Bosnian Stećci on UNESCO World Heritage List?

The Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina has submitted the Nomination Dossier and Management Plan for the inscription of necropolises with stećci on the UNESCO World Heritage List to the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will forward this document to the World Heritage Centre in Paris by the deadline of 31 January 2015, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

The project of serial nomination of stećci for inscription on the World Heritage List represents one of the most complex and extensive documents in the field of protection of architectural heritage, and neighbouring countries Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia have been involved in its preparation.

From Bosnia and Herzegovina, teams of experts from the Commission to Preserve National Monuments of BiH, the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Federation of BiH, the Institute for the Protection of Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Republika Srpska, the National Museum of BiH, the Museum of Semberija from Bijeljina, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH participated in the preparation of these documents.

The process of nominating stećci began in Sarajevo in November 2009 with the signing of a letter of intent for a joint nomination by representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and Serbia. A total of 30 necropolises of stećci have been nominated in the region, of which 22 are from BiH, three each from Serbia and Montenegro, and two necropolises from Croatia. Of the 70,000 recorded stećci, over 60,000 are located in BiH.

With the inscription of necropolises with stećci on the World Heritage List, these assets will primarily be preserved from decay and destruction, and the stećci, as a phenomenon of this region, will gain their deserved place as part of the world's heritage.