construction of other amenities – a sports ground with stands and changing rooms.

 

On the plots (c.p. nos. 727, 729 and 730) adjoining the protected site, existing buildings may be reconstructed, retaining their existing footprint and height. Infills of residential properties of no more than two storeys (G + 1) and a maximum height of 6.50 m to the roof cornice may be permitted.

 

IV

 

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

 

V

 

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

 

VI

 

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

 

VII

 

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

 

VIII

 

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

 

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: 06.2-2.3-73/12-7

27 March 2012

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 29 August 2006 the Bihać Institute for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage submitted a petition to designate the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held in Sanski Most 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

ZAVNOBiH (the Provincial Anti-Fascist Council of the People’s Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) was the supreme organ of state of the anti-fascist movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina in World War II, and the standard-bearer of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s statehood.  The 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH, held in Sanski Most from 30 June to 2 July 1944, was one of the most significant events in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Three sessions of ZAVNOBiH were held in all, the first in Mrkonjić Grad on 25 November 1943, the second in Sanski Most, and the third in Sarajevo on 26 April 1945. The building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held in Sanski Most (originally known as the Sokol Centre and later as the Partisans’ Centre) was left in ruins in 1995 as a result of the war, and the remains were removed in 1996.

 

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:

-          Documentation on the location and current owner and user of the property (copy of cadastral plan and copy of 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.

 

Pursuant to Article V para. 2 of Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 37 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission, before rendering a final decision designating a property as a national monument, the Commission is required to provide the owner of the proposed monument, the person submitting the petition, the institutions responsible for heritage, professional and academic institutions, experts and scholars, as well as other interested parties, to express their views.

-          under cover of letter ref. 000205/06 of 29 August 2006, the Bihać Institute for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage submitted a petition to the Commission to Preserve National Monuments to designate the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held in Sanski Most as a national monument

-          the Commission to Preserve National Monuments sent letter ref. 06.1-35-179/06-2 dated 8 February 2007 requesting documentation and views on the designation of the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held in Sanski Most as a national monument to Sanski Most Municipality, department responsible for urbanism and cadastral affairs, the Municipal Court in Sanski Most, the Institute for the Protection of Monuments under the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sport and the Bihać Institute for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage

-          under cover of letter ref. 05-40-1384/06 of 27 March 2007, Sanski Most Municipality, Department of General Administration, Social Affairs and Refugees and Displaced Persons supplied the Commission to Preserve National Monuments with the following documents on the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held in Sanski Most:

-         title deed no. 0756

-         excerpt from master plan

-         copy of cadastral plan

-          under cover of letter ref. 05-40-3255/10 of 17 December 2010, Sanski Most Municipality, Department of General Administration, Social Affairs and Refugees and Displaced Persons supplied the Commission to Preserve National Monuments with an official record identifying the old and new cadastral plots and a copy of the Land Register entry.

 

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 historic monument of the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held is in the very centre of Sanski Most, on Stanična St. bb (formerly Josipa Mažara St.).

The site of the historic monument of the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held in Sanski Most is on a site designated as cadastral plot nos. 234 and 229/1 (old survey), corresponding to c.p. nos. 722 and 728 (new survey), title deed no. 423/01, Land Register entry no. 423, cadastral municipality Sanski Most I, Municipality Sanski Most, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Historical background

Until 1935, Sanski Most had only a primary school, and pupils thus had to attend secondary school in Banja Luka, Prijedor, Bihać or elsewhere. In 1935 an action committee was set up to open a secondary school, which began operations on 17 January 1936. The school had all the necessary facilities for a school except for physical education facilities.

In 1940 a building was erected, initially known as the Sokol Centre(1) and later converted into the Partisans’ Centre, where various sports activities and cultural events were held. The PE hall was used by schoolchildren from Sanski Most for various sports, such as athletics, gymnastics, five-a-side football, gymnastics with apparatus, volleyball, basketball and handball.  Before the cinema was built, the building was also used for screening films and for various shows and other cultural events.

