Prioritized Intervention List:
Ÿ Country:
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ÿ Name of organization compiling the information:
Commission to Preserve National Monuments
Ÿ Contact name:
Mirela Mulaluć Handan
Ÿ email address:
mirela@aneks8ko.com.ba
The monument, sites or ensemble
Ÿ Name and address of building(s) or site:
Historical site of the Old Town Bužim
Ÿ  Inventory reference number(s):
06-6-546/03-3
Ÿ Monument or site type(s):
Military - Fort
Ÿ Main date(s):
Date of construction: unknown, suggestion is that it dates from the fourteenth century.
There have been works on the Old town constantly from its construction till begging of nineteen century.
Ÿ Current use(s):
Historical site
Significance:
The Bužim fort appears in historical documents under two names, Čava and Bužim. The fort of Čavnik or Čavica, built at a time when the region was threatened by Ottoman incursions, stands not far from Bužim in the valley of the river Čava. Although Bužim is one of the largest mediaeval forts in the Krajina (military frontier region) and was of major importance, nothing is known of when it was first built. The system to which it was built suggests that it dates from the fourteenth century, from which time on there is rather more information.
General information
The old fort of Bužim is an interesting example of the older type of fortifications, erected before the age of firearms, with a new set of ramparts and towers built later in the early days of defensive fortifications against artillery fire. The ruins of the fort of Bužim consist of inner and outer fortifications, with the entire complex covering an area of 72 areas (1 are = 100 sq.m) and 67 sq.m. The inner, older fortifications constitute a small citadel forming a relatively regular quadrangle, with tall round towers at the angles. In the late fifteenth century the citadel was surrounded by new fortifications, trapezoid in plan, with polygonal towers at the angles. The walls and towers of these fortifications are considerably lower, and have emplacements on top for cannon. At the same time, apertures and emplacements for artillery weapons were added to the towers and walls of the inner fortifications. The erection of the outer line of defenses protected the old citadel from direct artillery fire, and the defense approach was fortified, since the towers of the inner fort were taller than the walls of the outer fortifications.
Inner fortifications
The ramparts of the inner fortifications enclose an area of about 750 sq.m. At the centre of the north wall was a rectangular entrance tower (5 x 4 m) from which a platform with steps extended from the north rampart towards the north-west tower; the entrance gate was entered from this platform, and thence into the fort. The entrance was at a height of about 13 m. The ramparts were topped by walkways for the defending troops, up to 1 m wide, and there were probably artillery apertures. Loopholes have survived at the top of the west rampart, set approximately 1 m apart. From the outside, the walls are about 15 m high, and from the inside about 3-4 m. The bailey of the fort is level and earth-filled, but in the middle ages the soil level was lower than now. The outside of the walls was rewetted with finely worked limestone, which now survives only in part on the west wall.
The round towers at the angles projected from the ramparts, with only a quarter of the tower built into the ramparts. As a result, all the towers were entered from the inner bailey. They were basically of the same construction, but differed in detail and purpose. The outer walls of the towers are 2 to 2.8 m thick, and their height was up to 20 m. They were three-storeyed, with a ground floor (basement) and two upper floors. There were no openings on the ground floor, which was reached from the first floor by steps inside the tower. The ground floor and first floor had stone ceilings in the shape of a pointed dome.
The south-east tower is the best preserved.
Between the south-east tower and the south wall of the mosque there was a cistern 40 arshins (about 28 m) deep, of which no trace now remains.
When Bužim was occupied, a large and well-built stone mosque was erected within the older fortifications. The mosque occupies more than a third of the area of the bailey, lying parallel with the eastern rampart of the fort, with the entrance to the mosque in line with the main gates to the fort. The mosque in ground plan forms a slightly irregular rectangle, with external dimensions are 19 x 19,5 m. The mosque was used for worship until the mid nineteenth century, when a wooden mosque was built in the middle of the town below the fort.
The outer fortifications cover an area of about 4500 sq.m., with the ramparts about 15 to 20 m. from those of the inner fortifications. The ramparts are from 5 to 8 m high. There are low, polygonal, projecting bastions at the angles. The north-western bastion (approx. 10 x 9 m, and somewhat lower than the rest) and the north-eastern bastion (approx. 10 x 13 m) are hexagonal. The south-western bastion (approx 15 x 14 m, and 12 m high) is octagonal, and the south-eastern (approx 10 x 5, height 9 m) is quadrangular. The bastion walls are about 2 m thick. The northern outer side of the fort has largely collapsed as a result of weathering.
