Corridor: Via Adriatica
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Humac
Type: Christian religious centre
Epoch: Middle Ages
Theme: Christian Monasteries
World Heritage:

The monastery lies between the town of Ljubuski and the river of Trebizat. 2000 years ago, the Romans built a military stronghold of Bigestae in this place in order to protect the bridge over the Trebizat River and the road leading from Narona to Salona.
The oldest surviving cultural and religious monument, Humacka ploca (the Plaque of Humac), with the initial sign of the cross and written in Bosnian cyrillic script, was discovered in this area. It bears witness to the fact that the Church of St. Michael existed in the vicinity of the Humac monastery in the 10th or 11th century.
The year 1454 is considered to have been the year of founding the monastery in Ljubuški. Surviving Franciscan documents dating from the 16th century speak of the ruins of the Franciscan monastery in Ljubuški. The monastery was destroyed in the first half of the sixties of the 16th century, and the activities on its reestablishment were intensified in the mid-19th century. The construction of the existing monastery started in 1867.
This monastery accommodates the oldest museum in Bosnia and Herzegovina, founded in 1884. The entire collection has been divided into three parts: prehistory, ancient times and mediaeval times. The rise of the monastery library, holding around 20,000 volumes, can be traced back to 1855. Several old altars made of carved wood have a special artistic value. Architectural concept of the altars, stylistic and iconographic features of their ornaments are typical of the golden altars that appeared in the period between 1650 and 1670. 
 

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