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 21 to 27 Januaryy 2003 the Commission adopted a
D E C I S I O N
I
The group of buildings of the Ćuprijska (Hadži Alija Hadžisalihović) mosque in Stolac is hereby designated as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The National Monument covers cadastral plots no. IV/109 and no. IV/108, cadastral municipality Stolac, Stolac Municipality, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The monument consists of a mosque, mejtef (school), courtyard, courtyard walls, a channel leading the water from the Bregava river through the courtyard, a well, a fountain, and three cypress trees and an elm tree several centuries old in the courtyard beside the Bregava.
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 and 27/02) shall apply to the National Monument specified in the preceding paragraph.
II
The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the Government of the Federation) shall be responsible for ensuring and providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary to protect, conserve, display and rehabilitate the National Monument specified in Clause I of this Decision.
The Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the Commission) shall determine the technical requirements and secure the funds for preparing and setting up signboards with the basic data on the monument and the Decision to proclaim the property a National Monument.
III
The National Monument shall be reconstructed in its original form, on its original site, with the use of identical or similar material and authentic methods of construction, on the basis of information on its previous.
Prior to the start of rehabilitation works on the ensemble of the mosque, the surface layers of soil shall be removed to uncover the original foundation walls, and the original sections of the foundations and walls shall be repaired and consolidated, and repairs to the wall facing the Bregava shall be carried out.
All fragments of the destroyed building that are recovered either on site or in other places to which they were taken after the demolition of the building shall be collected up, registered, photographed and reintegrated into the reconstructed building by the method of anastylosis, with the use of traditional binders (mortar) and traditional building techniques. Until such time as they are so reintegrated all the fragments recovered shall be properly preserved.
Parts that are missing for which documentation on their original form and condition is available shall be made by the method of repristination from the same type of material as they were originally made of.
Fragments that are too badly damaged to be rebuilt into the structure shall be appropriately conserved and displayed as part of the ensemble of the mosque buildings. All usable material recovered from the walls of the mosque shall be built into the mosque.
All the elements of the mosque ensemble, including the vegetation, walls, fountain and havuze (water channels), shall be rehabilitated in accordance with existing graphic and photographic documentation forming an integral part of this Decision. The foundations and remains of the walls of the mekteb (school) in the south-western area of the ensemble shall be excavated and conserved.
On all the adjacent plots on the right and left banks of the Bregava, in the contact zone and opposite the Ćuprijska mosque, only the rehabilitation of ruined buildings shall be permitted, in their original form with their original vertical and horizontal dimensions and with the use of original materials (stone walls, unplastered or finished with lime milk; all windows with wooden frames and shutters; all doors to be made of wood, with metal shutters for ground-floor business premises and storehouses; wooden roof structures covered with stone slabs). On the contact plots to the south-east of the protected urban ensemble, walls may be plastered and whitewashed, and the use of modern light grey roofing shall be allowed.
IV
All executive and area development planning acts not in accordance with the provisions of this Decision are to be 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 specified in Clause I of this Decision or jeopardize the preservation and rehabilitation thereof.
VI
The Government of the Federation, the Federal Ministry responsible for town 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, III and IV 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.anek8komisija.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 date of its adoption and shall be published in the Official Gazette of BiH and the Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH.
This Decision has been adopted by the following members of the Commission: Zeynep Ahunbay, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, Ljiljana Ševo and Tina Wik.
Chairman of the Commission
Dubravko Lovrenović
No. 07-6-731/03
21 January 2003
Sarajevo
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 (hereinafter referred to as the Commission) 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 (hereinafter referred to as Annex 8) and as 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.
The Commission issued a decision to add the Ćuprijske (Hadži Alija Hadžisalihović) mosque in Stolac to the Provisional List of National Monuments under serial number 580 as the site of the Hadži Alija Hadžisalihović mosque (Cuprijska Mosque or mosque on the bridge).
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 of Annex# 8 and Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments.