The perimeter walls of both forts were topped by walkways, cannon emplacements and loopholes. Traces of these can be seen in part on the southern ramparts of both forts. Openings for artillery weapons on the southern rampart of the outer fortifications, measuring 0.5 x 0.3 m, are set every 0.9 to 1.5 m. The entrance to the fort was in the west wall alongside the north-western bastion. There was a bihacite (local stone) transom measuring 101 x 24.5 x 20 cm) above the arched entrance, bearing the following inscription:
“Ta grad sazidal iz fudumenta izibrani knez Juraj Mikuličić. U nu vrime va vsei hrvatskoj zemlji boljega čovika ne biše, zač u kralja Matijaša u veliki počtenji biše, zač ot cara turskoga Ugarskoj zemlji mir našal biše. I car rimski, ta ga dobrim čovikom zoviše. I vsaki od tih poglavit dar dal mu biše. A Hrvati ga za nenavist hercegom Ivanišem pogubiše. Ki li se oće takim čovikom zvati, neka takov grad iz fundamenta ima izzidati, tere sebi tako...(quoted from Fučić, 1982, p. 112, no. 71).
«The fort was built with funds from the elect prince Juraj Mikuličić. . . .»
The inscription is written in careful glagolitic script, in glowing terms, and one may deduce from it that it was written after the death of Juraj Mikuličić, who was killed in 1495. The final part of the inscription is missing, and was probably incised on another stone adjacent to the first. According to Brunšmid, the inscription was removed from the wall in 1876 by an Austrian army officer who handed it over to the then National Museum in Zagreb. The slab is now in the collection of stone monuments of the History Museum of Croatia (inv. no. 6830).
Truhelka (1904, p. 36, illus. p. 35) also describes the stone transoms framing the slab. On the vertical sides symbols were carved in bas relief: to the left, an arm in armour with a mace and battleaxe, and to the right a soldier with a banner, a crescent moon above him, topped by two stars. Above there was yet another slab with an incised spear as the central image. Beneath was a bird on either side and above were two stars. These were clearly heraldic in nature, probably from the arms of various owners of the fort in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. One relief, measuring 0.7 x 0.25 x 0.25, was built into the western corner of the south-eastern bastion when the fort was repaired in Ottoman times. This is in two sections, one with a horse, the other with two birds. There is also a clumsily carved head of a man.
From a sketch made by a spy in the early nineteenth century, there were buildings inside the outer fortifications.
Research and conservation and restoration works
From available documentation, the Republic Institute for the Protection of Monuments surveyed the fort in the 1980s and made preparations for major conservation works. It was at this time that the facing of the lower part of the east wall and south-western tower of the inner fort were conserved.
No archaeological investigations have been conducted.
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
Ÿ Documentation on the location and current owner and user of the property (copy of cadastral plan and copy of land registry entry),
Ÿ 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.
Ÿ Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property, as set out in the bibliography.
Bibliography:
- Documentation of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments
- Brunšmid, Josip, Kameni spomenici (Stone monuments) Newsletter of the Croatian Archaeological Society, New Series III, Zagreb, 1912, 163-164, no.866, illus. p. 62
- Fučić, Branko, Glagoljski natpisi. (Glagolitic inscriptions) Works of the Yugoslav Academy of Science and the Arts, Vol. 57, Zagreb, 1982
- Kreševljaković, Hamdija, Prilozi povijesti bosanskih gradova pod turskom upravom (Papers on the history of Bosnian towns under Turkish rule) Papers on Oriental Philology and History of the Yugoslav Peoples under Turkish Rule, no.II, Sarajevo, 1952
- Kreševljaković, Hamdija, Stari bosanski gradovi (Old Bosnian towns) Naše starine I, Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of BiH, Sarajevo, 1954, p. 22.
- Popović, Marko, Srednjovjekovne tvrđave u Bosni i Hercegovini .(Mediaeval forts in BiH) Collected Papers on the History of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1, Serbian Academy of Science and the Arts, Belgrade, 1995, pp.33-55
- Popović, Marko, Vladarski i vlasteoski dvor u srednjovekovnoj Bosni. (Court of the rulers and landed aristocracy in mediaeval Bosnia) Collected Papers on the History of Bosnia and Herzegovine 2, Serbian Academy of Science and the Arts. Belgrade 1997, pp.1-33
- Truhelka, Ćiro, Naši gradovi. (Our towns) Editions J. Studnička & Co booksellers, Sarajevo, 1904.
