The Šeranića house, Banja Luka (BH_13)
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: Historic building of the Šeranić house in Banja Luka
Inventory reference number(s): 02-6-913/03
Building type(s): Residential house
Main date(s): Date of construction: late 18th century
Current use(s): Currently not in use
Significance
Ilidža mahala acquired its name from the hot healing springs with covered pools (hauz – Arabic for pool) that were built in Ottoman times and between which there ran a hot water stream down into the Vrbas, where there were two small mills that could work even in the depths of winter.
Residential objects were soon built, many of which included healing baths.
The Šeranić house dates from the end of the 18th century, as can be deduced from the type of material and style of masonry, and the surviving asymmetrical arrangement of the building, which corroborates its indigenous nature with a "house" (kitchen) and hearth on the upper floor.
At the beginning of the 20th century the house was divided between two families. There is no data on when the vodnica was destroyed.
General information
The Šeranić house has a ground floor and projecting upper floor. The ground floor measures 11.59 x 8.95 m, with a height to the eaves of 5.59 m and to the roof ridge of 10.75 m. The upper floor measures 12.65 x 9.25 m. It formerly stood in a garden courtyard, separated from the street by a high wall and gate, which was on the north, where the motel now stands. There was a mounting block outside the massive gate. The gate led into the men's courtyard, which anyone could enter and where there were stables for horses and sheds for cows, granaries and other outhouses. A small gate led from the men's courtyard into the women's garden courtyard, which was embellished with an orchard and flower garden and an ilidža or hot spring-fed bath.
The entrance for male visitors was reached directly from the first courtyard; these premises were completely cut off from the rest of the ground floor rooms. There were two rooms in the men's quarters – one for servants and the other, the "men's room" (halvat) with mihrab-like windows. In this part of the ground floor, there is another staircase which was added as part of a later conversion, two generations ago, when the property was divided between two co-owners.
The main entrance door is from the women's courtyard, facing the street, and simply made of wood. There is an entrance from the stoneslab-floored hajat into the storeroom, which was used to store tools, agricultural produce and fuel. There are two small apertures like loopholes in one wall of the storeroom, and it is not hard to deduce what they were used for. The area next to the storeroom is a hudžera or larder, with the hatch in one wall. Shoes were left in the hajat and slippers donned (papuče, hence the name papučluk); from here a single-flight wooden staircase led to the divanhana. This is now divided into two by a wooden partition wall. The divanhana was treated here more as a communication area, from which one entered the rooms.
The room, with its open hearth known as the «kuća» (lit. house) or kitchen, has remained unaltered in the Šeranić house, with its open roof structure and the remains of the other features belonging to it. The hearth has been destroyed but the place where it stood remains. The "kuća" had an opening with ćefenak (flap) and door to facilitate the rapid ventilation of the kitchen.
In this part of the house, divided by a small corridor from the divanhana, which the occupants of the household called the ćulhan, people hid when the army came and war broke out. There were another two rooms here and a small odžaklija (room with a fireplace and chimney).
The specific feature of this house is that this kamerija was in this part of the house and did not form a logical extension of the divanhana, as was the rule. The old master craftsmen sought a fine view on the gardens of the quarter and the Vrbas, which this small area, tailored to human scale, could have provided.
The other part of the upper floor, now divided off, was previously accessible from the divanhana. There are two rooms here: a small sobadžik and a large room for visitors.
Research and conservation and restoration works
- No research or restoration and conservation works have been undertaken.
Categories of Significance
- Of outstanding national importance.
Categories of ownership or interest
- Of national interest.
Documentation and bibliliographic 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.
- Husedžinović, Sabira. “Dokumenti opstanka, džamije u Banjoj Luci” (documents of the survival of mosques in Banja Luka) with accompanying bibliography.
- Architectural documentation originating from before 1995.
Condition
1. Very poor
- The Šeranić house is in very poor structural condition and risks collapse.
Amount of war or associated damage:
1. Minor war damage sustained
Risk
- The house is at risk of rapid deterioration as a result of lack of maintenance and failure to implement even minimal protection measures.
Condition risk
C. Immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric, solution agreed but not begun
- The building of a motel has altered the natural environs of the house and many of the buildings that were part of the men’s courtyard (granaries, stables, wall and main gate) have been destroyed. The house was adversely affected by the Braće Alagić (1989) road and the raising of the level of the road, as a result of which a large concrete access ramp was built, which destroyed the hot water stream that flowed in the garden. The well was destroyed, as was the wall between the men’s and women’s courtyards and the rose garden; the entire environs and ambience of the building have been altered.
Technical assessment and costing
- A project for urgent measures to protect the property from further deterioration is to be drawn up, as well as projects for the next stages of protection – repairs, conservation and restoration projects.
