Stecaks, the unique example of medieval tombstones, could be included in the List of world heritage of UNESCO already this months, after seven years of work on this project.
This is a decision that 21 member countries of UNESCO’s Committee should consider at the 40th session that is to be held from July 10 to 20 in Istanbul, when a decision will be reached on which goods will be included in the prestigious List of world heritage.
Ministry of Internal Affairs of BiH is the holder of the project, and Assistant to the Minister for Science and Culture in the Ministry Biljana Čamur Veselinović highlights that consideration of nominations for inclusions on the List of world heritage should begin on July 15 and last until July 17. In this period, the nomination of stecaks for the inclusion on the List of world heritage will be considered as well.
On November 2, 2009 Bosnia and Herzegovnia, Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia decided to jointly launch the work on the design of nomination document so that the monuments, which represent a part of joint tradition and culture of nations who live in those countries, would become a part of world heritage.
That was a project that the four countries committed to without any influence from outside, including the UNESCO, and first project of its kind after the war conflicts in the Balkans in the nineties. With the decision to participate in the project, the countries decided to give a substantial contribution to the overall world cultural heritage.
Thirty necropolises were nominated for the List of world heritage, 22 are from BiH, three are from Montenegro and three from Serbia, and two from Croatia. BiH has the largest number of stecaks, approximately 60.000, Croatia has around 4.400, Montenegro around 3.500 and Serbia around 4.100. Title of the nomination is “Stecaks – medieval tombstones”.
(Source: akta.ba/photo: feelbosnia.com)