Stećak To Nišan Transition

The ''stećak'' to ''nišan'' transition is a period in Bosnia and Herzegovina history marked by the end of the ''stećak'' tombstones usage and the transition to first '' nišan'' tombstones. It is a cultural phenomenon on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina temporally framed by the period between the second half of the 15th and the first half of the 16th century, few decades before and several decades after Ottoman occupation ending a period of the medieval Bosnian state.

''History''

''Stećak''

Of the total number of stećak tombstones, the erection of which began in the 11th century, majority of 95.5% are horizontal slabs, boxes and gables. The rest are upright ''stećci''. According to the time of their construction, upright ''stećak'' tombstones belong to the late period and the end of the ''stećak'' tombstones usage. The territory and time of their origin, as well as some other properties, confirm that they were created under the influence of Muslim tombstones. In a large number of cases, the necropolises with ''stećak'' tombstones have old Muslim cemeteries with ''nišan'' tombstones, which are in many ways similar to upright ''stećak'' tombstones.

Territorial closeness and other similarities refer to the period of the second half of the 15th and the first half of the 16th century. This was the time when the medieval Bosnian state lost its independence and came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

The forms of ''stećak'' tombstones of oriental origin meant their final chapter. The new forms, along with the sign of the cross, became a permanent grave sign. Slight penetration of ''nišan'' tombstones into the eastern areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 15th century, which can be traced by numerous inscriptions on ''nišan'' tombstones, culminated in the tombstones of various proportions, most interesting in the case of those in Donji Bakići near Olovo, whose harmonious decoration carved for this purpose, perhaps for the last time.

''Nišan''

''Nišans'' are tombstones erected for members of the Islamic faith. The name is taken from the Persian via Ottoman Turkish language and means sign, target, mark.

The Arabs, as the first bearers of Islam, did not know tombstones in the form of ''nišan''. The Seljuk Turks carved their tombstones in the form of steles of various shapes. The shape of the stele could have been taken by the Seljuks from various sides, since this form of tombstone is widespread. It was taken from the peoples of the Caucasus, Georgians and Armenians. The relief repertoire of the Seljuk stele was taken from the older Islamic Central Asian homeland (Persia). In other words, the Seljuk stele is a combination of an Armenian-Georgian tombstone associated with Central Asian and Persian-Islamic cultural heritage.

The second type of nišan - one with a turban - is basically an original Seljuk type of tombstone that was further developed later in the Ottoman period.

The emergence of ''nišan'' tombstones in Bosnia

With the arrival of the Ottomans and the emergence of Islam in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ''nišan'' became a new type of tombstone, and by their characteristics they represent an interesting and important cultural and artistic phenomenon in the country.

Both types of ''nišan'', stele and ''nišan'' with a turban, were brought by the Ottomans, first to North Macedonia and Serbia, and later to Bosnia and Herzegovina. These ''nišan''s had ornaments on them (symbols, figural motifs), so this liberal Seljuk view of representations of living beings contributed to the creation of a favorable climate for ''nišan''s, although objects of Islamic art, to accept figural representations found on ''stećak''s, especially as an expression of the rooted ''stećak'' stonemasonry tradition. In that first period, the unity of ''stećak'' and ''nišan'' becomes clear, when the former basically served as a template for decorative motifs. The stonemasons of the Muslim ''nišan''s themselves were Christians, and only in a later period did the Muslims themselves make ''nišan''s of completely different shapes and decorations.

The oldest ''nišan''s on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina belong to the period of the second half of the 15th and the entire 16th century. The general characteristics of those early ''nišan''s are:

* large dimensions
* two main forms as stelae and pillar
* relief motifs that were directly transferred from stećak
* absence of epitaphs in oriental languages
* inscriptions in Bosnian Cyrillic (Bosančica)
* they are regularly located together with stećci or in the immediate vicinity.

Because of these features, they are significantly different from ''nišan''s of the later period, 17th centuries onward.

Stelae

Stelae are upright slabs that sometimes end with a flat or rounded surface, but most often with a gable roof on two, and then three, sloping sides.

The pillars are four-sided upright prisms, approximately equal in width and thickness, which turn into a pyramid at the top and end in a hemisphere or turn into a cylindrical neck on which is a turban with its pointed end. Columns with a pyramid are usually relatively large, and are called obelisks. Accordingly, the pillars can be divided into obelisks and ''nišan''s with a stone sphere carved in form of turban.

