Josip Mlakić's new edition takes readers through the Vranica mountain range, where myths, war traumas, and oral traditions intertwine with the beauty and devastation of the landscape.
The new, richly illustrated edition of Josip Mlakić's 'Legend of the Mountain' presents a travelogue that weaves together natural beauty, personal experiences, and cultural heritage. The central motif of the work is Mount Vranica, the dominant massif in the heart of Bosnia, through which the author guides the reader on a journey steeped in mythology, war memories, and oral tradition. The result is a meditative book about the passage of time, faith, collective memory, and the power inherent in the landscape itself.
The work was created during the filming of the eponymous movie and functions as a poetic-documentary journey through space and time. In this narrative, Vranica becomes a living archive-a meeting point of ancient legends of serpent kings and stone wedding parties, memories of the socialist decades and the war traumas of the 1990s, as well as the everyday lives of the last people who still preserve mountain customs, as reported by Večernji list on August 7, 2026.
Mlakić's storytelling spans from the enigmatic Red Lands and the ancient mines of Zlatno Guvno, through the destroyed village of Zvizda and the polluted Prokoško Lake, all the way to the frozen Ždrimački Waterfall and the solitary shepherd's huts at the Sikira site. The prose is accompanied by visual material that highlights the stark contrast between the majestic mountain nature and prolonged human neglect-the photographs capture scenes of snowy ridges, forest paths, and springs, but also abandoned mining zones and traces of devastation.
Along the way, the author encounters extraordinary individuals whose life stories reflect the complex image of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Among them is Ivan Žuljević, a guardian of oral traditions who was born on this very mountain, as well as Stipe Vukadin Pipuka, a man severely wounded in the war who now walks the mountain like a pilgrim and environmental activist. The book does not shy away from those who loved the mountain and were taken by it-like Tomislav Češljar, whose life tragically ended during a paragliding flight.
Through a series of destinies-prophets, outlaws, Franciscans, nomads, guest workers, and war veterans-a broader story emerges about a space "burdened by an excess of history," as described in the book's synopsis. Mlakić neither embellishes the territory nor its inhabitants; he records with equal measure the magnificent sight of a frozen waterfall and the shameful piles of waste at mountain springs, the epic power of ancient legends, and the absurdity of ethnic divisions that have managed to split even mountaineering societies.
'Legend of the Mountain' offers a sharp yet tender testimony to what remains when legends fade, when villages empty, and when the mountain becomes the only constant point in the transience of human fates. The work balances between travelogue, essay, cultural history, and personal testimony, providing the reader with layered reading about the power of landscape and collective memory.
The book is available at Knjižara Fraktura and on the webshop of the publishing house Fraktura.
