Prioritized Intervention List:
§ Country:
Bosnia and Herzegovina
§ Name of organization compiling the information:
Commission to Preserve National Monuments
§ Contact name:
Mirela Mulaluć Handan
§ email address:
mirela@aneks8ko.com.ba
The monument, sites or ensemble
§  Name and address of building(s) or site:
Historical site - the Fortress in Jajce
§ Inventory reference number(s):
06-6-504/03-1
§ Building type(s):
Military - Fort
§ Main date(s):
date range from antique times to middle of ninetheen century
(The Fortress was repaired many times)
§ Current use(s):
Historical site
Significance:
Traces of a prehistoric, Neolithic settlement have been found in the area of Varošice, at a depth of approx. 10 m. Other parts of the old town abound in Bronze Age pottery. There are traces of Roman settlements to the west, north-east and north-west of the fortress, and in the late antique period, probably in the fourth Century, the temple to Mithras was built in the area of Bare.
The fortress, which is also often called the “Castle” or “Citadel”, existed before the first reference to the name of Jajce in written sources. The first reference to Jajce in written sources dates from 1396, when Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić was titled “conte di Jajcze”. In the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, the town underwent remarkable political and cultural development, and later, in the last years of the Bosnian state, it became the permanent seat of the last kings of Bosnia. Jajce was also the residence of the last Bosnian King Stjepan Tomašević, who was executed in 1463.
The Ottoman army set siege to the town, but held it for only six months before it was seized by the Magyars in 1464, who established the banovina of Jajce. The town became a prominent strategic stronghold until the end of 1527 when, following the battle of Mohács, it finally fell to Ottoman rule and lost its strategic importance as a forward stronghold.
There was fighting around the town between Krajina (frontier) rebels and Omer-Paša Latas in 1851, as well as when Bosnia was annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1878.
Jajce has an outstanding position among the towns of mediaeval Bosnia, as the only fortified urban settlement with all the features of a fifteenth century urban centre.
Its architectural monuments are a persuasive illustration of the mediaeval art and diverse political situations in Jajce. In the era of Hrvoje Vukčić, the town was dominated by local builders and their stonemasons’ yard, while at the time of the last Bosnian kings, master craftsmen from Dalmatia were at work in Jajce (the late Gothic of the littoral towns and hints of the early Renaissance). Matthias Corvinus brought master craftsman from the Magyar and Croatian late Gothic to the banovina.
The complex of the fortress and defense walls of the town was constructed in several stages.
Stage I includes the fortress, which stands on the very summit of the hill, above the confluence of the Pliva and the Vrbas. Although there is no available evidence of its original date, it is clear that the fortress, now the central element of a more recent defensive system, existed as early as the thirteenth century. It appears originally to have had three four-sided towers: two on the south wall and one in the north-western corner, suggesting that the fortress was built prior to the fourteenth century (Đ. Mazalić 1952, 65).
Stage II belongs to the period of Hrvoje’s rule, at the turn of the fourteenth and fifteenth century. It was probably then that the corner towers were altered, the walls raised in height, and an intramural district built east of the fortress (on the plan, running from the southern corner of the citadel to tower II; from tower II to bastion IV; from the north-eastern corner of the citadel to bastion IV). Jajce was still a minor fortress at this time. The Church of St Mary and St Luke’s bell tower, and the catacombs that were hollowed out at the same time as the intramural district was built, were still outside the town walls at this time (Đ. Mazalić, 1952, pp. 65-66; M. Ančić, 1999, p. 98).
Stage III began with the death of Hrvoje Vukčić in 1416 and the transfer of the royal residence to Jajce, roughly from the mid fifteenth century to 1463. The walls now ran down to the natural barrier of the limestone cliffs and river banks. Within the ramparts there was a Franciscan monastery, and a new church of St Catherine was built. The defense system of the mediaeval town took in an area of almost two hectares. The transfer of the court to Jajce, as an established urban centre surrounded by ramparts, meant adapting to the contemporary European model, when advanced urban centers were gaining in importance. It was then that the Medvjed tower was built, and the line of the northern ramparts around the Papaz gate (tower III) to bastion V, the Samića bastion. The church of St Catherine was probably close to the main town square (around the hammam and the Sultana Esma mosque). (M. Ančić, 1999, p. 99).
