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Alija Đerzelez house, the architectural ensemble

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Status of monument -> National monument

Pursuant to Article V para. 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 39 para. 1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, at a session held from 30 August to 5 September 2005 the Commission adopted a

 

D E C I S I O N

 

I

 

The architectural ensemble of the Alija Đerzelez house in Sarajevo is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The National Monument consists of the Alija Đerzelez house with two courtyards, garden and courtyard walls.

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot nos. 1816 and 1817 (new survey), corresponding to c.p. 66 and 65 mahala LXXIII (old survey), Land Registry entry no. LXXIII/1, cadastral municipality Sarajevo III, Municipality Stari Grad, Sarajevo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The provisions relating to protection measures set forth by the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of the Federation of  BiH nos. 2/02, 27/02 and 6/04) shall apply to the National Monument.

 

II

 

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the Government of the Federation) shall be responsible for ensuring and providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary to protect, conserve, and display the National Monument.

The Commission to Preserve National Monuments (hereinafter: the Commission) shall determine the technical requirements and secure the funds for preparing and setting up signboards with the basic data on the monument and the Decision to proclaim the property a National Monument.

 

III

 

To ensure the on-going protection of the National Monument on the site defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision, the following protection measures are hereby stipulated:

  • all works are prohibited other than conservation and restoration works, including those designed to display the monument, with the approval of the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the heritage protection authority),
  • the complex or the individual parts thereof may be used for educational and cultural purposes and opened to the public.

A buffer zone is hereby established, consisting of the adjacent plots bounded by Golobrdica, Sagrđžije, Alije Džerzeleta and Logavina streets.  In this zone the following measures shall apply:

  • repair, conservation, restoration and presentation works on existing buildings shall be permitted;
  • the interior adaptation of the buildings to meet contemporary uses is permitted, provided such adaptations are not contrary to decisions already adopted by the Commission;
  • all new building and extensions to existing buildings are prohibited;
  • all interventions must be in harmony with the townscape values of the area;
  • the widening of roads is prohibited;
  • all interventions must have the prior approval of the relevant ministry and the expert opinion of the heritage protection authority;
  • the dumping of waste is prohibited;
  • heavy motor vehicle traffic is prohibited.

The Government of the Federation shall be responsible for ensuring that detailed executive plans for Medresa mahala are drawn up and implemented, to comprise the protection measures stipulated by the offprint on the protection of the cultural, historical and natural heritage for the Mahala Medresa Regulation Plan, Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo, of 2003.

 

IV

 

All executive and area development planning acts not in accordance with the provisions of this Decision are hereby revoked.

 

V

 

Everyone, and in particular the competent authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Canton, and urban and municipal authorities, shall refrain from any action that might damage the National Monument or jeopardize the preservation and rehabilitation thereof.

 

VI

 

The Government of the Federation, the relevant ministry, the heritage protection authority, and the Municipal Authorities in charge of urban planning and land registry affairs, shall be notified of this Decision in order to carry out the measures stipulated in Articles II to V of this Decision, and the Authorized Municipal Court shall be notified for the purposes of registration in the Land Register.

 

VII

 

The elucidation and accompanying documentation form an integral part of this Decision, which may be viewed by interested parties on the premises or by accessing the website of the Commission (http://www.aneks8komisija.com.ba) 

 

VIII

 

Pursuant to Art. V para 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, decisions of the Commission are final.

 

IX

 

On the date of adoption of this Decision, the National Monument shall be deleted from the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of BiH no. 33/02, Official Gazette of Republika Srpska no. 79/02, Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH no. 59/02, and Official Gazette of Brčko District BiH no. 4/03), where it featured under serial no. 544.

 

X

 

This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption and shall be published in the Official Gazette of BiH.

 

This Decision has been adopted by the following members of the Commission: Zeynep Ahunbay, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, Ljiljana Ševo and Tina Wik.

