Sarajevo: its Past and Monuments

by Husref Redzic
from Redzic, H., 1982, "Sarajevo: Its past and monuments," published in Survey, Periodical for Social Studies Sarajevo, University of Sarajevo, No. 4

There are many different objects, weapons, implements and pieces of jewelery dating back to the prehistoric times, there are mobile monuments which reach as far back as the historical epoch when Sarajevo and its surroundings had been a part of Roman Dalmatia, when it was overrun by the Ostrogoths and Byzantine, when it used to belong to Medieval Bosnia, the Osman Bosnian pashalik and to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, all of which speak eloquently of Sarajevo's past. The mobile monuments were discovered at archeological sites and in old preserved settlements and have, given their tremendous value, been placed in Sarajevo's Municipal and National Museums. As testimonies of past times, these objects reveal the artistic and cultural wealth of the Sarajevo area, created by people who had spent a longer or shorter time there, people who had left and disappeared, but who also left behind them traces of the life they had led. These museum exhibits represent a precious source of knowledge about the social structure of those communities and about how the cultures and civilisations alternated in this area. Without them, it would not be possible to conjure up an image of the continuity in the life of the communities set up in these particular parts.

Even more informative than the mobile monuments are the archeological sites that have been discovered and which provide a broader insight into the life of the people having built those settlements. When these sites were being investigated, they continued to be regarded as significant monuments, worth preserving, as far as this was possible, in their authentic state. The individual architectural monuments that have been preserved, and particularly the monumental entities and environmental wholes, provide a complete image of the culture and art to which they belonged and of the level of development that had been reached as compared to the most advanced culture of a similar type.

Today, when we wish to determine the scientific value of all the strata of the historical towns and settlements and to conserve them as much as possible in their original state, when we wish that they continue to serve the needs of people of our times, our purpose is to emphasize the historicity of the old settlements with all their cultural strata and spiritual messages. With respect to its historical strata and construction phases, Sarajevo may serve as an example of an extremely valuable historical city.

THE AREA OF SARAJEVO IN THE PREHISTORIC TIMES

While numerous cultures appeared and were subsequently replaced by others, during the prehistoric and historic times, settlements were continuously being built from the Neolithic period, the Metal Age to the present day. They occupied the territory from the Miljacka Canyon, to the East, to the foot of Mount Igman, to the West, from the slopes of Trebevie to the South, to the Crepoljski Mountain to the North. This testifies to the fact hat even a long time ago conditions had been propitious for the existence of human communities which often fought amongst themselves to build their settlements in this area.

The oldest human community known to us was the one built in Butmir - an underground settlement - in the late Neolitic Age, about 2400 - 2000 BC. This settlement in the Sarajevo Polje area is well-known for its exceptionally decorated pottery which was traded over a wide territory and small sculptures made of terra cotta Pottery was decorated with geometrical ornaments executed on the basis of different techniques: plastically expressed by relief, hollowing tint cutting into or puncturing the material. The motives were spirals, punctured friezes, triangles, checkered patterns, meanders, volutes, quadrangles and other geometrical ornaments. The Butmir artists decorated their earthenware dishes with abstract ornaments, though the terra cotta cultic figurines were depicted realistically. The most frequently observed figure was the female figure which testifies to the matriarchate era and the fertility cult, while animals showing that the Butmir set lees were engaged in animal husbandry were only rarely depicted.

We do not know why the development of the Butmir culture had ceased and where those that had created it disappeared. It may be that some newcomers who had only stayed for a short time or who had moved away owing to possible misfortunes affecting them destroyed their culture. Following the interruption in the development of he Butmir Neolithic culture no traces of any other communities in the Sarajevo poIje area can be found.

The Butmir area has been explored but the site where the oldest culture and the most ancient settlement in the Sarajevo area has yet to be investigated. Hence, the site must be protected and displayed in such a way as to provide a picture of life in the prehistoric settlement of the later Stone Age.