During World War II the Centre acquired historic importance by virtue of the fact that the 2nd session of ZAVNOBIH(2).  

Eleven resolutions were adopted at the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH, the most important of which were the Decision to Constitute ZAVNOBiH as the supreme legislative and executive body of federal Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Declaration on the Rights of the Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Decision to Constitute ZAVNOBiH as the supreme organ of state states that the constitution of ZAVNOBiH as the supreme legislative and executive people’s representative body, and consequently the supreme authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an equal federal entity of Democratic Federal Yugoslavia, was based on “the freely expressed will of the people of BiH” and the decisions of AVNOJ. The Declaration on the Rights of the Citizens of BiH is of the nature of a constitution, guaranteeing the citizens of BiH the fundamental human rights that form part of every democratic constitution: “national” equality between Muslims, Serbs and Croats, freedom of religion, freedom of association and of the press, security of their person and property, freedom of private initiative in business, equality of the sexes in every sphere of public life, the right to vote at age 18, the right of appeal, the principle that no one may be convicted without trial, and the introduction of compulsory military service.

From 1975 the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held housed a gallery of naive art, and in early 1980 the Sana radio station also began broadcasting from the building.  In 1995, during the war, the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held was ransacked, with the worst damage inflicted on the part of the building housing the radio station.  In 1996, senior figures in Sanski Most Municipality decided to clear away the remains of the building, which was carried out that same year. The site of the building now consists only of playing fields.

 

2. Description of the property

The building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held in Sanski Most

The building, which lay north-south, measuring 13.70 x 33.50 m overall, and consisted of two sections, an Annex to the south and a Great Hall with stage to the north. The annex was rectangular in plan, with its longer side lying east-west, and had two storeys, the ground floor measuring approx. 13.70 x 7.60 m and the first floor approx. 13.70 x 10.80 – the difference accounted for by the jutty over the ground-floor portico.  Access to the building was from Stanična St. (formerly Josipa Mažara St.) to the south of the building.  Five steps of approx. 14.0 x 1.60 m led into the building on the same side as the spacious portico of approx. 14.90 x 4.40 m, with four substantial piers of 1.2 x 0.4 m carrying the first-floor joists. The steps and portico were clad with terrazzo.

The portico opened into the annex through a wooden double-valved door midway along the south wall, forming the main entrance to the building. The ground floor of the annex housed an entrance hall of 10.4 x 4.0 m, a reading room of 10.75 x 6.0 m, a storeroom of 3.5 x 2.5 m, a toilet block, a staircase leading to the first floor, and changing rooms of 11.25 x 2.5 m with lockers and benches. The first floor of the annex houses offices and, at one time, the Sana radio station.  The ceilings of both the ground and first floor of the annex were approx. 3.5 m high. The other part of the building contained the Great Hall of 10.0 x 16.0 m and a stage of 10.0 x 6.50 m. This part of the building was single-storeyed, and somewhat lower than the annex – the great hall was approx. 6.65 m high and the stage area approx. 5.65 m, the stage being a metre above the level of the hall.  The great hall contained gymnastics apparatus, which could be removed as required to allow for the hall to be used for cultural events.

On the south side of the great hall was a gallery of 10.0 x 4.5 m which was also used for screening films until a cinema was built in Sanski Most.

The construction of the building consisted of a system of solid stone walls, approx. 0.68 m thick in the great hall area and approx. 0.38 m thick elsewhere, all plastered and painted outside and in.  Most of the floors were clad with ceramic tiles, except for the great hall, which had a parquet floor. The roof structure and ceiling joists consisted of wooden grids carrying the roof and ceiling timbers. The annex and the great hall had gabled roofs clad with tiles. The roof ridge of the annex was at a height of approx.9.35 m and that of the great hall approx. 8.30 m.

The façades were plain and undecorated. On the south side of the annex was a ground-floor portico with four substantial piers carrying the first-floor joists, and a wooden double-valved door midway along the south wall; above were three first-floor windows. The north façade had a side entrance leading straight to the stage; the east side had two ground-floor and three first-floor windows. The great hall had three large windows to the east and three to the west.