                                                                                                             

No: 09-2-227/05-10

31 August 2005

Sarajevo

 

Chair of the Commission

Ljiljana Ševo

 

E l u c i d a t i o n

 

I – INTRODUCTION

 

Pursuant to Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a “National Monument” is an item of public property proclaimed by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments to be a National Monument pursuant to Articles V and VI of Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina  and property entered on the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of  BiH no. 33/02) until the Commission reaches a final decision on its status, as to which there is no time limit and regardless of whether a petition for the property in question has been submitted or not.

In its previous complement, the Commission to Preserve National Monuments issued a decision to add the Đerzelez house in Sarajevo to the Provisional List of National Monuments of BiH under serial no. 544.

Pursuant to the provisions of the law, the Commission proceeded to carry out the procedure for reaching a final decision to designate the Property as a National Monument, pursuant to Article V of Annex 8 and Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments.

 

II – PROCEDURE PRIOR TO DECISION

 

In the procedure preceding the adoption of a final decision to proclaim the property a national monument, the following documentation was inspected:

  • Data on the current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs, data of war damage, data on restoration or other works on the property, etc.
  • Documentation on the location of the property
  • Documentation on the current owner and user of the property
  • Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property, as set out in the bibliography forming part of this Decision.

The findings based on the review of the above documentation and the condition of the site are as follows:

 

1. Details of the property

Location

The architectural ensemble of the Alija Đerzelez house stands on the northern slope of the city in a quarter known as Vrbanjuša. The architectural ensemble is bounded by Sagrdžije street to the east and Alije Đerzeleza street to the north (from 1959 to 1992, Sagrdžije street was known as Remzije Omanovića street.

The architectural ensemble of Alija Đerzelez's house is in Kadi Bali effendi mahala, on a site consisting of c.p. 1816 and 1817 (new survey), Land Register entry no. LXXIII/1, property of Sarajevo Canton, c.m. Sarajevo III, Sarajevo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Access to the architectural ensemble of the Alija Đerzelez house is from the east, from Sagrdžije street.

The Alija Đerzelez house lies with its long axis running east-west. Access to the building is from the south.

Historical information

The architectural ensemble of the Alija Đerzelez house was built between two mahalas, the mahala of the Sarač Alija mosque and the mahala of the Kadi Bali-effendi mosque.

The mahala of the Sarač Alija mosque, according to Mehmed Mujezinović, took shape prior to 1528. The earliest mention of the Sarač Alija mosque dates from 1528. All that is known of the founder of the mosque, as the name itself indicates, was that he was a sarač(1), a saddler. There is no other information about him.

The mahala of the Kadi Bali-effendi mosque, again according to Mehmed Mujezinović, took shape between 1578 and 1582, when the mosque of Kadi Bali-effendi, the mullah(2) of Sarajevo, was built. The local people call the mosque the Pribjegnuta or Pribjeguša(3) because the stone minaret was 10 metres away from the mosque.

In terms of its position, the architectural ensemble of the Alija Đerzelez house is contiguous with the townscape ensemble of the Hajji Sinan tekke with the Sarač Alija mosque and the burial ground alongside it. Very close to the Alija Đerzelez house in Sagrdžije street there once stood Semiz' house, which was demolished in the late 20th century and was an example of residential architecture of high townscape value.

The Alija Đerzelez house dates from the 17th century(4), and was purpose-built as a family house for a wealthy artisanal family. So far no precise details of the founder and builder of the house have been found.

The house is ascribed by the people to the hero Đerzelez Alija, but is not old enough to have belonged to him.

Until almost the end of the 20th century, the house was owned by the Čevanija family, who were kazaz(5), haberdashers, by trade. They and their descendants owned the house for more than 200 years.

The great fire of 1697 which burned down almost all of Sarajevo probably damaged this house too. However, there are no exact details of the extent of the damage or of what renovations ensued.

 

2. Description of the property

The architectural ensemble known as the Alija Đerzelez house is one of the few surviving, and one of the most typical, examples of residential architecture of the Ottoman period in Sarajevo. The form of the building and the composition of the ensemble is contemporary even today.

An analysis of the spatial concept of the Alija Đerzelez house reveals that it is clearly differentiated into two separate but interlinked entities – the men's quarters and the women's, the semi-public and the private quarters of the house. Further divisions are into the winter quarters on the ground floor and the summer quarters on the first floor, into open, semi-enclosed and enclosed spaces, and into the areas used for running the household and the living areas.

