NÉCROPOLES MÉDIÉVALES DES ENVIRONS DE GORAŽDE

The region has many stećci, 12th-15th century tombs linked to the Bogomil Christian movement and/or the Bosnian Church. The following two sites are among the twenty-two medieval necropolises in the country listed as Unesco World Heritage Sites in 2016 along with six others in Serbia, Croatia, and Montenegro.

Kučarin Necropolis (Nekropola Kučarin) - 39 km west of Goražde by the R448, then by a carriage road, at the place called Gorsic Polje, shortly before the village of Žilići (municipality of Goražde). GPS: 43.683603, 18.759312. Located in a thick beech forest, at the confluence of two small tributaries of the Drina (the Parovska and the Osanica), the site has 325 stećci scattered under the trees. Only four tombs are decorated with bas-reliefs (a deer, geometric patterns). But one of them bears a rare inscription in the bosančica (Cyrillic) alphabet indicating that here lies a certain Njegoš Vidojević.

Borak Necropolis (Nekropola Borak/Некропола Борак) - 46 km north of Goražde by roads M5 and M19.3 in the direction of Sarajevo via Rogatica, next to the village of Burati/Бурати), in the Serbian Republic of Bosnia. GPS: 43.837614, 18.884349. Hidden in an oak grove, the necropolis houses 212 stećci, five of which are decorated with bas-reliefs: crescent moons, rosettes, sword, dog, deer, bear, and human figures. To reveal these motifs, remove the moss by rubbing with a wooden stick or something not too hard so as not to damage the stones.