Culture and Heritage
Welcome to the Herzegovina Wine Route, where stunning landscapes, unique culture, and world-class wines combine to offer a memorable experience for wine and culture enthusiasts alike.
This picturesque region showcases the best of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the breathtaking views in Mostar to the historic charm of Trebinje, Ljubuški with the oldest museum in Bosnia and Herzegovina, religious and pilgrimage sites, and UNESCO sites like the Old Bridge and Radimlja necropolis.
The Herzegovina Wine Route is home to a vibrant wine and religious heritage, with iconic places to explore such as the pilgrimage site in Medjugorje, the Tekke in Blagaj, and the monasteries around Trebinje. Other highlights include the Tvrdos Monastery, the Rabi Moša Danon site in Stolac, and the numerous vineyards that dot the landscape. Whether you’re looking to explore the region’s spiritual side or its winemaking traditions, the Herzegovina Wine Route offers a unique insight into the culture and history of the region.
HWR
Culture and Heritage
Kajtaz House
In order to breathe in the atmosphere of daily life during the Ottoman period, all one needs to do is visit one of the three Turkish dwellings still present in town: these are the houses of the influential Bišćević (1635), Kajtaz (18th century) and Muslibegović (end of 19th century). Intriguing and well-maintained antique dwellings testify in detail to the residential style and to the real flavour of domestic life in that period. Each house is surrounded by high walls to protect the intimacy of Muslim family life. The delightful internal courtyards have characteristic decorations on the floors, romantic fountains, exotic plants, flowers and fruit trees. Comfort reigns supreme in these interiors, with objects of daily use, precious carpets and small libraries with rare texts. To visit a Turkish residence is a way to come into touch with a reality often only imagined and then to take it away with you, once you have returned home.
Opening times: every day from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Koski Mehmed-Pasha Mosque
The Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque in Mostar is an extraordinary example of Ottoman architecture in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Built in 1618/19, it showcases classical Ottoman design. Its founder, Mehmed Koskija, was a chronicler of the great vizier Lala Mehmed Sokolovic.
The mosque has a one-space floor plan with a dome, built from precisely tanned stone blocks. It bears a resemblance to the Karadzoz Beg Mosque but has a slightly lower minaret without stalactite decoration. Situated on the cliffs of the Neretva River in the city center, it features a porch with three domes and a beautifully crafted mihrab and mimbar.
Medieval town of Vidoški
Vidoški, a medieval town named after the river Vidoštica (now Bregava), was first mentioned in 1444 as part of the lands of Duke Stjepan Kosača. Situated on trade routes used by Dubrovnik traders, it held prominence in the region of Dubrava. The town had a well-regulated water supply through cisterns and featured various structures for residential, military, religious, and commercial purposes. It boasted 13 defense towers and fell under Ottoman rule after 1465. During the Ottoman period, significant parts of the town were built and reconstructed in multiple phases. In the Austro-Hungarian era, a fort was constructed at the highest point. Vidoški remained the largest fortified town in Herzegovina until the early 19th century. It overlooked the Vidovo plain and the Bregava river, surrounded by hills Hrgud, Komanje, Ošanići, and Bašnik.
Monumental Partisan Cemetery
In the western part of the city, dominated by extensive green areas, lies this magnificent Monumental Cemetery. It was built in 1965 (during the period of renewal and reconstruction following the end of World War II) by the architect Bogdan Bogdanovic, in memory of the partisans of Mostar who lost their lives during the war.The Cemetery has 661 tombstones and every stone has its own symbolic significance, like the Monumental complex itself.
Museum Humac
The Franciscan Monastery in Humac contains the oldest museum in Bosnia and Herzegovina, founded in 1884. The museum displays Humac Stone Tablet from XII. Century which is the oldest preserved monument written in Croatian (a mixture of Glagolitic and Old Croatian Cyrillic). Thanks to the collecting activities of numerous Franciscans, as well as various donations from the civilian population, the holdings were continuously increasing, as was the need for new premises for the archaeological collection. Today’s museum exhibition, founded in 2003, is located in the basement of the monastery of St. Anthony of Padua on Humac. Archaeological material was collected in the wider area of Herzegovina and divided into prehistoric, ancient and medieval in a time span of almost 16,000 years. Part of the complex is a lapidary for the exhibition of stone monuments located in the monastery courtyard. Around 70 Roman monuments were found in the area of the Ljubuški region, of which the largest number are tombstones (stelae) belonging to veterans and soldiers of various legionary and auxiliary units. The museum displays the oldest Cyrillic-Glagolitic monument, which retells the restoration of the church of the Archangel Michael in the period 11/12. century, popularly called “Humac Stone Tablet”. Humac Stone Tablet is the oldest written monument of Croats in BiH.