- Vego, Marko, Naselja srednjovjekovne bosanske države (Settlements of the mediaeval Bosnian state) Svjetlost, Sarajevo 1957, p. 105
Condition:
1. Very bad
By the late nineteenth century there were already reports that the fort was being plundered by the local population (Truhelka, 1904, p. 35). What Truhelka recorded in the early twentieth century no longer exists.
On site inspection revealed the following:
Inner fort
Ÿ the fort is in a state of some collapse, particularly the western and eastern ramparts of the inner fort, and the upper parts of the towers. The north-west tower has almost entirely lost its outer facings. The area inside the fort is tidy and passable, and there is no vegetation posing a danger to the walls
Ÿ the entire structure of the entrance gate and the steps are in ruins. The fort is entered via an embankment and through a breach in the wall where the gate formerly stood
Ÿ the steps referred to by Truhelka at the entrances to the north-west tower and the mosque no longer exist
Ÿ there are no fireplaces, door jambs and window frames in the towers
Ÿ every piece of stone slab that could have been used for building has been removed
Outer fort
Ÿ where the entrance gate in the west wall stood there is just a large gap
Ÿ the eastern rampart has been pulled down
Ÿ houses and a rural road have been built alongside the south-west outer angle of the fort and part of the western rampart
Ÿ although the fort has suffered considerably from the effects of time, it is still very impressive, and remains one of the best preserved mediaeval forts.
Amount of war or associated damage:
1. Small amount of war damage sustained
Risk:
Ÿ the area is at risk of rapid deterioration due to lack of maintenance and failure to implement even a minimum set of protection measures;
Ÿ the area is at risk from the elements.
Ÿ
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 restauration.
For the protection and conservation and restauration of the National monument following measures and works shall be done:
Ÿ only conservation and restoration works, including works designed to display the monument, shall be permitted, carried out to a design project approved by the relevant Federal Ministry and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of FBiH,
Ÿ all construction, works that could have the effect of altering the site, and the erection of temporary or permanent structures not intended solely for the preservation and display of the monument are prohibited,
Ÿ the site of the National Monument shall be open and accessible to the public, and may be used for educational and cultural purposes,
Ÿ the following measures in particular shall be carried out:
- clearing the walls of vegetation representing a danger to the structure of the monument
- conservation of the monument in its current condition
Ÿ clear the pathway/walkway on the ramparts of the fort and make good the access to the entrances to the towers.
In the area that surrounds old fort of Bužim (this zone encompasses the slopes immediately adjacent to the fort; a residential building erected at the base of the fort alongside the south-western bastion, and is separated from the outer ramparts of the fort only by the road), no new building shall be permitted, but the rehabilitation and adaptation of existing buildings may be permitted to a maximum height of two storeys (ground plus one upper storey, 6.5 m. to the roof cornice) and maximum horizontal dimensions of 12 x 10 m with hipped roofs with a pitch of at least 40o.
In this zone the erection of industrial buildings and facilities, major infrastructure, or potential polluters as defined by regulations, is prohibited
Costing proposals for projects and rehabilitation 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.
Old town Bužim is one of seven (7) old towns for which financial means are planed.
Ownership:
Public property
Occupation:
No occupancy
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) shall apply to the National Monument.
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.
The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall be responsible for providing the resources for drawing up and implementing the necessary technical documentation for the rehabilitation of the National Monument.
Summary:
The old fort of Bužim is an interesting example of the older type of fortifications, erected before the age of firearms, with a new set of ramparts and towers built later in the early days of defensive fortifications against artillery fire.
The Regional Plan of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina to 2000 listed Old town Bužim as a category I monument – of national 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. i. quality of workmanship
C.iii. proportions
C.vi. value of construction
D. Clarity
D.ii. evidence of historical change
D. iv. evidence of a particular type, style or regional manner
D. v. evidence of a typical way of life at a specific period
G. Authenticity
G.ii. material and content
G.iv. traditions and techniques
G.v. location and setting
H. Rarity and representativity
H.i. unique or rare example of a certain type or style
I. Completeness
I.i. physical coherence
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:
Ÿ The monuments are designated as national monuments,
Ÿ They represents rear or unique example of the typology or chronological - stylistic corpus,
Ÿ 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,
Ÿ Their restoration will encourage return process in BiH,
Ÿ Their restoration will support development of the region.
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