Šefik Bešlagić

Cultural historian and conservationist who made enormous contributions to mapping and understanding medieval necropolis in Bosnia & Herzegovina. He was born in Gornja Tuzla and educated in Tuzla, Doboj, Sarajevo and Zagreb. He was the director of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was a historian of material culture, especially of stones (Stećci, nišani, čatrnje, stolice). Beslagic advocated the protection of material monuments as an integral cultural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He developed an extensive catalogue of stećak tombstones from in 1971. He received numerous awards for his important work including the 'Veselin Masleša' award for scientific research. He was the president of the Society of Conservators of Yugoslavia.