The new inhabitants, the Illyrians, built their fortifications and settlements, ramparts and so on on hills well-suited for defense purposes in the area now occupied by Sarajevo. One of Trebevic's slopes, Debelo Brdo, to the south-east of present-day Sarajevo, a large Illynian settlement was formed, whose culture corresponds to the Bronze and Stone Age. Numerous stone and terra cotta moulds which were used for casting bronze axes and other weapons, implements and jewelry have been discovered. Their workshops were situated on the very top of Debelo Brdo. Neither the remnants of houses nor Illyrian tombs have been preserved The neighboring settlements in Zlatiste and Soukbunar situated nearer to present-day Sarajevo show the same characteristics is Debelo Brdo. The inhabitants of these three sites, which may be regarded as a broken Illyrian settlement of the Metal Age, were mainly engaged in cattle breeding, much more so than in farming. In the late Iron Age all the Illyrian settlements in the Sarajevo area, except for Debelo Brdo had been abandoned. The Celtic invasion in the period between the Fourth and First Century B.C. upset the Illyrian world on the Balkans. Migrations started, tribes changed their place of residence wars were waged against the new settlers. The Miljacka Valley was abandoned. The Debelo Brdo settlement which was in those days fortified with broken stones was the sole place of refuge for the Illyrian population.

The relics of the material culture and art of the Illyrian population inhabiting Debelo Brdo, Zlatisa and Soukbunar have found their place in museum displays, while the sites themselves remain the cultural and historic testimonies of settlement development in the Metal Age in Sarajevo and its broader surroundings. Although these sites have, for the most part, been excavated and explored by archeologists, further investigation will still be necessary with a view to determining the type of living quarters and the tombs of the inhabitants. At any rate, these sites will have to be carefully laid out and the system under which they functioned will have to be presented.

THE ROMAN PERIOD: POPULATION, MIGRATION AND ARRIVAL OF THE SLAVS

In the first century A.D., Rome defeated the Illyrians and the Sarajevo region became part of the new Roman province of Dalmatia. The Rornans built their fortification there where the Illyrians had built their own. It is from there that they were able to have a good overview of Sarajevo polje and they also erected a small military watch tower whose remnants have been preserved in its foundations. It is Iocated on the lllyrian ramparts, a place then called Gradac where Hinjaca is today to the Southwest of Sarajevo Pulp. As far back as in the first century, the Romans built a new settlernent around the warm sulphuric sources - where Ilidza stands today -. Life continued in this small Roman town while the Romans remained in this area; until the invasion of the Germanic tribes in the 5th Century. The name of that Roman settlement has not been positively established. As far as we can tell, it was called AQVAES...

The Roman town was the administrative center and a large thermal spa. The foundations of numerous houses serving as living quarters for the citizens have been dug up as well as baths with sulphuric water for cures and sorts of inns where guests undergoing treatment were put up. The settlement also included Apollo's temple. The mode of construction, the size of the buildings, their architectonic and artistic ornaments testify to a high level of living culture. Floor mosaics with figural and ornamental compositions of a very high artistic value have been discovered as well as remnants o fresco decorations on portions of the walls. In addition, a hypocaust hot air central heating system was also found. All this speaks of a rich Roman settlement whose inhabitants were either Latins or romanised Illyrians, and there were also craftsmen coming from the Orient.

The Roman town of AQVAES... was situated on an important Roman road linking up Narona and the Drina River and the Balkan hinterland. On the basis of archeological investigation a part of the Roman settlement was discovered, its foundations and the walls of the houses that were found have been archeologically conserved. The mosaics have been conserved by means of earth embankments. How ever, further explorative work will have to be carried out an o broader area and it would even now be possible to proceed to a study on the modern layout of this valuable antique site which, when completed, should enable even a layman to experience and familiarize himself with the town's structure and its spatial value. This is a town deserving to be classified as a top category monument.

Towards the end of the Fifth Century, the Eastern Goths occupied the area where present-day Sarajevo now stands. Their church bore Runic and Gothic letters. The rule of the Eastern Goths over these parts lasted several decades without their having left tracks of their presence and building activity in the area where Sarajevo now stands.

