Jajce is a city and municipality located in the central part of
Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( or (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian Latin: Bosna i Hercegovina; Serbian Cyrillic: Босна и Херцеговина) is a country in Southeast Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula...
. It is part of the
Central Bosnia CantonThe Central Bosnia Canton is one of the ten cantons of Bosnia and Herzegovina.-Geography:It is located in the center of the country, to the west of Sarajevo...
of the
Federation of Bosnia and HerzegovinaThe Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the two political entities that compose the sovereign country of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
entity. It is on the crossroads between
Banja LukaBanja Luka or Banjaluka is the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the largest and most developed city in Republika Srpska which is one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Traditionally it has been the center of the Bosanska Krajina region located in the northwestern...
,
Mrkonjić GradMrkonjić Grad is a town and municipality in western Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Republika Srpska entity. It is located in the Bosanska Krajina, between Banja Luka and Jajce.- Name :...
and
Donji VakufDonji Vakuf is a town and municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, located between Jajce, Bugojno and Travnik...
, on the confluence of the rivers Pliva and Vrbas.
History
Jajce is a town that was first built in the 14th century and which served as the capital of the independent
BosniaHistorically and geographically, the region known as Bosnia lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders...
n kingdom during its time. The town has gates as fortifications, as well as a castle which has walls which lead to the various gates around the town, to protect the castle. When the Bosnian kingdom fell to the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
in 1463, Jajce was taken by the Ottomans but was retaken next year by Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus. About 10–20 kilometres from the Jajce lies the Komotin castle and town area which is older but smaller than Jajce, it is believed the town of Jajce was previously Komotin but was moved after the black death.
During this period,
BosnianHistorically and geographically, the region known as Bosnia lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders...
queenA queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles...
Katarina Kosača-KotromanićKatarina Kosača Kotromanić was the Queen of Bosnia as the wife of Stephen Thomas. She was a daughter of Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, duke of Hum, and Jelena Balšić, granddaughter of Serbian Prince Lazar....
restored the Church of Saint Luke in Jajce, today the oldest church in town. Eventually, in 1527, Jajce became the last Bosnian town to fall to
OttomanThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
rule. There are several churches and mosques built in different times during different rules, making Jajce a rather diverse town in this aspect.
Jajce gained prominence during the Second World War because it hosted the second convention of the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia on November 29 1943, a meeting that set the foundation for the
Socialist Federal Republic of YugoslaviaThe Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the second half of World War II until it was formally dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro,...
after WWII.
At the beginning of the
Bosnian warThe Bosnian War, also known as the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was an international armed conflict that took place between March 1992 and November 1995. The war involved several sides...
, Jajce was inhabited by people from all ethnic groups, and was situated at a junction between areas of Serb majority to the north, Bosnian Muslim majority areas to the south-east and Croatian majority areas to the south-west.
At the end of April and the beginning of May 1992, almost all Serbs left the city and fled to territory under the
Republika SrpskaRepublika Srpska is one of two main political-territorial divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
control. The Serbian Orthodox Church (Crkva Uspenja Presvete Bogorodice) was blown up in the night between 10th and 11th of October 1992
http://www.spc.rs/Genocid/Banjalucka/banjaluckal.html. In the summer of 1992, the
Army of Republika SrpskaThe Army of the Republika Srpska ; Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian Vojska Republike Srpske ) also referred to as Bosnian Serb Army, was the military of today's Republika Srpska which was then "Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina", a self-proclaimed state within the internationally recognized...
(VRS) started heavy bombardment of the city. Serb forces entered Jajce in October 1992, apparently due to lack of cooperation between Bosnian government and Croat forces. The Bosniak and Croat population escaped through Divičani into
TravnikTravnik is a city and municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, 90 km west of Sarajevo. It is the capital of the Central Bosnia Canton, and is located in the Travnik Municipality. Travnik today has some 27,000 residents, with a metro population that is probably close to 70,000 people...
. In the Croat counteroffensives of August-September 1995 the town was taken by Croatian forces with most of the Serb population fleeing. Jajce became part of the
Federation of Bosnia and HerzegovinaThe Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the two political entities that compose the sovereign country of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
according to the
Dayton AgreementThe General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement, Dayton Accords, Paris Protocol or Dayton-Paris Agreement, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on...
.
Demographics
In 1931 today's municipality of Jajce was part of the much bigger Jajce county (together with today's municipalities of
JezeroJajce or Jezero is a village and a municipality in western Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the western part of the Republika Srpska entity. The Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina uses both Jajce and Jezero as the official names of the municipality...
,
DobretićiDobretići is a village and municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is one of the youngest and smallest municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina hence being one of the poorest municipalities as well...
and
ŠipovoŠipovo is a town and municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated in the western part of the Republika Srpska entity and the southern part of the Bosanska Krajina region. The municipality covers an area of , much of which is forested. The Glogovac monastery of the Serb Orthodox...
