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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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