BOSNA I HERCEGOVINA / BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
JAJCE
of Royal Treasures SYMBOLICALLY UNDERSTOOD, THE MOST PRECIOUS TREASURE FROM THE PERIOD OF THE KINGDOM OF BOSNIA IS KEPT IN THE VERY PLACE WHERE THE KINGDOM DREW ITS LAST BREATHS.
THE FRANCISCAN MUSEUM —THE GUARDIAN OF BOSNIA’S TREASURES Jajce carries the label of a royal city with pride today. Everything within the city is a testimony of that ancient period. In it you can still “see its king” or, rather, his earthly remains if you visit the Franciscan Museum in Jajce, which operates at the Franciscan Monastery of Saint Luke. The construction of the monastery began in 1877 and was completed in 1885. The museum at the monastery officially began operating in 1905 and was one of the most recognizable cultural institutions in Jajce until the early 1990s. In its rooms, the museum displays showpieces from prehistoric times till this day, including the sword of the Mošunj type from the 9th century BC as well as other items from the time of Roman emperors and deities 56
but also the period of Bosnian kings. The museum also preserves parts of the Church of St. Mary as well as Sultan Sulejman’s Mosque - Fethija. Three years ago, this faithful guardian of the true treasures of Bosnia and Herzegovina opened three new museum exhibits (ethnological, ar-
cheological, and sacral), and the construction of arranging the entire interior was completed in October this year. The setup of the interior design of the museum was awarded by the Collegium artisticum of Sarajevo and the Ljubljana Institute of Architecture, Big SEE.
DE ADMINISTRANDO IMPERIO The history of medieval Bosnia since Bosnia’s first mention in the 10th century in the work De administrando imperio (written by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus) has been told through the setup of this part of the museum. A kingdom emerged over time from the small country of Bosnia in the tenth century and came to an end in the middle of the fifteenth century (1463). In addition to the museum collection about medieval Bosnia,
