Visočica (; also known as ''Brdo Grad'', , "Hill Town") is a 213-metre-high

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as Mountain, mountains. Hills ...

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 ...

which is the site of the

Old town of Visoki The Old town of Visoki ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Stari grad Visoki, Стари град Високи, ) was a medieval royal castle town built during the 14th century on the top of the hill overlooking town of Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first men ...

. Since at least 2005, the hill has been the subject of a

pseudoarchaeological Pseudoarchaeology (sometimes called fringe or alternative archaeology) consists of attempts to study, interpret, or teach about the subject-matter of archaeology while rejecting, ignoring, or misunderstanding the accepted Scientific method, data ...

belief that it is part of an ancient man-made pyramid complex. This notion is rejected by archaeologists and geologists.

Old town of Visoki

The

was a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or Royalty (disambiguation), royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Ill ...

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

during the fourteenth century, located in

Visoko Visoko ( sr-cyrl, Високо, ) is a city located in the Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, the municipality had a population of 39,938 inhabitants with 11,205 livi ...

. The first mention of the town was on 1 September 1355, in the charter "''in castro nosto Visoka vocatum''" written by

Tvrtko I of Bosnia Stephen Tvrtko I ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Stjepan/Stefan Tvrtko, Стјепан/Стефан Твртко; 1338 – 10 March 1391) was the first king of Bosnia. A member of the House of Kotromanić, he succeeded his uncle Stephen II ...

while he was a young ban. The town appears to have been abandoned before 1503, as it is not mentioned in the Turkish-Hungarian treaty that was established that year. In the year 1626, Đorđić mentioned Visoki among abandoned towns.

Pseudoscientific pyramid claims

Visočica hill came to international attention in October 2005, following a campaign to promote the scientifically unsupported idea that it is the largest of a group of ancient man-made

pyramids A pyramid () is a Nonbuilding structure, structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a Pyramid (geometry), pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid ca ...

. This idea originated with

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

-based expatriate Bosnian author and businessman Semir Osmanagić who has since turned the site into a tourist destination. All scientific investigations have concluded that Visočica hill and the surrounding hills are natural geological formations known as a

flatirons The Flatirons are rock formations in the western United States, near Boulder, Colorado, consisting of flatirons. There are five large, numbered Flatirons ranging from north to south (First through Fifth, respectively) along the east slope of ...

, and no scientific study has demonstrated the existence of man-made pyramids in Bosnia. Archaeologists have criticised the Bosnian authorities for supporting the pyramid claim saying, "This scheme is a cruel hoax on an unsuspecting public and has no place in the world of genuine science." As of 2017, Osmanagić continues to run his project at Visočica, and to link the hill to long-standing non-scientific notions such as free energy and

ancient astronauts Ancient astronauts (or ancient aliens) refers to a Pseudoscience, pseudoscientific set of beliefs that hold that Extraterrestrial intelligence, intelligent Extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrial beings (alien astronauts) visited Earth and m ...

References

External links

Old town of Visoki becomes a national landmark
{{DEFAULTSORT:Visocica hill Mountains of Bosnia and Herzegovina Visoko History of Visoko

Old town of Visoki

Pseudoscientific pyramid claims

See also

References

External links