Stecci Medieval Tombstones

ZelenkaBlazek's picture

Location

Dalmatia, Dubrovnik
Croatia
43° 29' 4.9272" N, 17° 12' 15.318" E
HR
General info: 

Some real oddities that are present in Croatia, (and also in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia) are the Stecci. These medieval tombstones are unique in the world and are closely following the borders of the medieval Bosnian Kingdom. There are a total of 70,000 Stecci spread in the area between the above mentioned countries and several thousand of them are in Croatia. The decorative motifs featured on the tombstones are enigmatic, spirals, rosettes and crescent moons being part of the recurrent motifs on the monuments.

Stecci contain epitaphs written in Cyrillic Bosnian and the oldest one dates back from the 12th century. Larger numbers of Stecci can be seen in both Imotski and Dugopolije, border areas of Croatia. Stećci have been nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage List as Joint Cultural Heritage by the four countries in 2009.

Getting there: 

Most of them are located in the areas of Dalmatia and Dubrovnik. An easily accessible location is Cista Provo, only half an hour away from Split.

Costs: 

Free for all

Interesting places nearby

For those keen on winter sports, the private://Corno alle Scaleprivate:// offers 36 kms of beaten tracks able to satisfy all needs, with snow assured by a system of ad advanced technology on programmed snow.

Cortina d'Ampezzo has been a winter sports mecca since the 1930's, and in 1956 it hosted the first Italian Winter Olympic Games.

At the foot of the Julier mountain pass and amidst an impressive alpine scenery of lakes you’ll find the Swiss ski resort Corvatsch – Sils – Silvaplana.

The ski resort private://Czarna Góraprivate:// is one of most modern complex of lifts and slopes. Ski resort was built according to the best alpine standards. Trails are mostly artificially snowed. Snowboarders can use modern snowpark.

The villages Gosau, Russbach and Annaberg are located in the ski area Dachstein West Lammertal in the Dachstein Mountains. The ski area has slopes for all levels of difficulty available.

The Dachstein is actually better known in summer than in winter. No surprise being the first glacier in the eastern Alps.