Opening times: everyday from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm
Museum of Herzegovina
The museum was created as a result of the idea of the most famous Trebinje resident, poet and diplomat, Jovan Dučić . It was founded in 1952. The first archaeological excavation was carried out by the museum in 1957 at the church of St. Peter in Zavala. The first publication, entitled Trebinje I , was published by Vasilija Korać in 1966. In 1975, he started the Tribunija magazine . It has about 1,500 m² of useful space, of which about 800 m² is exhibition space. As part of the Museum of Herzegovina, there is also a branch in Ušće (Lastva), a legacy of Dubravka Kujačić , where occasional exhibitions, promotions, and concerts are organized. The museum also has a significant collection of library materials (library with specialist books from various fields of science, culture and art).
Antique Villa Mogorjelo
Mogorjelo is one of the most important monuments of the Roman era in Bosnia and Herzegovina and belongs to the most beautiful buildings of late antique architecture. Mogorjelo supplied the Roman city of Narona and probably served in the defense of the city and its surrounding, a dense grove of coastal trees (cypress) gives this monument a particularly beautiful frame. The building was excavated between 1889 and 1903, and in the following years it was conserved, being declared as a national monument in 2002.
Apparition Hill and the Blue Cross
Apparition Hill and the Blue Cross in Medjugorje hold profound spiritual significance for millions of pilgrims worldwide. Medjugorje is a renowned pilgrimage site where, since June 1981, six young visionaries have reported regular apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Apparition Hill, or Podbrdo, is the site where the first apparition allegedly occurred, drawing countless devotees seeking solace, healing, and spiritual renewal. On the other hand, the Blue Cross, situated at the base of Apparition Hill, has become a place of intense prayer and reflection, where visitors meditate on the sufferings of Christ and present their intentions to the Virgin Mary. Both sites have become symbols of hope and faith, attracting people from various backgrounds to seek divine encounters and experience the transformative power of Medjugorje’s spiritual atmosphere.
Antique Villa Mogorjelo
Mogorjelo is one of the most important monuments of the Roman era in Bosnia and Herzegovina and belongs to the most beautiful buildings of late antique architecture. Mogorjelo supplied the Roman city of Narona and probably served in the defense of the city and its surrounding, a dense grove of coastal trees (cypress) gives this monument a particularly beautiful frame. The building was excavated between 1889 and 1903, and in the following years it was conserved, being declared as a national monument in 2002.
Apparition Hill and the Blue Cross
Apparition Hill and the Blue Cross in Medjugorje hold profound spiritual significance for millions of pilgrims worldwide. Medjugorje is a renowned pilgrimage site where, since June 1981, six young visionaries have reported regular apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Apparition Hill, or Podbrdo, is the site where the first apparition allegedly occurred, drawing countless devotees seeking solace, healing, and spiritual renewal. On the other hand, the Blue Cross, situated at the base of Apparition Hill, has become a place of intense prayer and reflection, where visitors meditate on the sufferings of Christ and present their intentions to the Virgin Mary. Both sites have become symbols of hope and faith, attracting people from various backgrounds to seek divine encounters and experience the transformative power of Medjugorje’s spiritual atmosphere.
Archaeological site Gabela
Gabela is a national cultural monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Due to its strategic location, Gabela was also inhabited in Roman times, from which we have the remains of a brick factory and farm buildings on the outskirts of the town. Of the large number of medieval buildings, the remains of the old fort and a stone plaque with a large winged lion, the symbol of the Republic of Venice, are the most impressive to this day. Gabela was from the 15th to the 18th century a large trading center, but also an important strategic fortress on the Venetian-Turkish border. At one time it was known as the slave square. Various political and economic interests were competing for supremacy over Gabel. The Turks occupied it in 1477, and after several failed attempts in 1694, the Venetians occupied Gabela, then with the Peace of Požarevac in 1718, Gabela belonged to the Turks, and the Venetians demolished all the important buildings. Gabela is again under Turkish administration, but without its former power. During the Austro-Hungarian rule and the construction of the narrow-gauge railway, Gabela was a junction from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik and Metković. The Mexican scientist Roberto Salinas Price developed a hypothesis based on geographical information in the Iliad that the Trojan War was in the valley of the Neretva River, that is, that Gabela was Ilios, the capital of the state of Troy.