Ornamentation

N''išan''s of the 15th and 16th century are characterized by large dimensions and relief motifs that were directly transferred from the stećak. Motifs are pure decoration, symbols or figurative representations. They are usually shallow plastic in relation to the background or are only etched. All representations are unevenly carved, mostly simple and rough, although there are also finely carved ones.

In the localities of Sarajevo, Trnovo, Kalinovik, Rogatica, Olovo, Sokolac, Nevesinje, Prozor, Travnik and Glamoč, there are 29 ''nišan''s on the sides of which are figural motifs. In 24 cases there are animal motifs: bird, horse, deer, doe, dog, snake, lion and boar. Human figures appear in 19 cases.

There are non-figural motifs on over 200 ''nišan''s: hand, crescent moon, half apple, rosette, club, and motifs of war, hunting and tournaments. A saber appears, while a sword appeared exclusively on stećaks.

Inscriptions

''Nišan''s of that time do not have epitaphs in oriental languages, which will appear in large numbers later, but they have inscriptions in Bosnian Cyrillic (Bosančica), such as appear on stećci. Seven inscriptions on the ''nišan''s written in Bosnian are known. The inscriptions on the ''nišan''s are of different shapes, one is plate-shaped, one is a stele with a gabled roof, one is an upright four-sided prism with a turban on top, and 4 are four-sided pillars with pyramidal ends and a so-called "half-apple".

Christian ''nišans''

Significant number of Christian graves of that time are marked with the monuments that do not differ in any way from the Muslims' ''nišan'' tombstones, except that a cross or an inscription stating that the buried man was a Christian (member of the Bosnian Church, Catholicism, or Orthodoxy) is carved on them. Such tombstones are called Christian ''nišans''.

These are usually upright plates with rounding at the top. Beneath the lining of the part they often have two rounded protrusions. Some do not even have the sign of the cross.

Monuments of this type are regularly found in areas that were previously remote from Ottoman settlements. Instead of stećak tombstones, tombstones in the shape of nišan tombstones, even without the sign of the cross, while still fearfully retaining some common symbolic signs from earlier stećak tombstones, were erected by Christians in the new historical conditions.

From the review of the monument considered as a Christian ''nišan'', the transition from the lying form of the ''stećak'', through the upright massive prismatic form, to the ''nišan'' shape, and finally to the regular cross itself, is noticeable with more or less gradualness.

''Stećak'' (obelisk, pillar, ''nišan'') in Donji Bakići (Olovo)

In the village of Bakići near Olovo, there is a historical complex consisting of: two stećaks in the Pod Klisa or Varošište locality, the remains of the medieval church of St. Roko (shrine of Our Lady of Olovo) and the necropolis with 24 stećaks in the locality of Klisa; a necropolis with 14 stećaks in the Grebljica locality; obelisk (pillar, ''nišan'') in the locality of Vlaškovac; necropolis with 43 stećaks in the Slavanj locality and 16 ''nišan''s in the Svatovsko Greblje locality. It was declared a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The dimensions of the obelisk are: height from the base to the square pyramid 300 cm, to the stone sphere 365 cm and from the base to the very top 410 cm. The height of the pyramid is 65 cm, the height of the stone sphere is 45 cm.

The monument is also richly decorated with symbolic representations on all four sides, and the decorations are divided into fields. Instead of sharp edges, the monument has a twisted ribbon on all sides as an ornament, which also serves to divide decorative fields.

All decorations are made in the form of relief protrusions. The basic motifs on the obelisk are: S-motifs and an animal figure (boar) with a shield. Then come the spiral turns, bunches and dots. The composition of a boar with a shield is supposed to denote a heraldic sign, it is repeated on all four sides and is one of the few on monuments of this type in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Connecting the symbol of the boar, the name of the village (Bakići) and the name of the locality (Vlaškovac), Šefik Bešlagić attributes the monument to one of the members of the Bakić noble family. The family became integrated into Ottoman feudalism early on. They were Ottoman officials with the right to collect tribute, with a titles of knez and sipahi, with large estates on the territory of the Smederevo Sanjak. Pavle Bakić moved to Hungary, where King Ferdinand I appointed him Serbian despot (the last one). The Hungarian historian Thallóczy published a coat of arms of unknown origin, on which there is a boar's head.

