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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 4 to 10 July 2006 the Commission adopted a

 

D E C I S I O N

 

I

 

The historic monument of the Clock Tower in Sarajevo, Municipality Stari Grad Sarajevo, is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 35, Land Register entry no. 4, cadastral municipality Mahala 6, 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, the following protection measures are hereby stipulated, which shall apply to the area defined in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision.

  • all works are prohibited other than research and conservation and restoration works, including works 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.

 

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 thereof.

 

VI

 

            The Government of the Federation, the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning, the Federation 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

 

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: 07.2-2-151/06-2

5 July 2006                                                                            

Sarajevo                                                                                 

 

Chair of the Commission

Amra Hadžimuhamedović

 

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.

The historic monument is located within the urban townscape of Sarajevo, and it is on this basis that 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 para. 4 of Annex 8 and Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments.

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 para. 4 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.
  • Inspection of the current condition of the property,
  • Copy of the cadastral plan,
  • 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 properties belonging to the Gazi Husrev-beg vakuf (deed of perpetual endowment) are located in the central area of Baščaršija, facing Sarači street. The clock tower is about 50 metres to the west of the Beg’s mosque, in Mudželiti street.

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 35, Land Register entry no. 4 Mahala 6, Municipality Stari Grad, Sarajevo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Historical information

Although there were settlements on the area of present-day Sarajevo even before the arrival of the Ottomans, the culmination of the city's urban, economic and cultural development was reached only in the 16th century(1). In 1462, when the vakufnama (deed of perpetual endowment) of Isa-beg Ishaković was written, is justly regarded as the year when Sarajevo was founded (H. Šabanović, Dvije najstarije vakufname u Bosni, Prilozi za orijentalnu filologiju, II, 1951, Sarajevo 1952.)

The erection of Isa-beg's endowed properties in Sarajevo saw the start of its development as an urban area. In 1457, to the orders of Sultan Mehmed Fatih, he built a mosque, known as the Careva (Emperor's) mosque. He also built a court (saray), after which the city was named(2).    The earliest use of the name Saray-ovasi (the plain around the court) dates from 1455, in Isa-beg Ishaković's census (H. Šabanović, Krajište Isa-bega Ishakovića, Zbirni katastarski popis iz 1455. godine, Sarajevo 1964)(3). 

Isa-beg was followed by many other governors, members of the feudal class, wealthy merchants and artisans who, in erecting various buildings of a religious, social, commercial or cultural nature, caused Sarajevo to become the largest and most important city in Bosnia –particularly during the 16th century, when the major architectural creations of the Ottoman period were built – and one of the largest in the Balkans as a whole(4). The buildings most frequently erected were mosques. In addition to their role as religious and cultural-cum-educational facilities, mosques were also the centres of the mahalas around them, which bore the name of the founder of the mosque. Mosques were founded by senior officials of the Ottoman authorities, wealthy merchants and artisans, and other citizens of Sarajevo. The majority of them, including senior officials, were of Bosnian origin, and some were also related to the Imperial house. Like other buildings of Islamic architecture, mosques were built as the endowments of individuals.

The establishment of a vakuf or perpetual religious endowment made it possible not only to build a mosque, but also to provide for its operation. Vakifs (legators) played an important part in the development of Sarajevo. Vast vakuf sums were invested in building the city, as indicated by a number of vakuf inventories in the defters (records) of the Bosnian sandžak. During the 15th and 16th centuries, 70 masjids (mosques for everyday use) and 35 jami' mosques («Friday» mosques for communal prayer) were erected, and some of the masjids were turned into jami' mosques, for which permission was sought from the Porte in Istanbul. The most important architectural creations, however, date from the 16th century(5).

One of the reasons for the 16th century's being the golden age of Sarajevo was the appearance of Gazi Husrev-beg in the area during his time as Bosnian sandžak-beg (governor) (1521-1541). Apart from his military campaigns, Gazi Husrev-beg dedicated his entire life to building and to the urbanization of Sarajevo. Knowing that his valour on the field of combat would be preserved only by history, and that the only lasting hajrat (good deed) is that which is repeated in the future, Husrev-beg endowed his entire immovable and movable property(6). Son of a Herzegovinian father, and grandson on his mother's side of Sultan Bayezid II, by endowing so many properties this Bosnian sandžakbeg ensured that Sarajevo became a city.

He endowed property in Bosnia and Rumelia for the maintenance of his hajrat, as attested by his three vakufnamas, written in November 1531, January 1537 and November 1537.

Husrev-beg made his own fortune in Bosnia, but inherited another fortune in Rumelia from his father Ferhat-beg. Affirming the Islamic principle urged by Muhammad pbuh, that it is best to bequeath property in such a way that it becomes an enduring asset, Gazi Husrev-beg included the following passage in his 1531 vakufnama:

«Every wise and reasonable man will realize that this world is transient, and that it is the abode of tedium and misfortune. The world is neither a house nor a home, it is merely a passageway to the abode of salvation or of hell, and for this reason he is wise who does not fool himself in this world, who does not trust it, who does not look upon it with the eyes of love, and who does not adjust himself to it. Happy is the man who takes circumstances upon himself and today on the example of yesterday and who, while awaiting the time of his death, commits no errors in his work. Good deeds banish evil, and the sublimest of good deeds is alms, and the sublimest of alms is that which endures forever, and of charitable deeds the finest is that which is or which shall perpetually repeat itself. It is evident that of all charitable deeds that of the vakuf is the most enduringly guaranteed. As long as the world endures the benefit of a vakuf does not cease nor will its benefactions be complete by the Day of Judgment.»

Gazi Husrev-beg's first vakufnama, dating from 1531, was written for his mosque, imaret and haniqah.

His second, dating from 1537, was written for the Kuršumlija medresa, built opposite the mosque. Close to the medresa Gazi Husrev-beg also built a haniqah belonging to the Halwatiyya order, to which he himself belonged.

The funds remaining after the medresa had been completed were used to purchase the best-known books of the day and to found a library. The third vakufnama, also dating from 1537, was to endow further properties for the maintenance of the mosque(7).

Like all oriental-type cities, Sarajevo was divided into:

  • the area composed of residential quarters or mahalas, and
  • the commercial area or čaršija.

The residential area of the city developed on the surrounding slopes, spreading outwards from the centre towards the periphery.  When building the residential quarters, efforts were made to ensure that they enjoyed as much greenery and light as possible(8).

The čaršija took shape in the mid 15th century, developed rapidly, and reached its culmination in the second half of the 16th century(9). The čaršija area was not only a commercial but also a spiritual and educational centre. The concentration of religious buildings in the čaršija itself – eight mosques, two churches and a synagogue – indicates that the čaršija was seen as having another significance in addition to the commercial. The best-known medresa, the Kuršumlija, was in the čaršija, as was the muvekithana (premises of the muvekit, the official responsible for the clock's keeping accurate time), the clock tower, mektebs and tekkes. A range of commercial properties were built in the Sarajevo čaršija, most prominent among them the bezistans (covered markets, suqs), hans (hostels) and caravanserais, and numerous shops, magazines and dairas (a daira was a group of magazines around a central courtyard, all under a single roof and with a single entrance to the courtyard). Bezistans were built only in larger towns and cities(10). Merchant caravans, carrying various goods from east and west, converged on Sarajevo's hans and caravanserais, the most important of which were Kolobara, Tašlihan and Morića-han.

Since few people owned clocks in the old days (mechanical clocks were first made in the first half of the 16th century), a clock tower(11) was built alongside the Beg's mosque to enable all the surrounding mosques to know the correct time(12). It is not known when Sarajevo's clock tower was built, since there is no reference to it in the Gazi's deeds of endowment(13). 

The earliest reference to the building is in a work by Çatib Çelebi, a Turkish geographer of the first half of the 17th century, who noted that there was a clock with a bell beside the Husref-beg mosque (St. Novaković, Hadži Kalfa ili Čatib ef. turski geograf XVII veka o Balkanskom poluiostrvu (Hajji Kalfa or Çatib effendi, a 17th century Turkish geographer, on the Balkan peninsula), Spomenik S.K.A. XVIII Beograd, p. 19).

During the campaign by Prince Eugene of Savoy, the tower was set on fire, as can be seen from a hudžet (manuscript) written thirty years later (the documentn is in the archives of the Gazi Husrev Vakuf in Sarajevo). The document reveals that the clock tower was merely repaired that same year.

The clock tower was again damaged in 1831, and repaired in 1832. The repairs cost 185 groschen.The repairs carried out in 1177 AH (1762/63) cost 895 895 akči (spomenica GH četiristogodišnjice, Sarajevo 1932).

The clock on the clock tower tells the time by the lunar reckoning(14). The clock tower has four clock faces, one on each side. The present clock mechanism was purchased in 1874 in London(15). When it was installed, the upper part of the clock tower was rebuilt and altered to house the clock faces and ensure that they could be clearly seen(16). Since daylength alters constantly, and with it the time of sunset, the clock mechanism has to be constantly re-set. This is the task of the muvekkit, who uses the exact time of sunset to effect the necessary corrections to the hands of the clock on the clock tower. The clock tower should show 12 o'clock at the time of sunset.

The Gazi Husref-beg clock tower was repaired in 1931 and 1955, and again after the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, when it suffered minor damage.

 

2. Description of the property

Although of later date than the majority of buildings, the clock tower is closely associated compositionally and conceptually with the Gazi Husrev-beg mosque and other properties belonging to the Gazi Husrev-beg vakuf. Along with the minaret of the Beg's mosque, it is the principal vertical accent of Baščaršija. At 30 metres(17), it is the tallest clock tower in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The clock tower is a single space building of squarish ground plan, measuring 3.32 x 3.20 metres. The corners of the lower part of the tower are slightly narrowed; the building becomes purely square in section at a height of approx. 18 metres.

One of the features of this tower is that, unlike other clock towers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it gradually tapers towards the top, in the sections above the first string course and below the roof cornice. In places the difference is 10 cm. It is not known whether this was true of the original clock tower.

The entrance to the clock tower is to the south, from the imaret premises (now a bakery), where an iron door 58 cm wide and 150 cm high on the outside leads into the building. A narrow wooden staircase, about 50 cm wide, leads to the upper storeys where the clock mechanism and bell are housed. The door is 80 cm wide on the inside of the clock tower. The four-sided wooden staircase has a landing at every sixth flight, one at each corner of the tower. Light enters the stairway through narrow slits resembling loopholes which, when the building is observed from a distance, are very hard to make out.

The clock tower was built in part with limestone, but mainly with cut tufa blocks laid on lime mortar.The tufa blocks are about 25 cm in height. The walls range from 79-85 cm thick at ground floor level to 70 cm at the top of the building. In order to make the facade of the clock tower as decorative as possible, horizontal bands of white limestone (with a height of 9-10 tufa blocks) were inset every 2.50 metres.

On the east side of the clock tower there is an opening, 83 cm wide on the outside, at a height of 18 metres, used as a door until the building was raised in height. The width of this opening is 98 cm on the inside. It is closed on the outside by an iron shutter. Above it, at a height of approx. 20 metres, is a simply-moulded string course with a depth of 24 cm, also made of tufa.

Above the string course are two windows on each side. These windows are 65 cm wide and approx. 1.73 m in height. The lintels are in the form of round arches. Above these windows, at the geometric centre of the tower, are the sockets for the clocks.

There is another string course above the clocks, with a height of 20 cm, above which are a row of three pointed-arched windows on each side. These have an average width of 47-50 cm, and a height at the centre of the opening of 89 cm. The masonry part of the clock tower terminates in a moulded roof cornice.

The clock tower has a four-paned polygonal roof clad with sheet copper. The roof is topped by a finial with three pommels.

Dušan Grabrijan says of the clock tower in Sarajevo: “People from the west cannot, somehow, make out the clock tower in Sarajevo, which, one might say, has no volume – in which the minarets of Islamic buildings, which are much more significant in height, resemble it.“

           

3. Legal status to date

Pursuant to Ruling no. 470/50 of 27 April 1950 of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Natural Rarities Sarajevo, the clock tower was placed under state protection under serial no. 3.

Pursuant to Ruling no. 02-602-3 dated 18 April 1962 the property was entered on the register of immovable cultural monuments. The Ruling entered into force on 18 October 1962.

The 1980 Regional Plan for BiH listed the clock tower in Sarajevo as a Category I monument under serial no. 8.

 

4. Research and conservation and restoration works

  • 1697 – the tower was renovated after the fire caused by Eugene of Savoy
  • 1762/63 – repairs. The cost was 895 akči (spomenica GH četiristogodišnjice, Sarajevo 1932. godine).
  • 1831 – the clock tower was damaged by fire
  • 1832 – repaired.  The repairs cost 185 groschen.
  • 1875 – the upper part of the clock tower was rebuilt and altered to allow for clock faces that could easily be seen to be incorporated
  • 1931 – repairs
  • 1955 – conservation and restoration works
  • 1984 – repairs 
  • 1996 – war damage made good

 

5. Current condition of the property

The clock tower is in good structural condition. Minor damage has appeared as the result of failure to take protective measures, mainly to do with the roof leaking and with high levels of air pollution as a result of which the facades are dirty. The mortar has fallen away from the joints in the walls in places. Part of the cornice (a length of 1.50 metres) was damaged during the war.

The oil paint on the metal parts of the windows and door is also flaking. The Vakuf programme for 2006 provides for funds to protect the property.

 

6. Specific risks

  • air pollution
  • penetration of precipitation waters

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

D. Clarity (documentary, scientific and educational value)

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

E. Symbolic value

E.iii. traditional value

E.v. significance for the identity of a group of people

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.i. form and design

G.iii. use and function

G.v. location and setting

 

            The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:

-     Copy of cadastral plan

-     Proof of title;

-     Photodocumentation;

-     Drawings:

o        Site plan

o        Ground plan of the building – Kreševljaković, Naše starine IV

o        Cross-section of the building – Kreševljaković, Naše starine IV

o        Facades of the building – Kreševljaković, Naše starine IV

-     Photographs belonging to the Commission to Preserve National Monuments of BiH

 

Bibliography

During the procedure to designate the monument as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:

 

1912.    Truhelka Ćiro, Gazi Husrev-beg – njegov život i njegovo doba (Gazi Husrev-beg – his life and times), Jnl of the National Museum XXIV, 1,2 , 1912.

 

1932.    Commemorative volume for the quadricentenary of Gazi Husrev-beg

 

1952.    Šabanović, H., Dvije najstarije vakufname u Bosni (The two oldest vakufnamas in Bosnia), Contributions to Oriental Philology, II, 1951, Sarajevo 1952.

 

1957.   Kreševljaković, Hamdija, Sahat-kule u Bosni i Hercegovini, (Clock Towers in BiH) Naše starine IV, Sarajevo, 1957.

 

1964.   Šabanović, Krajište Isa-bega Ishakovića (Lands of Isa-beg Ishaković), Zbirni katastarski popis iz 1455. godine (Collective cadastral survey of 1455), Sarajevo 1964.

 

1973.    Bejtić, Alija, Ulice i trgovi starog Sarajeva (Streets and squares of old Sarajevo), Sarajevo 1973.

 

1981.    Ayverdi, Ekrem Hakki, Avrupa'da Osmanli mimari eserleri, Yugoslavya, Istanbul 1981

 

1988.    450 godina Gazi Husrev-begove Medrese u Sarajevu (450th anniversary of the Gazi Husrev-beg Medresa in Sarajevo)

 

1990.   Bećirbegović, Madžida, Džamije sa drvenom munarom u Bosni i Hercegovini (Mosques with wooden minarets in BiH), 1990.

 

1991.    Kreševljaković, Hamdija, Izabrana djela II – Sahat-kule u Bosni i Hercegovini, (Selected Works II – Clock Towers in BiH), pp. 493-506, Veselin Masleša, Sarajevo, 1991.

 

1997     Zlatar, Behija, Zlatni period Sarajeva (Sarajevo’s Golden Age). Contributions to History, Sarajevo, 1997.

 

2000     GHM u Sarajevu, 450 generacija (Gazi Husrev-beg Medresa in Sarajevo, 450 generations), various authors

 

2005.    Mehmedović, Ahmed, Gazi Husrev-beg i njegove zadužbine (Gazi Husrev-beg and his legacies), Sarajevo 2005.

 

Ankara, Tapu ve kadastro (TK), No. 474, Census of the Bosnian sandžak, 1604, Istanbul, Bašbakanlik Arsivi (BRA), Malye mudewer defter no.. 625 p. 689.