The layout follows the basic module typical of most residential buildings of that time, with a larger area for the household, family and guests, and beside it a smaller area for the servants, for preparing coffee. This layout features in the women's first-floor quarters (with a čardačić next to the čardak(6)) and again in the men's (next to the čardak-ćošak is a small coffee-room with a kahva odžak(7)).

The entire architectural ensemble is surrounded by a high wall.

The house lies along Alije Đerzeleza street east-west. The overall area of the architectural ensemble, excluding the garden, is about 350 m², and the extended area of the house is about 390 m².

Three basic materials were used to build the house – stone, wood and unbaked (adobe) brick. The structural system of the house is typical of old Sarajevo residential architecture.

The foundations are of quarry stone. The walls at socle level are of cut stone. The solid walls of the ground floor, which are about 60 cm thick, are of the unbaked clay bricks known as čerpić, with horizontal tiebeams. The first floor is half-timbered, with čerpić infill, with the exception of the north facade wall, which is solid čerpić bricks with timber tiebeams.

The joists consist of close-set half-logs packed with clay mixed with lime to make it fire-resistant. The ceiling above the storeroom is lower and with a much thicker layer of clay than in the living quarters, since the storeroom was built to survive in the event of the house being set on fire.

The ceilings of all the living areas are šiše-style(8), fixed to the underside of the joists. The ceilings to some extent formed a structural entity with the roof structure, as indicated by the eaves.

Timber was also used for the pillars, kamarijas(9), divanhanas(10), and roof structure. All of this was made largely of trimmed timber, mainly deal, though the pillars and joists in the porches and the storeroom are oak.

The building has a hipped roof clad with ćeramid (hollow) tiles.

The courtyard walls, like the walls surrounding the architectural ensemble, are of the same construction as the ground floor walls, of ćerpić brick with tiebeams, and all have a saddleback coping of hollow tiles.

Stone and wood are the materials used for individual components and for the interior of the building.

Dressed stone was used for the bases of the pillars. The floor of the hajat (porch) in the women's quarters is stone paved, and cobbles were used to pave the courtyards. Semi-dressed stone was used for the storeroom floor.

Wood was used for the floors and ceilings in every room. The floors consist of wide deal boards(11).

All the doorjambs and windowjambs are wood, with wrought iron bars on the windows and mušebak lattice-work on the kamarija.

Wood is also used for decorative purposes. The doors to the the main room, the halvat, in the women's quarters and to the čardak-ćošak in the men's quarters are covered with carvings, and the pillars in the divanhana and kamarijas are finished filigree-style.

Hollow tiles were used to make the stoves in the rooms and the mutvak (kitchen).

The entrance to the house is from the east, from Sagrdžije street. The entrance portal, which is 2.16 m wide, is framed by wooden doorjambs. The double wooden doors are almost square, and decorated with door knockers and studs. The entrance has a gabled abat-vent clad with hollow tiles.

The portal leads into a cobbled courtyard, a parallelogram in shape measuring 9.00 x 6.40 m. The long axis of the men's quarters lies north-south. There was once a fountain in the south courtyard wall, built since World War II. The authentic well of the house has been preserved in the northern part of the courtyard.

The house forms the northern end of the courtyard area, which leads at ground-floor level into the storeroom. The storeroom doors have a cut stone, shallow-arched frame, pointed at the top. The single door is made of wrought iron. The storeroom, which measures 5.5 x 3.2 m, has one extremely small rectangular window in the east wall, facing Sagrdžije street.

An L-shaped wooden staircase with solid wooden banister leads from the courtyard to the men's quarters, the part of the house that was also used to receive acquaintances and business associates.

The men's quarters consist of a čardak-ćošak, divanhana with kamarija, čardak, kahve-odžak and hudžera.

A wooden staircase leads to the kamarija, which is separated from the divanhana by a wooden partition wall. The kamarija is fully open to the courtyard. This in turn leads to the čardak-ćošak at the south-east corner of the building, facing the courtyard and Sagrdžije street. The čardak-ćošak is one step up from the kamarija, with which it appears from the outside to form a single entity.  The walls of the kamarija and čardak-ćošak are entirely of wood. The arched window-openings are covered with mušebak lattice-work.