Stage IV belongs to the period of Magyar rule, during the time when the Jajce banovina was in existence, from 1464 to 1526. At this time the entire defenses of the town were repaired and added to.
Stage V, the period of the Ottoman Empire (1528-1878), was when the city acquired its final appearance. Inside the fortress, the towers were turned into bastions and embankments were raised within the old mediaeval walls (Đ. Basler, 1959, p. 124); a powder magazine was also built. Bastion III was built, along with the tower on Džikovac, and a mosque inside the fortress. The church of St Mary was turned into the Suleyman II mosque.
The fortress has the shape of an irregular square, the result of the configuration of the terrain. At the north-western (Bastion I) and south-eastern corners (Bastion II) stand two strong four-sided towers, and there seems to have originally been another tower in the south-eastern corner. The perimeter of the fortress is 260 m, and its surface area 4800 sq.m. The outside walls of the fortress are from 1.75 to 2.05 m. thick. The entrance was originally from the west, which was difficult of access, at a point where the walls are up to 3 m. thick. The passage and entrance gate are barely 1 m. wide. Within the walls there is a well, which is still in the same place (Đ. Mazalić, 1952, p. 72).
The south wall of the fortress, 57 m. long and 8 to 13 m. high, is regarded as its most typical feature. In the lower reaches, up to a level of 3m, and at the corners, mudstone was used as building material, with the remainder largely of dripstone. Pieces of Roman brick are to be seen here and there.
The King’s Gate (measuring 2.25 x 1.77 m.) gave access from the expanding settlement outside the walls. The origins of the portal may be dated broadly to a time between the reign of Tvrtko II to that of Stjepan Tomašević, who finally moved the court to Jajce (1421-1461). In view of the basic design of the portal, with the royal coat of arms in the late Gothic style, and on the basis of heraldic analysis, it is very similar to the portal in Bobovac.
Some of the architectural remains found inside the fortress or within the mediaeval ramparts suggest that a palace was built here in the mid fifteenth century (Dalmatian late Gothic school). Evliya Çelebi writes in the second half of the seventeenth century about the impressive remains of a court palace within the fortress. It is only with more detailed archaeological excavation within the citadel walls that the location and size of the palace or royal court could be determined more accurately.
Opinions differ as to the date when the fortress was built. All agree that it was certainly built prior to Hrvoje’s rule. Some say that it dates from the thirteenth century (Mazalić 1852, p. 100; Basler, 1959, p. 130, in part; Ančić, 1999, p.. 98) but some believe it was as late as the second half of the fourteenth (M. Popović 1997, pp. 22-23).
Research and Conservation and Restoration Works
In about 1890 Ćiro Truhelka conducted research and conservation work. He found the remains of the royal palace, later used as the ban’s palace: two capitals, decorated with acanthus leaf, built into the southern ramparts at a height of 12 m, two fragments of a molded window frame, the capital of a pillar used to decorate a soldier’s grave. All these items can be seen in the National Museum.
1951-1953 – conservation works on the bastions were conducted.
1957 – conservation of the southern wall of the fortress. The King’s Gate was excavated, and in the wall and in the earthwork in front of the wall the following items were found: the steel tip of an arrow, a stone cannon ball with a diameter of 12 cm, half a stone cannon ball of the same size, a stone cannon ball of 50 cm diameter, two ribs of a Gothic vault and two steel balls from the cannons of Omer-Paša Latas.
1961-1962 – excavation and conservation works on the ruins of the Church of St. Mary and the fortress were conducted. The works were conducted by P. Anđelić, I. Bojanovski and Đ. Basler.
1963 – conservation works on the northern bastion, between the great bastion and the castle.
1964 – repairs to the western ramparts.
1965-1967 – continuation of works on the repair and reconstruction of the ramparts. The works were carried out by experts from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in RBiH.
1969-1971 – conservation of the old town ramparts, repairs to the western ramparts. All works on the ramparts from 1951 to 1971 were conducted by experts from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in RBiH, Sarajevo.
