Počitelj

The town of Duke Stjepan is one of the most beautiful cultural and historical entities in Herzegovina, originating from the 14th century. It is located on the banks of the Neretva River and is a blend of oriental architecture with a Mediterranean touch.

This is evidenced by the cultural treasures:

• - Šišman Ibrahim Pasha's mosque
• - Clock tower
• - madrasa
• - hamam
• - caravanserai
• - house of Gavrankapetanović

In the Middle Ages, Počitelj was the administrative center of the Dubrava parish. As the westernmost point of the parish, it held significant strategic importance. It is believed that the builder of the fortified town and the founder of the suburban settlement was the Bosnian king Tvrtko I Kotromanić, in 1383.

The medieval town of Počitelj is first mentioned in historical sources on February 19, 1444, in the charters of King Alfonso V and Frederick III. It was built on a steep rocky cliff on the left bank of the Neretva River and was expanded in several stages (medieval construction and construction during the Ottoman Empire) from the 16th to the 18th century.

From 1463 to 1471, the Hungarian army was stationed in Počitelj. The Hungarian-Croatian king Matthias Corvinus recognized the danger from the approaching Ottoman military force and, with the help of Duke Stjepan, the lord of the land of Hum, which was later named Herzegovina, and with the material assistance of the Republic of Dubrovnik, further fortified Počitelj.

For five full years, Christian defenders of Počitelj resisted the Turkish force, but on September 19, 1471, the fortress fell, marking one of the last strongholds of the “duke's land.”

Clock Tower

After the Turkish occupation, Počitelj was further fortified due to its strategic importance, and during the next 450 years of occupation (until 1878), it acquired an oriental “flair.”

From 1782 to 1879, it was the seat of the kadiluk, and from 1713 to 1835, it was the seat of the Počitelj captaincy. During this time, military conflicts were transferred to more distant areas, and significant public buildings were constructed in Počitelj: mosques, mektebs, imarets, madrasa, baths, caravanserais, and the clock tower.

The rare combination of the oriental East and medieval West in Europe attracts the attention of all passersby. The tower, which still “guards” the narrow passage by the Neretva River on the way from the sea to the interior, has been a guardian of the history of this region and its people for five hundred and fifty years.

After the Venetians occupied and destroyed Gabela in 1698, Počitelj regained its strategic importance. After the establishment of Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, Počitelj lost its strategic significance and rapidly declined.

During this period, part of the walls near the Lower Gate was destroyed, and a road was opened to the Lower Field, and later another part of the walls, with a small door behind the hamam, was demolished, and the road to the Upper Field was widened, destroying the continuity of the city walls of Počitelj.

The loss of the city's strategic role favored the preservation of the authentic urban-architectural agglomeration, so the form of the town has been preserved to this day.

The municipality of Čapljina created the “Revitalization Plan for the Old Town of Počitelj” in 1971, which protected the entire complex of the Old Town of Počitelj under the Spatial Planning Act.

Despite this, the complex suffered greatly during the Croatian-Bosniak conflict in the 1990s. In January 2003, the Historic Urban Area of Počitelj was declared a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and its restoration has been ongoing since then, which has not been completed to this day.

On February 1, 2007, the Commission for the Preservation of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina nominated Počitelj for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List in Europe.