Fortress Kastel is the oldest historical monument in the City of Banja Luka. The oldest traces of settlements on the territory of Banja Luka are the remnants of Neolithic settlement that were exactly found on the territory of the city fortress Kastel. It is found in the central part of the city, which dominates over the left bank of the river Vrbas. In the past Kastel was a strong army fortification and it protected the basin of the river Vrbas from enemy rush. The fortress is surrounded by thick stone walls on all sides, and in its inner part, apart […]

Construction of the Saint Trinity Church in the city centre was the first bigger architectural venture in Banja Luka after the World War I. It was built on an empty space in front of the cafe “Balkan“ from 1925. It was designed by Dušan Živanović, an architect from Belgrade. The church was built in Serbian and Byzantyne style, which appeared in our architectonic practice in the end of 19th and the beginning of the 20th cenutry. Architecturally, the church was finished in 1929, and the interior was made after the announced Yugoslovenian contest, on which Grigorije Samojlov won a prize. […]

When the Vrbas Banovina was established in 1929 and its first Ban Tisa Milosavljevic assigned, there was a need to erect representative edifices for the Ban’s Government and the Ban’s Court. The construction works began in March 1931 and the inauguration took place on November 8. 1932. The twin palaces were built in neo-classical style with the influences of the Serbian-Byzantine architecture. Presently, these facilities house the City Hall, the RS President’s Office, the Cultural Center Banski Dvor and the seat of the RS National Television. All these institutions helped to retain the initial purpose of the most sumptuous buildings […]

The monument to fallen Krajina soldiers, in the War for Liberation (1941-1945) against fascism is located at the top of the Banj Hill (431meters of altitude) which dominates over Banjaluka. It is around 5 kilometers away from the city, and the road between Banja Luka and the monument on the Banj Hill is covered in concrete al the way long. The monument of the mausoleic type (13 meters high and 24 meters long), is a work of one of the greatest Yugoslovenian sculptors and craftsmen of memorial plastic of Antun Augustinčić. It was erected on the place where, in June […]

The monument to a writer and a national tribune, Petar Kočić (1877-1916), is located in the City park (across the main square) and it represents one more work of Antun Augustinčić in Banja Luka and Vanja Radauš. The monument was finished in 1929, and established and solemnly uncovered on Novemer 6, 1932.

Visitors who enter the abbatical church Maria Stern for the first time remain speechless. That tremendous space, those light colours, the unusual artistic incarnation is certainly something you did not expect. Actually, there is no similar church in the whole Bosnia and Herzegovina to this church that is for 30 years a parish church as well. It was built in unusually short period: on August 20, 1925 the foundation was formed, and already a year later the construction was over and the arch was made. The first plan for its construction was made by a monk from the convent, an […]

At the end of the 19th century in the Gospodska Street (the Street of Veselin Masleša) a line of Neo-Renaissance buildings was raised, and later on a building with stylistic elements of secession, with rich decoration on the wreaths, around the windows and balconies and decorative towers on the edges, making the representative walking zone in the centre of the city. Today in these objects along the Gospodska Street there are many business stores that offer the goods from domestic and international producers.

The building of the former Military Command was built in 1878/1880, which was probably the first construction in the period of Austro-Hungarian occupation. The object has simple architectural shapes appropriate to the military purpose, and today the Archive of the Republic of Srpska is located in it.

The building of the former railway station from 1891-1892 (today the Museum of Contemporary arts of the Republic of Srpska) is derived as a monumental edifice, with the prominent central entrance and sideways annexes which hold representative portals, with arch apertures richly decorated archivolts in the ground floor, prominent profiled wreaths and coherent rhythm of rectangular windows on the floor, while the platform side firstly had the porch on iron poles with decorative capitals. It was built in Neo-Renaissance manner, and by its position it enabled formation of the first city square related to the Regal road.

