FDC Name:Archeological treasure
Issue Date:12th MAY'2014
Details:
In the village Služanj near
Čitluk, from previous times, numerous medieval tombstones (“bilig”) are
located in today’s local Catholic cemetery and nearby it. Inside the
cemetery there laid a chest, which had deeply sunked into the ground,
because it was obvious that it fell from its base. With somewhat effort
the “bilig” in 2013 was erected and set up on its baseboard. The erected
“bilig”, in the form of a tall chest with angled ends towards the
baseboard, has truly impressive dimensions: height of 209 cm, width of
149 cm and depth of 69 cm. On all sides it is decorated with embossed
moulding, which consists of lines in a form of rope and spiral wreaths
of vines with the Croatian “trolist”.
Under
the arcade from the south end, an inscription written on Humac
(Cyrillic letter in Humac land) was found. The inscription is engraved
in one line and says: СИ БИЛЕГЬ УГРИНА ВРАТУШИЋА / Si bileg Ugrina
Vratušića / This (is) “bilig”of Ugrin Vratušić. This last name from its
etymological sense is clear, most possibly a derivative of the nickname
Vratuš, a man with a distinguished (long) neck. And this inscription,
above all, demonstrates that the folk name “bilig” is rooted in the
Humac land or Herzegovina, instead of the artificial tombstone. The
inscription and “bilig” can be dated from the second half of the XV
century. (Radoslav Dodig)
The Croatian Post Ltd. Mostar has issued a regular postal stamp in a sheet of 20 stamps, postmark and First Day Cover (FDC).
