Catacombs
Description
The catacombs are the most intriguing and mysterious place in Jajce – an underground church carved into solid rock in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, commissioned by Duke Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić and intended as a tomb for the ducal family. It never served that purpose, but the centuries that followed brought the town endless stories about it.
Inside the church, built in Romanesque style and vaulted with a Gothic ceiling, visitors are greeted by unfinished male and female figures carved into the rock, a double cross, symbols of the sun and crescent moon, burial niches in the floor, and a crypt with an altar. An inscription above the entrance testifies that Marshal Tito also stayed and worked in the catacombs temporarily in the autumn of 1943. The temperature inside remains around ten degrees throughout the year. They were declared a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2003, and between 13,000 and 16,000 tourists visit them annually.
A church that was never a tomb
The catacombs were carved by Duke Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić as a final resting place for himself and his family, but no one was ever buried there. Instead, the centuries that followed gave them entirely different roles. During troubled times, women and children hid there; Sufis sought spiritual peace there through fasting and prayer; and one merchant used the constant coolness inside to store drinks.
In the vestibule stand unfinished figures – a male figure with a sword and the outlined coat of arms of the Vukčić Hrvatinić family, and a female figure with lilies – silently guarding the secret of why the sculptures were never completed.
Architecture and symbols
