Šefik Bešlagić (6 April 1908 – 19 November 1990) was a cultural historian from Yugoslavia. From 1953 to 1967 Šefik Bešlagić was the director of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Bosnia and ŠefikBešlagićHerzegovina. He explored the medieval necropolis of marble or Stećci. He was a historian of material culture, especially of stones (Stećci, nišani, čatrnje, stolice).
Biography
Bešlagić was born in the town of Gornja Tuzla in 1908. His mother Devleta (née Mulalić) was a housewife, while his father Agan was a teacher.
Šefik Bešlagić was educated in Tuzla, Doboj and Sarajevo, before teaching in Derventa and Gračanica.
Historiography
Nada Miletić and Alojz Benac dated the phenomenon of the stećak to the thirteenth century, but this dating has been debated, in particular by Bešlagić and Dubravko Lovrenović, who date the tombstones to the mid-twelfth century.