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:
Ÿ Documentation on the location and current owner and user of the property (copy of cadastral plan and copy of land registry entry: Annex 1)
Ÿ Data on the current condition (Annex 3) and use of the property, including a description and photographs.
Ÿ Historical, architectural (Annex 4) 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. Information on the site
Location
The Ćuprijska (Hadži Alija Hadžisalihović) mosque is situated next to the downstream side of the Inat ćuprija (bridge), on the left bank of Bregava, in the part of the town that developed around the mosque, the Inat ćuprija, and the hammam, a quarter known as Ćuprija, and also over the years as the Hammam mahala or Hadži Alijina mahala in Stolac (Appendix 1.1. and 5).
Historical data
This is the third oldest mosque in Slolac. Until it was built, this part of Stolac was known as the Hammam mahala, after the hammam or public baths built there in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century by Silahdar Husein-paša. With the erection of the mosque, the mahala that formed around it became known in written sources as the Hadži-Alijina mahala. Among the local population this part of Stolac is known as Ćuprija.
The mosque is a pious endowment of Hadži Alija, son of Hasan, about whom there is no reliable information in written sources. From the vakufnama or deed of endowment we learn that the endower was from the kasaba or town of Stolac, in the Herzegovinian sanjak, and that at the time the mosque and the mekteb or religious primary school next to it were built, he was in Cairo, Egypt, where he served in a military capacity and was a military commander (Misir).
The deed of endowment further states that he died in Cairo, and was buried in an unspecified cemetery, before the completion of his pious endowments in Stolac. This was in or around 1734.
The Hadži Alija mosque was built before al shawwal 1148 AH (before 14 February 14 1736 CE), as indicated in the deed of endowment drawn up that year. It is not known what the building looked like or what its dimensions were. The chronogram (tarih), engraved in nasta’liq script on a plaque above the entrance door, states that one Hadži Mohammed enlarged the mosque in 1179 AH (1765/66 CE). This tarih of eight verses was composed by an unknown poet-epigraph from Stolac.
The vakif (endower) handed over 1630 groschen to one Hadži Salih from Stolac, appointing him the executor of his will (vassi muhtar), and stipulating that the money be used to build a mosque and primary school in Hamam-mahala near the bridge over the Bregava, and that the balance be deposited at interest and the income used for repairs and for the salaries of officials. In later sources, this endower is referrred to with the last name Hadžisalihović, and is identified as Hadži Salih, who was the executor of Hadži Alija’s will and who looked after the construction of his endowments in Stolac.
The river Bregava often flooded this part of Stolac in the past and damaged the mosque, primary school and all buildings in Hamam-mahala. Further building work on the mosque, carried out in 1765 by Hadži Mohammed, perhaps followed one such flood that had damaged the mosque. The great flood the hit Stolac in November 1789, when the Bregava overflowed its banks, flooded all houses in Hamam-mahala and caused major damage.
In the Hadži Alija Hadžihasalović mosque courtyard there is a well; when it was built is not known, nor is the name of the person who endowed it. Earlier, channels (havuzi) led the waters of the Bregava across the courtyard outside the mosque; this was used for performing abdest (ablutions). In his own lifetime Junuz Mehmedbašić built a little fountain in front of the mosque as part of his will (vasijjet), fed by water from the Bregava. The inscription on it states that it was built on 20 October 1935.
The mekteb was built to the south-west of the group of buildings, between the mosque and a house now owned by the Turković family.
The mosque was dynamited and demolished in August 1993, and the building material was taken to the Radimlja riverbed, close to the gravel pit.
Legal status to date
The Ćuprijska mosque in Stolac is registered on the Provisional List of National Monuments as Stolac – site of the Hadži-Alija Hadžisalihovića mosque (mosque on the bridge).
