Bobovac
Bobovac a historic site, was a fortified royal capital city of medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as such a seat of Bosnian rulers during 14th and 15th century. It is located near today's Vareš and the village of Borovica, and close to the Royal court in Sutjeska, in present-day village of Kraljeva Sutjeska. It is a protected national heritage site as a National monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina by KONS.
History
The city was built during the reign of Stephen II, Ban of Bosnia, and was first mentioned in a document dating from 1349. It shared the role of seat of the rulers of Bosnia with the court in Sutjeska, or as it called today, Kraljeva Sutjeska, however Bobovac was much better fortified than the other.Bosnian King Stephen Tomašević moved the royal seat to Jajce during his war with the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans invaded the city in 1463. Its fall hastened the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia.
Main structures and architectural style
Within its main walls' enclosure, the royal town of Bobovac had large residential area, the complex of places of worship with the Burial Chapel for the Bosnian Kings and the Grand Church, the Royal Court complex, separated from the rest of the town with its inner walls and forecourts or courtyards, designed with representative architectural elements in Gothic architectural style. Also, some elements and motifs were designed in Romano-Gothic distyle.Royal Court complex
The Royal Court complex was the town's main structure, fitted into five karst ridges on three basic levels, sloping from north to south. This area of Bobovac, separated from the rest of the town with its inner walls, consisted two main gates, two keeps, two forecourts, and three palaces, the Lower or Grand Palace, the Upper Palace, the Annex Palace, with other service buildings and staircases.Grand Palace
The first Court gate leading into the forecourt, the look-out tower or the keep was situated to the south, with other smaller buildings in the forecourt include a blacksmith shops. A roofed stairway led to the second gate and another forecourt for the Lower Palace or Grand Palace, from assessing the partly preserved walls at least four-story, irregular quadrilateral building with dimensions of 25 meters with 10 meters, whose south wall was erected on top of the limestone ridge while the north wall was entirely formed of a stone cliff. The second gate was done in representative decorative style with a Gothic portal bearing the coat of arms of King Tvrtko II and lanterns. The second forecourt included buildings on three terraces, with a granary, battlements, a large water cistern, a smithy, a lime-pit and one small residential building.Upper Palace with Annex
The Upper Palace with its forecourt were situated on the uppermost level, next to the keep and the cistern, with annex to the east as another palace added on later on. The forecourt, which included the keep, led to an elongated the Upper Palace, whose dimensions were 18 to 19 meters with 5 to 5.6 meters.There were wooden stairs and a gallery to the upper story, while in the northern room an interior vault existed. The room was probably used as a Court chapel for King Tvrtko II’s spouse, Dorothy Garai.