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Stećak
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Stećak
Stećak (plural stećci; Serbian Cyrillic: стећак, стећци) is the name for monumental medieval tombstones, that lie scattered across Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the border parts of Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. An estimated 60,000 are found within the borders of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina and the rest of 10,000 are found in what are today Croatia (4,400), Montenegro (3,500), and Serbia (2,100), at more than 3,300 odd sites with over 90% in poor condition. They are cut in a variety of recognizable stećak forms, with certain percentage being richly decorated and some individual stećci also containing inscriptions in form of epitaphs.
Appearing in the mid 12th century, with the first phase in the 13th century, the custom of cutting and using stećci tombstones reached its peak in the 14th and 15th century, before being discontinued in the very early 16th century during the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were a common tradition amongst Bosnian, Catholic and Orthodox Church followers alike, and were used by both Slavic and the Vlach populations.
On the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, all found individual and stećci grouped in necropolises are considered immovable heritage and most are already inscribed on one of the lists of the Commission to preserve National Monuments, whether on the List of National Monuments, Tentative List, or into List of Petitions. Stećci are also inscribed into World Heritage List by UNESCO since 2016, with a selection of some 4,000 individual monoliths, grouped in necropolises at 28 locations, of which 20 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, two in Croatia, three in Montenegro, and three in Serbia. One of the best preserved collections of these tombstones is Radimlja, west of Stolac in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the Zgošća Stećak is one of the most representative individual examples of stećak found, in terms of its size, artistic processing and ornamentation.
The word itself is a contracted form of the older word *stojećak, which is derived from the South Slavic verb stajati (engl. stand). It literally means the "tall, standing thing". In Herzegovina they are also called as mašeti / mašete (Italian massetto meaning "big rock", or Turkish meşhet/mešhed meaning "tombstone of a fallen hero"), in Central and Western Bosnia as mramori / mramorje / mramorovi (marble), while in Serbia and Montenegro as usađenik (implantation). On the stećci inscriptions they are called as bilig (mark), kamen bilig (stone mark), kâm / kami / kamen (stone), hram (shrine), zlamen (sign), kuća (house), raka (pit), greb/grob (grave). In the 1495 lectionary they are recorded as kamy (stone).
Although the name stećak is meant to represent high monolithic standing stones (i.e. sanduk and sljemenjak form), in the 20th century the word stećak was accepted in science as a general term, including for plate tombstones (i.e. ploče). The original reference to the word stećak itself is uncertain and seems to be a modern invention as it can only be traced from the note by Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski from 1851, dictionary by Vuk Karadžić from 1852 (in the first edition from 1812 the term did not exist), although he contradicted himself as the commoners from Zagvozd called them starovirsko ("of the old faith"), dictionary by Bogoslav Šulek from 1860 and so on, while academic dictionaries mention it only from 1956/58. It is believed that the term was usually used in East Herzegovina and in the area of Stari Vlah in Serbia. Until the very early 20th century there was wandering in terminology, and some scholars proposed general terms like nadgrobni biljezi (gravestone markers) and mramorje (marble) to be more appropriate.
The term stećak is uncommon in regional dialects and without etiological value, and semantically incorrect and contradicting as it derives from the verb "to stand", while the chest-type to which it refers predominantly is laid down, while another sub-type of pillars and crosses is the one predominantly upright; this upright or standing sub-type does not amount to even 5% of the overall number of stećci; in the original stećci inscriptions they are most often called as kami (meaning "stone" regardless of the form), thus some scholars proposed the term kamik (pl. kamici) for all forms of headstones, while stećak would mean only the upright sub-type. The term kamik is more close to the original meaning and sometimes used instead of stećak in professional literature.
The stećci area or cemetery folk names show respect and admiration for their dimensions, age or representations: Divsko groblje (Giants’ cemetery), Mašete (big stones), Mramori/Mramorje (marble blocks), Grčko groblje (Orthodox cemetery), Tursko groblje (Muslim cemetery), Kaursko groblje (Giaour’s cemetery).
They are characteristic of the territory of present-day Herzegovina, central Bosnia and Podrinje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dalmatia in Croatia, and minor parts of Montenegro, Kosovo, Western Serbia, Northwestern Bosnia, and Croatia (Lika and Slavonia).
