Across the Western Balkans, heritage is not found only in museums, archives and major historical centres. It also lives in small villages, along mountain roads, in rural landscapes and quiet localities that still carry the memory of past centuries.
One of the most remarkable examples of this shared heritage are the stećci: medieval tombstones dating from the 12th to the 16th century, scattered across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia. Carved mostly from limestone and often decorated with symbols, inscriptions and scenes from everyday life, they are among the most distinctive cultural traces of medieval Southeast Europe.
Twenty-eight stećak sites are already recognised by UNESCO as World Heritage, and the best known among them draw visitors from across the region and beyond each year. But these are only a fraction of the whole. There are up to 3,300 sites in total, holding more than 70,000 tombstones — and many of them remain little known, undocumented and at risk. For the first time, a large number of these lesser-known localities have been explored and gathered onto a single interactive map, contributing to their documentation and long-term preservation.
With the support of the WBF–EU Joint Action, the Mak Dizdar Foundation developed last year the Stećak.Map to bring this heritage closer to the public, and, in particular, closer to young people.
Through the Stećak.Map project, we are trying to overcome these divisions by focusing on documenting and preserving a common heritage, regardless of differing historiographical interpretations
Gorcin Dizdar
“Regional education systems too often impose interpretations of medieval history that deepen ethno-national divisions, while the stećak tombstones themselves are mostly neglected and endangered,” said Gorčin Dizdar, project manager and president of the Mak Dizdar Foundation. “Through the Stećak.Map project, we are trying to overcome these divisions by focusing on documenting and preserving a common heritage, regardless of differing historiographical interpretations.”
Led by the Mak Dizdar Foundation in cooperation with Muzej Ras in Raška and the NGO Bošnjačko društvo kulture Avlija in Rožaje, the project set out to map, document and promote stećak sites through an interactive online platform. Over the course of the work, young people and local teams helped identify and map more than 250 stećak localities.
The result is not only a digital map with pictures, testimonies and exact georeferenced datas. It is a new way of seeing heritage. By placing these sites on an accessible online platform, Stećak.Map turns scattered and often overlooked monuments into visible points of interest. It allows researchers, visitors, local communities, tourism operators and heritage institutions to locate the sites, learn about them, and understand how they connect to a broader regional story.
This is where the project’s tourism potential becomes especially clear. Cultural tourism in the Western Balkans is still too often concentrated around a handful of well-known destinations. Projects like Stećak.Map widen that map. They point visitors toward smaller municipalities, rural areas and cross-border routes that are rich in history but underrepresented in tourism promotion.
A stećak site can become far more than a stop on a map. It can be part of a cultural itinerary, a hiking route, a rural tourism experience, an educational visit, or a regional heritage trail linking communities across borders. For local areas, that means visibility. For visitors, a deeper and more authentic experience of the region. For heritage institutions, better documentation and stronger public awareness.
Much of the project’s value also lies in the involvement of young people. By engaging volunteers and local teams in fieldwork, documentation and digital promotion, Stećak.Map connects new generations with cultural heritage — not as something distant or static, but as something they can research, protect and present to others.
This is precisely the kind of regional cooperation the Western Balkans Fund was created to support: practical, people-centred and rooted in shared value. A project that begins with heritage but reaches into education, youth engagement, tourism, digital innovation and local development.
The Western Balkans has no shortage of history. The challenge is to make that history visible, accessible and useful for the future. Stećak.Map does exactly that. It turns stone monuments into digital knowledge, local memory into regional connection, and cultural heritage into a potential driver of sustainable tourism.
In doing so, it reminds us that the region’s heritage is not only something to preserve. It is also something to activate, to share, and to build upon.