Monumental object of the Mortgage Bank was constructed in 1936, which, apart from the elements of Bauhaus, has prominent Neo-Classicistic elements. Two figures of the villagers from Krajina, molten in brass which are flanked by representative portals made by Volodemer Zahorodnjuk.

The special mark of the city is the alleys, especially the one spread along the two city streets – Carski drum ( today Kralj Petar I Karadjordjevic Street and Mladen Stojanovic Street). Its planting started in 1882. Many prestigious residential buildings – mansions, built in era of  Austria-Hungarian occupation can be seen along the main city street , as well as the small railway station, known as ”Kraljev drum”, where you can find a pizzeria today. With its old alleys, cultural- historical monuments, mansions and other edifices, Carski drum represents the embodiment of the city and it has determined, in […]

Safikada's Tomb, located in the downtown, in front of Kastel Fortress, testifies about Banja Luka's legend about eternal love (Banja Luka's version of Romeo and Juliet). The legend tells the story about young and beautiful Safikada, who falls in love, at the first sight, with handsome Austro-Hungarian soldier, who guarded the walls of Kastel. The command about sudden movement of the Austro-Hungarian army was a terrible loss for their, yet unfulfilled, happiness. On their parting, they made an oath to the eternal love and faithfulness to the death. After awhile, the notice about his death has come. Safikada throws herself […]

It was built in 1579 under the reign of Ferhad Pasha Sokolovic, when Banja Luka became the centre of Bosnian pashalik. It is one of the most significant cultural-historical monuments of the oriental culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina, built in the same way as the school of famous Turkish architect, Sinan. Ferhad Pasha Sokolovic was the member of famous Sokolovic family, who marked a part of Bosnian history, in the time when the Ottoman Empire was on the peak of its power. Ferhadija was destroyed in 1993. in the Civil War, and its rebuilding, based on the same project, has […]

The Church of St. is located on motorway E661 from Banja Luka to Jajce and Mrkonjić Grad. The church is located on necropolis with stećci, among which the two are decorated with crosses, rosettes and a crescent moon carved in high relief. Above the church, on the rock above the canyon of the Vrbas River, there are the remains of the medieval fortress of the town of Greben. Greben was mentioned in the sources from the late 12th century, and it is possible that the place of worship was also built then. In 15th century, feudal lords from Vojsalić family, […]

The remains of the medieval fortified town of Zvečaj located ten kilometres south of Banja Luka, on the southern slopes of the rock above the left bank of the Vrbas river. Zvečaj was mentioned for the first time in 1404, when duke Hrvoje Vukčić entered into the agreement with Dubrovnik against the Bosnian king Ostoja. It is assumed that the fortress is older. Bosnian king Stjepan Ostojic in 1419 in Zvečaj confirmed the privileges to Dubrovnik. In 1463, the Ottomans occupied the fortification, and at the end of that year it was taken by Hungarian army of Matthias Corvinus, and […]

The most famous excursion site in Banja Luka rises up at the south side of the city. It is 431-meter of altitude high, revealing beautiful panoramic view on the city. The site is rich with the woods, natural water springs, arranged walk paths and picnic spots. Central place of the site belongs to the memorial monument devoted to the fallen Krajina residents in the Second World War, constructed by the famous Yugoslavian sculptor Antun Augustincic. There is inscribed relief with the series of images shows the struggle and suffering of Krajina residents in the Second World, and the monument symbolically […]

Krupa na Vrbasu is located on M-16 motorway, about 25km south from Banja Luka. It is situated at the point where the Vrbas River leaves the canyon and enters Krupsko polje, and with its left side the Krupa River flows into. The place with its outstanding natural and cultural values such as waterfalls, mills and sources of the Krupa River, Strikina pećina, Monastery of St. Ilija (1289), wooden church (XVI century) and the medieval city of Greben (1192), conditioned the development of excursion, religious, sports and recreation, scientific, agricultural and fishing tourism. The art colony is traditionally held in Krupa, […]