BOSNIE HERZÉGOVINE

BOSNIE-HERZÉGOVINE


Capitale : Sarajevo
Population : 3 876 000 hab
Superficie : 51 197 km2
Langues officielles : Bosnien, Croate , Serbe
Indépendance de la Yougoslavie : 1er mars 1992
Monnaie : Mark convertible (BAM)



Cinquante jours sur les routes de l'ex-Yougoslavie ...


SARAJEVO

Bascarsija, the ancient Turkish marketplace in the old Town of Sarajevo

The Latin bridge


 It was just below this bridge, on the right bank, that on june 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sofie, prompting the outbreak of World War 1

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was a dual-monarchic union state in Central Europe from 1867 to 1918, dissolved at the end of World War I

The Latin bridge

Gavrilo Princip was a south Slav nationalist who assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his consort , Sophie, duchess of Hohenberg, at Sarajevo on june 28, 1914.

Princip's act gave Austria-Hungary the excuse it had sought for opening hostilities against Serbia and thus precipitating Worls War 1.

Born into a Bosnian Serb peasant family, Princip was trained in terrorism by the Serbian sect society known as the Blach Hand (true name Ujedinjenje ili Smrt, (Union or Death). Wanting to destroy Austro-Hungarian rule in the Balkans and to unite the South Slav peoples into a federal nation, he believed that the first step must be the assassination of a member of the Habsburg imperial family or a high official of the government.

Having learned that Francis Ferdinand, as inspector general of the imperial army, would pay an official visit to Sarajevo in june 1914, Princip, his associate Nedjelko Cabrinovic, and four other revolutionaries awaited the archduke's procession on june 28. Cabrinovic threw a bomb that bounced off the archduke's car and exploded beneath the next vehicle. A short time later, while driving to a hospital to visit an officer wounded by the bomb, Francis Ferdinand and Sophie were shot to death by Princip, who said he had aimed not at the duchess but at general Oskar Potiorek, military governor of Bosnia. Austria-Hungary held Serbia responsible and declared war july 28.

After a trial in Sarajevo, Princip was sentenced (Oct 28,1914) to twenty years imprisonment, the maximum penalty allowed for a person under the age of 20 on the day of his crime. Probably tubercular before his imprisonment, Princip underwent amputation of an arm because of tuberculosis of the bone and died in a hospital near his prison.

Princip's firearm

    The Sarajevo war "Tunnel of Hope"

House of the Kolar family,on the Butmir side of the tunnel,now a small museum

The Siege of Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, by the Yugoslavian army, paramilitaries from Serbia and Montenegro, and well-armed local Serbian citizens, began on april 5th 1992. From then until late 1995, the people of Sarajevo lived through terror that could not ever be imagined at almost the beginning of the 21st century.

For Sarajevo citizens, the fight for survival lasted forty-three months. However, this was not only a fight for life, but also for the rich history of the city that the perpetrators tried to destroy. With the lack of water and electricity, interrupted communication and telecommunication connections, the lack of food and medicine, and with constant artillery and sniper fire from the surrounding hills, Sarajevo was like a concentration camp. Its citizens were trapped, unable to help themselves, and waiting for death. But, the people's hope for life and a will to live

outlasted the much better equipped enemy. 

In july of 1992, the United Nations made an agreement with the Serb army to take over the Sarajevo airport in order to use it for the delivery of humanitarian aid. Since the airport was located between the city and the free territory, the people of Sarajevo tried to use it as a communication and escape route during the night, despite disapproval by the UN. If caught trying to cross the airport at night, the UN would send them back. In addition, as people tried to run through the trenches and barbwire, the Serb snipers fired without any empathy, and soon that nighttime route became a place where it was hard to escape death. Close to 800 people were killed while trying to bring food to their families, meet their loved ones, bring weapons for defence, or just to escape to freedom from the hell of Sarajevo.

As a result of this danger, the Bosnian army gave the order to some engineers to make a plan for a hidden tunnel underneath the airport runway. In the beginning of 1993, over 150 soldiers from the Bosnian army and people from the civil defense organisations  began implementing this plan by digging from opposite sides, one from Dobrinja and one from Butmir. They had only one goal: to meet in the middle and, in that way, make a safe passage for the people of Sarajevo. Finally, after four months and four days of digging, the tunnel was ready on july 30th, 1993. The tunnel was 800m long, 1m wide and approximately 1,60m high. On that day, through the darkness of the tunnel, appeared a light of hope that encouraged the people in their will and strength to survive.

