By: Emir Medanhodžić
While passing through Klašnik, we were looking forward to seeing the largest necropolis in the Podrinje region, with 359 medieval tombstones, but were met with a great disappointment. The necropolis is completely overgrown with bushes and trees, ruined by landslides and sinking into the ground, so we were able to locate no more than 50 tombstones — many of them damaged or destroyed.
The medieval necropolis originally consisted of 359 medieval tombstones in the form of chests, slabs, and gabled tombstones, decorated with symbolic motifs of apples and crescents, human figures, and partially depicted hands.
At the nearby site of Crkvina there were Roman cibuses (graves) and remains of a Roman settlement, as well as an early Christian church, but we could not reach them due to dense vegetation. The site was recorded by Sergejevski in 1934, Bojanovski in 1964, and Bešlagić in 1971.
In the immediate vicinity there is a modern Muslim cemetery — neat and well maintained — unlike this necropolis, even though the same ancestors of these villagers are buried here.
We call on all residents of Klašnik and the surrounding Višegrad parish to organize and clean up this necropolis of medieval tombstones, as it is the largest in the Podrinje region and deserves to shine in its full glory and be presented to the world.
“REMEMBER YOUR ANCESTORS, AND YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL REMEMBER YOU.”