If the coat of arms on the obelisk belongs to one of the members of this noble family, the Bakićs, then Pavle Bakić was a man who, as a meritorious Ottoman functionary, received a timar near Olovo. This Bakić could have remained in his religion, or accepted Islam. A monument in the form of a ''nišan'' was erected to him, as was erected to Mahmut Branković or Radivoj Oprašić.

Representative examples

''Nišan'' Mahmuta Brankovića

Mahmut Branković's ''nišan'' from Petrovo polje in Brankovići, near Rogatica, is in the form of an obelisk, 3 m high, and was transferred to the National Museum in Sarajevo. In the inscription in Bosančica, just like found in stećaks, it is said that he was killed in battle at Despotovo, that he was buried on his hereditary land in Polje, and at the end the craftsman who made the ''nišan'' is blessed. In the inscription itself, the headstone monument is called a ''bilig'' (biljeg; ). The monument was erected on one's own land, not on common land, which is a signal that at that time families who wanted to have a family cemetery were differentiated and a that they did not follow the Christian custom of burying next to churches and in localities that were officially consecrated for that purpose.

Mahmut Branković, according to folklore, originate from the despotic Branković family that converted to Islam and came from Serbia with the Ottomans, which could have some factual bearings as it can be seen in the common heraldic lion motifs. This could mean that at least one member of that noble house converted to Islam and distinguished himself in the battles around Sarajevo with Vuk Grgurević as Ottoman vassals, where Vuk was killed. The monument was erected around 1480. There are Brankovićs in Rogatica still to this day.

''Nišan'' Radivoja Oprašića

''Nišan'' Radivoja Oprašića was erected at the Biljeg locality, Oprašić settlement, near Rogatica. It is an obelisk in the form of a regular four-sided prism with a shortened pyramid and a sphere on top. It is decorated with the motifs of a lion, sword, mace, spear with flag, disk, crescent moon and half-apple.

There is no historical information about Radivoj Oprašić, but the details on his ''nišan'' indicate that he was a member of the Bosnian nobility. Also, based on the motifs of the lion, it could be that he served Mahmut Branković, or like him maybe belonged to the Branković feudal family. What is certain is that after the arrival of the Ottomans, he became their functionary, his social status was recognized and so he could remain in the old faith. ''His nišan'' is also transferred to the National Museum in Sarajevo.

Other examples

Some other ''nišans'' with epitaphs in Bosnian Cyrillic are Radilović ''nišan'' in Čadovina, Skender's ''nišan'' from Fatnica, Suliman Oškupica ''nišan'' from Dumanjići, Govedović ''nišan'' near Kalinovik.

All early ''nišan''s with inscriptions have a lot in common with ''stećci'', and little in common with later ''nišan''s. They are written in the same alphabet, bosančica, and letters of the same shape. The same original vernacular is represented in both the ''stećak'' inscriptions and the early ''nišan'' inscriptions.

They use common characteristic terms such as: ASE, ASIE, SIE, BAŠTINA, BILEG, etc.

They are written using the same technical procedure. Most significantly, the ''nišan''s were carved in the same workshops where ''stećci'' were carved, and in some cases by the same master-stonemason. In connection with this, there is interesting archival information about a stonemason from Sarajevo. In 1528, there is a mention of mason Mahmut, son of Vukman, who lives and works in Sagr Hadži Alija Mahala in Sarajevo (today Sagradžije Street). Therefore, Mahmut, having converted to Islam, continued his father's trade.

All of the above leads to the conclusion that the artistic influence of the ''stećak'' on the early ''nišan''s with inscriptions in Bosnian was rather strong.

References

Bibliography

*
* Šefik Bešlagić, Sarajevo: “Veselin Masleša“, 1982. STEĆCI – KULTURA I UMJETNOST

External links

ZORAN LUKARIĆ: STEĆCI – Časopis Nova Akropola

STEĆCI - Hrvatska enciklopedija leksikografski zavod Miroslav Krleža

Stećci su naši – Nezavisni portal Jajca
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191005122336/http://jajce-online.com/2018/08/20/edin-bujak-stecci-su-nasi-a-ko-smo-mi/, date=2019-10-05

Olovo Municipality
Ottoman period in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina