Spomenicinob.info, Visoko (2026)

31/12/2025

With the gradual roll-out of Google Street View across Bosnia & Herzegovina, the final weeks of 2025 have been spent identifying locations of plaques busts and memorials for which (approximate) locations were already known through photographs or written records. A list of 1,082 sites to search for was drawn up from the database, with these currently in the process of being checked.

Although some municipalities have relatively poor coverage at present (primarily those in Eastern Bosnia and the Posavina region), a total of 49 sites have been located thus far using this method, with another five being confirmed as double entries, to be removed from the database. On the other hand, it has been determined that information (or Street View coverage) is insufficient to confirm the locations of 426 sites.

Checking is still ongoing, but locations thus far confirmed using this method include the following:

1. Bust of NH Milorad Umjenović outside the elementary school in Gornji Pervan (Banja Luka)

2. Plaque to commemorate Mirko and Zora Kovačević in Banja Luka

3. Plaque to commemorate the crossing of the Una by the 3rd Prekomorska Brigade on the former elementary school in Pritoka (Bihać)

4. Plaque to commemorate a Partisan assault in 1942 beside the bridge in Dorovi (Bijeljina)

5. Plaque to commemorate the first regional SKJ conference in November 1942 on the former elementary school in Bukovača (Bosanski Petrovac) – no longer exists, but ghost mark clearly visible

6. Plaque to commemorate the Liberation of Fojnica in 1942 in Fojnica town centre

7. Fountain to commemorate fallen fighters and Victims of Fascist Terror in Živinice (Kneževo)

8. Collective grave of 5 fallen fighters close to the former train line in Bradina (Konjic)

9. Plaque to commemorate location of the command of the V Kozara Brigade in Kotor Varoš

10. Fountain to commemorate the Uprising in Donja Rilja (Nevesinje)

11. Monument to fallen fighters and Victims of Fascist Terror outside the elementary school in Sokolac (Šipovo)

12. Plaque to commemorate liberation of Široki Brijeg in November 1944 in Široki Brijeg – this has been destroyed in recent years, although it was in poor condition in c.2018

13. Plaque to commemorate the liberation of Lastva in November 1941 on the former post office in Lastva (Trebinje)

Unfortunately, however, this method has also revealed as-yet-unknown instances of damage. An example of this is in the village of Trenica (Novi Travnik municipality), where the enclosure of a collective grave of fallen fighters (originally created in 1959 and renovated in 1983) was devastated by the expansion of a local cemetery some time between September 2024 and June 2025. Whether or not this will be repaired is yet to be seen.

27/11/2025

In late November 1975 - 50 years ago this week - a total of eight busts were unveiled in a series of events in Visoko to jointly commemorate Statehood Day (25 November) and Republic Day (29 November). These were:

i) Bust of Mehmed Džudžo, in Visoko’s town park*
ii) Bust of NH Janko Balorda, in Visoko’s town park
iii) Bust of Meho Patak, in Visoko’s town park*
iv) Bust of Momir Balorda, outside the Kovina Visoko foundry, Arnautovići
v) Bust of Mehmed Skopljak, outside a property owned by KTK Visoko on Ul. Ulica Ahmeta Fetahagića
vi) Bust of Fehim Zečević, outside a property owned by KTK Visoko in Topuzovo Polje
vii) Bust of Slavko Bunjičević at the KTK Visoko plant in the town’s Prijeko neighbourhood
viii) Bust of Dušan Čulum outside "Visočko-fojnički partizanski odred" elementary school in Donje Moštre***

(* = originally unveiled outside the town's Viteks enterprise in 1969/70)
(** = originally unveiled inside the school building in 1973)

All eight busts were authored by Ranko Milanović between 1969 and 1975.

Not a single one of these busts survives today, although a copy of the bust of NH Janko Balorda is kept in storage in Visoko's High School Centre, which formerly bore Balorda's name.

Historical photos/scans from Zdenko Antovic, Neven Krajišnik and the personal archive of Ranko Milanović, present-day photos from Zdenko Antović, Ivan Kitic, Andrew Lawler and Alija Šahinović. All photographs have been previously published in Lawler, A. (2024). "Lost Heritage: The works of Visoko artist Ranko Milanović on the theme of the People’s Liberation War". Radovi Zavičajnog muzeja Visoko, 1(3), 139-202.

06/11/2025

Over the years, several volunteers have sent me photographs of this relief, situated on a wall along Kralja Petra I Oslobodioca in Prijedor. Although I knew it commemorated he NOB, and was almost certainly the work of Sreten Stojanović, there is no information near the relief to provide context for it.

Recently, however, I found a stamp released in 1961 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Uprising, featuring the same motif. The article states that the stamp replicates one of the motifs on the monument to the Uprising in Bosansko Grahovo (1952), and was indeed created by Stojanović. A photograph in the book "NOB u delima likovnih umetnika Jugoslavije" (1958) further confirms this.

Unfortunately, the monument itself lies in ruins today, with the two sculptures and two reliefs all gone. This relief was on the right side of the monument when viewed from the plateau, as can be seen in the historical postcard. A detail of the relief on the other side can be seen in a historical photograph preserved in the Archives of Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Photos from "Ka", Borba newspaper, NOB u delima likovnih umetnika Jugoslavije, Maja Babić and Arhiv BiH, Fond SUBNOR, Box 157.

03/11/2025

In the period August–October 2025, a total of 98 monuments and memorials were added to the database (bringing the total to 4,251), with the present-day status of 20 (12 still existing, 3 replaced, and 5 no longer existing) having been identified through the work of myself and volunteers. A large proportion of these (24 in total) were added to the site through study of Historijski muzej Bosne i Hercegovine’s photographic collection, which they kindly allowed me to access in August 2025. Another major source has been a collection of documents stored in the Archive of Bosnia & Herzegovina (Fond SUBNOR, Box 169), which has led to the addition of another 44 monuments and memorials. In addition, it’s also been possible to confirm the precise (former) locations of a total of 56 monuments and memorials from the database (including several of those 96) through the use of photographic evidence and historical satellite images.

The sites added to the database include the following:

- Memorial fountain in the village of Hum, Bugojno (discovered in a YouTube video while looking for evidence of a monument to Victims of Fascist Terror in Humac, Bugojno)

- Plaque to commemorate the place of formation of the II Proletarian Brigade (1949) in Čajniče (found in the photographic collection of the History Museum)

- Bust of NH Dušan Ćubić inside (the former) Dušan Ćubić elementary school in Odžak, Glamoč municipality (found in an issue of ‘Front’ military magazine dating to 1984)

- Plaque to commemorate fallen fighters (1948, confirmed to no longer exist) on a former administrative building in Gornji Podgradci (found in the photographic collection of the History Museum)

- Plaque to commemorate Partisans' hospital (1971) in Jablanica, Gradiška (discovered in the book “Spomen-obilježja gradiškim žrtvama oslobodilačkih ratova u 20. vijeku” (2022))

- Bust of Mirko Sikimić (1976, confirmed to no longer exist) in Ljubinje (information from Slobode, Mostar’s local newspaper)

- Plaque to commemorate the place of formation of the III Brigade of the III Bosnia-Herzegovinian Division (1966) on the library in Ljubinje (discovered during field research)

- Monument to fallen fighters and Victims of Fascist Terror (1985) in Bočinja, Maglaj (found in photographs on a Facebook post)

- Monument to fallen fighters and Victims of Fascist Terror (1988) in Drobnići, Rogatica (from documentation sent to me by Rogatica municipality)

- Plaque to commemorate fallen fighters and site of Partisan hospital (1966) in Podzvizd, Velika Kladuša (mentioned in the monograph ‘Velika Kladuša kroz stoljeća’ by Aleksandar Ravlić (1987), location confirmed through photographs on Facebook)

A total of 57 sites were also mapped and photographed (including 3 that had been newly recorded) during this period, primarily in Čelinac (15), Grude (7), Ljubinje (7), Nevesinje (6), Livno (5), Kakanj (4) and Prijedor (4). In particular, I would like to thank Sarah Dornheckter, Dalibor Miljević, Miloš Damnjanović and “Ka” for their tireless efforts in mapping these sites, plus Minja Pješčić, an anonymous contributor from Zagreb, Vladan Vukliš and Dragan Radović, as well as the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the municipal administrations of Rogatica and Krupa na Uni for sending me documentation invaluable to improving the database.

If anyone has any photographic material relating to unmapped monuments and memorials, please feel free to contact me, either via Facebook messenger or email ([email protected])

27/08/2025

The ‘flag type’ memorials of Bosanska Krupa

Over the years, several photographs of this type of monument have been published or reproduced online. Consisting of a simple concrete post – tilted at an approximately 5° angle – with a horizontal strut emerging, supporting a dedicatory plaque, all of them that I was aware of (just over a dozen in total) commemorated sites of ex*****on of Victims of Fascist Terror.

However, last year, Dražen Štrbac sent me a photograph of a monument of this type commemorating the birthplace of NH Dušan Košutić in Gornja Suvaja, as well as several others.

I was unsure of the numbers of this type of memorial created and their geographic extent until last week, when I received a series of documents that showed how prolific these markers actually were. In 1983, at least 44 monuments were created to commemorate sites of ex*****on of Victims of Fascist Terror alone, spanning a territory that includes today’s municipalities of Bosanska Krupa, Krupa na Uni, Bužim and Bosanski Petrovac, with many of them (seemingly the majority) having been of this type. It still remains unclear how many such memorials were created to commemorate other persons or events.

Unfortunately, it seems that most of these memorials have now been destroyed, although information on the extent of destruction remains limited. On the other hand, in 2018 a group of locals re-erected one such memorial at Risovac Jama (just inside the borders of Bosanski Petrovac municipality).

Below are a few photographs (both historical and more recent) of examples of this type of monument, as well as a map of their distribution, with *very* approximate locations. The orange-yellow marker denotes the marker commemorating the birthplace of NH Dušan Košutić.

If anyone knows of other examples of these ‘flag’ memorials, or any that still survive, please feel free to contact me via this page or on [email protected].

Note: Black and white photos are taken from Dušan Miljković’s “Stradanja u Cazinskoj krajini i antifašistička borba” (2011), while other photos are from Facebook or submitted by volunteers.

12/08/2025

A few years ago, Zdenko Antovic shared with me this postcard from Visoko dated to 1957, depicting six memorials to the NOB. While I was aware of the location and purpose of two of the memorials from previous research (as well as information provided by Zdenko), and managed to provisionally identify a third during research in the time since, thanks to a visit to Historijski muzej Bosne i Hercegovine's photo collection last week it has now been possible to identify a total of five of them. These are as follows:

Top left: Monument to Brotherhood and Unity/the Liberators of Kakanj, in Kakanj. This was created some time before 1952, and designed by Fadil Dogdibegović Dikan. Its fate is at present unknown.

Top right: Plaque on a rock outcrop in Pajtov Han, Vareš, to commemorate an attack on an armoured train in December 1941, in which six Partisan fighters were killed. This was created by Vinko Leki in 1951, and replaced by a relief by Marijan Kocković in 1962.

Centre right: Fountain in Podlugovi, Ilijaš, to commemorate the Uprising and the first assault by Partisan forces in the area on 28 July 1941, unveiled in 1951. This was replaced by a new fountain by Milivoje Unković in 1984. Interestingly, the background to this plaque is not the actual fountain, and instead this is a montage created by the postcard’s author (assumed to be Dragutin Radan), using the background of an unknown monument.

Bottom right: Collective grave of fallen fighters in Kakanj, designed by Fadil Dogdibegović Dikan and created some time before 1952. Originally, this contained 74 fighters, but the number had grown to 104 by 1960. In 1977 the grave was heavily redesigned, and today there are 107 fighters buried there.

Centre: Monument to the Unknown Soldier, Visoko. This was created in the early 1950s by Iva Despić-Simonović, utilizing the pedestal of Lojze Dolinar’s monument to King Alexander that previously stood in the town. This monument was removed between 1963 and 1967, and was accidentally destroyed in the process.

The monument in the lower left has still not been identified. If anyone has any idea of its location or what it commemorated, please feel free to contact the page.

06/08/2025

= Data collection and mapping, July 2025 =

In July 2025, a total of 20 monuments and memorials were added to the database (bringing the total to 4,158), with the status of 9 (7 still existing, 1 replaced, and 1 no longer existing) and precise locations of 6 having been identified through the work of myself and volunteers.

These include the following:

- Monument to formation of the XI Krajinan Assault Brigade, Gornji Podgradci/Rakovica, Gradiška municipality, on the border with Kozarska Dubica municipality (found through a photograph on Google Maps)

- Plaque to commemorate the XX Romanija Assault Brigade, Cikotska Rijeka, Vlasenica municipality (found on Facebook, while trying to locate another plaque within the municipality)

- Bust (or statue) of NH Zdravko Čelar in the barracks in Derventa (mentioned in a recent publication)

- Plaque to commemorate fallen fighters and Victims of Fascist Terror, Osredak, Stanari municipality (mentioned in a recent publication, with location further confirmed through pictures on Facebook)

- Plaque to commemorate residence of KPJ committee for Bosanska Krajina, on a house (formerly?) belonging to the Lukač family, Mrkonjić Grad (mentioned in a recent publication)

- Monument to commemorate the site of a Partisans' hospital in Pogleđevo, Kozarska Dubica municipality (found via a Facebook post in a local community group)

- Memorial plaque (commemorative purpose unknown) on the former elementary school in Grbavica, Šipovo municipality (found while looking for photographs of the school – it was previously known that one plaque existed on the school, but from photographs it is clear that there are, in fact, two)

- Bust of NH Miloš Mamić outside the community hall in Omarska, Prijedor (found thanks to a recent travelogue in Milo Jukić’s ‘Putujte s nama’ series on bljesak.info)

- Plaque to commemorate Nikola Medić and Mićo Gatarević on a stela in front of the elementary school in Stanovi, Brčko District (found by re-reading old copies of ‘Graditelj’ provided by Selman Edi Kaloper). Unfortunately, this memorial no longer exists.

- Plaque to commemorate a meeting place for ‘ilegalci’ placed on a house (formerly?) belonging to the Vonsović family in Brod, Brčko District (found by re-reading old copies of ‘Graditelj’ provided by Selman Edi Kaloper)

- Monument (commemorative purpose unknown) in Kosova, Maglaj municipality (mentioned in a comment on a Facebook post by UABNOR Maglaj on 27 July as being scheduled for renovation in the future)

In addition to these, it’s also been possible to confirm the (former) locations of an additional 14 monuments and memorials already recorded on the site through additional photographic evidence and historical satellite images. These include:

- Plaque to commemorate the establishment of KPJ Regional Committee for South Herzegovina in September 1944, Ljubinje

- Fountain to commemorate fallen fighters outside the elementary school in Palanka, Brčko District

- Bust of Hasan Veletovac outside the former elementary school in Dobrun, Višegrad municipality

- Fountain to commemorate fallen fighters of the V Kozara Brigade in Očauš, Teslić municipality

- Plaque to commemorate formation of People's Liberation Committee for southern Herzegovina on the former elementary school in Zagora, Trebinje municipality

Hopefully, mapping will continue over the summer months. If anyone has any photographic material relating to unmapped monuments and memorials, please feel free to contact me, either via Facebook messenger or email ([email protected])

11/05/2025

Several monuments to fallen fighters and Victims of Fascist Terror used to stand throughout the territory of Bijeljina, which all shared a common feature: an unusual ‘cube’ consisting of five-pointed stars adorning their summit. At least three such monuments are known to have been created: in Crnjelovo (1951), Balatun (unknown date, before 1960), and along Bijeljina’s Ulica 27. marta (approximately 800 metres southwest of the city centre) (1951).

The two in Crnjelovo and Balatun, which still survive today, consist of slender columns mounted on stepped pedestals, while the third – in Bijeljina, destroyed in the early 1980s when a private residence was constructed on the site – was much bulkier in appearance. The only photographic evidence of this final monument is known from a 1968 photographic survey created by Rajko Rašević.

However, this feature is not exclusive to Bijeljina, or even Bosnia & Herzegovina. Across the Sava, in the village of Bosut, Serbia, there is another monument topped by a cube-with-stars, near-identical in appearance to those in Crnjelovo and Balatun. According to Mikica Ilić’s monograph “Selo Bosut u Sremu” (2012), this was constructed in 1958. There may well be other monuments with this element throughout the region, but this example suggests that (as with other places in Bosnia & Herzegovina, on the borders with both Serbia and Croatia) that memorial design and creation crossed republic borders.

While the location of the actual workshop(s) that created this element has not been determined, from other sources it is known that a mason called Dragutin Berić worked on the creation of monuments on the territory of Bijeljina in the 1950s, with his workshop having been based in the town of Bogatić, Serbia.

Images:
- Monument in Bijeljina: taken from Rašević, Rajko (1968). Untitled photographic report of monuments to the NOB and Revolution on the territory of Bijeljina municipality.
- Monument in Crnjelovo: Vojislav Durmanović, for spomenicinob.info, April 2021
- Monument in Balatun: Vojislav Durmanović, for spomenicinob.info, November 2023
- Monument in Bosut: Wikimedia Commons

25/04/2025

‘Three Prisoners’ busts in Bileća:

Three busts of Ivan Milutinović, Moša Pijade and Ivo Lola Ribar stood in the town of Bileća on a joint pedestal. All three were held in the town’s prison as political prisoners throughout much of 1940.

I’d always wondered who the authors of these busts were. While I knew from the inscription that the monument itself was created in 1958, no information could be found anywhere about the author.

However, a few weeks ago, I read an interview with Bileća artist Brane Kokolj in the October 1977 issue of Bilećke Novosti, where he stated that the busts were created by Vladimir Herljević while he was undertaking his military service in Bileća.

The busts (and pedestal on which they stood) were relocated at least once in the first half of the 1960s (possibly twice), before being removed from public view, most likely during the early 1990s. Their fate currently remains unknown.

Herljević is more well known for his memorials around the northwest of the country (particularly in Bihać), although he also created several busts in Zenica, as well as one in Sarajevo. I believe these were his earliest public works.

