The Town of Vratar (Sutiska) on the Via Drina Road Cover Image

Grad Vratar (Sutiska) na putu Via Drine
The Town of Vratar (Sutiska) on the Via Drina Road

Author(s): Nina Čuljak
Subject(s): History, Archaeology, Cultural history, Economic history, Middle Ages
Published by: Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Mostaru - Studij povijesti i Hrvatski institut za povijest - Zagreb
Keywords: Herzegovina; medieval towns; Via Drina; the towns of Herzog Stjepan Kosaca; the Fort Vratar (Sutjeska/Sutiska);

Summary/Abstract: The paper presents the results of research on the late medieval town of Vratar (Sutiska), based on published historical records and personal archaeological-topographic studies of the fort and its wider area. Apart from turning attention to the town itself or its modest architectural remains, which we personally reviewed and photogr;aphed, we also focus on its location on the medieval road known as the Via Drina. Our archaeological-topographical research on this and wider area has shown that all important medieval cities were positioned near several basic medieval roads, which in fact were the reason for their existence. The research found that the preserved architecture of the town of Vratar, due to its limited duration at the end of the late Middle Ages, was an exemplary of the building opus that was applied in the fortification architectural era. In that sense, comparisons were made with other cities that we know were in the possession of the Herzog Stjepan Vukcic Kosaca and lost their importance after the Ottoman conquest. This was, for example, the situation with Micevac, and, possibly, Zovi Dol. The aim of the paper is to emphasize the importance of these localities, but also to warn that they are both archaeologically unexplored and totally neglected by the public.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 173-199
  • Page Count: 27
  • Language: Croatian