A few findings from the fortress, as well as from other mediaeval buildings in Jajce, can be found in the National Museum: two capital from columns or half columns, Inventory Number 6914, 6915, two capitals of mudstone, Inventory Number 6916 and 6917, one monolith pillar with base and capital, Inventory Number 6918, and part of the lunette from a portal, Inventory Number 6923 (all research by Ć. Truhelka), as well as a sculpture of a lion and two parts of a ciborium or altar. All these items are on display as part of the permanent exhibit “Mediaeval Bosnia and Herzegovina”. Other findings from the excavation conducted by P. Anđelić in the Church of St. Mary in 1961, as well as those items found during conservation works, were left in Jajce, mostly in the Franciscan Monastery or in the Museum of the Second AVNOJ Session. The whereabouts of smaller items (arrows, cannon balls, etc.) are not known, and part of the stone material excavated from the Church of St. Mary is in the Franciscan Monastery. Many of these items, which were in Jajce until 1992, have probably disappeared. An inventory of the remaining materials would have to be carried out when circumstances allow.
Categories of Significance:
Of outstanding national importance
Categories of ownership or interest:
Of national interest
Documentation and bibliographic references:
Documentation:
The following documentation is in possession of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments
§ Documentation on the location and current owner and user of the property (copy of cadastral plan and copy of land registry entry),
§ Data on the previous and current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs, data of war damage if any, data on restoration or other works on the property if any, etc.
§ Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property, as set out in the bibliography.
Bibliography:
- Documentation of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments
- Ančić, M., Jajce. Portret srednjovjekovnog grada (Jajce, Portrait of a mediaeval town). Split, 1999.
- Anđelić, P. Jedna faza izgradnje srednjovjekovnog Jajca (One stage of the construction of mediaeval Jajce). Collected papers of the regional museum II, Banja Luka, 1963/4., 50-52.
- Anđelić, P., Doba srednjovjekovne bosanske države (The period of the mediaeval Bosnian state) in: Kulturna istorija Bosne i Hercegovine od najstarijih vremena do pada ovih zemalja pod osmansku vlast (Cultural History of Bosnia and Herzegovina from earliest times to the start of Ottoman rule) Sarajevo, 1984., 435-587.
- Basler, Đ., Konzervacija južnog zida tvrđave u Jajcu (Conservation of the southern wall of the fortress in Jajce) Naše starine VI, Sarajevo, 1959., 121-134.
- Basler, Đ., Klesarski majstori i radionice u srednjovjekovnom Jajcu (Master stonemasons and masons' yards in mediaeval Jajce). Collected papers of the regional museum I, Banja Luka, 1962., 98-108.
- Basler, Đ., Sjeverni dio gradskih utvda u Jajcu (Northern part of the fortified town in Jajce) Naše starine XI, Sarajevo, 1967., 51-57.
- Bodenstein, G., Povijest naselja u Posavini 1718-1739 (History of settlements in Posavina 1718-1739). Journal of the Nationanl Museum XX, Sarajevo 1908., 95-112.
- E. Çelebı. Putopis (Bosnian translation of his travelogue). Sarajevo, 1954.
- Ćirković, S. Istorija srednjovjekovne bosanske države (History of the mediaeval Bosnian state). Belgrade, 1964.
- Kojić Kovačević, D. Gradska naselja srednjovjekovne bosanske države (Urban settlements of the mediaeval Bosnian state). Sarajevo, 1978.
- Kreševljaković, H. Stari bosanski gradovi (Old Bosnian towns). Naše Starine I. Sarajevo, 1953., 7-47
- Mazalić, Đ., Stari grad Jajce (the old town of Jajce). Journal of the National Museum, n.s. sv. VII. Sarajevo, 1952., 59-100.
- Popović, M., Zbornik za istoriju Bosne i Hercegovine 1 (Collected papers for the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina). Belgrade, 1995., 33-55.
- Popović, M. Vladarski i vlasteoski dvor u srednjovejoknoj Bosni (the ruling and land-owners court in mediaeval Bosnia). Collected Papers for the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina 2. Belgrade, 1997.,1-33.
- Thallozy, L., Povijest Jajca (History of Jajce). Zagreb, 1916.
