BOSNA I HERCEGOVINA / BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
OLD TOWN OF SREBRENIK
A Treasure Hidden
Behind Thick Walls
WHEN YOU SET OFF FOR SREBRENIK, A SMALL TOWN A HEARTBEAT AWAY FROM TUZLA, IN THE VALLEY OF THE RIVER TINJA, AND CATCH SIGHT OF THE OLD WALLS OF SREBRENIK BUILT ON A GIANT ROCK, YOU CANNOT HELP BUT WONDER WHAT KIND OF SECRETS THEY ARE HIDING AND WHAT MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED INSIDE THEIR CHAMBERS IN THE TIMES LONG GONE.
W
hen you get to the Old Town of Srebrenik, the birthplace of the first Bosnian king Tvrtko Kotromanić and princess Elizabeta Kotromanić, Queen of Hungary and Poland, you can still feel the spirit of the Bosnian kingdom. Imagine ... it is the winter of 1333, 15th February. Bosnian Ban Stjepan II Kotromanić (1322-1353) and representatives of the Republic of Dubrovnik are sitting at a table in 74
Old Srebr’nik dressed in the most beautiful attire you can imagine, entering into a bilateral agreement. The parties agreed, as set forth in the charter, that Ston, Pelješac, Prevlaka and a few other estates of the Republic of Dubrovnik are to be leased to the Republic of Dubrovnik until the end of time, and that the entire territory is to be leased for 500 gold coins. This treaty is known in history as the Srebrenik Charter.
It was made in four copies, two in Bosnian Cyrillic (bosančica) and two in Latin script, each validated by the king’s golden seal. The Old Town of Srebrenik was built atop a high, steep and virtually inaccessible rock. Underneath the most accessible part of town, a deep ditch was dug so the only way anyone could enter the castle was to cross a drawbridge.
