Počitelj: the town beneath the fortress

A fortified river town

Počitelj's medieval fort developed into an Ottoman town above the Neretva. The account submitted to UNESCO records Ottoman capture in 1471 and dates Hadži Alija's domed mosque to 1562–1563. Trade and public buildings occupied the lower slopes, with houses rising above them. The enclosure therefore protected more than a garrison: worship, schooling, commerce and domestic life occupied connected parts of the hillside. The site has been on Bosnia and Herzegovina's UNESCO Tentative List since 2007; that is a proposal for possible nomination, not World Heritage inscription.

• UNESCO World Heritage Centre · Počitelj Tentative List submission

Building a house on the slope

A conservation study in Naše starine XXII describes houses adapted individually to difficult ground and strong western sunshine. Local limestone formed their walls; stone slabs covered their roofs. Similar materials did not produce identical plans. The study distinguishes houses retaining their earlier arrangement and construction from those altered substantially after 1960, especially inside. Before proposing repairs, conservators recorded each building's dimensions, structure, layout and damage. Restoring a street of apparently similar stone houses consequently required separate decisions for each property, rather than one standard reconstruction design.

• Institute for the Protection of Monuments · Naše starine XXII, Počitelj housing study, p. 56

Destruction and documentation

The World Monuments Fund's postwar account records the departure of the town's predominantly Muslim population, deliberate destruction of buildings including the mosque, and further harm from looting and neglect. Počitelj appeared on its endangered sites lists in 1996 and 1998. A grant supported a survey by specialists from Dubrovnik and the University of York, producing a rehabilitation study in 1997. Their task included recording the condition of the whole settlement. The surviving panorama could not by itself show the extent of damage inside houses or the loss of their occupants.

• World Monuments Fund · Kress Foundation European Preservation Program, Počitelj

The medresa's later collapse

Postwar repair did not end the need for maintenance. On 4 November 2021 the Commission to Preserve National Monuments reported a partial collapse at Šišman Ibrahim-paša's medresa and called for urgent protection. Its statement requested structural assessment, professional supervision and the use of compatible traditional materials and techniques. It also called for a manager responsible for the site. This was a warning about an existing protected building, issued years after the first reconstruction campaigns. Designation and earlier investment had not removed the need for continuing inspection and care.

• Commission to Preserve National Monuments · Medresa collapse statement, 4 November 2021

Work beyond the best-known monuments

In May 2025 the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports reported the start of conservation work on the medresa's porch. The same report recorded completed work at the old school outside the upper walls, reused as an educational centre for Čapljina's mountain rescue service. These were different projects at different stages: the porch announcement did not certify its completion. The school also shows a practical form of reuse, giving an older building a working purpose. Počitelj's conservation record includes these smaller facilities as well as its photographed towers and mosque.

• Federal Ministry of Culture and Sports · Medresa porch project, 5 May 2025

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