The courtyard contained a sports ground for handball, five-a-side football, basketball and volleyball, an athletics track and so on. The Partisans’ Centre was used for cultural and sports events, including gymnastics competitions, matches, and various shows, performances and cultural events.

First gallery of naive art, Sanski Most

Beginning in 1962, with the intention of promoting local artists and launching the cultural scene, the Cultural and Educational Association held regular art exhibitions, which became one of the most important cultural events for the people of Sanski Most Municipality. The town thus came to host the event known as the “May Gatherings on the Sana,” bringing together naive artists from Yugoslavia, which formed the basis for the opening of the gallery in 1975. The artists who exhibited their works, which were later to become part of the gallery’s holdings, included some of the country’s leading naive artists, among them Pero Mandić, Ivan Lacković and Jože Horvat. One of the gallery’s principal activities was an exhibition of publications on naive art, the first such cultural event in Yugoslavia. By May 1980 the gallery had acquired 207 works, which were lost during the 1992-1995 war.

Four engravings, the work of the Bajramović brothers, are currently on display in the Sanus Hotel in Sanski Most. Ismet, Rifet, Pinjo and Sejfo Bajramović are self-taught artisans from Rogatica, living in Kakanj, who have been making copper arts-and-crafts articles since the 1970s(3). Their reliefs on copper plate are in the naive-art manner, with scenes from country life – rural architecture, games and dances, fantastic animals, and landscapes with architecture.

 

3. Legal status to date

By ruling of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of SR BiH, the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held in Sanski Most was placed under state protection(4).

The Regional Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina to 2002 lists the building in Josipa Mažara St. as a Category II property.

 

4. Research and conservation-restoration works

Between 1977 and 1980, building works were carried out on the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held in Sanski Most to adapt the first floor for use by the radio station.  We have no information relating to other works on the building apart from routine maintenance.

The Master Plan for Sanski Most provides for the complete reconstruction of the building of the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH in its original architectural form, to be used for unspecific public purposes.

In 2005 the Mayor granted permission for the production of an outline project for the building. The outline project was produced by the Arhitekt d.o.o. design studio of Bihać in November 2007. The investor, the Bihać Institute for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage, drew up the terms of reference on the basis of which the outline project was produced. The property will include the following facilities:

-          a room housing a museum of the 2nd ZAVNOBiH session

-          the Sanski Most local museum

-          a multi-purpose theatre hall

-          office space

-          service quarters, changing rooms and toilet block

The proposal is for the building to be public in nature, and to be used for cultural, educational, sports and recreational purposes, as a multi-functional complex with indoor and outdoor facilities. The proposed outdoor facilities are a football and basketball ground with stands and changing rooms, pedestrian access, a driveway and parking area, green areas and services infrastructure.

The main project, entitled “ZAVNOBiH Building in Sanski Most,” was produced in February 2010 by Atelje d.o.o. of Laktaši, a design, execution, supervision and engineering company. It consists of an architectural and a structural design, a water supply and drainage project, electrical installations, machinery and a project for safety at work and fire prevention.

 

5. Current condition of the property

The findings of an on-site inspection in July 2010 are that there are no visible remains of the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held in Sanski Most.

 

6. Specific risks

None.

 

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

D.         Clarity (documentary, scientific and educational value)

D.iv.      evidence of a particular type, style or regional manner

F.         Townscape/ Landscape value

F.i.       relation to other elements of the site

F.ii.       meaning in the townscape

 

The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:

-          Ownership documentation

-         copy of cadastral plan, scale 1:1000, plan no. 14, c.p. nos. 235 and 229/1 (old survey), corresponding to c.p. nos. 722 and 728 (new survey), c.m. Sanski Most I, Sanski Most Municipality, Una-Sana Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, issued by the Sanski Most Department of Geodetics, Sanski Most Municipality, on 31 October 2005

