Natural and architectural ensemble of the Bregava river with flour mills,
Fulling Mills And Bridges (BH_25)
Country or territory: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Name of organisation compiling the information: Commission to Preserve National Monuments
Contact name: Mirela Mulaluć Handan
Email address: mirela.m.handan@kons.gov.ba
Name and address of building(s) or site: Natural and architectural ensemble of the River Bregava with flour mills, fulling mills and bridges
Inventory reference number(s): 02-6-993/03-1
Building type(s): Cultural landscape
Main date(s): 17th - 20th century
Current use(s): Residential
Significance
The natural and architectural ensemble of the River Bregava with bridges, flour mills and fulling mills is a monument of outstanding value and a testament to the skills of vernacular builders.
In addition, since it evolved continually over a period of three hundred years, it attests to the way of life of the people of Stolac, their everyday needs, and the local economy.
The Bregava is a karst river rising in Dol below Mt Hrgud and joining the River Neretva in Klepci near Čapljina. It flows for most of its length through Stolac, forming the mainstay of the town's historical development. The river was used as a natural resource for the development of the economy and for transit.
The river has two sizeable natural falls – above the Begovina, known as Pjene, and above Propa, known as Provalije. In the 18th century a number of dams were built, creating artificial falls, the best known being the Great Dam by the Šarić summer residence.
The many buildings on the river, the work of local builders, attest to the bond between the people and their natural environment and to their social development.
The first flour mills and fulling mills, the latter with vats for fulling, washing and dyeing homespun cloth, were built over the Bregava in the 15th century. In the 18th century, mills were part of the endowments of a number of prominent legators of Stolac. The flour mills are long, narrow buildings standing like bridges with several arches over the river. Their walls were built of rubble stone, and their gabled roofs were clad with stone slabs. Each mill had one set of millstones for each arch. In some cases a single flour mill would have several millers. The fulling mills are simple stone buildings with a gabled roof, sometimes with two storeys, and with vats and troughs for fulling, dyeing and washing cloth. Flour mills and fulling mills were usually built side by side where the current was most suitable.
Until World War II the people of Stolac depended largely on the Bregava, since the town made its living mainly from the mills.
Twelve groups of flour mills, fulling mills and vats still survive in whole or in ruins in Stolac.
Categories of Significance
- Of outstanding national importance.
- Of international importance – part of the historica and natural area of Stolav on the UNESCO Tentative list.
Categories of ownership or interest
- State and privately owned industrial and infrastructural buildings.
Documentation and bibliographic references
1927. Hasandedić, Hivzija. Muslimanska baština u istočnoj Hercegovini
1998. Čelić, Džemal and Mujezinović, Mehmed. Stari mostovi u Bosni i Hercegovini. Sarajevo: Sarajevo-Publishing, 1998.
2005. Elezović, Mehmed. “Stolačke stupe,” Most, no. 193, (104 – new series), yr XXX, December 2005.
Elezović, Mehmed. Stolačke mlinice
www.geocities.com/stolacbridgebuildings
Condition
1. Very poor - structural failure and instability; loss of roof covering; major internal deterioration; major fire or disaster affecting most of the building.
War or associated damage:
1. Small amount of damage sustained
- The flour mills and fulling mills in Stolac are in extremely poor condition, the result of minor war damage, neglect and disuse.
- Only about half of the twenty or so flour mills that Elezović records were in Stolac in the 18th century now remain(1). Some of the flour mills have fallen into total ruin, with only traces now visible.
- Only one flour mill and vat have been restored and are in regular use (the flour mill in the complex of flour mills and fulling mills with vats at Propa – the Batan flour mill).
- All the other flour mills are badly damaged and exposed to the elements. In addition, rubbish is often dumped in them. The roofs are either missing or the roof timbers are in a very poor state, there are cracks in the walls, courses are missing from the walls, and parts of the buildings are overgrown with vegetation. The mill races are overgrown with vegetation and many are choked with rubbish. The channels themselves are in poor condition and overgrown with weeds. Inside, the mills are in poor condition, with broken wooden hoppers and mill wheels removed from their bearings, but all the elements survive.
- Structurally speaking, all the bridges in Stolac are still standing and in use.
- The Podgrad bridge, Inat Ćuprija, the Begovina bridge, the Ali-pasha bridge and the bridge in Polje (the Ošanići bridge) are all still used for road traffic, while the remaining three lesser bridges, the bridge on the Ada, the Sara Kašiković bridge, the bridges by the Šarić summer residence, are used for pedestrian traffic only.
- All the bridges show signs of moss and lichen, and their footings are overgrown with vegetation.
- Later interventions to some of the bridges have significantly altered their original appearance.
- Lack of routine maintenance has resulted in major damage to the structure of some of the bridges.
