Franciscan Monastery of Kraljeva Sutjeska: A Catholic Monastic Complex in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.9
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Habsburg
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Monastery
On this page12 sections
History
The Franciscan Monastery of Kraljeva Sutjeska is a Roman Catholic monastery in Kakanj, Bosnia and Herzegovina, probably established around 1340 by Bosnian Franciscans, members of a Catholic religious order founded by Francis of Assisi. It belongs to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vrhbosna, a territorial jurisdiction led by an archbishop, and the Franciscan Province of Bosnia Srebrena, the order’s regional administrative province. Alongside the monasteries at Kreševo and Fojnica, it is one of three in the province to have remained active for nearly six and a half centuries despite repeated damage.
Foundation and early records
The monastery’s first known written mention appears in a list made in 1385 by Bartol of Pisa, a medieval Franciscan author. After the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia, an Ottoman register included the monastery in 1469.
Destruction and return
Persecution in 1524 led to the monastery’s forced destruction. A fire in 1658 then consumed the monastery and its valuables, including its archive and library. A new monastery was built in 1664.
During the Great Turkish War (1683–1699), a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and a European coalition, heavy levies drove the Franciscans from the monastery. They lived in village huts and returned in 1704, after political conditions had stabilized.
Rebuilding and changing use
The monastery was rebuilt twice during the nineteenth century. The final rebuilding produced the present monastery building in 1888–90, and the complex reached its current form in 1897. The cornerstone of the present church was laid in 1906; completed in 1908, it was dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the biblical prophet regarded by Christians as the forerunner of Jesus.
Some Franciscan candidates studied philosophy and theology at the monastery until the early twentieth century. It later served as a residence and training center for members preparing to join the order, until 1973. In 2004, the monastery ensemble and its movable property were designated a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Remains
The ensemble comprises two monastery buildings and the Church of St. John the Baptist, a Neo-Renaissance church with a central nave and two side aisles. A retaining wall, an inner courtyard and a sisters’ house occupy its northwest side.
Monastery buildings and collections
Museum and gallery
The monastery has a museum and a gallery with late-Renaissance and Baroque paintings, church vessels, historic vestments, archival materials, historical documents and archaeological objects. The museum’s movable holdings include 25 paintings, one sculpture, 187 metal objects, 11 textile objects and 11 documents kept in the archive. The collection also includes a stone monument.
Library and archive
The library holds about 11,000 works, including 31 incunabula, books printed in Europe before 1501, and works in Bosnian Cyrillic, a historical regional form of the Cyrillic script used in Bosnia. Its holdings also include periodicals and Ottoman Turkish documents. The earliest parish register dates to 1641, and the library holds Bosnia’s largest collection of incunabula in one place.
Church of St. John the Baptist
Plan and exterior
The church measures 39.40 by 18.10 metres and stands 13.60 metres high. Its façade is oriented southeast to northwest. A large semicircular window sits above the central doorway, while two square bell towers with copper roofs frame the middle of the façade. Each tower is 45 metres high.
Interior and painted decoration
The interior is divided into an entrance area, a central prayer space and an apse, the sanctuary’s end section. The nave, the main central space, has a barrel vault, a continuous arched ceiling. The side aisles, the parallel spaces beside the nave, have cross vaults formed by intersecting vaulted sections. In 1908, Marko Antonini painted the church interior. Small plant motifs accent the arches over the nave and aisles; saints appear in the corners of the semicircular vaulted panels, and the central painted scene depicts the Baptism in the Jordan. The church also has an organ.
Royal castle at Grgurevo
Remains at Grgurevo belong to a royal castle dating to 1330. Bobovac, a historically important residence of Bosnian kings, lies a short distance from both the monastery and the castle remains.
