Stećak necropolis Radimlja
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Radimlja is a stećak necropolis located near Stolac, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. It is located in Vidovo polje, 3 km west of Stolac, on the Čapljina-Stolac road. The Radimlja necropolis is one of the most valuable monuments of the medieval period in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[1]
History
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Most stećak tombstones date from the late 15th and 16th centuries when the Vlasic family Miloradović-Stjepanović (genus Hrabren) lived in a settlement (Katun) located on the nearby hill of Ošanići.[1][2] At the time, the location was known as Batnoge, and the period when the necropolis was created coincides with the social and economic rise of the Vlachs.[3]
The Miloradović-Stjepanović family was of Orthodox faith. Their founder was a Vlach chieftain Milorad, who lived in the second half of the 14th century. In 1416, his son Stipan, on appeal by Ragusa, fought with Petar Pavlović against Sandalj Hranić and the Ottomans. Stipan had three sons: Petar Stjepanović, Radoja Stjepanović, and Vukić Stjepanović.[4] Members of the family were variously named voivodes and knezes, held Vlach military positions, and owned land between Stolac and Mostar. Their katun was the largest (127 houses and 16 unmarried persons) among all the 37 lower Vlach katuns of the nahiye of Blagaj (1383 houses and 177 unmarried persons in total).
They later successfully integrated into the Ottoman political and social system, becoming both Ragucan and Ottoman citizens timariot at the same time.[5] By 1505, when voivode Radosav was buried, the necropolis had stopped growing due to the local Vlachs'[6]
Characteristics
Currently the necropolis numbers 133 stećci. When the Čapljina-Stolac road was built during the Austro-Hungarian period in 1882, it ran through the necropolis and destroyed at least 15-20 tombstones in the process.[1][7] Out of nine type of stećci, there 36 slabs, 1 slab with pedestal, 27 chests, 24 chests with pedestal, 4 tall chests, 5 tall chests with pedestal, 2 sarcophagus (i.e. ridge/gable), 31 sarcophagus with pedestal, and 3 of cruciform.[8]
The core of the necropolis was built at the end of the 14th century when were made three big chests, of which two are richly decorated with motifs in bas-relief. The next phase includes simple chests (sanduk) and ridges (sljemenaci) with flower crosses on the front and borders acanthus leaves. The last phase with circa 20 separate stećci of high quality and diverse forms indicates to be the cemetery of Miloradović-Stjepanović family, attested in epitaphs on five tombstones.[7]
Due to several Illyrian burial mounds near the necropolis, it seems the location was used from earlier times as resting place for the dead, and the population of Batnoge continued this ancient tradition.[7] During the 1960s excavation, on the depth of 120–135 cm were found nine graves, indicating that were destroyed up to 50 specimens. Analysis of the bodies showed the people were of high growth with the well-developed thorax.[9]
Decoration
A total of 63 are decorated (almost every second stećak), in bas relief, engraving or a combination of the two. The finest decorated examples are tall chests with pedestal and sarcophagus with pedestal which belonged to the social elite.[8]
Ornaments include curved lines with trefoil, plastic zigzag, radial circle, rosette, depiction of plastic circles, cluster, rod-shaped as letter T, spiral curves. The depiction of arrow and bow on "voivode" stećci previously was related to Miloradović-Stjepanović military function.[8]
Figural depictions can be divided into those of male figures with raised right hand (on so-called "voivode" stećci by Miloradović-Stjepanović, or stećci which symbolize Vitus), and scenes of hunting, posthumous kolo, and chivalric tournaments with basic artistic and religious interweaving of pagan and Christian idea.[10]
In the inscriptions are mentioned Stipan Miloradović, and his sons Radoja and Petar, three another inhabitants of Batnoge, and three stonemasons: Miogost, Volašin Vogačić, Ratko Brativo(n)ić.[10]
The stećci were made of limestone cut out of stone and trimmed at Ošanići hill and then moved to the necropolis where final work and ornamentation was performed. [11]
Inscriptions
I:
A se kami na Vukcu na Pet[r]oviču. A se pisa Bolašin Bogačić.[12]
II:
A Vlač Vlahov[i]č, [a sječe k]ami Ratko Brativo[n]ič/Brativo[jev]ič.[12]
III:
Az rab b[o]ži Radoje Vuković, sinovac vojevode Petra.[12]
IV:
Sije leži dobri Radoje, sin vojevode Stipana, n[a] svoj baštini na Batnogah. Si bilig postavi na me brat moj vojevoda Petar.[12]
V:
A se leži Stjepan. A činio ka[mi] Miogost kovač.[12]
Gallery
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Sign at the entrance to Radimlja -
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References
- ^ a b c "The natural and architectural ensemble of Stolac". UNESCO. 11 December 2007.
- ^ Lovrenović 2013, p. 72, 227.
- ^ Lovrenović 2013, p. 72.
- ^ Lovrenović 2013, p. 225.
- ^ Lovrenović 2013, p. 226.
- ^ Lovrenović 2013, p. 231.
- ^ a b c Lovrenović 2013, p. 227.
- ^ a b c Lovrenović 2013, p. 228.
- ^ Lovrenović 2013, p. 231–232.
- ^ a b Lovrenović 2013, p. 228–229.
- ^ Lovrenović 2013, p. 229.
- ^ a b c d e Gurda, Amela; Matuh, Gorana (2015). "Stećci u Bosni i Hercegovini: Kulturološki aspekti stanovništva" (in Bosnian). Sarajevo.
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- Lovrenović, Dubravko (2013). Stećci: Bosansko i humsko mramorje srednjeg vijeka [Stećci: Bosnian and Hum marbles from Middle Age] (in Croatian). Ljevak. ISBN 9789533035468.