Boljuni – a village of deep history in the heart of Herzegovina
A hamlet near Stolac, known for its UNESCO-protected necropolis of stećci — monumental medieval tombstones — as well as its stone houses, centuries-old customs and a landscape that bears witness to how long people have endured here.
Boljuni is a small place, but one with a written record reaching back to the Middle Ages and archaeological layers that reach back further still. What follows is drawn from confirmed historical sources and, where records are missing, from oral tradition — clearly marked as such.
Origins and the earliest traces
The area around Boljuni was settled long before the village took its present name. Traces have been recorded nearby from the Illyrian period — the remains of a hillfort and tumuli (burial mounds) — as well as the site known as Crkvina, thought to date from late antiquity or the early Middle Ages, with the remains of what was probably an early medieval cemetery.
Such layering is not unusual for Lower Herzegovina: the whole area around Stolac — from the Illyrians through Roman and late antique settlements to the arrival of the Slavs — belongs to a region with one of the longest and densest records of continuous settlement.
archaeologically confirmed
The Middle Ages — the first written records
Boljuni appears in written sources in the late Middle Ages, when this area formed part of Hum — later Herzegovina — under the rule of Bosnian nobles. The single most significant record comes from a Ragusan (Dubrovnik) contract of August 1487, which names Herak Bogunović, Vukac Milaković and Radič Bratuljević — inhabitants of Boljuni with business ties to Dubrovnik, then the principal trading centre on the Adriatic coast.
The great majority of the stećci in the Boljuni necropolis date from the same period, among them the grave of Duke Vlatko Vuković, commander of the Bosnian army that defeated the Ottoman forces at the Battle of Bileća on 27 August 1388 — one of the first recorded victories over the Ottomans on European soil.
oral tradition / assumption
According to tradition, a school of stonemasons worked in Boljuni at that time around the master Grubač, whose pupils carved tombstones throughout the surrounding area — but the names of all the masters, and the true extent of their work, have never been fully established.
Village life through the centuries
For centuries life in Boljuni was organised around family, land and livestock — as in most Herzegovinian villages set on rocky, unforgiving ground where every inch of arable land counted. Houses were built of local stone, with small openings against the wind and the sun, and the settlement was spread across several smaller hamlets scattered on the slopes above the fields.
oral tradition
Older residents recall that the boundaries of holdings and pastures were often passed down by word of mouth, from one generation to the next, and that disputes over them were settled through the mediation of village elders — a practice common throughout Herzegovina before the modern land registry.
The Ottoman period
After the fall of the Bosnian Kingdom in 1463 and the final extinction of the Herzegovinian nobility at the end of the 15th century, the whole region around Stolac — Boljuni included — became part of the Ottoman Empire. Stolac grew into an important local administrative and trading centre and the seat of a captaincy, while the surrounding villages remained largely agricultural and pastoral.
oral tradition
No precise census records survive for everyday life in Boljuni during this period; what is known rests largely on the general patterns of agrarian and social life characteristic of the Stolac area.
The Austro-Hungarian period
After 1878 and the establishment of Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the area around Stolac gained its first modern roads, cadastral surveys and the beginnings of organised administration at village level. As elsewhere in Herzegovina, these changes reached remoter hamlets such as Boljuni slowly and only in part.
assumption
It is assumed that the Austro-Hungarian cadastral surveys were the first to record reliably the layout of houses, holdings and family properties in Boljuni, though confirming this would require access to archival material that has never been brought together publicly.
The 20th century up to the Second World War
Under the Kingdom of Yugoslavia the village went on living to the traditional rhythm of farming and livestock. As in much of rural Herzegovina, this was the era of the first departures in search of a better life — to towns within the country, but also overseas, on which more in the section on migration below.
The Second World War
The Second World War struck the whole Stolac area hard; it became the scene of fighting between several military and paramilitary formations. The people of small villages such as Boljuni bore the consequences of a conflict that engulfed all of Herzegovina.
The 1992–1995 war and post-war recovery
Like the whole municipality of Stolac, Boljuni went through a period of displacement and destruction during the war of 1992–1995 that affected a large part of Herzegovina. The years since have been marked by a gradual, often slow return of the population and by the rebuilding of homes and infrastructure.
The traditional way of life
◆Farming — grapevines, figs, tobacco and garden crops grown in small plots walled with stone, typical of the Herzegovinian karst.
◆Livestock — sheep and goats grazed the surrounding slopes that were too hard to cultivate; for centuries livestock was the foundation of the household diet.
◆Customs — village feast days, evening gatherings (sijelo) around shared work such as the grape harvest and haymaking, and rites tied to the church and folk calendar, handed down orally through the generations.
Families, migration and the economy
oral tradition
The necropolis of stećci bears witness that families such as the Vladisalići (a line from the village of Donji Vlasi) lived in Boljuni in the Middle Ages, while 15th-century Dubrovnik documents record the surnames Bogunović, Milaković and Bratuljević. The descent of surnames and family lines in more recent times has never been systematically documented here.
