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Sarajevo, the capital city of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
has always been an important crossways for different cultures of the world. Because of its location on the Balkan diagonal,
since ancient times it has acted as gateway for the peoples of Greece and Asia Minor migrating towards the midwest of Europe
or vice versa. Sarajevo is also situated on the crossroads which runs along the valleys of the Bosna and Neretva rivers and
connects northern Europe with the Mediterranean Sea and its traditions. Thanks to its geographical position, since its origins
it has been influenced by a great number of different cultures and civilizations which came together, struggled against one
another, but then intermingled and reconciled on this same land.
The firs inhabitants of this area were
the Illyrians, then came four cultures from the east: Hellenism in the prehistoric period, Mitharism on the late classical
age, the Byzantine culture in the Middle East and finally the Turkish Islamic culture beginning from the middle of the XVth
century. The transition from the ancient to the modern era carried from south and southwest a strong influence of the Roman
classical culture as well, which prevailed especially in its late-paleochristian phase. Later on, echoes of the most important
cultural events of the Apennine peninsula reached this area from the same direction, over the eastern Adriatic coast. Moreover,
from the north, at the beginning of the Middle Ages (VIIth century), came the Slavs. They gradually integrated with the native
population and contributed to the cultural stratum of the city, which had been almost entirely swept away. Further on in time,
this area was also influenced by the Central European culture which came from the north across Pannonia and from northwest
across Vienna and Venice and had an extremely important part in the making of the present cultural physiognomy of the area.
The topographical map of the city is revealing
from this point of view: surrounded by sloping mountains both on the north and south side, it spreads towards east and west
as if to open not only to the winds and watercourses but also to the influences of a variety of cultures coming from different
parts of the world.
Since remote times Sarajevo has been a
city. The firs organized human settlements found in the widest part of the valley date back to almost five thousand years
ago. In the early Middle Ages, since Bosnia was first mentioned, the settlements and fortified villages of the Sarajevo region
represented the heart of the territory and its political identity.
At Butmir (near the Sarajevo International
Airport) between 1893 and 1896, remains of one of the most interesting and riches Neolithic villages in the Balkans were found.
More than ninety urban settlements and a great number of weapons, tools and finely chiseled domestic utensils were brought
to light. As a consequence of this archaeological discovery, the Neolithic culture of this area was called the culture of
Butmir, dating back from 2400 to 2000 B.C.
The Illyrians lived on this territory at
the end of the Bronze Age; remains of their settlements have been located in many areas around Sarajevo, at Debelo brdo, Zlatiste,
and Sokbunar.
When the Romans conquered the Illyrians
in the IXth century A.C., they established their headquarters near the thermal springs of what is today known as Ilidza. Here
in fact remains of Roman villas, baths, hypocausts, mosaics and sculptures are still left standing; necropolises and further
Roman settlements have been found in others areas of the city as well.
In the Middle Ages the Slav culture and
state models took over. In the XIIth century Bosnia gradually became more independent, with its territorial expansion culminating
in the XIVth century. The center of the Bosnian state was established in the area occupied today by Sarajevo, where the Vrhbosna
region, the fortified cities of Hodidjed, Kotorac and Vrhbosna as well as Trgoviste, a vital point for the international exchange
of goods, were situated. A royal document of 1244 also mentions St. Peter's Cathedral. The ruins of the fortified city of
Hodidjed remind us of the Medieval period; the same can be said of the cemeteries, which are distinguished by particular tombstones
called stecak, found in and around the city.
The gradual development of human settlements
in the area where Sarajevo is now located, is witnessed by the rich collections displayed in the national museum of Bosnia
and Herzegovina (the Zemaljski Museum), one of the oldest scientific and cultural establishments in Sarajevo. Manufactured
articles and findings strongly linked to the city can also be seen in Sarajevo's City Museum. The recovery of 70000 tombstones
(stecak) erected by Bogumil followers bears evidence of medieval and heretical Bosnia and of its autochtonous artistic expression;
some of the best examples, coming from different parts of the region, can be seen in the Zemaljski Museum gardens. Among them
are the stecak of Zgosca, with its exceptional dimensions and beautiful decorations, the Judge's chair and the nisan tombstone
of Mahmut Brankovic, which, with its medieval decorative motifs and epigraphs, dates back to the Early Islamic period.
