Visoko

Visoko (pronounced [ʋǐsɔkɔː]) is a city located in the Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, the municipality had a population of 39,938 inhabitants with 11,205 living in Visoko town. Located between Zenica and Sarajevo, Visoko lies where the river Fojnica joins the Bosna. The Visoko region has evidence of long continuous occupation, with the first traces of life dating back to the 5th millennium BC. Archaeological excavations of Okolište have found one of the biggest Neolithic settlements of the Butmir culture in southeastern Europe. It was an early political and commercial center of the Bosnian medieval state, and the site where the first Bosnian king Tvrtko I was crowned. The Old town Visoki, located on Visočica hill, was a politically important fortress, and its inner bailey Podvisoki was an early example of a Bosnian medieval urban area. After the fall of the Kingdom of Bosnia, medieval Visoko grew as an Ottoman town. A key role in its development was played by the local Bosnian Ajas-pasha. Ottoman rule ended in 1878 when the Bosnian Vilayet was occupied by Austria-Hungary. On 11 November 1911, in the last years of Austro-Hungarian rule, it was almost completely burned down by an accidental fire. Before the Bosnian War, Visoko was the largest exporter of textile and leather in socialist Yugoslavia As of 2006, Visoko attracts tens of thousands of tourists every year, mainly because of Semir Osmanagić's claims.