The following measures and works are to be carried out on the National monument of the historic building of the Šeranić house:
- structural repair and restoration to its original appearance with all the structural elements of the building as they were: roof, foundations, walls, ceilings, and all interior elements;
- structural repairs and restoration by consolidation of existing material or its replacement by material of the same type, same dimensions and form (wood, stone and unfired brick) with the use of the same building techniques wherever possible, on the basis of documentation on its original form (architectural and technical survey of the house, 1989, historical and new photographic documentation);
- prior to the start of structural restoration works, study of the structural stability of the building, and in particular its foundations;
- structural consolidation of all walls and wooden tie beams that have deteriorated with age (same dimensions, form and type of wood);
- consolidation of existing unfired bricks by injection or replacement by identical bricks;
- structural repairs to all wooden roof structures, replacing age-dilapidated material with the same material of the same dimensions, worked in the same way and using the same techniques (floors, šiše ceilings);
- structural repairs to all parts of the roof to the same form, with the same type of wood, worked in the same way and using the same techniques;
- replacement of the roofing material of plain tiles with the same type as previously (size, shape, colour, thickness, method of laying);
- renovation of the dormer windows in the roof;
- verification that water can run off from the roof without using guttering and keeping damp away from around the house;
- removal of later addition of entrance to men's quarters and interior partition walls as well as double staircase (all added in the early 20th century because of family division);
- restoration of the authentic layout;
- reconstruction of vodnica (water closet) and provision of link to garden by means of a stone stairway;
- reconstruction of hearth in the "house"-kitchen;
- plastering of all interior walls with lime plaster made by old methods and whitewashing of all walls;
- repair of all woodwork (ceilings, floors, doors, staircase), replacement of rotten parts and treatment with natural protective substances;
- provision of more space around the house by removing the concrete ramp built as a result of the raising of the street level which left the house below street level;
- fencing of the building with a wooden fence and gate (according to architectural and technical documentation);
- restoration of the women's courtyard and rose garden;
- plastering of the façade of the building's upper floor with lime plaster made by old methods and whitewashing of all façades;
- restoration of the pointing on the façade of the ground floor of the building using old techniques where the stone is to remain visible and treatment of the tie beams against damp;
- repair and part restoration of all woodwork and treatment with natural protective substances;
- repair and restoration of all interior fittings (sećije or seats, musandre or built in cupboards and other furnishings) using historical documentation.
The feasibility study defines the following stages and costing:
Summary of stages
Description of activities Cost (€)
Urgent Interventions 3 600
Research work, assessment of state of materials and structure 7 500
Drawing up repair and restoration project 9 600
Repair and restoration work 89 250
Interior fittings and furniture 20 000
Renovation of outdoor space 11 500
Technical supervision 7 000
Promotional activities 6 750
Management plan production 20 000
Capacity building 2 000
Implementation costs (co-ordination, administration/finance, office supplies and running costs, travel cost) – 5% 8 860
TOTAL 186 060
In 2008 the Commission to Preserve National Monuments implemented the first three stages of the work set out in the Feasibility Study (urgent protection measures, research work, drawing up a repair and restoration project), for which the US Ambassador’s Fund for the Preservation of the Cultural Heritage has donated 25,000 $.
Ownership
- Private - Šeranić family.
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 Republika Srpska no. 9/02) apply to the National Monument.
The Commission to Preserve National Monuments is a state-level institution of Bosnia and Herzegovina established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and by Decision of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is responsible for adopting decisions designating movable and immovable properties as national monuments, applying the criteria for the designation of national monuments (Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina no. 33/02). The Commission’s decisions prescribe the basic provisions and protection measures pertaining to each national monument.
The Government of Republika Srpska is responsible for ensuring and providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary to protect, conserve, display and rehabilitate the National Monument.
Further, the Government of Republika Srpska is responsible for providing the resources for drawing up and implementing the necessary technical documentation for the rehabilitation of the National Monument.
The Ministry of Regional Planning of Republika Srpska is responsible for the implementation of legally-prescribed protection measures. It is responsible for issuing planning approvals and permits for all works and construction in the protected area on the basis of planning and technical documentation approved by an authorised professional institution.
The Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Republika Srpska is involved in these activities by verifying whether the conditions set out in the technical documentation have been met. The Institute is responsible for expert supervision, as prescribed by the Decision of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, and for the implementation of projects or parts thereof financed by the Government of Republika Srpska.
Decisions designating national monuments are forwarded to the authorities responsible for town planning and cadastral affairs in order to implement the measures prescribed by these decisions, and to the competent municipal court for entry in the Land Register.
The City of Banja Luka is responsible, through its various departments and the buildings and planning inspectorate of the Inspectorate Authority of Republika Srpska, for overseeing and controlling on-site activities.
The City is required to append all its plans and documents pertaining to the protected area of the national monuments to the decisions issued by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments. The City is required to refrain from all activities detrimental to the national monuments, and to co-operate with the Commission to Preserve National Monuments and the Entity institutions in the process of implementing the Commission’s decisions.
Pursuant to the Decision of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Commission to Preserve National Monuments is authorised to perform activities of international co-operation in the field of heritage. The Commission is responsible for the implementation of the project in accordance with the Rules for the implementation of donor funds earmarked for the renovation or protection of the endangered cultural and historical heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Commission implements project for urgent protection measures being financed by the US Ambassador’s Fund.
The Seranic family, as owners, have expressed their support for the restoration project and for the formation of a museum in the premises, and are ready to sign an agreement on the use of the building.
Summary
The Seranica House is an important survival of the Ottoman vernacular style of the 18th century, situated in a residential quarter which has very high potential for spa tourism. Now in poor condition, with an absentee private owner, the restoration of the house and its environs to the condition which they enjoyed until the early 20th century would act as a catalyst in the development of spa tourism in the district. Seven other houses in the area have surviving baths, contributing to a notable ensemble which, under the auspices of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, could be developed as a significant tourist attraction. The restoration of the Seranica House would set an example of the way in which restoration and rehabilitation might contribute to the long-term sustainable revitalisation of the cultural, historical and natural heritage of a region with great tourist potential.
The priority level of intervention is HIGH.
NOTE:
Condition
1. Very poor
Condition risk
B. Immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric, solution agreed but not begun.
Sign. and date
Adi Ćorović, architect
Mirela Mulaluć Handan, architect
2010
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