Photographs: Arhiv BiH

03/03/2025

Many (possibly even several hundred) monuments or parts thereof have been replaced over time throughout Bosnia & Herzegovina. These include busts (and/or their pedestals), dedicatory plaques on larger monuments and memorial plaques.

This plaque, on Gradačac’s town cinema, bears the simple inscription “At this location, carpenter Raif Saldić was killed on 10 September 1944 while escaping from the prison in the fortress. 10.09.1955. Municipal Federation of Fighters of the NOR, Gradačac.” However, when comparing with archival documentation, it can be seen that the 1955 date presented is incorrect.

On 22 December 1950, the plaque in the second photograph was unveiled at this location (albeit to the right of the window, in a far more visible location than today’s plaque, which is instead positioned above the window), along with a plaque to commemorate the place of death of NH Pero Bosić elsewhere in the town centre, of which no trace survives today. This photograph was taken in 1960, with another photograph accompanying it showing that the present-day plaque, i.e. the one dated 1955, was not in place at that time.

It has still not been determined when exactly the replacement plaque was unveiled, but considering the lack of five-pointed star and simplified inscription, it may well have been some time after the end of the 1992-95 war. Likewise, the reason for the inclusion of the 1955 date has not been determined.

Additionally, it’s worth noting the fact that the town’s main memorial ossuary bears an inscription date of 1969 on a plaque added during its renovation in 2007, in spite of having actually been created in the period 1988-89.

Photographs: Adis Mujkic, December 2020, and Arhiv BiH, Fond SUBNOR, Box 156.

24/12/2024

Then & now:

Plaque to commemorate fallen fighters and Victims of Fascist Terror in Čekrčići, Visoko municipality (Ranko Milanović, 1980).

(photos from the personal archives of Ranko Milanović (n.d.) and Ivan Kitic, November 2018)

13/12/2024

I’d always wondered about the origins of this bust – commemorating NH Fadil Jahić Španac – in Vražići (previously Fadil Jahić Španac) elementary school in Vražići, Čelić municipality. Obviously created by an amateur, and smaller in proportions than most busts, I’d assumed it was the work of a local artist or (former) student of the school. However, recently, I’ve been able to identify its author, and the story is quite interesting.

Last month, Selman Edi Kaloper sent me a huge collection of articles from ‘Graditelj’ (Brčko’s main local newspaper from 1977 to 1991). One article, from April 1981, caught my attention: it profiled Savo Bjelošević, a local artist.

I’d previously been familiar with Bjelošević’s work from Sarajevo, where he made busts of People’s Heroes Boško Buha, Boriša Kovačević, and Aleksa Bojović ‘Brko’, as well as Razija Omanović (not a People’s Hero herself, but a member of the Regional SKOJ Committee for Drvar collectively awarded the title of People’s Hero in 1969 for their actions in Desant na Drvar on 25 May 1944).

His busts of Boriša Kovačević and Aleksa Bojović ‘Brko’ were replaced in the 1970s; a relatively unusual action at the time. However a reason for this is given in Smail Tihić’s paper “Kataloški Pregled: spomen-obilježja istorijskih događaja i ličnosti podignutih na području grada Sarajeva od 1945. godine do danas” (1974), where he refers to the bust of Aleksa Bojović as being “a complete artistic failure” and “unable to perform the social function for which it was intended”. It can be assumed that the bust of Boriša Kovačević, replaced in 1977 – a few years after Tihić’s paper was published – was replaced for similar reasons (by a work by academic sculptor Luka Ilić).

Returning to the life and work of Bjelošević as profiled in Graditelj, it appears that he had no artistic training whatsoever. Born in 1922 in the village of Popovo Polje (Brčko), the article claims that he was a prvoborac awarded the Partizanska spomenica 1941. (Commemorative Medal of the Partisans of 1941), who fought in the VI Eastern Bosnian Brigade and later the I Majevica Detachment (which developed into the XV Majevica Brigade), with which he participated in the Battle of the Sutjeska. He was wounded five times, with the most serious being during Sutjeska. After liberation, he remained in the JNA (within the Air Force), retiring in 1956 with the rank of potpukovnik (lieutenant colonel). It was only then that he took up sculpting as a hobby, while living in Sarajevo. His works were concentrated around Sarajevo and north-eastern Bosnia, with very few surviving today, as a result of replacement during SFRJ and wartime and post-war destruction.

Photograph by Sevleta Arnautović for spomenicinob.info, December 2018.

More information about monuments and memorials to the NOB on the territory of Čelić municipality can be found on the site: https://www.spomenicinob.info/celic

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