.
| Ethnic Composition |
| Year |
Serb |
% |
Muslims |
% |
Croats |
% |
Yugoslavs |
% |
Others |
% |
Total |
| 1931 |
24,176 |
49.84% |
14,205 |
29.28% |
10,080 |
20.78% |
- |
- |
- |
- |
48,510 |
| 1961 |
8,670 |
25.14% |
7,545 |
21.88% |
13,733 |
39.82% |
4,342 |
12.59% |
198 |
0.57 |
34,488 |
| 1971 |
8,132 |
23.23% |
14,001 |
40.00% |
12,376 |
35.35% |
208 |
0.59% |
285 |
0.83% |
35.002 |
| 1981 |
7,954 |
19.31% |
15,145 |
36.76% |
14,418 |
35.00% |
3,177 |
7.71% |
503 |
1.22% |
41,197 |
| 1991 |
8,663 |
19.24% |
17,380 |
38.61% |
15,811 |
35.13% |
2,496 |
5.54% |
657 |
1.48% |
45,007 |
|
365 Serbs and Muslims from Jajce are documented to be killed in
JasenovacJasenovac is a municipality in Croatian Slavonia, in the southern part of the Sisak-Moslavina county at the confluence of the river Una into Sava. The municipality's population was 2,391 in 2001, 91% which are Croats and 5.90% which are Serbs. In 1991. situation was different...
concentration camp.
1991
In the town itself, there was 13,579 people, with distribution by ethnic groups:
- Bosniaks - 5,277 (38.86%)
- Bosnian Serbs - 3,797 (27.96%)
- Yugoslavs
Yugoslavs Yugoslavs Yugoslavs (Serbo-Croatian, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovene, Macedonian: Jugoslaveni/Jugosloveni/Jugoslovani,
[Latin script was used in Serbo-Croat, and Slovene languages. Identical spelling is used in the Serbian and Macedonian Cyrillic script (Serbian variant)...]
- 2,217 (16.32%)
- Bosnian Croats - 1,899 (13.98%)
- others and unknown - 389 (2.88%)
1995
According to the
Dayton agreementThe General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Agreement, Dayton Accords, Paris Protocol or Dayton-Paris Agreement, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on...
, municipality borders were changed, and included some villages with the Bosnian Croat majority before the war (
Mrkonjić GradMrkonjić Grad is a town and municipality in western Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Republika Srpska entity. It is located in the Bosanska Krajina, between Banja Luka and Jajce.- Name :...
and Skender Vakuf municipalities) and excluded some villages with the Bosnian Serb or Bosniak majority before the war.
Jajce Today
The economy of the Jajce municipality is nowadays weak. UNESCO has started to renovate the historical parts of the city together with a Swedish organisation named
Kulturarv utan gränser (Cultural Heritage without Borders). The main project of the Swedish company was to renovate the old traditional houses which symbolised the panoramic view of the city and the waterfall. As of 2006, most of the houses were rebuilt but works are ongoing for the fortress.
In elections of 2007 Bosniak parties won majority in Jajce municipality.
Surroundings
The town is also famous for its beautiful
waterfallA waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation :Typically, a river flows over a large step in the rocks that may have been formed by a fault line. As it increases its velocity at the edge of the waterfall, it plucks...
where the
Pliva RiverPliva is relatively small river in central parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, however one of the most significant in terms of natural, cultural and historical heritage and value as a natural rarity...
meets the river Vrbas. It was 30 meters high, but during the Bosnian war, the area was flooded and the waterfall is now 20 meters high. The flooding may have been due to an
earthquakeAn earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph...
and/or attacks on the hydroelectric power plant further up the river.
The roads and other infrastructure that connect Jajce to the villages surrounding it (part of the Jajce municipality) are in bad shape due to the wartime devastation.
Jajce also lies near Pliva lake and the rivers Pliva and Vrbas flow through the city. Jajce has a rich history and many remains of old times like the St Luke church and the fortress. Jajce was always known for its rich history but it was in the year 2006 that the city was first nominated to be listed as a UNESCO heritage site.
Jajce is situated in the mountains, there is a beautiful countryside near the city, rivers such as the Vrbas and Pliva, lakes like Pliva lake, which is also a popular destination for the local people and some tourists. This lake is called Brana in the local parlance. Not far from Jajce there are mountains that are over 2000 meters high like Vlasic near the city of
TravnikTravnik is a city and municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, 90 km west of Sarajevo. It is the capital of the Central Bosnia Canton, and is located in the Travnik Municipality. Travnik today has some 27,000 residents, with a metro population that is probably close to 70,000 people...
. Travelling through the mountain roads to the city may not sit well with some visitors, because the roads are in poor condition, but the scenery is picturesque.
External links