Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (1999)
The nation’s capital, Sarajevo has been a Sister City since the Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the Bosnian war.
Sarajevo* is capital city of (the state of) Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is its administrative, economic, cultural, educational (university) and sport center. The city of Sarajevo is unit of local self-governance, which consists of four city municipalities: Old City, Center, New City and New Sarajevo.
Population:*
297,416
Country:*
Bosnia and Herzegovina
City Website:*
Government:*
City of Sarajevo is the local self-governance unit.
Sarajevo consists of four municipalities: Centar, Novi Grad, Novo Sarajevo, and Stari Grad.
Competency and internal organization have been regulated by the City Statute.
City has its Council consisted of 28 councilors.
Mayor directly runs the City Administration.
Mayor is the executive-managing body of the City.
Mayor represents the City.
Mayor of Sarajevo*
Professor Doctor Alija Behmen,
He was born in Split (Croatia), in 1940. He is a doctor of economics. At the general elections held in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2006, he was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He received bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Sarajevo. He works as a Professor at Faculty of Transportation and Communications, University of Sarajevo. He worked on leading positions in the economy: President of the Business Committee of SOUR ŽTO and RO Interšped. He was a scientific associate at the Economic Institute in Sarajevo. He has published several professional and scientific works and textbooks. In the period 1998 – 2000, he was a member of the Assembly of Sarajevo Canton, and he was a delegate and Deputy Chairman of the House of Peoples of the F BiH Parliament from 1998 – 2000. From 2001 to 2003, he held the office of the Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Geographical facts:*
Sarajevo is situated in the area of Sarajevo plain, which is surrounded by mountains Bjelasnica and Igman from the Southwest, by Trebevic from the Southeast, middle-range mountains and inter-valley headlands (capes) on the North and Northwest.
Average height above sea level of Sarajevo plain is 500m. The most distant (farthest) western point of the plain is at 180 16′ eastern geographic longitude. The most distant (farthest) eastern point is at 180 27′ eastern geographical longitude, the most distant northern point is at 430 53′ northern geographic latitude while the most distant southern point is at 430 47′ southern geographical latitude.
Time zone:*
CET – Central European Time (Europe)
GMT +01:00
Climate:*
- medium continental
- average summer temperature 19,1 C
- average winter temperature – 1,3 C
- average annual temperature 9,5 C
Historical Synopsis:**
Ancient Times
Archeologists can safely say that the Sarajevo region has been continuously inhabited by humans since the Neolithic age. The most famous example of a Neolithic settlement in the Sarajevo area is that of the Butmir culture. The discoveries at Butmir were made on the grounds of modern day Sarajevo suburb Ilidža in 1893 by Austro-Hungarian authorities during the construction of an agricultural school. The area’s richness in flint was no doubt attractive to Neolithic man, and the settlement appears to have flourished. The most stunning aspects of the settlement are the unique ceramics and pottery designs which identified the Butmir people as a unique culture. This was largely responsible for the International congress of archeologists and anthropologists meeting in Sarajevo in 1894.[11]
The next prominent inhabitants of Sarajevo were the Illyrians. The ancient people that considered most of the West Balkans as their homeland had several key settlements in the region, mostly around the river Miljacka and Sarajevo valley. The Illyrians in the Sarajevo region belonged to the Daesitiates, a war-like people who were probably the last Illyrian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina to resist Roman occupation. Their defeat by the Roman emperor Tiberius in 9 A.D. marks the start of Roman rule in the region. The Romans never built up the region of modern day Bosnia that much, however it is known that the Roman colony of Aquae Sulphurae existed on top of present day Ilidža, and was the most important settlement of the time.[12] After the Romans, the Goths settled the area, followed by the Slavs in the 7th century.
Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages Sarajevo was part of the Bosnian province of Vrhbosna near the traditional center of the kingdom. Though a city called Vrhbosna existed, the exact settlement of Sarajevo at this time is debated. During the high Middle Ages various documents make note of a place called “Tornik” in the region. By all indications however, “Tornik” was a very small marketplace surrounded by a proportionally small village not considered very important by Ragusan merchants.
Others meanwhile say that Vrhbosna was a major city located in the middle of modern day Sarajevo. Indeed, Papal documents say that in 1238, a Cathedral to Saint Paul was built in the city. Even disciples of the famous Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius had stopped by the region, establishing a church at “Vrelobosna”. Whether this city was indeed located at modern day Sarajevo or not, an important city called Vrhbosna did indeed exist at the time and the region was of great importance. The settlement VrhBosna existed in the valley as a Slavic citadel from 1263 until it was occupied by the Ottoman Empire in 1429.
Ottoman era
Sarajevo as we know it today was founded by the Ottoman Empire in the 1450s upon conquering the region, with 1461 typically used as the city’s founding date. The first Ottoman governor of Bosnia Province, Isa-Beg Ishaković, transformed whatever cluster of villages there was there into a city and state capitol by building a number of key objects, including a mosque, a closed marketplace, a public bath, a hostel, and of course the governor’s castle (“Saray”) which gave the city its present name. The mosque was named “Careva Džamija” (the Tsar’s Mosque) in honor of the Sultan Mehmed II. With the improvements Sarajevo quickly grew into the largest city in the region. Many Christians converted to Islam at this time. The settlement was established as a city, named Bosna-Saraj, around the citadel in 1461. The name Sarajevo is derived from Turkish saray ovası, meaning the field around saray.
Under the wise leadership of people such as the second governor Gazi Husrev-beg (the city’s greatest donor who built most of what is now the Old Town) Sarajevo grew at a rapid rate. Sarajevo became known for its large marketplace and numerous mosques, which by the middle of the 16th century were over a hundred in number. At its height, Sarajevo was the biggest and most important Ottoman city in the Balkans after Istanbul itself. By 1660, the population of Sarajevo was estimated to be over 80,000. Comparatively, Belgrade in 1838 had 12,963 inhabitants and Zagreb as late as 1851 had 14,000 people. Things went mostly downhill for Sarajevo from there.
In 1699 Prince Eugene of Savoy led a successful raid on Sarajevo. After his men looted all that they could, the city was set on fire. In a mere day, nearly the whole city was destroyed except for a handful of neighborhoods, some mosques, and the orthodox church. Numerous other fires weakened the city as well, so that by 1807 it only had some 60,000 residents.
In the 1830s the area around the city was ground to several battles of the Bosnian rebellion, led by Husein Gradaščević. Today, a major city street is named “Zmaj od Bosne” (Dragon of Bosnia) in his honor. The rebellion however, failed, and the crumbling Ottoman state remained in control of Bosnia for several more decades.
Austria-Hungary
In 1697, during the Great Turkish War, a raid was led by Prince Eugene of Savoy of the Habsburg Monarchy against the Ottoman Empire, which conquered Sarajevo and left it plague-infected and burned to the ground. The city was later rebuilt, but never fully recovered from the destruction. The Ottoman Empire made Sarajevo an important administrative centre by 1850, but the ruling powers changed as the Austria-Hungarian Empire conquered Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878 as part of the Treaty of Berlin, and annexed it completely in 1908.
Sarajevo was industrialized by Austria-Hungary, who used the city as a testing area for new inventions, such as tramways, before installing them in Vienna. Architects and engineers who endeavored to rebuild Sarajevo as a modern European capital rushed to the city. They were unexpectedly aided by a fire that burned down a large part of the central city area (čaršija). This has resulted in a unique blend of the remaining Ottoman city market and contemporary western architecture. Sarajevo hosts some shiny examples of Secession and Pseudo-Moorish styles that date from this period.
The Austria-Hungarian period was one of great development for the city as the Western power brought its new acquisition up to the standards of the Victorian age. Various factories and other buildings were built at this time, and a large number of institutions were both Westernized and modernized. For the first time in history, Sarajevo’s population began writing in Latin script. [13][15]
In the event that triggered World War I, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 by a self declared Yugoslav, Gavrilo Princip. In the ensuing war, however, most of the Balkan offensives occurred near Belgrade, and Sarajevo largely escaped damage and destruction during the war. Following the war, after the Balkans were unified under the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Sarajevo became the capital of the Drina Province. In World War II, the city became a part of the Independent State of Croatia after the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. The city was bombed by the Allies from 1943 to 1944.
Yugoslavia
After World War I and liberation by Serbian army, Sarajevo became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Though it held some political importance, as the center of first the Bosnian region and then the Drinska Banovina, it was not treated with the same attention or considered as significant as it was in the past. Outside of today’s national bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina, virtually no significant contributions to the city were made during this period.
During World War II the Kingdom of Yugoslavia put up an inadequate defense. Following a German bombing campaign, Sarajevo was captured on the 15th April 1941 by the 16th Motorized infantry Division.
Shortly after the fall, the city, like many other Yugoslav areas, formed a strong partisan movement. Sarajevo’s resistance was led by a NLA Partisan named “Walter” Perić. He died while leading the final liberation of the city on the 6th of April 1945 and became famous for his actions shortly afterwards. Many of the WWII shell casings that were used during the attacks have been carved and polished in Sarajevo tradition and are sold as art.
Following the liberation, Sarajevo was the capital of the republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The communists invested heavily in Sarajevo, building many new residential blocks in Novi Grad Municipality and Novo Sarajevo Municipality, while simultaneously developing the city’s industry and transforming Sarajevo once again into one of the Balkans’ chief cities. From a post-war population of 115,000, by the end of Yugoslavia Sarajevo had 429,672 people. Sarajevo grew rapidly as it became an important regional industrial center in Yugoslavia. Modern communist-city blocks were built west of the old city, adding to Sarajevo’s architectural uniqueness.
The crowning moment of Sarajevo’s time in Socialist Yugoslavia was the 1984 Winter Olympics. Sarajevo beat out Sapporo, Japan; and Falun/Göteborg, Sweden for the privilege. They were followed by an immense boom in tourism, making the 1980s one of the city’s best decades in a long time.
** Wikipedia®