Boljuni Cross

An interesting arrangement of four hearts, we call the Boljuni Cross

(Click image to enlarge)

Boljuni is the location of one of the most important necropolises of 14th century tombstones (stećak) in Herzegovina. The necropolis became protected as a national monument in 2002.

There's a tremendous variety of designs, hunting scenes, ceremonial life scenes, figures and other motifs carved on the stones, and the one we feature here is just one of them.

This cross is formed by four hearts, or eight hooks, or whatever you feel the design is made up from. It may be just a copy of an old Balkan pre-Christian cult symbol, but the kind person who showed us the photo (above right) suggested the stone monuments may have been of the Cathars, Bogumils, Bosnian Church and other manichaeistic movements.

These devotees were persecuted as heretics by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. As such, they may have hidden their religion by adopting special variations of the cross; just as other underground movements adopted covert symbols such as the anchor or fish.