Risk
Natural Threats
- Decay of materials – deterioration through age, neglect and exposure to the elements
Development – demographic growth
- Loss of handicraft tradition – the trades of miller and fuller are dying out
- The Impact of Social Unrest
- Conflict of values – different notions of the value and importance of buildings on the part of the authorities and the people who use them
Lack of maintenance
- Vegetation growth
- Accumulated dirt
- Stagnating water
Lack of administration and legislation
- Inadequate institutional support
- Poor integration of heritage into development plans
Structural destabilization
- Structural failure – deformations, collapse
- Loss of material, detachment, cracking
- Additive effects –surface deposits, additions, replacements
Ownership and occupation
- Multi-occupation
- No responsibility for maintenance
Resources
- Lack of finance for maintenance and repair
Condition risk
A. Immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric; no solution agreed.
Technical assessment and costings
No technical assessments of condition have been carried out and there are no preliminary costing carried out for repairs and rehabilitation.
The following need to be carried out as soon as possible:
- conduct a preliminary survey to identify the condition of and extent of damage to the buildings in the natural and architectural ensemble;
- carry out emergency works to protect the buildings at greatest risk (reconstruction and restoration of roofs, replacement of damaged areas of roof cladding, injection of structural cracks etc.);
- conduct a detailed survey of the natural and architectural ensemble to identify:
- the current condition of the buildings as regards the preservation of their original structure and appearance;
- the precise extent of damage to each building;
- the causes of deterioration of the buildings and devastation of the values of the natural and architectural ensemble;
- design a conservation, restoration and revitalization project based on the survey of the current condition;
- carry out conservation and restoration works on the buildings in line with the conservation project;
- draw up a maintenance programme and plan for the buildings in the natural and architectural ensemble, specifying the organizations responsible for carrying out the programme;
- draw up a programme for the revitalization of the national monument;
- design a project to landscape the banks of the River Bregava on the basis of accorded value;
- ensure that a detailed plan for the protection of the national monument is drawn up, to cover both the ensemble as a whole and the individual buildings within the protected area as defined in Clause 1 of the decision designating it as a national monument;
- ensure that a detailed conservation plan is drawn up, to include measures to protect the natural and architectural ensemble;
- ensure that a detailed study is carried out every five years to accord value to the flora and fauna of the River Bregava and its banks;
- draw up a project for the sustainable protection of endemic and endangered species every five years, based on the accorded value of the flora and fauna of the River Bregava and its banks, and carry out the project, with particular reference to the following species: Salmothymus obtusirostratis oxyrhirichus, Chondrostoma kneri, Barbitistes yersini, Poecilimon elegans, Platycleis orina and Ephippiger discoidalis.
Ownership
- State and private ownership.
Occupation
- Fully occupied, mostly in occasional use (only few objects have regular use).
Management
Pursuant to the powers allotted to it by Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in BiH, in 2003 the Commission to Preserve National Monuments adopted a Decision designating the natural and architectural ensemble of the River Bregava with flour mills, fulling mills and bridges, Stolac Municipality, Federation of BiH, as a national monument.
The Commission monitors and assesses the condition of national monuments and activities associated with them. It has drawn up a List of Endangered Monuments requiring urgent protection measures to prevent them from being wholly destroyed, with a view to drawing the attention of all relevant authorities at the entity and national (state) level, as well as of potential donors and investors, to national monuments at risk of disappearing for ever if steps are not taken immediately to rescue them.
The natural and architectural ensemble of the River Bregava with flour mills, fulling mills and bridges, Stolac Municipality, Federation of BiH, is on the List of Endangered Monuments.
Responsibility for implementing the Commission’s decisions lies with the government of the entity in whose territory a given national monument is located. The entity governments, regional planning ministries, heritage protection authorities and municipal authorities responsible for town planning and cadastral affairs are notified of decisions by the Commission to enable them to carry out the measures prescribed by law, and the relevant municipal court is also notified so that the designation may be entered in the Land Register.
Pursuant to the Law on the Implementation of Decisions of the Commission and the provisions of the Decision designating the natural and architectural ensemble of the River Bregava with flour mills, fulling mills and bridges as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is responsible for providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary for the protection, conservation, presentation and rehabilitation of the national monument (the implementation of the Decision). 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) apply to the National Monument.
In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), the Federal Ministry of Regional Planning issues permits for protective, investigative, conservation, restoration and rehabilitation works on national monuments, along with building permits relating to the protected site of a national monument, based on planning and technical documentation approved by the authorized professional body. Technical documentation must be in conformity with the protection measures set out in the decisions designating national monuments. In addition, the basic activity of the entity ministries responsible for regional planning is spatial planning and drawing up planning documents, and implementing them by means of land use.
The Institute for the Protection of Monuments operates under the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sport of FBiH. The Institute is responsible for the expert supervision of restoration works on national monuments and for carrying out restoration projects financed from the budget of the Government of FBiH.
The Federal Inspectorate Authority of FBiH, responsible for planning and building inspection, carries out the inspection and oversight of the protected areas on which national monuments are located, and is authorized to take the legally prescribed protection measures, including issuing decisions suspending all interventions not in compliance with the law and restoring the property in question to the condition in which it was prior to the illicit or inexpert works.