-         Land Register entry no. 423 for c.p. 722 and 728, issued by the Land Registry Office in Sanski Most on 16 December 2010

 

-          Technical documentation

-         outline project for the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held, produced by Arhitekt d.o.o. design studio of Bihać in November 2007

-         main project, entitled “ZAVNOBiH Building in Sanski Most,” produced in February 2010 by Atelje d.o.o. of Laktaši, a design, execution, supervision and engineering company

 

Bibliography

During the procedure to designate the site and remains of the historic monument of the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held in Sanski Most as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted: 

 

1980.    Various authors. Majsko drugovanje na Sani 1975-1979 (May gatherings on the Sana 1975-1979). Bosanska Gradiška: Nova štampa, 1980.

 

1998.    Various authors. Bosna i Hercegovina od najstarijih vremena do kraja Drugog svjetskog rata (BiH from ancient times to the end of World War II). Sarajevo: Bosanski kulturni centar Sarajevo, 1998; Brkljača, Seka, MSc; Pelesić, Muhidin, MSc; Kamberović, Husnija, MSc, Drugi svjetski rat (World War II)

 

Žutić, Nikola. Liberalizam hrvatskih, srpskih i jugoslavenski Sokola (1862-1991) (The liberalism of Croat, Serb and Yugoslav Sokols [1862-1991])

 

2008.    Documentation obtained from the Bihać Institute for the Protection of the Cultural Heritage

 

            Documentation of SUBNOAR BiH


(1) Sokolstvo, a Slav cultural and national liberation liberal movement, originated in Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic) in 1862, under the conceptual leadership of Miroslav Tirš. The idea spread rapidly into the southern Slav lands of the Habsburg Empire. The Croat, Slovene and Serb sokoli held anti-clerical, liberal views, and were thus fierce opponents of the Habsburg Empire; as a result, they were banned at the beginning of World War I. Shortly before the war, secret sokol cells had been formed, especially in Bosnia, with soldiers to conduct subversive action in the Austrian army, so the Provincial Government for BiH issued a decree on 25 July 1914 disbanding the BiH Sokol association.  Sokoli became the main proponents of the Yugoslav national ideology in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and were central to its fitness training. The aspiration to Yugoslav national integration held by the sokol societies led to their unification on 26 January 1919, when the three old federations – Croat, Slovene and Serb – formed a new federation known as the Sokolski Federation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Under the terms of the Law on the Establishment of Sokol of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia of December 1929, the first state-level fitness organization in Yugoslavia was created. The construction of Sokol centres stepped up between 1936 and 1938, when 110 were built. Sokol societies were closed down in April 1941, and were also banned by the Communist authorities in Yugoslavia after World War II. They were replaced by the Partisan Society for Physical Culture, which took over their property (Žutić, Nikola, Liberalizam hrvatskih, srpskih i jugoslavenski Sokola (1862-1991)). There were Sokol centres in almost every sizeable town in Bosnia and Herzegovina – Foča, Jajce, Sarajevo, Sanski Most and elsewhere.

(2) ZAVNOBiH (the Provincial Anti-Fascist Council of the People’s Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) was the supreme organ of state of the anti-fascist movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina in World War II, and the standard-bearer of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s statehood. The 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH, held in Sanski Most from 30 June to 2 July 1944, was one of the most significant events in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Three sessions of ZAVNOBiH were held in all, the first in Mrkonjić Grad on 25 November 1943, the second in Sanski Most on 30 June 1944, and the third in Sarajevo on 26 April 1945.

(3) Various authors, “Ljudi među slikama i cvijećem”, Majsko drugovanje na Sani 1975-1979., Bosanska Gradiška: Nova štampa, 1980: 1-3.

(4) The Institute for the Protection of Monuments under the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sport provided information to the effect that the building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held in Sanski Most was protected, but that the documentation was destroyed during the war.



Building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was held, the site of the historic monument Building where the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH was heldMemorial plaqueCouncillors of the 2nd session of ZAVNOBiH


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