MEDIEVAL NECROPOLIS OF DUGO POLJE

Placed at the junction of the Dugo and Rudo polje, this archaeological site (Nekropola Stećaka Dugo Polje) is home to no less than 150 stećci, tombs from the 12th-15th centuries linked to the Bogomil Christian movement and/or the Bosnian Church. It is one of the twenty-two medieval necropolises in the country listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2016, along with six others in Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro. It is easy to visit, as it is located directly on the road coming from the hotel-restaurant Hajdučke Vrleti, just after the junction of the R419 that leads to the ski resort of Risovac and Jablanica. The place is also worth a visit for the large number of stećci it houses. Of the 150 tombs, most date from the second half of the 14th century. There are 34 of them decorated, mainly with rosettes, crosses and crescent moons. Some stećci are decorated with swords and shields bearing heraldic signs. There are also unusual motifs: a cross with arms ending in the shape of a naval anchor and another cross topped by a circle. Among the human representations are five hunting scenes, two tournaments, two dances in a circle(kolo), an isolated hand and a composition with three faces emerging from the water. The most surprising, and whose meaning escapes researchers, are a fantastic animal (a mixture of a winged horse and a snake), a group of three figures with their hands on their torsos and another group of five men raising their arms.