Jajce

Template:Bosnia and Herzegovina municipalities Jajce (Cyrillic: Јајце) is a town and municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in the Central Bosnia Canton of the Federation. It is on the crossroads between Banja Luka, Mrkonjić Grad and Donji Vakuf, on the confluence of the rivers Pliva and Vrbas.

History

Jajce is a town that was first built in the 14th century and which served as the capital of the independent Bosnian kingdom during its time. The town has gates as fortifications, as well as a castle which has walls which lead to the various gates around the town, to protect the castle. When the Bosnian kingdom fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1463, Jajce was taken by the Ottomans but was retaken next year by Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus. About 10-20km from the Jajce lies the Komotin castle and town area which is older but smaller than Jajce, it is believed the town of Jajce was previously Komotin but was moved after the black death.

During this period, the last Bosnian queen Katarina Kosača-Kotromanić restored the Church of Saint Luke in Jajce, today the oldest church in town. Eventually, in 1527, Jajce became the last Bosnian town to fall to Ottoman rule. There are several churches and mosques built in different times during different rules, making Jajce a rather diverse town in this aspect.

Jajce gained prominence during the Second World War because it hosted the second convention of the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia on November 29 1943, a meeting that set the foundation for the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia after WWII.

At the beginning of the Bosnian war, Jajce was inhabited by people from all ethnic groups, and was situated at a junction between areas of Serb majority to the north, Bosnian Muslim majority areas to the south-east and Croatian majority areas to the south-west.

At the end of April and the beginning of May 1992, almost all Serbs left the city and fled to territory under Bosnian Serb control Republika Srpska. In the summer of 1992, the Bosnian Serb army started heavy bombardment of the city. Serb forces entered Jajce in October 1992, apparently due to lack of cooperation between Bosnian Muslim and Croatian forces. The Bosniak and Croat population escaped through Divicani into Travnik. In the Croat counteroffensives of August-September 1995 the town was taken by Croatian forces with most of the Serb population fleeing. Jajce became part of the Muslim-Croat Federation according to the Dayton Agreement.

Demographics

File:Jajce museum.jpg

Jajce museum

1931

In 1931 the Serbian orthodox population made up 49.8% of Jajce.[2] 24,176 were Serbs, 14,205 were Muslims, and 10,080 were Croats.

1971

35.002 total

• Мuslims - 14.001 (40,00)
• Croats - 12.376 (35,35)
• Serbs - 8.132 (23,23)
• Yugoslavs - 208 (0,59)
• Others - 285 (0,83)

1991

According to the 1991 census, the municipality of Jajce had 45,007 residents:

• Bosniaks - 17,380 (38.61%)
• Croats - 15,811 (35.13%)
• Serbs - 8,663 (19.24%)
• Yugoslavs - 2,496 (5.54%)
• others and unknown - 657 (1.48%)

In the town itself, there was 13,579 people, with distribution by ethnic groups:

• Bosniaks - 5,277 (38.86%)
• Serbs - 3,797 (27.96%)
• Yugoslavs - 2,217 (16.32%)
• Croats - 1,899 (13.98%)
• others and unknown - 389 (2.88%)

2003

Croats made majority in a municipality (part of old Jajce-municipality around Jezero became it's own municipality)

• Croats - 15,020 (47.6%)
• Bosniaks - 12,200 (38.6%)
• Serbs - 4,300 (13.6%)
• others and unknown - 29 (0.1%)

[3]

Jajce Today

Sadly, because of the current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the economy of the Jajce municipality is bad. UNESCO has started to renovate the historical parts of the city together with a Swedish organisation named Kulturarv utan gränser (Cultural Heritage without Borders). The main project of the Swedish company was to renovate the old traditional houses which symbolised the panoramic view of the city and the waterfall. As of 2006, most of the houses were rebuilt but works are ongoing for the fortress.

In elections of 2007 Bosniak parties won majority in Jajce municipality.

Surroundings

The waterfall in Jajce

The town is also famous for its beautiful waterfall where the lake Pliva meets the river Vrbas. It was 30 meters high, but during the Bosnian war, the area was flooded and the waterfall is now 20 meters high. The flooding may have been due to an earthquake and/or attacks on the hydroelectric power plant further up the river.

The roads and other infrastructure that connect Jajce to the villages surrounding it (part of the Jajce municipality) are in bad shape due to the wartime devastation.

Jajce also lies near Pliva lake (Plivsko jezero) and the rivers Pliva and Vrbas flow through the city. Jajce has a rich history and many remains of old times like the St Luke church and the fortress. Jajce was always known for its rich history but it was in the year 2006 that the city was first nominated to be listed as a UNESCO heritage site. It may take some years or many years, but this is evidence that even UNESCO are looking at Jajce in their future plans, and maybe the city will be a UNESCO heritage site in a couple of years.

Jajce is situated in the mountains, there is very beautiful countryside near the city of forested mountains, rivers like Vrbas and Pliva, lakes like Pliva lake and also a popular destination for the local people and perhaps some tourists, which is called Brana in the local language. When you travel through the mountain roads to the city, you may not feel very comfortable because the roads are in bad shape, but the scenery is just fantastic.

You can see forested mountains, lakes like Pliva lake, rivers and high mountains. Not far from Jajce there are mountains that are over 2000 meters high like Vlasic near the city of Travnik.

External links

• Official WebsiteTemplate:Bs iconTemplate:Hr icon
• Jajce.baTemplate:Bs icon
• Everything about JajceTemplate:Bs icon
• Image of Town and Waterfall