Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards (MNE)

This serial property combines 28 sites, located in Bosnia and Herzegovina, western Serbia, western Montenegro, and central and southern Croatia, representing these cemeteries and regionally distinctive medieval tombstones, or stećci. The cemeteries, which date from the 12th to 16th centuries CE, are laid out in rows, as was the common custom in Europe from the Middle Ages. The stećci are mostly carved from limestone. The stećci are an exceptional testimony to the spiritual, artistic, and historical aspects of the medieval cultures of southeastern Europe, an area where traditions and influences of the European west, east, and south entwined with earlier traditions. The characteristics that distinguish stećci from the overall corpus of Europe’s medieval heritage and sepulchral art include the vast number of preserved monuments (over 70,000 located within over 3,300 sites), the diversity of forms and motifs, the richness of reliefs, epigraphy, and the richness of the intangible cultural heritage. Inscriptions in the selected graveyards offer an exceptional historical resource and are associated with the cultures and histories of the medieval states in this region. Inventorying and research about the stećci have been a focus since the 1970s and are ongoing. There is a need to continue to improve the mapping and cataloging of the inscribed components in line with the management system but the community involvement in the management and maintenance of the stećci is evident and active