By: Emir Medanhodžić, President of the Steering Board of the Foundation “Heritage Watchdogs – Bassania”
Gradac / Crkvina in Mali Mošunj, Vitez municipality, is a prehistoric Illyrian hillfort from the Bronze and Iron Ages, where archaeological excavations have uncovered fragments of pottery and other metal artifacts. Through his 1913 excavations, Ivan Kujundžić discovered an Early Christian Arian basilica, dated to the period between the 4th and 6th centuries, along with four antique graves with their entrance oriented in a NW – SE direction. In 1913, a modern Catholic church was built upon the remains of this Early Christian Arian basilica; interestingly, it retains the same Arian orientation of NW – SE, despite the fact that Catholic churches are traditionally oriented West – East. During the Middle Ages, this site was home to a necropolis of medieval tombstones, but it was subsequently destroyed and dispersed.
Today, this location serves as the Catholic shrine “Kalvarija” (Calvary), featuring three large metal crosses and 14 marked Stations of the Cross, so that the entire area—along with a newly built church structure at the base—appears as a site for Catholic rituals. It should be noted that Catholics first settled in Vitez in 1604 as serfs, following the decimation of the Muslim population by the plague.
Information was recently released from the Vatican stating that Vatican archaeologists, in cooperation with the Regional Museum in Travnik, will conduct new archaeological research in 2026. There is a justified fear of further desecration of this cultural monument; we hope that our competent institutions will closely monitor these developments and prevent any unwanted consequences.
We specifically refer to the 2003 Council of Europe Conventions on the Value of Cultural Heritage and the 1994 NARA Document of the ICOMOS International Committee, which prohibits the use of cultural heritage sites for religious and political manifestations. Furthermore, the Commission to Preserve National Monuments of BiH opposes the appropriation, interpretation, and imposition of a unilateral identity upon archaeological sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