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Stećak
Stećak (plural stećci; Serbian Cyrillic: стећак, стећци) is the name for monumental medieval tombstones, that lie scattered across Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the border parts of Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. An estimated 60,000 are found within the borders of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina and the rest of 10,000 are found in what are today Croatia (4,400), Montenegro (3,500), and Serbia (2,100), at more than 3,300 odd sites with over 90% in poor condition. They are cut in a variety of recognizable stećak forms, with certain percentage being richly decorated and some individual stećci also containing inscriptions in form of epitaphs.
Appearing in the mid 12th century, with the first phase in the 13th century, the custom of cutting and using stećci tombstones reached its peak in the 14th and 15th century, before being discontinued in the very early 16th century during the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were a common tradition amongst Bosnian, Catholic and Orthodox Church followers alike, and were used by both Slavic and the Vlach populations.
On the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, all found individual and stećci grouped in necropolises are considered immovable heritage and most are already inscribed on one of the lists of the Commission to preserve National Monuments, whether on the List of National Monuments, Tentative List, or into List of Petitions. Stećci are also inscribed into World Heritage List by UNESCO since 2016, with a selection of some 4,000 individual monoliths, grouped in necropolises at 28 locations, of which 20 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, two in Croatia, three in Montenegro, and three in Serbia. One of the best preserved collections of these tombstones is Radimlja, west of Stolac in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the Zgošća Stećak is one of the most representative individual examples of stećak found, in terms of its size, artistic processing and ornamentation.
The word itself is a contracted form of the older word *stojećak, which is derived from the South Slavic verb stajati (engl. stand). It literally means the "tall, standing thing". In Herzegovina they are also called as mašeti / mašete (Italian massetto meaning "big rock", or Turkish meşhet/mešhed meaning "tombstone of a fallen hero"), in Central and Western Bosnia as mramori / mramorje / mramorovi (marble), while in Serbia and Montenegro as usađenik (implantation). On the stećci inscriptions they are called as bilig (mark), kamen bilig (stone mark), kâm / kami / kamen (stone), hram (shrine), zlamen (sign), kuća (house), raka (pit), greb/grob (grave). In the 1495 lectionary they are recorded as kamy (stone).
Although the name stećak is meant to represent high monolithic standing stones (i.e. sanduk and sljemenjak form), in the 20th century the word stećak was accepted in science as a general term, including for plate tombstones (i.e. ploče). The original reference to the word stećak itself is uncertain and seems to be a modern invention as it can only be traced from the note by Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski from 1851, dictionary by Vuk Karadžić from 1852 (in the first edition from 1812 the term did not exist), although he contradicted himself as the commoners from Zagvozd called them starovirsko ("of the old faith"), dictionary by Bogoslav Šulek from 1860 and so on, while academic dictionaries mention it only from 1956/58. It is believed that the term was usually used in East Herzegovina and in the area of Stari Vlah in Serbia. Until the very early 20th century there was wandering in terminology, and some scholars proposed general terms like nadgrobni biljezi (gravestone markers) and mramorje (marble) to be more appropriate.
The term stećak is uncommon in regional dialects and without etiological value, and semantically incorrect and contradicting as it derives from the verb "to stand", while the chest-type to which it refers predominantly is laid down, while another sub-type of pillars and crosses is the one predominantly upright; this upright or standing sub-type does not amount to even 5% of the overall number of stećci; in the original stećci inscriptions they are most often called as kami (meaning "stone" regardless of the form), thus some scholars proposed the term kamik (pl. kamici) for all forms of headstones, while stećak would mean only the upright sub-type. The term kamik is more close to the original meaning and sometimes used instead of stećak in professional literature.
The stećci area or cemetery folk names show respect and admiration for their dimensions, age or representations: Divsko groblje (Giants’ cemetery), Mašete (big stones), Mramori/Mramorje (marble blocks), Grčko groblje (Orthodox cemetery), Tursko groblje (Muslim cemetery), Kaursko groblje (Giaour’s cemetery).
They are characteristic of the territory of present-day Herzegovina, central Bosnia and Podrinje in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dalmatia in Croatia, and minor parts of Montenegro, Kosovo, Western Serbia, Northwestern Bosnia, and Croatia (Lika and Slavonia).
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