JAJCE, a town of Bosnia, Yugoslavia. Pop. (1931) 7,515. Jajce occupies a conical hill, overlooking one of the finest water falls in Europe, where the Pliva rushes down into the Vrbas, 1 oo ft. below. The 14th century citadel which crowns the hill is said to have been built for Hrvoje, duke of Split (Spalato). The ruined church Of St. Luke, the legendary burial place of the Evangelist, has a fine Italian belfry, and dates from the 15th century. Jezero, 5 m. W. of Jajce, contains the Turkish fort of Djol-Hissar or the "Lake Fort." Here a line of waterfalls and meres formed by the Pliva stretches for several miles, enclosed by steep rocks and forest-clad mountains. Chemicals form the principal industry and the power supplied by the main fall, at Jajce, is used for the calcium carbide works which are the largest in Europe, but the beauty of the town remains unimpaired.
From 1463 to 1528 Jajce was the principal outwork of eastern Christendom against the Turks. Venice contributed money for its defence, and Hungary provided armies ; while the pope entreated all Christian monarchs to avert its fall. In 1463 Mohammed II. seized Jajce, and beheaded the last king of Bosnia under its walls, in a field still called "The King's Field." His coffin and skeleton are preserved in St. Luke's church. In 1463 the Hungarians recovered the town and held it till the battle of Mohacs in 1526 destroyed their power. Two years later Jajce surrendered, and remained Turkish until the Austrian occupation (1908-18), when, at the close of the World War, Bosnia was incorporated in the kingdom of Yugoslavia.
See Brass, Jajce, die alte Konigstadt Bosniens, in Deutsche Geog. Matter (Bremen, 1899).