KONIÇE, BELGRADCIK FROM HAMLET ON THE HIGHWAY TO MUSLIM TOWN1

Machiel Kiel

Konjica is a delightful Turkish town with a bridge that rivals that of , and should on no account be missed. (M. Holbach, Bosnia and , London 1910, p. 41).

Characteristics

Konjic is a pleasant little town on the River , halfway between Sarajevo and Mostar on the main North-South artery from the Balkan interior to the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Its development from a hamlet of a few houses below a small medieval castle into a Muslim town, with half a dozen mosques, a number of schools, hans, dervish convents and hot baths was the result of a combination of factors: the Pax Ottomanica and the need for a market and an administrative centre of a vast rural area, to which should be added its excellent geographic location. Th e development of this place was vigorously supported, but not exclusively determined, by the work of a number of pious founders from the middle ranks of Ottoman society. In the following we shall briefl y describe how this town grew from hamlet on the highway to Muslim town and treat the history of its buildings, as well as its transformation through the tur- bulence of the 20th century. No great theories are set forth but a piece of micro-history of a little-known Ottoman town situated to the spot where Bosnia ends and the Hercegovina begins.

1 Th is article is the fruit of many journeys through Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1967/70, 1988 and regular visits in 1998–2005 during my function as advisor to UNESCO for Bosnia. It profi ted greatly from a year as visiting professor at Harvard University (2000/01), made possible by a generous Aga Khan Fellowship Islamic Architecture, and work in the Ottoman Archives in Istanbul and Ankara, as well as by work in the Oriental Institute and the Gazi Husrev Bey Library in Sarajevo, sponsored by the Netherlands Organisation for the Promotion of Scientifi c Research Z.W.O. /N.W.O., Th e Hague, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (D.F.G.), Bonn.

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We dedicate this story of a little-known town, only one stone in a vast mosaic, to Suraiya Faroqhi, who did so much to improve our knowl- edge of the Ottoman city.

Geographic location

Th e area in which Konjic was to emerge had been settled since prehis- toric times. It is a small, elongated basin on both sides of the Neretva river at 280 m above sea level, at the point where the little Trašanica River, coming from the north-east, joins the Neretva. Th e basin of Konjic is surrounded by the highest mountains of Bosnia-Hercegovina, Prenj (2102 m) and Bjelašnica (2067 m). Prenj is oft en snow-capped until well into June. In spite of this the climate of Konjic is still half-Mediter- ranean, as is its vegetation, with wine and other plants needing much sun. Bosnia, with its dark mountain forests and cold winters, begins just north of Konjic. Th e town is the northernmost of the Hercegovina and the third largest of that country as to population (1991: 13.726 inhabit- ans, of which the half was Muslim).

Middle Ages

Konjic has two predecessors, a Roman and a medieval one. Th e remains of a Roman Mitraeum, suggesting the presence of at least a Roman mili- tary colony, were discovered in 1897. Th e administrative district župa( ) of Neretva is known to have existed since the 10th century.2 Th e name of this district is mentioned again in 1244 and 1323.3 Konjic itself appears in the sources for the fi rst time in 1382.4 A late source, Pietro di Luccari’s “Copioso ristretto degli Annali di Ra[g]usa” from 1605, mentions that a certain Hvalimir built a castle in Konjic.5 Luccari’s account makes clear

2 Th e source is Pope Dukljanin. See the edition of F. Šišić, Ljetopis Popa Dukljanina, Beograd 1928, with the Latin, Italian and Old-Croat versions. Also: M. Vego, Naselja Bosanske Srednjevjekovne Države, Sarajevo 1957, p. 57. 3 L. Th alloczy, Studien zur Geschichte Bosniens und Serbiens im Mittelalter, München, Leipzig 1914, p. 14. 4 K. Jireček, Die Handelsstrassen und Bergwerke von Serbien und Bosnien während des Mittelalters, Prag 1879, p. 80. 5 Ragusa, 1790, p. 15. Th e original Venetian edition of 1605 was reprinted in 1978 in the series Historiae Urbium et Regionum Italiae Rariores, CXXXVIII, N.S. 54, by Arnaldo Forni Editions.

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