The enclosed area of the divanhana leads to the hudžera (larder, pantry), kahve-odžak and the most typical room in the house, the čardak.

A rectangular wooden door leads into the čardak. The door is decorated with 15 square and one rectangular panel, each carved in relief with a floral design at the centre. The door is painted light green. The panels, painted terracotta-red, are surrounded by a red line. The floral design is painted orange. In addition to these painted decorations, the door is also adorned with wrought iron studs.

The čardak is a room measuring 5.6 x 4.7 m, which projects out oriel-window style from the basic cuboid of the building. Unlike the other rooms in the house its long axis runs south-east/north-west.

Five rectangular double wooden windows, 70 cm wide, with bars on the exterior, look out onto Sagrdžije street.

The musandera, a wooden partition fitted with dolafs (small cupboards), dušekluks (for storing bed-linen), shelves, a hamamdžik (washroom) and faience stove, is L-shaped, occupying the south-west and north-west walls of the room. The musandera is painted with stylized floral designs, mainly in green, red, dark yellow and light blue. Each part of the musandera (the dolaf, dušekluk and hamamdžik doors, etc.) is decorated with different designs in different colours.

The antique faience stove with small coloured cups stands by the north-west wall of the room.  It is domed in shape, the only one of this shape in Sarajevo(12).

There is a wooden shelf on the south-east wall of the room, at musandera height.

During restoration works, the traces of mural painting were discovered in the centre of the south-east wall. Consisting of a painted mihrab niche surrounded by stylized floral designs, this is a rarity in interior decoration.

The colours used to paint the mihrab were orange-red and green. The frame and the floral designs were outlined in red.

The kahve-odžak is in the north-east corner of the room. Measuring 3.6 x 3.08 m, it faces Sagrdžije street. A small round-arched window provides a view of the Hajji Sinan tekke to the north of the building.

The kahve-odžak is on the south-east wall of the room. Simple in treatment and rectangular in shape, the upper part of the kahve-odžak is decorated with a relief geometric design.

The hudžera is by the north wall of the building. A wooden door in the west wall of the hudžera leads down via a steep staircase into the mutvak.

The divanhana of the men's quarters leads through a simple wooden door direct into the divanhana of the men's quarters.

The men's and women's courtyards were probably once divided by a high wall facing the entrance wall of the architectural ensemble. During restoration works on the house from 2001 to 2004, archaeological excavations were conducted on the presumed site of the wall in order to identify its exact position and find any remains of the wall. Unfortunately, none were discovered. However, given the lifestyle of the time and layout of the house, there must have been a dividing wall of some kind between the two courtyards, between the semi-public and the private quarters of the house. As a result, during the restoration works, a free wood-built interpretation of this wall was erected.

The women's courtyard, which is rectangular, measuring 7.1 x 14.2 m, is cobbled. The long axis of the courtyard of the women's quarters lies east-west.

A ćenifa (privy) and summer kitchen were located against the southern part of the courtyard wall(13). As with the men's courtyard, here too the house forms the northern end of the courtyard.

There was probably a flowerbed (čičekluk) between the courtyard wall and the cobbles.

The courtyard leads into the semi-open hajat on the ground floor. The hajat, which measures 5.5 x 3.5 m, is open to the south. There is a papučluk(14)  by the east wall. The hajat leads into the halvats (to the east and west of the hajat) and the mutvak.

The halvat to the east of the hajat is the most typical room in the women's quarters. It is entered through a rectangular wooden door, which is divided into 30 square and one rectangular panel, defined by the colours with which the door is painted. The door is light green and the panels are terracotta red, edged in red. The wrought iron studs used to decorate the door are set at the centre of each panel.

The halvat is a room measuring 5.7 x 4.45 m, with windows facing the inner courtyard and the halvat.