2. Description of the monument
Architecture
The mosque was built of cut stone with a hipped roof, originally covered with stone slabs and more recently with roof tiles. The interior space of the mosque measures8.76 x 7.97 m, and the overall exterior dimensions including the sofas (porch) ae 10.34 x 12.37 meters. The sofas of the mosque are on the north-west side of the building and are 2.95 m. deep. On the north-west façade double longitudinal beams are visible above the sofas, extending from the northern to the western corner of the façade, with projecting crossbeams visible between them. They rest on the wooden pillars of the sofas of the mosque via two corbels and two demicorbels, the undersides of which are richly carved.
There are two rectangular windows in the north-west wall of the mosque, with relieving depressed arches made of miljevina (a local limestone), one each to the north and the west of the entrance door. The window frames, which are moulded, are also made of miljevina. The windows are fitted with iron bars and wooden shutters which open inwards. The north-east wall of the mosque sofas has one rectangular window with moulded miljevina frames.
The mahfil (gallery) of the mosque measures 4.68 x 8.67 m. (overall interior dimensions) and extends above the sofas. On the north-west façade the mahfil has three rectangular windows. The eaves on that façade are deep and are supported by eleven long and two short wooden angle brackets. The mahfil overhangs the entrance door on the interior, and does not rest on pillars. The crossbeams of the mahfil are held by angled wooden girders concealed by planks forming a semibarrel vault.
The mihrab is of miljevina, and has a total height of 4.10 m, with a semicircular ground plan. The upper part of the niche is richly decorated with seven rows of stalactites. In the flat part of the mihrab around the stalactites a motif of carved stone open rose or lotus buds is repeated three times (above the niche and to the east and south of it).
The mimbar is made of the same stone as the mihrab and the same treatment is recognizable (mouldings; identical lateral ends to the mihrab and the entrance to the mimbar, etc.) The mimbar has nine steps, of which the topmost two are higher than the others. The side of the mimbar is solid, forming a full triangle with moulded edges, and a carved star of David at the centre, measuring 22.00 x 24.50 cm.
The kursi of the Ćuprijska mosque is finely carved in tenelija (local limestone) and set in the eastern corner of the mosque.
The façades of the mosques are set with two horizontal rows of windows, an upper and a lower row. On the north-east façade there are two rows of three each, on the south-east façade two rows of two, and on both these façades the lower and upper rows of windows are set on the same vertical axis, with the upper superimposed over the lower windows. On the north-west, entrance façade the openings are set in three vertical axes, with three windows in the upper row and two plus the central entrance door in the lower. On the south-west façade the external windows are set in two rows, but the number of openings in the upper and lower rows is different and they are not set along the same vertical axes. In the upper row on the south-west façade there are three windows and a door leading to the mahfil from an external stairway, while in the lower row there is only one. The windows of the lower row are rectangular, with wrought iron bars on the outside, while the upper row of windows end in a rounded arch and have wooden mušebak (latticework) on the outside.
The minaret is 18.13 metres high. The base is 3.94 m. in height, square in section, and is partly formed from the south-west wall of the mosque. The barrel of the mosque is an equilateral dodecahedron in cross-section, corresponding to the number of verses in the call to prayer, repeated five times daily from the minaret. The minaret is made of tenelija. The entrance to the minaret is at a height of 2.61 m. and is accessed directly from the exterior via a stairway with two flights, consisting of ten stone steps built onto the south-western façade. The transition from the base to the barrel of the mosque is very simple, with just one riser of stone and none of the usual ornamentation – it could be said to be effected by a simple elision. The parapet of the šerefe (balcony) is made of solid slabs of miljevina, with mouldings at the top and bottom.
The external staircase and the door set in the wall next to the minaret lead into the mahvil, which measures 8.67 x 4.68 meters.
Three surviving cypress trees also form an integral part of the mosque ensemble.
3. Research and conservation and restoration works
In early 1992 the then Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina conducted an architectural survey and drew up technical blueprints of the condition of the mosque (Annex 4).
