The Ceković House in Pale was built in 1915. This two-storey with a loft and a wooden porch on pillars is considered one of the most beautiful houses in this region from the beginning of the twentieth century. The construction of this beautiful home began in 1902 and lasted 13 years.
The life story of the Ceković family, although worthy of a movie script, is unknown to many even nowadays.
Petar Ceković, from Bijelo Polje, moved to Sarajevo in the mid-19th century. He lived there as a tenant at a wealthy widow’s house, Jovanka Hadžimarković with whom he later married and had five children. Petar was a merchant and often traveled to Constantinople, Rumelia, Dubrovnik, Vienna, Split, Trieste because of his work.
Their second son, Risto, was born in 1865. He learned his trading skills from his father, and traded goods from the east and west. In 1902, Risto married Vasilija Đokić, a girl from Mostar’s esteemed family. They built a house that served as their mansion in Pale, between 1902 and 1915.
Two of Vasilija and Risto’s children, Petar and Milojka, survived World War II. Petar, a merchant by profession, and Milojka, a teacher. Neither of them had children. Mrs. Milojka Ceković donated 80 family items to the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and just before the beginning of the last war, she left a family mansion in Pale, with all the furniture, to the Metropolitanate of Dabar-Bosnia.
The Ceković House was declared a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2004 and rebuilt in 2007.
Nowadays, it is a gallery for the Pale Art Colony, that adds to its scientific and educational value.
TST