- Truhelka, Ć., Kraljevski grad Jajce (The Royal town of Jajce). Sarajevo, 1904.
Condition:
1. Very bad
Amount of war or associated damage:
0. No damage
• The Fort suffered no damage as a result of war action
Risk:
• the area is at risk of rapid deterioration due to lack of maintenance and failure to implement even a minimum set of protection measures;
• the area is at risk from the elements.
Condition risk:
B. Immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric, solution agreed but not begun
Technical assessment and costing:
Project of urgent protection measures from further deterioration needs to be done, as well as projects for next fazes of protection – project of sanation, conservation and restoration.
The following measures shall be applied to the site of the National monument:
§ Only such works shall be permitted on the national monument as are carried out for the purpose of its conservation and display;
§ The fortress with its surrounding ramparts and steep northern and western slopes require a detailed archaeological survey;
§ The existing buildings beneath the ramparts are discordant with the city walls and their legality should be investigated. No construction or earth-moving in the immediate environs is permitted without the prior consent of the relevant administrative authorities issued on the basis of the terms stipulated by the relevant heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The physical preservation of the monument shall be carried out in two stages:
§ Stage I - comprises measures to protect the fortress ensemble from further deterioration, clearing self-sown weeds, and the repair and structural consolidation of the ramparts;
§ Stage II - consists of drawing up and implementing a project to revitalize the monument for the purpose of transforming it into a multimedia and cultural centre.
In the area that surrounds the Fort no construction, including alterations to the landscape, are permitted other than the restoration and rehabilitation of buildings forming an integral part of the wider protected ensemble, with the use of materials and building methods that are part of the recognizable landscape (pyramidal roofs with a pitch greater than 45 deg., with dark roof covering, unpainted wooden window and door frames, plastered and whitewashed façades).
In this area no building dating from before 1945 may be demolished.
Costing proposals for projects and above listed works have not been done.
The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has planed, in its budget, financial means, in total of 250.000 KM (≈125.000 EURO), for projects and works on protection of the old towns of BiH.
Fortress in Jajce is one of seven (7) old towns for which financial means are planed.
Ownership:
Public property
Occupation:
Fully occupied in occasional use
Management:
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.
The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina 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 Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall be responsible for providing the financial and technical resources for drawing up a plan for and implementing a Programme for the permanent protection of the national monument.
Summary:
Jajce has an outstanding position among the towns of mediaeval Bosnia, as the only fortified urban settlement with all the features of a fifteenth century urban centre.
In the Region Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina to 2000, the monument was registered as a category I monument – of national importance and as a part of the urban ensemble of Jajce, which was rated as category 0 - of international importance.
Applying the Criteria for the adoption of a decision on proclaiming an item of property a national monument, this national monument reaches the following criteria (criteria of significance):
A. Time frame
B. Historical value
C. Artistic and aesthetic value
C.iii. proportions
C.iv. composition
C.v. value of details
D. Clarity (documentary, scientific, educational value)
D.ii. evidence of historical changes
D.v. evidence of a typical lifestyle of a given period
E. Symbolic value
E. ii. Sacral value
E.v. significance for the identity of a group of people
F. Townscape/landscape value
F.i. relation to other parts of the ensemble
F.ii. meaning in the townscape
F.ii. the building or group of buildings is part of a group or site.
G. Authenticity
G.i. location and setting
H. Uniqueness/rarity
H.i. unique or rare example of a certain type or style.
I. Integrity (ensembles, sites, collections)
I.i. physical coherence
I.ii. homogeneity
I.ii. completeness
The priority level of intervention is HIGH.
NOTE:
Condition
1. Very bad
Condition risk
B. Immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric, solution agreed but not begun
Criteria employed for the Priority Intervention List:
§ The monuments are designated as national monuments,
§ They represents rear or unique example of the typology or chronological - stylistic corpus,
§ They are damaged/destroyed during the 1992-1995 war in BiH or they are endangered by the post war conditions (illegal constructions, lack of funding for restoration and maintenance, inexpert reconstruction,…) and are imposed to further deterioration,
§ Their restoration will encourage return process in BiH,
§ Their restoration will support development of the region.
|