The three rectangular double wooden windows, 75 cm wide, with bars on the outside, have a relieving niche and pointed arch on the inside. The wooden shutters on the windows, except the one in the west wall, like those of the dolaf, are painted and decorated with geometric designs of rhombuses. The windowframes and wooden shutters are painted green and the rhombuses orange-red.

There is a rectangular hatch through to the mutvak in the west wall of the halvat.

All that remains of the musandera in this room is the dolaf and dušekluk. However, it can be deduced from the position of the faience stove and the surviving stone washroom that the musandera was L-shaped and ran along the east and north walls of the room. The musandera is decorated with geometric designs identical to those on the wooden shutters.

The faience stove with small cups is a reconstruction of the faience stove in the čardak in the men's quarters.

There is a wooden shelf on the north wall of the room at musandera height.

During restoration works, the traces of mural painting were discovered in the centre of the south wall. A painted mihrab niche surrounded by geometric and stylized floral designs was discovered. The colours used to paint the mihrab were orange-red, red and black.

The halvat to the west of the hajat is a room measuring 5.6 x 4.7 m. It has four rectangular double wooden windows, 80 cm wide, with bars on the outside and relieving niches and pointed arches inside, face the inner courtyard, halvat and garden.

The mutvak is by the north wall of the hajat, through massive double wooden arched doors. The mutvak, which measures 2.0 x 7.6 m, leads into a small halvat at the north-west corner of the building and to the hudžera (larder, pantry) to the east of the mutvak. The shop in the north-east ground-floor men's quarters can be reached through the hudžera; the shop has an exit to Sagrdžije street.

The faience stove in the mutvak is by the north wall. The mutvak extends along the entire length of the building. The house has no ventilation pipes apart from two in the mutvak in the north facade wall.

A single-flight wooden staircase with an open slatted rail leads from the hajat to the divanhana in the women's quarters. There is a tahtapoš – a wooden table intended to display the most valuable items of household ware – above the staircase.

A simple wooden partition wall and a single step separate the divanhana from the kamarija in the women's quarters. The kamarija faces the inner courtyard, and has wooden walls, with double windows in the upper part. Only those windows facing the kamarija in the men's quarters are covered with mušebak lattice-work.

The divanhana leads into the čardak, which in turn leads into the čardačić.

The čardak measures 6.3 x 4.7 m and faces the inner courtyard and garden.

The čardačić measures 3.2 x 2.7 m and faces the garden. During conversion of the house for possible future residential purposes, the čardak has been designed as a guest room and the čardačić fitted as a modern bathroom.

In the west wall of the women's courtyard is a wooden door leading into the garden (bostanluk). The garden lies to the west and south of the building, from which it is separated by the high courtyard wall. To the north and east, the garden is surrounded by a high wall, and to the west and south by a wooden fence, since here it faces not the public space of the street but the gardens of the neighbouring buildings.

There is another well in the garden, by the west wall of the house(15).

There is also direct access to the garden from Alije Đerzeleza street, through a wooden door.

 

3. Legal status to date

By Ruling of the National Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Natural Rarities dated 17 April 1950, no. 427/50, the Alije Đerzelez house was placed under state protection.

By Ruling of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of NR BiH dated 18 April 1962, no. 02-816-3, the Alija Đerzelez house was entered in the Register of cultural monuments.

The Regional Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina to 2002 lists the Đerzelez house in Sarajevo as a Category I monument.

The Đerzelez house in Sarajevo is on the Provisional List of National Monuments of BiH under serial no. 544.

 

4. Research and conservation and restoration works

No organized conservation and restoration works had been carried out on the building other than minor repair works by the owners during 1950 and 1951, until the late 20th century, when representatives of the heritage protection authority were able to visit the building.

In October 1997, experts from the Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage carried out preventive repair works ahead of the planned restoration, reconstruction and revitalization works. The preventive repair works consisted of replacing damaged and dilapidated parts of the roof structure and roof cladding, and the reinforcement in part of the roof structure.  The roof was given a protective PVC covering and the existing hollow tile roof cladding was re-puttied in part.

In 1999, the first conservation, reconstruction, restoration and revitalization programme of the Alija Đerzelez house was drawn up, followed by the main restoration design project. The Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage is responsible for the project, and experts from the Federal Institute for the Protection of Monuments will also be involved in carrying it out.

As a result of long-term lack of maintenance and damage resulting from the war, the building was in a ruinous state, and leaking so badly that it was in a general state of collapse.

Since the entire building is regarded as exceptionally important from the point of view of authenticity, works began on the repair and restoration of the building and the reconstruction of missing and destroyed components. Given the complexity of the damage and of the ensemble itself, the various elements of the complex naturally required different works.

Repairs to the building entailed the necessary structural reinforcements, repairs using the same structural materials and, where necessary, rebuilding walls and partition walls, and examining the entire roof and laying a new roof cladding. Repair works were also carried out on the structural elements of the building.

Restoration and conservation works were carried out on the entire complex. Some of the basic restoration and conservation works on the house were:

  • The free restoration of the courtyard wall between the men's and the women's courtyards,
  • Reconstruction and restoration of the well in the men's courtyard,
  • The free restoration of the summer kitchen,
  • Marking the site of the well in the garden (since there was nothing on which to base a reconstruction),
  • The conservation and restoration, as required, of all the courtyard and house walls, the abat-vent and entrance gate (čerpić and yellow masonry brick were used for the restoration of the walls),
  • The restoration of the structural elements,
  • The restoration of all the rooms in the house, which involved:
    • restoration or conversation of parts of the fixtures (mainly the musandera) and the renovation of destroyed parts (mainly the sećija – built-in seating) to match the surviving elements,
    • the reconstruction of the stoves and washrooms to match the surviving elements in the house itself,
    • the restoration or replacement of the doors,
    • the restoration of the šiše ceilings,
    • the restoration and/or replacement of windows, shutters and bars
  • The restoration of the staircase and all its parts in both the men's and the women's quarters,
  • The conservation and restoration of the mural painting and the painted designs on wood.

           During these works on the building, the originality of the building and of all its parts was respected to the utmost. Wherever possible, existing floor and ceiling joists and parts of the kamarijas, staircases, divanhanas and walls of the building were retained. Dilapidated elements (mainly wooden beams and tiebeams) were replaced by new ones made exactly to match the existing ones. All those parts that could be dismantled and restored or replaced by new ones were first surveyed with exactitude, marked, and returned to their original places or replaced by new ones made of the same materials and to the exact same sizes. Where the ćerpić infill had fallen away, it was replaced by new ćerpić or yellow brick infill, depending on the wall in question. The sound parts of the roof cladding of hollow tiles were retained and missing parts completed with ćeramida tiles reclaimed from other old buildings in Sarajevo.

In addition to using original materials, or similar ones where it was unavoidable, care was taken in the way the materials were used and the building techniques.

In the light of the requirements of the owner of the building (Sarajevo Canton) and the works investor, as well as the future use of the building, some of the rooms were converted to meet modern requirements (sanitary facilities, water and drainage pipes, electric wiring, central heating). PTT wiring was also installed, as was a fire alarm system and burglar alarm.

Pursuant to a resolution by the Government of Sarajevo Canton, the future use of the building should be of a semi-public nature. The complex should be used for residential purposes but capable of being used for certain public and cultural events.

The stage III (concluding) works of the restoration project are currently in hand, entailing the restoration of the interior.

 

5. Current condition of the property

The architectural ensemble of the Alija Đerzelez house is in extremely good condition, having recently been restored.

 

6. Specific risks

  • Inappropriate use
    • If there is a change of use resulting in large numbers of people using the property there is a risk of physical damage caused by negligence
    • If the property is closed to the general public it would become isolated from the meaning and image of the city
  • Changes to the immediate surroundings of the property (erection of properties of inappropriate size and architectural expression or changes of use of surrounding properties)

III – CONCLUSION

             

Applying the Criteria for the adoption of a decision on proclaiming an item of property a national monument (Official Gazette of BiH nos. 33/02 and 15/03), the Commission has enacted the Decision cited above.