In the Sixth Century, Byzantine Emperor Justinian (527-565 conquered this territory and expelled the Eastern Goths. Justinian coins found in Debelo Brdo and the Miljacka Valley atIest to this.

In the Seventh Century the Slav tribes penetrating towards the Adriatic settled down in the whole territory of Bosnia including the present Sarajevo area. Over a period of three centuries from the Sev-enth to the Tenth Century we have no historical data about the social and political situation in Bosnia. Hitherto, no locality in the Sarajevo area has been found that might tell us something about the life and stay of the Slavs during this interval.

SARAJEVO AND ITS SURROUNDING AREA IN THE MIDDLE AGES

When first mentioning the land (if Bosnia in his famous work entitled DE ADMINISTRANDO IMPERIO, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Profirogenet speaks, in the Tenth Century, of the KATHEROS fortification in that country. It is highly probable that he was referring to Kotorac, to the South-West of present-day Sarajevo. Relics of IIlyrian fortification, Roman watch-towers and fortresses dating back to the early Middle Ages have been discovered on Ilinjaca hill, near the village of Kotorac. This is the oldest medieval fortress in the Sarajevo area, and, most certainly the oldest medieval fortress in Bosnia. Unfortunately, archeological investigation of the medieval fortified town have not been completed until the present day. Indeed, this locality is one of first-class monumental significance capable of shedding light on early medieval Bosnia which explains why it is necessary to proceed detailed archeological research work as soon as possible.

In the Middle Ages the Sarajevo area belonged to the Vrhbosna zupa. Several years of investigation of the historical sources and terrains with the purpose of determining the place where the fortified town of the zupa and its suburbs had been located have yielded good results. The former belief that a fortified Vrhbosna had existed was refuted on the basis of documents. There had existed in the Middle Ages in the Vrhbosna zupa (at the source of Bosna river), a fortified town called Hodidid there where the present Austro-Hungarian fortress Bijela Tabija located in the eastern district of Sarajevo now stands. This fortress, occupying a prominent place on a hill, ruled over the Miljacka Canyon and the entrance into Sarajevo polje. The town Hodidid, built in the same area, survived the entire period of Turkish rule over these areas. On a drawing made by an officer serving Prince Eugene of Savoy in 1697, when the Austrians had temporarily overrun Sarajevo, this fortress may be seen. It had the form of a rectangle with towers in its angles and a gatehouse. The well-known Turkish travel writer EvIl Tcheiebi described the town in his travels, stating that the periphery of the rectangle is 400 feet.

The first Turkish commander who occupied Hodidid in 1435 and had his residence within its fortification was commander Barak. He was the brother of the Bosnian Sandzak beg, Isa beg who is considered to be the founder of oriental Sarajevo. After the town of Hodidid fell in to Turkish hands, it became the point from which the medieval Bosnian State was conquered.

The suburbs of the fortified town of Hodidid were situated, in the Middle Ages, below tire town in its western side. Owing to steep cliffs, access to the fortress from the east arid south was impossible and extremely difficult from the west, so that the town could only be attacked from the north.

Below the town to the west roads from Sarajevo polje to the west, from the Miljaeka Canyon, to the East and the Bioski road, to the north intersected. At the crossroads below the fortification, as was habitually the ease, a square (marketplace) and a settlement sprung up. The suburbs of Hodidid were called Torkoviste (utornik meaning Tuesday) the day when fairs used to be held. It is highly likely that the virtually triangular marketplace to the north of the old oriental Sarajevo market appeared at the same place as medieval Torkiste.

