Paris has the Eiffel Tower, Bijeljina has... (tradition, catholic, Christian)

[Djamila]

Bijeljina, Bosnia - Authorities in a Bosnian town plan to build a giant monument to the cabbage to honour their most important produce.

Cabbage is a favourite winter staple in the Balkans, cooked or pickled in a variety of ways to deliver precious vitamin C through the dark months.

"Our region is famous for cabbage. We very much appreciate this vegetable," said Goran Peric, the director of the tourist association in the northeastern town of Bijeljina.

Peric said the monument to the humble plant would be erected in time for the next Cabbage-Fest, traditionally held in November. "We shall all support this idea," he told Reuters.

Bijeljina cabbage used to sell across the former Yugoslav federation but lost its market after Croatia, Macedonia and Bosnia declared independence and war broke out.

The town, which once boasted one of the most well-known gothic Roman Catholic cathedrals in the Balkans as well as the ornately decorated Atik Mosque, is now populated almost exclusively by Eastern Christian Bosnian Serbs. The historic downtown was completely bulldozed in 1996 to remove any influences of Ottoman or Austro-Hungarian architecture.

Products labelled as having been produced in Bijeljina are generally boycotted in Muslim and Bosnian Croat-dominated regions of the country.

[Djamila]

Bijeljina, then:


Bijeljina, now: