stechak

Stećak (plural stećci, Serbian Cyrillic) is the name for monumental medieval tombstones that lie scattered across Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the border parts of Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. An estimated 60,000 are found within the borders of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina and the rest of 10,000 are found in what are today Croatia (4, 400), Montenegro (3, 500), and Serbia (2, 100), at more than 3,300 odd sites with over 90% in poor condition. They are cut in a variety of recognizable stećak forms, with a certain percentage being richly decorated and some individual stećci also containing inscriptions in form of epitaphs. Appearing in the mid 12th century, with the first phase in the 13th century, the custom of cutting and using stećci tombstones reached its peak in the 14th and 15th century, before being discontinued in the very early 16th century during the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They were a common tradition amongst Bosnian, Catholic and Orthodox Church followers alike, and were used by both Slavic and the Vlach populations. On the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, all found individual and stećci grouped in necropolises are considered immovable heritage and most are already inscribed on one of the lists of the Commission to preserve National Monuments, whether on the List of National Monuments, Tentative List, or into List of Petitions. S

Monument data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).