On t the basis of it search conducted hitherto, it may be concluded that there existed only the fortified town in the medieval zupa of Vrhbosna which was called Hodidid, that Vrhbosna had not been a fortified town but that there had been an open unfortified town i. e. settlement which the inhabitants of Dubrovnik called or rather Vrhbosanje and which the inhabitants of the Vrhbosna zupa referred to as Torkoviste. The ubiety of Hodidid in Bijela Tabija may be, for the time being, regarded, as confirmed, while the location of Torkoviste where Ali-pasha's mosque stands today is rather doubtful. Owing to the road network in the Middle Ages in the Sarajevo area, to the appearance of open settlements on crossroads and to the landscape characteristics of this region, it is much more probable that the open market was located in Bascarsija while the scattered settlement stretched west ward, all the way up to today's Marindvor. This settlement which surrounded the market was of a rural type, while, further westward, it consisted of several settlements of a rural type in the agricultural area. In the Middle Ages some groups of houses were given special names some of which have been retained to the present day.

The marketplace of the set ttlement where fairs were held on Tuesdays was enclosed by shops selling various goods and crafts as well as by residential houses. This we have concluded on the basis of similar medieval marketplaces in Bosnia.

Unquestionably, the Bijela Tabija and Bascarsija localities constitute together a part of the medieval fortress and open settlement and oriental Sarajevo.

THE APPEARANCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF ORIENTAL SARAJEVO

Between 1416 and 1448, the Turks had several times conquered and abandoned the Hodidid fortress, and from 1451, they had become the permanent masters of Hodidid and the Vrhbosna zupa.

The Turks did not build their settlements in Bosnia by setting up new settlements in the medieval ones that they had come across but rather by building totally new settlements on the basis of plans and in conformity with the principles of their oriental urbanity.

It was Isa-beg Ishakovié, a Turkish military commander and statesman who ruled the territory of the Vrhbosna zupa before the fall of the Bosnian medieval state who had founded Sarajevo. According to some data, Isa-beg had been the first to build his seraglio (castle) in the place where the barracks in Bistrika arc to be found today. The city of Sarajevo was, in fact, named after that seraglio.

The open medieval town with a marketplace that they had encountered was located on the area now occupied by Bascarsija and in the parts northward and westward from the marketplace. The new oriental settlement did no stretch as far as the old town which was tailed, even in subsequent Turkish documents, Stara Varos (old city). Isa-beg had built a mosque nearby his castle, which he dedicated to Sultan Mohammad II, conqueror of Bosnia, and called (the name has been conserved to the present day), Careva dzamija (the Emperor's Mosque) which had had its dimensions altered several times, as well as its foundations, structures its form and appearance In the proximity if the mosque he had built a large hannam (oriental bath), and erected near the entrance to the mosque a wooden bridge accross the Miljacka which, in the days if Gazi-Husrev beg had been replaced by a stone one. This bridge led to Isa beg's caravan castle on the right bank of the Mil,jacka river and called Kolobara from the very beginning. This large kan (inn) contained an in-door courtyard, and it was enclosed on all sides by shops. The mosque, bridge and caravan-castle were the backbone of the plan according to which the urban nucleus was to be built the marketplace.

The oldest Sarajevo quarter was built round Careva dzamija. The town (its center) spread over the free space existing on all four sides. Crossing the Mitjacka bridge, the further development of the town was planned to take place in the river valley itself while, on the south and north slopes, small housing units were to be constructed.

To the east of the town, in the area where the medieval village of Brodac once stood (Bendbasi today) Isa-beg built his zavia (a monastery for dervishes) with a musafirhan (guesthouse) a id an imaret (public kitchen). The travellers passing through could enjoy free board and lodgings for a period of three days at the inn. Ever since it was founded, the town had a water supply system providing water to the town and the Sultan's castle. Thus, the most important stage in the construction of Sarajevo had been completed 1462 years ago.

The transformation of the casbah (the small town) of Sarajevo into a sheher (a city) took place at the time when the Turkish governor, Sandzak-beg, had been Gazi Husrev-beg, who occupied that position from 1521-1541. Monumental edifices had been built, from the funds of his city even after his death in the latter part of the Sixteenth Century.