The Decision was based on the following criteria:

A. Time frame

B. Historical value

C. Artistic and aesthetic value

C.iii. proportions

C.iv. composition

C.v. value of details

D. Clarity

D. iv. evidence of a particular type, style or regional manner

D. v. evidence of a typical way of life at a specific period

F. Townscape/ Landscape value

F.i.  Relation to other elements of the site

F.ii. meaning in the townscape

F.iii.  the building or group of buildings is part of a group or site

G. Authenticity

G.iii. use and function

G.iv. traditions and techniques

G.v. location and setting

I. Completeness

I.i. physical coherence

I.iii. completeness

 

The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:

·         Photodocumentation;

·         Drawings

 

Bibliography

During the procedure to designate the architectural ensemble of the residential complex of the Alija Đerzelez house in Sarajevo as a national monument the following works were consulted:

 

1974.    Klaić, Bratoljub, Veliki riječnik stranih riječi, izraza i kratica (Large dictionary of foreign words, expressions and abbreviations), Zora, Zagreb, 1974

 

1998.    Mujezinović, Mehmed, Islamska epigrafika Bosne i Hercegovine (Islamic epigraphics of BiH), Bk I, 3rd ed., Cultural Heritage Series, Sarajevo Publishing, 1998.

 

1998.    Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo, Programme for the conservation, reconstruction, restoration and revitalization of The Alija Đerzelez house, 1998.

 

Documentation of the Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo

 

(1) Tur. saraç – saddler, harness-maker, leather-worker; Klaić, Bratoljub, Veliki riječnik stranih riječi, izraza i kratica, p. 1173

(2) Mullah – Tur. mülla, Muslim scholar, theologian, doctor, judge; Klaić, Bratoljub, Veliki riječnik stranih riječi, izraza i kratica, p. 880

(3) deriving from a verb meaning, among other things, to remove (trans.)

(4) Source for dating the house: Alija Đerzelez House, conservation, reconstruction, restoration and revitalization programme, Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo.

(5) Kazaz – Tur. käzāza, silk-worker, making braid, buttons, ribbons and so on out of silk, Klaić, Bratoljub, Veliki riječnik stranih riječi, izraza i kratica, p. 640

(6) Čardak – enclosed first-floor veranda typical of Ottoman-period houses. Čardačić is the diminutive form. Trans.

(7) Ćošak – projecting first-floor veranda with numerous windows offering wide views, oriel-window style; kahva odžak, kitchenette for preparing coffee, from the Tur. ocak meaning hearth or chimney. Trans.

(8) šiše, from the Pers. shishe, finely-planed lath (A. Škaljić, Turcizmi u srpskohrvatskom jeziku [Turkicisms in Serbo-Croatian], Svjetlost, Sarajevo, 1989). Trans.

(9) balcony facing and overhanging the courtyard, and fitted with lattice-work screens instead of glazed windows. Trans.

(10) Spacious first-floor landing. Trans.

(11) Before the repair and reconstruction works on the Alija Đerzelez house, the floor of the mutvak (kitchen with hearth) was of rammed earth. During these works, a floor of wooden boards was laid in the mutvak, which differs from the floors in the living quarters in that it was laid over the rammed earth floor, which remains visible since the floorboards are narrow and set a little apart. 

(12) Alija Đerzelez house, Conservation, reconstruction, restoration and revitalization programme, Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo .

(13) The summer kitchen has not survived. Since its original appearance is not known, during restoration works the principal used was to restore surviving and known features (pillars and their bases, abat-vent) and to redesign the remainder (the position and appearance of the stove).

(14) Place where shoes are removed before entering the house. Trans.

(15) Since no information on the appearance of this well has been found, it will not be restored during restoration works. Its position in the garden will be marked.

 



Alija Đerzelez house in SarajevoHouse before start of the conservation worksHouse after works of the I phase were finishedHouse just before works of the III phase are finished
Alija Đerzelez house GardenMen's courtyardScreen between courtyards
Women's courtyard - kamerijaWomen's courtyard - entrance to the kamerijaMen's quarters - ćošak and kamarijaMen's quarters - mutvak
Mutvak, detailInterior of the room, old conditionInterior of the room, 2005.Detalj, hamamdžik (washroom) and faience stove
Detail, decoration and windowsDoorWomen's quarters - kamarija 


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