Stećak

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Stećak tomebstones in Radimlja near Stolac, 13th century.
Stećak tomebstones in Radimlja near Stolac, 13th century.

Stećak (pronounced: [stɛtɕak]) is common name for medieval tombstones in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and western parts of Serbia. It is also called bilig (bilizi), kami (kamenovi), mramor (mramorovi) etc. They are characteristic of the medieval Bosnian Kingdom and neighboring states. There are over 66.000 tombstones organized in large necropoli all over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Stećak from Radimlja near Stolac, 13th century. Engraving on the tombstone: May this hand make you think about yours.
Stećak from Radimlja near Stolac, 13th century. Engraving on the tombstone: May this hand make you think about yours.

The most famous necropoli of stećak are in Radimlja near Stolac in Herzegovina. The stećak necropolises are a mysterious aspect of Bosnian and Herzegovinian history. The most intriguing are their origin, to whom they belonged – who was buried under them, as well as engraved symbols, and mystic messages on them. For historians the most important are engraved words and names (in Cyrillic writing), but they are found only in small numbers of tombstones (around 350) since they were firstly decorative and monumental. Those engravings inform us of social differences of those that were buried under them, but also of religious differences. The tombstones were associated with the Catholic and Orthodox churches, as well as the native Bosnian Church.

The most famous and decorated stećak (and maybe the last) is from Zgošća near Kakanj from 15th century. Since it has no engraved writing, but it was immaculately decorated, it is suggested that it belonged to King Stjepan II Kotromanić. Today it is placed in garden of Natural History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo.