Sunday, May 17, 2015

Bosnia Book : Sarajevo Detail 1

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Sarajevo: the town of Gazi Husrev-beg

I decided not to start with the recent war damage.  I started with the rebuilt old town.  A fun, if touristy, bit of the city made of coble stones and ancient markets.  The old town still has streets where craftsman create, display and sell their works.  There is a street of bronze workers, of silversmiths and others.
Sarajevo’s old town reminds one constantly that this was the epicenter of northern Ottoman influence.  Sarajevo lies on the old trade routes between Asia and Europe, and ancient rest stops have been converted into brand new markets, restaurants and clubs. 
Prominently rising above the shops of old town is the minaret of Gazi Husrev Bey’s Mosque.  Gazi Husrev Bey was the Ottoman rule of Bosnia who build much of Sarajevo.  The impact is felt throughout the city.  The Mosque was constructed in 1531.  Across from the Mosque was his home, now a museum and a beautiful brand new Islamic Library, opened only in 2013.  But all this history came later for me.
My first impression of the grandest Mosque in Bosnia was quite different.  I happened upon the Mosque at prayer time, in the early afternoon.  So as I wandered into the courtyard, I was swarmed, surrounded and then abandoned by a legion of teen-age boys.  They raced into the courtyard, and ran around the slow moving tourist (me) to the entrance.  There, they whipped off the Nikes and Addidas and crowded the entry way, slowing from race to respectful in the space of inches.
I had to laugh at myself.  The last decade in the states has made me almost pathologically wary of teenage Muslims, ready – in Western minds – to explode as a suicide bomber at any moment.  Instead I was greeted by the cite of late teenage boys in any culture.  These appeared to be from a basketball game that ran a little too long, trying to slip into prayers unnoticed.
The interior dome of Gazi Husrev-Beg’s Mosque.  Much of Arabic Islamic writing is considered art in praise of the Lord.  The lettering on the roof is amazing.
One of the joys of Islam is the openness of the Mosque.  So I followed the young men up, took off my shoes and entered Gazi Husrev Mosque.  The mummer of prayers, the beauty of the Mosque and the unmistakable scent of play (common the world over, apparently) relaxed me in an instant.  It swept away my hesitation in visiting this far away place.  I got a dirty look from the Iman and was a little taken aback, until even more late basketball players stepped around me and I realized that the reproach wasn’t aimed at me.
 The father of Sarajevo was Gazi Husrev-Beg or –Bey.  The suffix is the title of essentially Governor of the Ottoman Province.  You will see it written as –Beg primarily I the West, and often as –Bey in Bosnia itself.  In any case Gazi  Husrev-Beg was the first major leader of Ottoman Bosnia.  According to Bosnia: A Short History (Malcolm, Noel (1996)), he was born to a Bosnian Muslim father and the Turkish daughter of the Sultan.  It was Gazi Husrev-Beg who set up the layout of Sarajevo, moving the settlement from the hills down to the river.  He built Sarajevo up into the most important city of Bosnia during his reign.
Top, the tomb of Gazi Husrev-Bey next to the Mosque.  Lower pictures are the exterior and interior remains of a Stone Marketplace and Inn for traders on the Spice Route.
The city is awash in historic buildings from this period.  Just last year, in 2013, the Gazi Husrev Beg Library was rededicated.  Founded in 1537 at the site of a Madras, the Library has grown over the years into the largest Islamic Library in the Balkans and one of the largest Islamic Libraries outside of the Middle East.  The early site of the Library was in Gazi Husrev-Beg’s home, which still functions as a museum.  The new Library dedicated in 2013 is in an airy extension beside it.
He also built a marketplace where traders from the Orient and Europe could rest and barter.  The stables exist only as ruins, but the marketplace stalls have been redone into an indoor shopping zone – primarily tourist focused.
Top, the original home and now Museum of Gazi Husrev-Bey.  Lower left, the new Islamic Library, opened in 2013.  Lower right, the original bathes for the city, now converted to shopping.