Reconstruction of Staircases in Veliki Park

Work is underway to repair landslides on four staircases within the Sarajevo Veliki Park complex. The reconstruction project for these staircases is financed by the Centar Municipality with 274,000 BAM. The work began on March 23, 2015, and the deadline for completion is 90 days. The Municipality has entrusted the implementation and supervision of the project to the Institute for Construction of Sarajevo Canton, reports the Patria news agency. 

The staircases, which range in length from 15 to 39 meters, were in very poor condition due to lack of maintenance and ground subsidence on the treads, where over time large cracks and damage occurred, posing a potential danger to the safe movement of pedestrians.

Given the significant cultural and historical values of the Veliki Park site, the entire project documentation for the reconstruction of the staircases was prepared in consultation with the Institute for the Protection of Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo Canton.

This oldest park in the city is an important monument of high age, documentary, cultural-historical, artistic, as well as landscape-ambient and aesthetic value. The Veliki Park site was the old Muslim cemetery Čekrekčinica from the 16th century and was turned into a park during the Austro-Hungarian rule, with part of the tombstones preserved.

According to the main reconstruction project, the new staircases in Veliki Park will be built of reinforced concrete and mostly clad with hreša stone with decorative elements of granite slabs. The new gutters – channels for draining rainwater will also be lined with granite. When selecting the stone for cladding the staircases, special attention was paid to the treatment of the final layer to avoid the risk of slipping in the winter period. Handrails with a height of 110 centimeters will be installed on the newly built staircases.

Bearing in mind that a lack and poor quality of public lighting was observed at the staircases in Veliki Park, the project plans to replace the existing street lighting poles with new ones and add seven new public lighting poles. In addition, additional lateral illumination of the staircases is planned – i.e., lighting that will be embedded in the ground and illuminate the surroundings.

Upon completion of the construction works, horticultural works will follow to restore the area around the staircases to its original state.

For the preparation of the project documentation, the Institute for Construction engaged the architectural studio 'Firma' d.o.o., and for the execution of the works, a consortium of companies 'Debos' d.o.o. and 'Džekos' d.o.o., announced the Centar Municipality.