Stolac Municipality, acting through its various departments, monitors and controls activities in the field. Municipal authorities are required to bring all their plans and documents relating to the protected area of a monument into compliance with the decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments. The Municipality is also required to refrain from all activities that could be detrimental to the monument, and to cooperate with the Commission to Preserve National Monuments and the entity institutions in the process of implementation of the Commission’s decisions and the protection of monuments.
The Commission to Preserve National Monuments is also authorized, in its case by the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to conduct international activities in regard to the protection of the historical and cultural heritage. This includes raising donor funds for the protection of national monuments and the implementation of protection projects.
Summary
“Traces of human settlements from every age, from the Neolithic through the Illyrians and the Romans to the Middle Ages, the Ottoman period and modern times, are to be found along the River Bregava, which rises above Stolac and joins the River Neretva at Čapljina. Stolac itself, a little town that took shape along the upper reaches of the Bregava, is a very ancient settlement.”(2)
The Stolac čaršija in its present form began to take shape in the early 16th century alongside the River Bregava, which forms its urban backbone. The nucleus of the čaršija, its oldest part and the starting point for its evolution, is the area around the Čaršija mosque. “The small čaršija grew up by the Podgrad Mosque, and the Ćuprijska čaršija (čaršija by the Bridge) grew up around the hammam and the Ćuprija Mosque. Ranges of shops, workshops and public buildings linked the small čaršija and the Ćuprija čaršija with the Imperial čaršija to form the Stolac Čaršija.” (3)
“The mention of Stolac conjures up, in the minds of mosque of those who know it, the totality and diversity of its cultural heritage. However, the first visual impression felt by a stranger to Stolac is the abundance of water in this oasis in the karst.” (4)
The river Bregava is the lifeline of the town of Stolac and the mainstay of its daily life. Until World War II the livelihood of the people of Stolac was largely dependent on the Bregava, along and over which were located the facilities that provided them with an income. After World War II the economy of Stolac underwent considerable changes, but the river remained the focus of the daily lives of the people of Stolac, the place where they went for walks, bathed in summer, gathered on its many bridges, or relaxed on the terraces of the cafés along the river.
The age-old interdependence of people and river is reflected in the riverscape itself – it is impossible to imagine the watercourse and its banks without the many bridges spanning the river, the flour mills and fulling mills as the image of the livelihoods assured by the river, and the falls that add vitality to and enhance the beauty of the natural course of the river.
The cultural landscape of the river Bregava is a daily reminder of the past of Stolac, a town where people came from various surrounding areas to grind their grain and full their cloth. The river and all the small-scale, stone-built merchant properties built on and over it are directly associated with the living tradition of its residents. It is a cultural landscape that will always reflect the culture and way of life that it shaped over such a long period.
Even now, the cultural landscape of the river Bregava is a vivid memory for many people – not only the people of Stolac itself, but also those whose forebears used to come here with packhorses laden with grain and cloth. Stories, legends and songs about the river Bregava and its flour mills, fulling mills and bridges are told and retold to this day.
The river Bregava and the small-scale, markedly vernacular buildings on and over it are an essential part of the life of every native and resident of Stolac.
The bridges, and even more so the flour mills and fulling-mills, small structures built by local masons with but one intention, to ease the lives of the people of Stolac, remained the most important merchant properties in the town until the end of World War II. The basis of the economy of Stolac was milling from the 16th to the mid 20th century, supplemented in the 18th century by leatherworking.
Identified over the years by the name of their individual owners, by which they are still recognizable to this day, the flour mills are all of the same type, with only minor differences in the system of building.
They date from a single period and, as “imperfect” buildings in the organism of the Čaršija, are the reflection of its perfect structure.
The fulling mills of Stolac were always associated with the flour mills, but were also separate buildings with their own distinct trade, forming an important branch of the economy of Stolac.
The town of Stolac and the river Bregava acquired their present appearance in the 18th century, when most of the bridges, mills and fulling mills were built.
The flour mills and fulling mills were in active use until the end of World War II, after which they were gradually abandoned, largely because of changes to the economy in Stolac and the gradual decline of small-scale businesses. Rapid industrialization, electrification, lack of maintenance and even deliberate demolition, as well as the ravages of the 1992-1995 war, have left Stolac today with only seven bridges, ten or a dozen flour mills, and a couple of fulling mills. Even so, this architecture on water still attests to the symbiosis between human action and its natural surroundings, and the age-old bond between people and nature, which in this case was not irreversibly destroyed, but rather enriched by human action.
The preservation of this natural and architectural ensemble, entailing the preservation of its morphology, architecture and trades, given their unique character and value, is one of the priorities of the heritage protection institutions.
Categories of Significance
- Internationally important.
Condition
2. Very poor - structural failure and instability; loss of roof covering; major internal deterioration; major fire or disaster affecting most of the building.
War or associated damage:
2. Small amount of damage sustained.
Condition risk
B. Immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric; no solution agreed.
Priority level: High.
Reinforced by the List of Endangered Monuments led by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments
Signed and dated
Amra Šarančić Logo, architect
2010
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