The town of Visoko is situated in the middle of the Sarajevo - Zenica industrial region, just on the crossroads; it is a settlement with an important cultural and historical past.

The convenient geographic location and good climatic conditions, plenty of woods and current waters were the reasons why this area has been inhabtated ever since the ancient times.

Stone plate of ban Kulin from the year 1194

The oldest traces of human life here date from the younger stone age and many neolithic sites have been found on the fertile river terraces.

The Desitiats, an Illyrian tribe, were living here, in central Bosnia, at the Iron age period. At the beginning of the Cristian era,this era,together with the whole of Illyricum,had been annexed to the Roman Empire.Several remnants and traces of Roman roads,fortfications and other buildings show that this region was considered as very suitable for living in it.

Having such convenient geographic and economic conditions the Visoko basin developed into the main political,economic and cultural centre of the middle ages Bosnia state.This was so not only under the rule of Bosnian bans but also of Bosnian kings and it remained so upto the Turkish occupation in 1463.No wonder Then that the Bosnian rulers chose it as one of their chief residences.

The model of town Visoko (Podvisoki)

Visoko reached the peak of its development during the late Middle Ages. It became a strong social, political and economic centre and it had the status of a royal town.Its name has been mentioned for the first time in 1355,in a chart issued to the merchants of Dubrovnik by the ban Tvrtko I.On the vast plain near the town of Visoko there were built residences of the bans and the kings.There were the chief houses of the Bosnian Church and the centre university of Bosnian Church.There foreign envoys were received and state assemblies "of all Bosnia" held.Visoko was an important trading centre and ther was a considerable colony of merchants from Dubrovnik.The numerous charts and letter issued and registered in Visoko or its surroundings show the significant role of this town at that time.

One of the importnat medieval epigraphic monuments found here is the stone plate of ban Kulin from the year 1194.It comes from a church at Biskupici, foundes by him. A very important monument was also the church at Arnautovici(or Mile), where Bosnian rulers used to be crowned and buried; among them there was crowned (in 1377) and buried (in 1391) the first Bosnian king Tvrtko I.

The town of Visoko (or Podvisoki),built under the ruins of the medieval royal castle, started to develop in a new way after the Turkish conquest in 1463.It received some new traits proper to the Balkanic, Oriental towns:it had a clearly delimited market-place,carsija,and the residential area,called "mahala".Even today one can easily recognise this urban conception in the oldest part of the town.This settlement has been mentioned in the Turkish records for the first time in 1477 and in 1526.

Having developed and strengthened its economy and trade,Visoko bacame known trough its leather production and it was renowned in that craft already in the XVIIth century throughout the country.

At the beginning of the Austro-Hungarian rule Bosnia Visoko suffered no important changes in its appearance or in its economic structure and cultural physiognomy.It was proclaimed then as the seat of a district instead  of begin the centre of a "nahiye".In new conditions the town economy and trade developed intensively.

At the beginning of the XXeth century ,the citizens of Visoko started to modernise their lines of communication and to create some new industries.An intensive immigration from other parts of the Monarchy thoroughly changes the social life and local background and these changes are clearly visiable in the appearence of the settlement too.

The First World war brought with it many difficulties to this region, too, and they were felt long after 1918.After some new branches were introduces in the town economy and some new schools opened,the ols traditional crafts disappeared and other forms of culture and sports were adopted.The industrialization was followed by the formation of labour and union movements as well as with the broadening of ideas.

Sport hall "Mladost"

The development of the town and its surroundings moved now in new direction.The former casabah (small town) transformed itself into an urban community ,enriched with new concepts and new social activities.The big leather industry as well as the extensive commercial activity can be considered partly as the fruit of a centuries long tradition;on the other side,the important investments,made by the town and broader community ,rendered it possible to create many modern economic structures (textile and metal industry, productions of building materials,the so-called "small undertakeings" a.o).The leading firms of the community are the KTK, the Vitex, the Velepromet, the Zvijezda, the Kovina, the Visocica, and the Textile factory.

IGM d.d. Visoko

The community of Visoko has 46.000 inhabitants,who live in cca 90 inhapited places and are organised in 25 local communities.

After the Second World war ,the potential of Visoko's economy relying on the tradition of trade,manufacturing and processing of leather and textile, reched an envious level in success when compared to other regions. Leather and Textile Enterprise, Vitex, Velepromet, Kovina, Zvijezda, IGM and other companies, before the aggression on BiH employed 11.000 workers, which amoints to a total of 13.500 empleyees in the Municipality of Visoko.

Visoko's companies together with their important domestic markets of the former Yugoslavia, had highly developed business relations with foreign partners, and it's exports reaching a figure of 92,5 mil.US $.

War damages in Visoko

The aggression on BiH had it's consequences.The total damages from the bombing and shelling amounted to a figure of 600 mil. DM,with indirect damages being much higher and therefore causing a big stagnation of the region.

But thanks to the patriotism and the activities of our citizens the damaged have been restored,some during the war and more intensively after it.

During the war, the contribution and help of Visoko to other regions was big. Visoko accepted 35.000 refugees from other towns of which 7.500 of them of themare still here.

Today's potentials of Visoko's economy are great.Plans are aimed at broadening widening it's capacities. Already in 1996 6.000 employees have been recorded. Intensive work is being done with the renewal of co-operation with the foreign partners, and a wider form of connection and co-operation is being realised.In addition to this if we add the construction of Visoko's airport and the duty-free zone which is opening in Visoko,in years to come the econopmy should be even stronger then before the aggression.