Once in operation, Tunnel D-B (Dobrinja-Butmir) was used mainly as a military communication channel. It enabled the maneuvering of troops and the transport of necessary equipment for the Bosnian army. The general population also benefited from the construction of the tunnel. More food began arriving to the city. A telephone cable was passed through the tunnel which allowed communication between Sarajevo and other cities in the free territory to be established. Likewise, the oil pipeline was constructed through the tunnel, followed by a high voltage electric cable. Electric energy began arriving in Sarajevo. The transportation of all these commodities through the tunnel was hazardous for the people who were passing through, but it was a necessary risk because there was no other choice.

Despite the daily bombing by the Serbian army, thousands of people went through the tunnel from Dobrinja to Butmir where they could buy food that came in from Croatia. The people would then return to the city carrying food on their backs, loads that were often heavier than the person carrying them. In order to achieve their goal of living through the siege, they had to ignore the mud and water in the tunnel, as well as the constant shelling and sniper fire outside. With such a desire for life and freedom, there could be no obstacle too big or dangerous for the people of Sarajevo.

With the construction of the Dobrinja-Butmir Tunnel, Sarajevo and its 300 000 inhabitants were saved. The tunnel is a symbol of human courage, confidence and bravery. It is also unique in the world because it represents the survival of a resilient people during the longest siege of a city in history. As a result, the story of Sarajevo and its tunnel will forever be recorded as an important part of Bosnian history.

Memorial to the children killed during the siege of Sarajevo (1992-1995)

Sarajevo clock tower




The Great Jewish synagogue  

The earliest reference to the tower is found in the first half of the 17th century, in a work by Evliya Çelebi, a Turkish geographer.

At 30m in height, the Clock Tower of Sarajevo is the tallest of the 21 clock towers built in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Ottoman period (of which 19 still exist).

The clock on the Clock Tower shows the time "a la turca" with the new date beginning at sunset, according to the lunar calendar. As the days are of unequal length , the clock has to be constantly adjusted. This is the job of an official known as the "muvekit", who draws up the lunar calendar and determines the daily prayer times.

The present clock mechanism was purchased in London in 1875.

The Great Synagogue was built in 1581. It is the oldest in Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of three dating from the Ottoman period. The original appearance of the Old Synagogue is not fully known. Damaged by fire in 1697 and 1788, major reconstruction work was carried out when the height of the building was increased in 1924, and most recently after the 1992-1995 war. The synagogue is now the finest Jewish cultural monument in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Sephardic Jews fleeing from the Reconquista in Spain and Portugal between 1492 and 1496 settled in the lands of the Ottoman Empire. They came to the Balkans through the commercial ports of Istanbul and Salonica and into Bosnia via Skopje, Bitola and Novi Pazar. A court record from 1565 mentions the settlement of Jews and their families in Sarajevo.

The construction of the first religious building for Sarajevo Jews began in 1581, with permission of the Imperial Divan.

During the second World War, the synagogue was ransacked and used a sa prison for Jews and as a warehouse at the end of the war. It was restored in 1957 and was turned into the Jewish Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1966.

    
     Stara Sarajevska apoteka by Petar Tijesic

The old Serbian-orthodox Church of St Michael 

   The Gazi Husrev bey madrassa

    According to the inscription above the entrance door, the madrassa was completed in 1537-38. It later became known as the Kursumlija because of its lead-clad roof. It is the oldest surviving madrassa in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

    
     The Gazi Husrev bey mosque

The Gazi Husrev bey mosque is one of the finest work of architecture of the Ottoman period in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The inscription above the entrance portal reveals that it was built in 937 AH (1530-31). It took not quite two years to build the mosque, and Dubrovnik masons are known to have been employed to erect it. It is not known for sure who the architect was, but it is believed to have been Adzem Esir Ali, a Persian from Tabriz who was taken captive in the Turco-Persian war and who, until his death in 1538 was one of the main architects in Istanbul. Alongside Mimar Hajrudin senior, he was one of the leaders of the so-called Early Istanbul School of Architecture, and this mosque is one of the finest accomplishments of this school outside Istanbul.