The most important legacy left behind by Gazi Husref beg was his monumental mosque, completed in 1531, which represent a mature work of art in the classical osmanic style. Its unknown builder belonged to the Hairudin (Senior) school, which had a preponderant impact during the rule of Sultan Bayezid II in the early XVI Century.

The complex of the mosque was enclosed with a stone wall and contained two monumental mausoleums (Gazi Husrev beg's and Murad beg's), a fountain, an elementary confessional school, a room where the faithful wash before prayers, a room where the length of the day and of the night were calculated according to the phases of the moon and a small cemetery attached to the mosque.

Of an equal artistic value to that of the mosque is Gazi Husrev Beg's madrasa with its library (a higher religious school) with its indoor courtyard framed with a porch and twelve squarelike premises beneath the cupola for the pupils, a larger classroom, also placed under the cupola. The monumental portal with stalactite-like ornaments ranks among the most valuable in Bosnia and Hercegovina The tall polygonal chimneys ending in sharp pyramids contrast with the rotund forms of the cupola. There is every indication that the same architect built both the mosque and the madrasa, which was completed in 1537.

A similar though less valuable building is the Hanikah (a school for the dervishes) which has been partially preserved.

Among the monumental edifices built in Gazi Husref-Beg's days, mention should be made of his basilican, 109 metre long indoor court yard (bezistan) with its Tashli inn, which used to be the largest and the most valuable caravan-serai in Bosnia and Hercegovina. These two buildings existed in 1557 and had been created at the same time as a single architectonic whole. The indoor courtyard has to a large extent been reconstructed, while Tashli inn was destroyed in the 1879 fire. Its ruins, located where the garden of the Europa hotel now stands, have been removed.

The largest hamam in Bosnia and Hercegovina was also built thanks to the financial resources of Gazi Husref beg's township. It was a double public bath, one half intended for men, the other half for women. The date when it was built has not been established with certainty; it is estimated to have been built between 1537 and 1565. This hamam is considered to be one of the monumental Osmanic edifices, and is comparable with Daut-pasha's hamam in Skoplje (15th Century). In addition to the monumerntal edifices, from Gazi Husref beg's days, several hans were built from his funds. Since the end of the 18th Century Morica ban also became the property of Gazi Huusref beg. He also built Imaret (public kitchen) and Musafirhana, edifices that had sprung up before 1531, and that were burnt down in 1697. Sahat-kula (clock tower) has also been left behind by Gazi Husref beg and built with his funds in the early 17th Century. Together with the minaret of Gazi Husref beg's mosque, it represents the main vertical accent in the silhouette of town of Sarajevo.

Besides these sacral and public edifices, Gazi Husref beg also Pinanced the construction of some 200 shops in the town. From the data contained in Isa-beg's vakufnama (1462) and Gazi Husref beg's vakuf name (1531), and, according to the number, size and architectonic value and of their religious endowments the major role played by the religious foundation - the institution of vakuf - in the building of Islamic towns.

Along with the above-mentioned monumental edifices built during Gazi-Husref beg's rule, very significant are also the Bascarsija and Cekrekcija's mosques (both of which were built before 1528), Brusa Bezistan (the middle of the 16th Century) and Morica han (end of the 16th Century).

Apart from the Islamic edifices above mentioned the monumental building of the Old Orthodox church (16th Century) and the Jewish temple -- now, the Jewish Museum - (end of the 16th Century, the present edifice dating back to the beginning of the 19th Century) are of a great interest. There existed a catholic church in the former Frankish quarter, or rather its south-western part.

Craftsmen of muslim, orthodox, catholic and jewish religion living in the town belonged to the same guilds. There were no cases of religious persecution. The fact that they had been living together throughout the centuries in the town of Sarajevo explains their readiness to jointly resist the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Sarajevo Morica han and Husref beg's mosque were the centers round which the resistance rallied and organized.

