The Stećak Necropolis Ričine is the medieval

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

with

stećak Stećak (plural stećci; 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 w ...

tombstones on the right bank of the Ričina stream, located in the village of Čitluk, on the main road from

Posušje Posušje () is a town and municipality in the West Herzegovina Canton, a federal unit of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Name The name Posušje is derived from ''suša'' ( Croatian for drought). Th ...

towards

Tomislavgrad Tomislavgrad ( Cyrl, Томиславград, ), also known by its former name Duvno ( Cyrl, Дувно, ), is a town and the seat of the Municipality of Tomislavgrad in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosni ...

, municipality of Posušje, in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

. The necropolis is also designated a

National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina The National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina include: *sites, places, immovable and movable heritage of historical and cultural importance, as designated by the Commission to preserve national monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the basis o ...

by the Commission to preserve national monuments in 2019. The necropolis was first registered in 1988 as an archaeological site in the ''

Archaeological Lexicon of Bosnia and Herzegovina Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

'', namely as a prehistoric

tumulus A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

on which there is a necropolis of stećaks, and between the stećaks, the remains of the walls of a building that is supposed to be a medieval church can be seen. Part of the stećak was destroyed during the construction of the road and the construction of the bridge. On both sides of the Ričina stream, which dries up periodically, there are groups of stećaks, and between them a stone bridge from the 1930s. On the right side of the stream, there are two groups, the first is right next to the macadam road and has 7 tombstones (2 boxes and 5 gables), which stand out for their monumentality and decorations. These are monumental examples of tombstones, which are richly decorated with moon crescent and rosette motifs and have frames made of ordinary ribbon that extend over the middle of the sides. No inscriptions were observed. Considering the typological and stylistic characteristics of the monument, it is most likely that more distinguished people were buried there. The stećak necropolis is in relatively good condition. The stećaks were preserved and on that occasion two graves are examined, with human bones, some jewelry and small objects found in the burial grounds. The three stećaks, which are on the small ridge, are in the form of a plate, one of which is whole, and two are in fragments. Near these two groups, there is a Roman Catholic cemetery where

Šefik Bešlagić Šefik Bešlagić (6 April 1908 – 19 November 1990) was a cultural historian from Bosnia and Herzegovina, former Yugoslav republic. Biography Šefik Bešlagić was born in the town of Gornja Tuzla in 1908. He was born in Bosniak family, and ...

recorded 31 stećaks (29 chests and 2 sarcophagi), and now there are about a dozen of them. Most of them are in fragments, significantly damaged and sunken. Several stećaks were damaged during the construction of new tombs. When entering the cemetery by the road, there are three slab-shaped stećaks, one of which has sunk. Two stećaks were built into the fence wall of the cemetery, and three were placed outside it. Most of them are plate-shaped or undefined. Two ''sljemenjak'' tombstones (), one of them with a pedestal, are the best preserved, and are located in the middle of the cemetery.

References

Bibliography

, Sarajevo: “Veselin Masleša“, 1982. STEĆCI – KULTURA I UMJETNOST * Šefik Bešlagić, Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša, 1971. STEĆCI, KATALOŠKO-TOPOGRAFSKI PREGLED * Marian Wenzel, Ukrasni motivi na stećcima, Sarajevo, 1965

External links

Posušje dobilo nacionalni spomenik

Ričina
{{Cultural–historical heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina, state=autocollapse National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina R Posušje