The western part of the courtyard contains the abdesthana with hot running water, which has been in use here since 1530. In 1858-59, a muvekithana was built beside the abdesthana; this housed the instruments used to measure the height of the sun in order to determine the exact times of prayer.

MOSTAR

The city of Mostar on the beautiful Neretva river

Between 1468 and 1481, Sultan Mehmed II el-Fatih built a first wooden bridge on chains, in place of an older dilapidated suspension bridge.
In 1566, the Turks replaced the Neretva bridge with a stone arch, according to plans of Kodja Mimar Sinan, the Ottoman Empire's master architect.
The town was a centre for crafts and trade.
In 1875, the Herzegovinians began an uprising against the Turks that culminated in Austrian annexation. Under Austrian rule (1878-1918), Mostar was a centre for Serbian scholars and poets and for a strong nationalistic movement.

            Partially destroyed during the war in 1993, the bridge was repaired in 2004

Sultan Suleiman I Kanuni (1494-1566)

Sultan Mehmed II el-Fatih (1432-1481)

Suleyman I the Magnificent, also known as Kanuni, meaning Lawgiver, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566. He not only undertook bold military campaigns that enlarged his realm but also oversaw the development of what came to be regarded as the most characteristic achievements of Ottoman civilisation in the fields of law, literature, art and architecture. He became Sultan Suleyman I in 1520. Having conquered Belgrade (1521) and Rhodes (1522) he defeated the Hungarians at Mohacs (1526) and then incorporated the south-central portion of Hungary into his empire and made Transylvania his vassal in the early 1540's. He also built up the naval strength of the Ottomans who became briefly the dominant power in the Mediterranean. Surrounding himself with outstanding statesmen, poets, architects, and lawyers, who contributed much to the splendour of his reign, Suleyman encouraged the effort to adjust the complex structure of the Ottoman state to its new circumstances and, therefore, was known by its subjects as "the Lawgiver".

Mehmed II, called Fathi or the Conqueror  was the Ottoman sultan from 1444 to 1446 and from 1451 to 1481. A great military leader, he captured Constantinople and conquered the territories in Anatolia and the Balkans that comprised the Ottoman empire's heartland for the next four centuries. Mehmed's first reign was cut short when his father, Murad II came out of retirement. Mehmed ascended the throne again in 1451; his first great accomplishment was the capture in 1453 of the Byzantine city of Constantinople, which he made his capital under the name of Istanbul. Next, he secured his control of Anatolia in 1473; numerous other campaigns were conducted as well, in the Balkans, central Europe, the Crimea, and southern Italy.

Kodja Mimar Sinan (1490-1588) teacher of Hayreddin, the Old Bridge builder

The son of Greek Orthodox Christian parents, he entered his father's trade of stone mason and carpenter. In 1512, however, officials of the Ottoman government for the purpose of drafting christian youths into the service of the sultan in Istanbul, Sinan, whose christian name was Joseph, was chosen and he began a lifelong service to the Ottoman royal house. Following a period of schooling and rigorous training, Sinan became a construction officer in the Ottoman army, eventually rising to become chief of the artillery.

A battle scene in the course of Ottoman warring

Tara Tower and Halebija Tower

Constructed in the 16th century, their purpose was to defend the bridge.

The clock tower of Mostar

The legator, Fatima Kaduna Saric, built the clock tower in Mostar in 1636. The old clock remained in use until 1926. In 1945, the door of the tower was walled up and the tower closed. It was fully restored in 1981 and a new clock was installed.

Clock towers were built by local craftsmen.

 
    The Crooked Bridge in Mostar

About twenty stone bridges were constructed in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the Ottoman Empire. Twelve of these were still standing when war broke out in 1992.

The site of the Crooked Bridge was chosen because of its strategic location on an important regional road. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the bridge was a vital part of a major road connecting north and south and east and west. It also contributed to regional security by allowing traffic to be controlled from the towers of the Old Bridge.

The Crooked Bridge collapsed on december 31st, 1999 during the winter floods but mainly because of damage inflicted during the war (1992-1995). In order to preserve its original character, it has been reconstructed in 2002 under the auspices of UNESCO and with the technical and financial support of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.


Et le voyage continue ...
And the journey continues ...

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