4. Current condition of the site
The mosque was dynamited and demolished in 1993, and the building material, along with the remains of other buildings in the centre of Stolac, was taken to the Radimlja riverbed close to the grave pit.
III - CONCLUSION
Applying the Criteria for the adoption of a decision on proclaiming an item of property a national monument, adopted at the fourth session of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments (3 to 9 September 2002), the Commission has enacted the Decision cited above.
The Decision was based on the following criteria:
A. Time frame
B. Historical value
D. Clarity
D.i. material evidence of a lesser known historical period
D.ii. evidence of historical changes
D.iv. cvidence of a particular type, style or regional manner
E. Symbolic value
E.i. ontological value
E.ii. religious value
E.iii traditional value
E.iv. connection with rituals or ceremonies
E.v. significance for the identity of a group of people
F. Townscape/landscape value
F.i. meaning in the townscape
G. Authenticity
G.iv. tradition and techniques
G.v. location and setting
G.vi. spirit and feeling
The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:
1. LEGAL PROPERTY DOCUMENTATION
1.1. ĆUPRIJSKA MOSQUE: COPY OF CADASTRAL PLAN
1.2. ĆUPRIJSKA MOSQUE: COPY OF LAND REGISTRY ENTRY PAGE 1
1.3. ĆUPRIJSKA MOSQUE: COPY OF LAND REGISTRY ENTRY PAGE 1
2. PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN PRIOR TO THE DEMOLITION OF THE BUILDING
3. PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN AFTER THE DEMOLITION OF THE BUILDING
4. ARCHITECTURAL BLUEPRINTS –TECHNICAL SURVEY OF THE BUILDING – CONDITION PRIOR TO DEMOLITION
4.1. SITE PLAN
4.2. GROUND PLAN AT THE ELEVATION 0,00
4.3. GROUND PLAN AT THE ELEVATION OF THE MAHFIL
4.4. LONGITUDINAL SECTION
4.5. CROSS SECTION
4.6. CROSS SECTION WITH VIEW OF MIHRAB AND MIMBAR
4.7. CROSS SECTION OF MINARET
4.8. ENTRANCE FACADE
4.9. WESTERN FACADE
4.10.SOUTHERN FACADE
4.11.EASTERN FACADE
4.12.MIHRAB DETAIL
4.13.MIMBAR
4.14.MIMBAR DETAIL
4.15.MIMBAR DETAIL 2
4.16.GROUND FLOOR WINDOW DETAIL
4.17.CORBEL DETAIL
4.18.UPPER WINDOW DETAIL LATERAL FACADE
4.19.UPPER WINDOW
4.20. GROUND FLOOR WINDOW LATERAL FACADE
4.21.MAHFIL PILLAR
4.22.MOSQUE ENTRANCE DOOR
4.23.MOSQUE MAHFIL DOOR
5. SITE PLANS
5.1. SITE PLAN OF THE TOWN OF STOLAC FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AS OF 1884.
5.2. PRE-WAR AERIAL SURVEY OF PART OF THE TOWN AROUND THE ĆUPRIJSKE MASQUE
5.3. AERIAL SURVEY OF PART OF THE TOWN AROUND THE ĆUPRIJSKE MOSQUE AS OF 1997.
The documentation annexed to the Decision is public and available for view by interested persons on written request to the Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bibliography
Ayverdi, Dr Ekrem Hakki, AVRUPA 'DA OSMANLY MIMARI ESERLERI, II f.3 kitab, Baha Matabaasi Istambul 1981.
Hasandedić, Hivzija, Muslimanska baština u istočnoj Hercegovini (Muslim Heritage in
Eastern Herzegovina), El-Kalem Sarajevo 1990.
Mujezinović, Mehmed, Islamska epigrafika Bosne i Hercegovine (Islamic Epigraphy of Bosnia and Herzegovina), Book 3, 3rd ed., Library of Cultural Heritage, Sarajevo Publishing 1998.
Slovo Gorčina '97, Municipality of Stolac, Mostar 1997.
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