The city of Sarajevo (450 degrees, 53'
and 28'' N, 18 degrees, 25' and 50'' E) is located in
the valley of the Miljacka river. Its elevation is 550
metres. The average annual temperature is 1,4 C in
January; 9,6 C in April; and 8,8 C in October. On the
average, there are 1,680 sunny hours in Sarajevo per
year.The geographical position of the city is between
the Danube basin and the Adriatic Sea. In the past,
Sarajevo represented an important intersection between
Istanbul and Salonica and between Dubrovnik and Dalmatia.
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The area of Sarajevo was first inhabited during the
New Stone Age. A notable neolithic arheological site in
Butmir near Ilidza, excavated at the end of the last
century (1893-1896) illustrates the way in which those
early inhabitants lived.
The followers of the Bosnian Church lived in this
area prior to the Ottoman expansion which encompassed
it. They were entirely incorporated into the system of
governance over the Bosnian state at that time.
In mid-thirteenth century the Franciscans arrived to
Bosnia in order to assist in prosecution of the Bosnian
Church followers. But, the Franciscans have stayed in
this country ever since and have considerably
contributed to the overall Bosnian spirituality.
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Since the Turks' arrival the population of Bosnia and
Herzegovina have consisted of the followers of Islamic,
Catholic, and Orthodox religions.
The city of Sarajevo was established, with its basic
structure and recognisable urban elements, in the
fifteenth century, after the Bosnian Kingdom was taken
by the Ottoman Empire in 1463. The founder of the city
was Isa-bey Ishakovic. During his thirty-year reign over
Sarajevo he built a number of very beautiful and
significant buildings. He was the one who built the
first mosque here. Its name is
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Five centuries ago Sarajevo offered a refuge to the
Jews expelled from Spain, who have contributed a
specific quality to the diverse tradition and culture of
the city to our days. Their Haggadah, made in the
fourteenth century in Spain, is still kept in Sarajevo
as a symbol of a specific literary form developed for
centuries.
Since the Middle Ages Sarajevo has been the only
European city where different religions have developed
and existed without disturbances, which is illustrated
by the symbols of these religions which are still
present throughout the city.
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At the end of the seventeenth century (23-24 October
1697) Sarajevo suffered the first of the two major
collective tragedies in its history. It was then that
the city was totally burnt down and destroyed by Eugen
of Savoy, an Austrian Prince.
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Following the decision of the Berlin Congress in
1878, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was entrusted the
reign over Bosnia and Herzegovina. This Empire has left
the significant traces of their civilisation here. The
end of their rule started when Gavrilo Princip, a member
of one organisation from Belgrade in Serbia,
assassinated the Archduke Franc Ferdinand close to the
Latin Bridge in Sarajevo on 14 June 1914. This
assassination served as an inducement for the
Austro-Hungarian Empire to declare an ultimatum to
Serbia, and that was how the First World War began
shortly.
After the Austro-Hungarian rule was over, Bosnia and
Herzegovina and its capital Sarajevo were included into
several official forms of former Yugoslavia (Federative,
People's, Socialist).
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The second and largest collective tragedy of Sarajevo
started in spring 1992 with a total siege of the city
and an the War against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The city
survived the longest siege in modern history without
food, water, electric power, traffic, etc. During the
siege, the citizens of Sarajevo were systematically
targeted and killed (approximately 12000 people were
killed, of which 1600 children) and wounded (the total
estimated number of wounded civilians reached the figure
of 50000). All major cultural, economic, political and
other public buildings, including the residential sites,
were either entirely destroyed or badly damaged by the
constant shelling from the surrounding hills. For
example, at the very beginning of the aggression in
1992, the buildings and entire collections of the
National Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the
Oriental Institute were devastated. The National Museum
of Bosnia and Herzegovina was badly damaged by shelling,
too.
The siege was ended by a peace agreement made at the
end of 1995, and signed at the beginning of 1996. The
agreement was signed by the presidents of Bosnia and
Herzegovina and the neighbouring countries Croatia and
Yugoslavia (Serbia), as well as by the representatives
of the international community.
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There are approximately 450000 residents in Sarajevo
today, which is for 100000 less than before the war
began in 1992. The processes of the reconstruction of
devastated objects, return of refugees and recovery of
the victims of the aggression are still in progress.
