Počitelj, Bosnia and Herzegovina
The historic urban site of Počitelj is located on the left bank of the river Neretva, on the main Mostar to Metković road, to the south of Mostar, in the territory of Čapljina Municipality.
The walled town of Počitelj evolved over the period from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Architecturally, the surviving stone-built parts of the town are a fortified complex, in which two stages of evolution may be observed: mediaeval, and Ottoman.
The significance and appearance of the town has altered during the course of its history. Three periods seem to be significant for the development of Počitelj:
1. The time of the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus when the town had significant strategic importance (1463-1471),
2. The period of development of the settlement under the Ottoman Empire with the erection of typical public buildings: mosques, mekteb (Muslim primary school), imaret (charitable kitchen), medresa (Muslim high school), hamam, Turkish baths, han (inn) and sahat-kula (clock-tower) (1471-1698). During this period military conflicts occurred in more remote areas.
3. The period of recovery of its strategic importance after the Venetians conquered and destroyed Gabela (1698-1878).
During the 1992-96 war in BiH the entire historic urban site of Počitelj and all its various buildings suffered extensive war damage.
In 1996, Počitelj was named by World Monuments Watch as one of the world's 100 most endangered cultural heritage sites, as proposed by the University of York, United Kingdom, and the University of Sarajevo, in the light of its outstanding value.
In the architecture of Počitelj the Mediterranean and Oriental styles intertwine and they simply invite you to stop by and take a walk down the narrow cobbled streets, climb the stone stairs and explore some of the secrets of this mysterious fortress. Počitelj has always attracted travel writers, painters and poets who all found their inspiration in this place. The town is consisted of the house of Gavrankapetanović and several smaller houses, Hajji Alija’s Mosque, a madrasa and a clock tower whose bell, according to the travel writers, rings harder and stronger than any other bell in the whole Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Hadži Alija's mosques is one of the finest achievements of the classical Ottoman style of single-room domed mosques in BiH. According to its chronogram, it was built in 970 AH (1562-63 AD) by Hadži Alija.
MEDRESA (Muslim religious high school) OF ŠIŠMAN IBRAHIM-PAŠA belongs to the standard type of smaller religious school, with five classrooms and a lecture room ranged along the two sides of an inner courtyard.
SAHAT-KULA - CLOCK-TOWER It is stone-built, with dressed quoins and ending in a stone pyramid. There are four pointed arches on the four sizes above the opening near the top of the tower. This type of sahat-kula is to be found in Počitelj, Mostar, and Stolac.
Počitelj can be compared with some of the world heritage sites as: Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina), City of Safranbolu (Turkey), Museum-City of Gjirokastra (Albania), Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid region (the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), etc. The layout of Pocitelj, its architecture and use of materials put it into the group of Ottoman Mediterranean types of small settlements.