ZitomisliciInauguration

Images of Revival:
Zitomislici 2002

Click on thumbs for large photo (all photos courtesy of Amra Hadzimuhamedovic)
Below are photos of Zitomislici on April 8, 2002 as the reconstruction work was about to begin.

The April ceremony inaugurating the reconstruction in brought together representatives from the various communities in Bosnia-Herzegovina and from the international community. Among those present were Vladika Grigorije, the Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Zahumlje-Herzegovina and the Coastal Region, Zoran Mandelbaum, the president of the Jewish community in Mostar, Sead Smajkic, the Mufti of Mostar, Amra Hadzimuhamedovic of the National Commission of Bosnia-Herzegovina for the Revivication of Heritage established under Annex VIII of the Dayton agreement, an orthodox priest from Stolac, Avis Benes, the OHR Porteparole, the Bosnian translator Zenja, and Anvar Azimov, assistant to the High Representative for Interreligious Relations.

Bishop Grigorije, based in Trebinje now due to the expulsion of Serbs from Mostar and the destruction of Serb Orthodox shrines, has engaged in several important activities on behalf of interreligious cooperation and understanding. See the Bishop Grigorije report.

There was one notable absence: The Catholic Community was not officially represented. Bishop Ratko Peric of Mostar rejected the invitation to participate and boycotted this effort at reconstruction of heritage and interreligious cooperation.

See the Zitomislici Road to the Renewal for press briefings on the planning and preparations for the reconstruction project at Zitomislici.

The campaign to destroy all non-Catholic presence in Hercegovina resulted in a massive program of religious persecution, mass-killing, and systematic annihilation of cultural heritage. The goal was not only to destroy the non-Catholic peoples but all evidence that they had existed in the area: to erase them from historical memory. But these efforts have not only failed, they have sparked a revival of interest in local heritage by Catholic and non-Catholic, working together. The sites targeted are being lovingly restored. In the act of restoration, the target sites are receiving new attention, both local and international, attention that includes evotional, scholarly, artistic, social, and interreligious concern. Every aspect of their history is being explored. New information is being discovered. And as the sites rise again, renewed, the interreligious cooperation that has inspired and led their revival is strengthened. It is easy for armed militias backed by armies from Croatia and Serbia to murder human beings and dynamite monuments and shrines. But the same groups were impotent in their effort to destroy the human spirit. Above: A first step in the resurrection of Sveti Blagovijest (Saint Good Tidings), attention and documention.

Below: ancient symbols of Bosnia-Hercegovina at Zitomislici survive the HVO attack and will help anchor the restored complex. The symbols include a full-dimension cross-rosette (right frame, upper), a rosette mosaic (right frame center), and two cross-rosettes held between what appears to be a lily, from a 17th-century tombstone (large, second frame from left).

Below: the konak, the residence of the elder or iguman.

Above: the graveyard that sits in a fenced enclosure behind the church. An HDZ subsidized Catholic-only demographic-engineering colony can be seen in the background.