Like much of rural Herzegovina, Boljuni was marked by emigration through the 20th century — towards the towns and, to a lesser extent, overseas — while economic activity today centres on small-scale farming, the safeguarding of heritage, and the beginnings of rural tourism built around the necropolis of stećci.
Notes from the village
Two old quarries have been found near the necropolis — one 200 m to the north-west, the other 200 m to the east — from which the stone for the stećci was probably cut.
Beside the necropolis stands an old stone well known locally as Neveš voda, sometimes also called “the Greek well”.
The photo monograph “Tajna Boljuni” (The Secret of Boljuni) by Marinko Šutalo is one of the few complete works devoted to this necropolis and village.
UNESCO World Heritage · 2016
The Boljuni necropolis of stećci
The necropolis lies in the valley below the village houses, some 12–15 km south-west of Stolac, and numbers 269 stećci arranged in two groups. By form these are 176 chests, 76 slabs, 12 gabled tombstones and 3 crosses; 92 monuments (34%) carry relief decoration.
By number of inscriptions — 19 in all, written in Bosnian Cyrillic (bosančica) — Boljuni ranks first in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which makes the necropolis an exceptionally important source for the study of medieval language, script and art.
In 2016 the necropolis was inscribed, together with 27 other stećci necropolises across the region, on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of a joint transnational nomination by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro.
269
stećci in total
92
decorated (34%)
19
inscriptions — first in BiH
2
groups of monuments
Artistic motifs
The commonest decoration is the cross, followed by the twisting vine with a trefoil — a motif found throughout Herzegovina — as well as the shield and sword, rosettes, various borders and the crescent. The necropolis is especially valuable for its figural scenes: deer hunts, knightly tournaments, the village round dance (kolo), and depictions of a mother with her child.
Several stećci bear the signature of the master Grubač, whose work is dated roughly between 1440 and 1460, as well as of the scribe (dijak) Semorad and the masters Milić, Zelija and Dragiša — names that place Boljuni among the important centres of stonemasonry and art in medieval Herzegovina.
Historical context and significance
The necropolis also holds the grave of Duke Vlatko Vuković, whose inscription reads: “Ase leži dobri čoek Vlatko Vuković” — “Here lies the good man Vlatko Vuković”. Vuković is credited with commanding the Bosnian army at the Battle of Bileća in 1388, one of the well-known early victories over Ottoman forces in these lands.
As a monumental culture the stećci are significant, too, for crossing confessional lines: they were used to bury members of different medieval religious communities, which makes them the shared heritage of the whole region rather than of any single tradition.
Churches and cultural heritage
The village church
For centuries the religious life of the village has gathered around its church and chapels — places of assembly for feast days and family rites, and the points around which emigrant villagers gather when they return home.
Cemeteries and chapels
Alongside the necropolis of stećci, the village keeps more recent cemeteries and small chapels — testimony to the continuity of burial on the same ground across the centuries.
Safeguarding tradition
The non-governmental organisation Neveš has cared for the necropolis for years and works to promote the heritage of Boljuni, including the publication of a photo monograph about the village.
The countryside around Boljuni
Boljuni lies in the characteristic landscape of Lower Herzegovina: rocky hills covered in maquis, low fields suited to grapevines and garden crops, and dry-stone walls that have marked out holdings for centuries. The country is open and sunlit, with views reaching to the surrounding Herzegovinian heights.
The vegetation is marked by Mediterranean and sub-Mediterranean species — prickly juniper, Christ’s thorn, sage and wild fig — while the many rocky paths and viewpoints are part of everyday life for residents and, increasingly, a destination for visitors who come to see the necropolis of stećci.
general regional note
No detailed inventory of the local fauna and flora specific to Boljuni has been carried out as a separate study; this description draws on the general characteristics of the Lower Herzegovina landscape.
Gallery
Click a photograph to view it full size.
Timeline
14th–15th century
The Middle Ages
The first written records, the building of the necropolis, Duke Vlatko Vuković.
1482–1878
The Ottoman period
Stolac becomes a local centre; the villages stay agrarian and pastoral.
1878–1918
Austria-Hungary
Roads, the cadastre and the beginnings of modern administration.
1918–1991
Yugoslavia
The Second World War, post-war rebuilding, the first emigration.
1992–1995
War
Displacement and destruction sweep the whole Stolac area.
2016 – today
The present day
UNESCO inscription of the necropolis; restoration, return and the growth of heritage tourism.
Notable facts
With 19 inscriptions on its stećci, Boljuni ranks first in the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Duke Vlatko Vuković, victor of the Battle of Bileća in 1388, is buried in the necropolis.
In 2016 the necropolis joined the UNESCO list together with 27 other necropolises from the region.
An old stone well known as Neveš voda is preserved beside the necropolis.
Getting to Boljuni
Boljuni lies some 12–15 km south-west of Stolac, on the road towards Neum. The necropolis of stećci is fenced and open to visitors.
