No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic (left) with Bosnian-American businessman Semir Osmanagic in Visoko in October.
This photo was taken on the second of two visits Djokovic made to the town of Visoko in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2020. Visoko is famous for what Osmanagic claims is “the most monumental construction complex ever built on the face of the planet.”
Visocica Hill as viewed from the center of Visoko.
Osmanagic claims Visocica Hill is the world’s oldest and tallest pyramid, built by an advanced ancient civilization.
Visoko, with the angular Visocica Hill (top left) photographed in the 1970s. The town is just north of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo.
Visocica Hill, dubbed the “Pyramid of the Sun,” received a flurry of credulous media attention in the 2000s when Osmanagic, who owns a metal fabrication company in Texas, led an archaeological dig at the site.
Osmanagic in Visoko, with Visocica Hill in the background in 2006.
Osmanagic hoped to uncover what he believed were stepped “stone blocks” hidden beneath the soil and vegetation of Visocica.
The first section of Visocica where Osmanagic’s 2006 digging uncovered what he called “the walls of the pyramid.”
Osmanagic’s claims have been panned by European archaeologists as a “cruel hoax on an unsuspecting public.”
An aerial photo of Visoko and Visocica Hill shot in December. The town is shrouded in smoke from wood-burning fireplaces used for heating.
Archaeologists say the unusual geology of Visocica is a natural phenomenon known as a “flatiron” hill. But the pyramid theory still has a large following and received a huge boost after Djokovic’s visit.
Osmanagic (right) watches Djokovic being shown a crystal in July, during the tennis star’s first of two visits to Visoko.
Osmanagic, who is based in Sarajevo, told RFE/RL by telephone that an “open-minded” Djokovic reached out to tell him “he had been following my work, my interviews, my travels, my presentations, for a long time. And this summer [2020] was a good time to come and visit the place.”
The businessman says Djokovic adheres to “different aspects of healthy living, which include food, diet, of course a very active [sporting] life, and a healthy view on ancient history, so I think we’ve had a lot of topics to discuss, that’s for sure.”
Signs in Visoko for tunnels promoted by Osmanagic as being linked to the Pyramid of the Sun.
According to a local guide, Djokovic spent several hours meditating inside a tunnel complex in Visoko which Osmanagic claims were made by the same ancient people who “built” the pyramid above Visoko.
Bosnian tourists sit inside the tunnel network in Visoko where Djokovic went to meditate. A local expert told AFP the tunnels are probably the remnants of a disused gold mine.
Osmanagic says “it’s well known that Djokovic meditates every day, no matter where he is.”
Bosnian tourists are instructed by a guide (left) to feel the “energy” of what Osmanagic claims is a man-made ceramic plate in the Visoko tunnels.
Osmanagic says Djokovic “starts the day with a meditation which helps him find inner peace. And he’s very busy on the real spiritual aspect.”
A woman walks in a corridor of the Hotel Pyramid of the Sun -- one of several pyramid-themed businesses in Visoko.
Largely as a result of Djokovic’s visit, Osmanagic says Visoko has received 85,000 mostly Bosnian and Serbian tourists already this year. In 2019, before the coronavirus, which Osmanagic calls a “plandemic,” the town received 65,000 tourists. On a gloomy December morning, RFE/RL saw at least 40 tourists in and around the tunnels in Visoko.
As interest in alternative archaeology grows, Osmanagic is promoting other sites which he claims are further evidence of an ancient, advanced civilization.
A man who runs a small cafe next to this stone sphere discovered in 2016 in a forest near the Bosnian town of Zavidovici.
According to Osmanagic, a stone sphere (above), reportedly the largest in the world, is more evidence of an ancient civilization that once created spectacular monuments in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Such formations are generally considered natural phenomena known as concretions.
Whether or not this sphere, like the widely panned “pyramid” of Visoko, is indeed man-made, is immaterial for the locals, who are reaping real economic benefits.
A man who runs a cafe near the sphere showed RFE/RL a large hotel complex being built near the site for the growing number of tourists venturing to the obscure location. He gave a big invitation to the world’s top tennis player, saying “Djokovic, welcome!”