Hodović: It is a great pity that the date of Tvrtko I's coronation is not commemorated at the highest state level

For Bosnia and Herzegovina, tomorrow is an important date – the coronation of the first Bosnian king, Stjepan Tvrtko I Kotromanić, which took place on 26 October 1377 in Mile (present-day Arnautovići) near Visoko, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP).

However, that day, as in previous years, will pass in silence, or rather poorly, without paying homage by the highest state officials of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Senad Hodović, director of the Regional Museum in Visoko, who tries to some extent to rescue this date from oblivion, says it is a great sorrow that this date is not commemorated at the highest levels of government in the country.

- We are constantly regressing, losing momentum, losing enthusiasm, people don't want to do anything for free – Hodović told NAP.

- That is a great loss for our country.

The Bosnian ban Stjepan Tvrtko I Kotromanić was crowned King of Bosnia by the then head of the Bosnian Church, who in that period was called – the Djed of the Bosnian Church, thereby establishing the independent Kingdom of Bosnia, and Tvrtko I Kotromanić became the first Bosnian king.

Mile would later remain the coronation site of all Bosnian kings. Today, only the foundations of the church are visible at that location.

During Tvrtko's reign, political stability was achieved, along with significant cultural and spiritual progress, which made Bosnia the strongest South Slavic country and Tvrtko the greatest ruler in the history of medieval Bosnia, and later as well. At that time, Bosnian towns, trade and mining developed, and the first gold coin in the South Slavic regions was minted.

On that coin, the heraldic symbol of the lily appeared for the first time, which would become the emblem of the Bosnian kings.

Tvrtko I died suddenly on 10 March 1391. He was succeeded by his cousin, Stjepan Dabiša. However, after Tvrtko's death in 1391, an unstable political climate again ensued in Bosnia, caused by the Hungarian-Byzantine rivalry that once again set the Bosnian nobility against each other. A period of frequent changes of Bosnian kings followed, writes NAP.