Stećci are a silent witness of the medieval bosnian culture and the existence of Crkva bosanska. „Stone sleepers“, how Mak Dizdar called them, are massive thombstones that patronized the life work of bogumili. But some people deny that and claim that they are just a way of art expression. They are located all over BiH, except for Posavina and Bosanska Krajina. The oldest Stećak is from the second partof the XII century, but the one in a shape of a coffin is from the XIV century. Stećak can
be laid down on the ground or standing upwards, but most of them are laid down
and they can be in shape of a panel, sarcophagus or coffin. We have also Stećci
that are shapeless. The artistic value of these tombstones is in the carvings
and engravings on them. The symbols can be social or religious. Social ones are
coats of arms and they were most commonly dedicated to the lower noble class.
Most of them are made like the ones of the western European heraldic, but some
of them are made with a motive of a sword and shield. Also we have figural
expressions of the deceased himself, or some village competitions that involved
spear throwing and such because we know that they were great warriors. Also
many undefined decorations can be found like strange shapes and lines. These
tombstones have great importance for exploring the history of medieval Bosnia
because they contain records of some significant historic figures of that time.
The first writing about Stećci is from 1530 by a Slovenian, Benedikt Kuripešić.
Many have tried to deny the connection between bogumili and these tombstones,
but Arthur Evans, a worldwide renowned archeologist had proven the
correspondence between these two and sealed it in European historiography. Also
they represent and defend the identity of our country even in times like the
middle ages. In the sense of linguistic importance, many great writers like Mak
Dizdar have found inspiration to write their work in these monuments.