During the period when Sarajevo developed as an oriental city (in Isa beg's laws Sarajevo was but a casbah while in Gazi Husref beg's days it had already advanced to a town-sheher), several stone and wood bridges had been built across the Miljacka river. The oldest bridge in Sarajevo was the original wood Emperor's bridge (Careva cuprija) which was, during Gazi-Husref beg's rule, replaced by a new Emperor's bridge with four arches. The latter was destroyed in 1897. A second stone bridge was built to the east of the Emperor's bridge towards the end of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th Century. Today, it is known as Sheher-Cehajina bridge and had five arches. The Latin Bridge (Latinska éuprija), known today under tire name of Principe's Bridge (Principov most) comprising four arches, was built in 1565, reconstructed in 1739, 1789 and 1798. This bridge has become part of world history since it was there that Gavrilo Prinoip had assassinated the Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince, Ferdinand. Kozla cuprija (Goat's Bridge), over the Miliajcka river, to the east of Sarajevo with one arch and a span of 17.61 metres was built at the end of the 16th Century. The southern and northern parts of Sarajevo were connected by means of wooden bridges: The Drvenija Bridge over the Bendbasa, the Bicaksica Bridge, Cumurija Cobanija, Skenderija and Cirishana bridges.

The bridge situated in the western section of Sarajevo polje, across the Bosna River, also belongs to the period of Turkish construction work. It has six arches and was built in the 16th century. The Rustem-pasha Hrvata Bridge across the Zeleznica river near Ilidza with its fifteen arches, also dales back to that period but it was subsequently destroyed.

The building activity carried on the northern and southern slopes of Sarajevo was based on a plan. The housing units were not built one next to the other following a concentric pattern and comprising individual parts of the town but rather new mosques were built as centers of the quarters, comparatively far away, much like reference points used to determine the area of the future town. Some 20 quarters (mahalas) evenly distributed on the southern and northern slopes had been built by the year 1520. The large free space between the oldest mosques and religious schools and the residential quarters belonging to them, covering the area between the present-day. Bendbasha, to the east, and Skenderija to the west and between Komatina towering over Bistriika, to the south, and Hadzi Hajdar's mesjida (beyond the corner of Drvarska and Kasikovic's streets), to the north, represented the area of the town proper the building of which lasted over a century. The polycentric principle of building oriental cities allowed for a future planned development of Sarajevo. The same principle was applied to other towns as well, i.e. those founded by the Turk in our country. Unlike the uncontrolled development of the former settlements, the new laws governing town planning proving for a concentric spreading of towns constituted a big stride forward in town building in our country.

On the slopes of Sarajevo's amphitheatre whose construction was completed by the end of the 17th Century, an oriental city bearing all the features of the new trends in architecture and town planning came into existence. After 1697, when Eugene if Savoy had occupied Sarajevo and set fire to the city, a fortified city on Vratnik was built.

As early as in the 18th Century the a architecture on the slopes began to decline, a process which is going on to the present day. The old measure for houses may still be found on some parts of the slopes and, here and there, larger portions of old houses with their gardens, the most valuable among which are Svrzina, Djerdjelezova, Saburina and Sabanovica houses. The projects for protecting those entities, conserving them and transforming them into modern housing units are expected to yield sound results in the near future.

There have been two phases in approaching the problem of protecting and saving the old town. In the period between the two wars, it had been suggested, under Corbusier's influence, that all the buildings, barring the monumental ones, ought to be pulled down and that new buildings suggestive of the historical architecture of the old city should he built, surrounded by a luscious green park. These ideas were discussed even after the war, though soon discarded in favour of the conception of the need of preserving the old city, by resorting to scientific methods of conservation, restoration and reconstruction. The main aspect of that conception is to attribute a just value to the old city as a complex cultural-historical monument rather than a group of individual monuments under state protection. The new Regulational plan is rooted in this conception of complex architectural, urba urbanistic and historical values of the old city - it is according to these principles that the Regulational plan of the city has largely been realized. Today, the old city (charshia) of Sarajevo is the most lively part of the city, holding an equal appeal to he citizens of Sarajevo and to visitors from a all Yugoslavia and from abroad precisely because of its peculiar atmosphere of a link between the East and the West.