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Jajce (Municipality, Central Bosnian Canton, Bosnia and Herzegovina)

images by Ivan Sache, 6 May 2022

Presentation of Jajce
Flag of Jajce
Coat of arms of Jajce

See also:

Presentation of Jajce

Jajce is the ancient Royal capital of the Bosnian Kingdom in the 14th century, located at the confluence of Pliva into Vrbas forming magnificent waterfalls.
Jajce was iconic in the Socialist Yugoslavia, as the assembly of AVNOJ (Antifascist Council of People's Liberation of Yugoslavia) was held there on 29 November 1943, establishing the new Yugoslavia.

Željko Heimer, 18 June 2001

The municipality of Jajce (27,258 inhabitants in 2013; 34,246 ha) is located 160 km north-west of Sarajevo and 75 km south of Banja Luka.

Jajce was already settled in the Roman era, as evidenced by remains of a Mithraic temple and of a necropolis darted to the 4th century. Jajce is first mentioned in a written document in 1396, in which the founder of the town Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić (1350-1416) is called "conte di Jajce". The name Jajce comes, most likely, from the egg-shaped rock on which the fortress was built.
In the 15th century, Jajce was the seat of Bosnian kings, where the last of them, Stjepan Tomašević was crowned in 1461. In a campaign against Europe, the Turks conquered Jajce in 1463 and executed the king whose bones are today kept in the Franciscan monastery in Jajce. The same year, king Matthias Corvinus re-conquered Jajce. In 1527, after 64 years of constant fighting, the Turks recaptured the town, which was integrated to the Ottoman Empire. During the Turkish rule, there were several educational institutions in Jajce and important transcription centers in the town's vicinity. There was a water supply system in Jajce; a large bathroom-hammam was built, the remains of which are still preserved today. In the struggle for the autonomy of Bosnia from the Ottoman Empire in Jajce, significant resistance was offered to the Turkish forces led by Omer-pasha Latas.

After its incorporation to Austria-Hungary in 1878, Jajce was connected with the rest of the monarchy by the Jajce-Banja Luka road and the Jajce-Lašva and Jajce-Mlinište railway. The largest hydroelectric power plant in this part of Europe was built at that time, so the waterfall formed at the confluence of rivers Pliva into Vrbas was already lit up in the 19th century.
Tito's Yugoslavia was created by the assembly of AVNOJ (Antifascist Council of People's Liberation of Yugoslavia) held in Jajce on 29 November 1943.
http://www.opcina-jajce.ba/
Municipal website

Ivan Sache, 6 May 2022

Flag of Jajce

The flag of Jajce (photo) is vertical white with the coat of arms in golden lines on white in the centre of it.
The table flag (photo) is similar in design, with a somewhat larger coat of arms.

Željko Heimer & Tomislav Šipek, 15 January 2014

The flag and arms of Jajce are prescribed by a Decision adopted on 29 April 2014 by the Municipal Assembly and published in the municipal official gazette No. 3.
The flag is rectangular, white, charged in the center with the municipal coat of arms bordered in gold.

Photos:

Horizontal flag
https://bljesak.info/vijesti/flash/nacelnik-jajca-moramo-slusati-glas-gradana-posebno-omladine/205927
https://novum.ba/vijest.php?id=35600
http://exmoda.info/edin-hodzic-nacelnik-opcine-jajce-podrzao-aktuelnu

Vertical flag
https://novum.ba/vijest.php?id=38970

Ivan Sache, 6 May 2022

Coat of arms of Jajce

image by Željko Heimer, 18 June 2011

Jajce currently has no official arms (Populari database). This is also strongly expressed throughout the document Strategija komuniciranja Općine Jajce (text).
The previous coat of arms is still in use, in various colour schemes. The coat of arms depicts the skyline of the town with the old fort above the waterfalls is a shield shape.
The Populari database shows a black on gray design, indicating that this is the pre-1992 design and that nothing was used in the 1990s (and today). A forum once claimed that Jajce held a contest for the new symbols some five-six years ago, but nothing was adopted and the previous coat of arms was continued to be used.

Željko Heimer, 18 June 2011

The coat of arms is triangular. The shield's field is white while the town's symbols are drawn in golden yellow. The shield is outlined by two parallel lines. The outer line is thicker while the inner one is thinner. The name of the town, "JAJCE", is written in capital letters on the white field in the shield's upper part, while year "1396" is written in smaller numbers below. Below that, the Jajce's old downtown is drawn with the contours of the fortress, of St. Luke's tower, of the main and secondary gates, and of three more buildings. The contours of the waterfall of the town of Jajce are drawn on the white field in the shield's lower part.
https://www.opcina-jajce.ba/2015-05-12-20-01-28/grb-i-zastava.html
Municipal website

The system of the fortress and defensive walls was built in a number of stages. The first stage was the erection of the citadel on the summit of the hill. During the second stage, the bailey to the east of the fortress was built. Stage three began, roughly from the mid 15th century to 1463. The walls now ran down to the natural barrier of the travertine shores of the rivers. This created a new center in the valley, on the main road through the town, between the Travnik and Banja Luka Gatehouses. Stage four took place during the period of Hungarian rule, i.e. the period of the Jajce banate, from 1464 to 1527. The entire defensive system of the town was repaired rather than added to. During stage five, during the Ottoman Imperial period (1528-1878), the town acquired its final form. Within the fortress, the towers were turned into bastions, and embankments were raised within the medieval walls. It was at this time that a powder magazine and masjid were built within the fortress. Velika tabija (Large bastion), the tower on Dlikovac, and the Sabic bastion were built alongside the north perimeter rampart. St Mary's church with St Luke's tower were turned into the Suleyman II mosque. The perimeter walls were reinforced to a thickness of two to five meters. The way the stones were laid is noticeably more regular, and lime with coarse gravel extracted from the Vrbas was used as binder.

There is little reliable information on the medieval layout of Jajce.
The prime concern in the layout of the town, then, was strategic needs. Houses were largely of timber, and as a result of frequent fires evidence of their existence or of features from which certain assumptions could be made have vanished. The layout of the town and the area outside the ramparts is typical for the medieval period in this part of the world, where Jajce was one of the largest and most highly developed urban conglomerations.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/2098
UNESCO World Heritage Centre

Ivan Sache, 6 May 2022