In the middle of the XVth century Sarajevo
was annexed to the Ottoman Empire. In that period the Turks founded the city of Saraj-ovasi (Saraj meaning castle, palace;
ovas meaning field), which is mentioned for the first time in Turkish documents in 1507. The Slavs then adapted this name
to their own language and pronunciation. Sarajevo, with Vilajet Hodidjed, became the first Turkish administrative military
base in Bosnia and soon after the center of the Bosnian Sandzak.
The newly founded city started to house
the first craftsmen: leather craftsmen, cutters, saber manufacturers, blacksmiths, saddlers, millers, bakers, cooks in Turkish
public kitchens... Life in the city, both from an economical and cultural point of view, was gradually taking shape.
The city developed at an increasingly rapid
pace during the XVIth century. Many bridges were built over the Miljacka river; three of them, the Kozja cuprija; the Seherija
and the Latinska are still standing and boast all the magnificence of their original features. On the right bank of the river
around Kolobara, Latinluk, and Trgoviste, flourished the Bascarsija quarter, the social, economical and cultural center of
the oriental-imprinted city and the largest commercial center of the central part of the Balkans. The more than thousand shops
and storehouses in Carsija became the stage of most productive activities and commercial exchanges with the rest of the continent.
Even today craftsmen keep on using the techniques of their predecessors and the objects they make attract the attention of
tourists because of their originality. The streets themselves in Bascarsija have been named after the crafts once performed
there.
The caravans arriving from Venice, Vienna,
Central Europe, the Mediterranean or the east had the possibility to stop and rest in one of the fifty inns of Sarajevo, called
han. One of them is the famous Morica-han which was built at the end of the XVIth century and is very well preserved. Today
it is a tourist attraction, but in those days it offered a number of facilities such as guest rooms and a cafe on the first
floor, a courtyard with a porch for loading and unloading goods, storing houses and horse stables.
Valuables goods and fabrics in particular
brought here by merchants were sold in shops called bezistan. Of the three existing at that time, only the two built in the
XVth century are still standing, the Gazi-Husrevbeg bezistan and the Burza bezistan. The former, with its rows of shops under
arched porches, reminds us of similar buildings found in Arabic suks or Persian bazars; the latter is developed in one single
space with two pillars and six domes: the Sandal-bezistan and the Kapali-Carsija in Istanbul were likely to have been taken
as models. Some time later, groups of storing houses called daire (only two out of the five existing ones are still standing)
were built around the courtyard.
In the XVIth century the city had regular
contacts with other European cities and, by that time, was already a metropolis: the first wooden-pipe waterworks were built
to supply both private and public dwellings. Water fountains (sadrvani) were built in mosque courtyards and next to other
representative buildings. Some of them can still be seen today. The Turkish baths (hamam), which were built according to the
ancient ones but which in that period took on an Osmanli-oriental style, were also connected to the pipeline system. There
were seven Turkish baths in the city, the most important of which was Gazi-Husrevbeg.
With the spreading of the Ottoman rule, new buildings
were erected: mosques, Islamic places of worship (mesdzidi), elementary and secondary school buildings (respectively mektebi
and medrese), centers of mistic philosophy (tekija). More than one hundred mosques (sixty of which are still standing), seventy
Muslim elementary schools, a number of medrese and tekija were built in the Bascarsija quarter - mostly in the XVIth century.
They were mainly erected in mahalas, small residential areas situated on the hills surrounding Carsija. Besides mosques and
schools, there were also a number of typical Muslim cemeteries with very picturesque and expressive tombstones (nisani) and
mausoleums (turbet).
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