 

Documentation of the Gazi Husrev-beg vakuf in Sarajevo:

-     Printed matter – brochure of the Gazi Husrev-beg vakuf

-     Bid for the adaptation of the Clock Tower – dd Neimari, Sarajevo,

 

(1) At that time it was one of the largest cities in the Balkans, and indubitably the largest and most important city in the Bosnian sandžak, later eyalet.

(2) The court was close to the Konak, the last residence of the Bosnian viziers. The entire quarter was formerly known as Begluk-saraju Begluk or Zabegluk.

(3) This indicates that the court had already been built by that time. All that is known of the appearance of the old Bosnian governors’ court is what can be learned from the testimony of contemporary travel chroniclers and envoys from Dubrovnik who came to the Pasha in the saray bearing various gifts and armed with letters of credentials and various documents pertaining to privileges obtained from the sultan.

(4) The favourable political situation in the Ottoman Empire also had an impact on the urban development of Sarajevo. The shifting of the frontiers to the north contributed to general stabilization in the interior, providing conditions conducive to the more rapid development of urban settlements. Evidence that Sarajevo's development was at its height in the 16th century lies in the fact that by the early 17th century almost the entire area constituting the urban territory up to the time of the Austro-Hungarian occupation had already been built up. 

(5) The first monument building was the mosque of Mustafa Pasha Skenderpašić, some of the famous Bosnian sandžakbeg Skender Pasha, whose father was from Genoa and whose mother was Greek. Educated in the court of Sultan Mehmed Fatih, this famous military leader, after waging war fiercely around Bosnia, built a number of endowed properties in Sarajevo. On the left bank of the Miljacka, he erected a tekke of the Naqshbandiyya order, with an imaret (public kitchen) and musafirhana (hostel) beside it, bringing water to them from Soukbunar, and also installed a number of drinking fountains. On the right bank of the Miljacka, he built a court, caravanserai and shops, and linked all these properties by a bridge over the Miljacka. All that now reminds us of Skender Pasha and his son Mustafa is the name of the quarter Skenderija. Soon after the Skenderija mosque was built, another two domed mosques were built in Sarajevo, the Muslihudin Čekrkčija mosque in 1526,and the mosque of Havadža Durak, known as the Baščaršija mosque, in 1528.

(6) By establishing a perpetual endowment (Bos. vakuf, Ar. waqf), the legator voluntarily renounces his property and endows it for the public welfare, for all time. Once so endowed, the property can no longer be the subject of transactions that could violate it.

(7) These three vakufnamas are documents constituting the legal basis for the formation of Gazi Husrev-beg's vakuf as a well-organized institution. From the perspective of contemporary legislation, they also contained all the necessary rules for the operation of any contemporary organization. As a result, Gazi Husrev-beg's vakuf is specific as an institution, with the posts of all its officials described at the time it was founded. At that time, 46 such posts were envisaged, pertaining to the management of the vakuf, mosque, haniqah, medresa, mekteb and imaret. Naturally, with the passage of time the number of vakuf officials had to be changed to adapt to current needs. The commemorative volume celebrating the quadricentenary of the vakuf, in 1932, included a budget providing for 65 posts, while the list of employees numbered 121 in all, since at that timem the vakuf also owned a forestry company. In his vakufnamas Gazi Husrev-beg described in detail everything that was required for the on-going operation of the vakuf.  These vakufnamas established hajrati (charitable institutions) that would be his legacy to the future. All the operations that were to be carried out in the vakuf and the properties in which the different operations were exercised were described:

-     the mosque, and operations associated with the mosque,

-     the medresa, and operations in the field of education,

-     the haniqah (school for dervishes [Sufis]) and the ibadet (acts of worship) performed in the haniqah,

-     imaret and musafirhana (humanitarian kitchen and overnight hostel) with their obligations and mode of operations.

All the posts pertaining to these organized operations are described in detail and the individual remuneration for each is expressed in dirhams (1 dirham = 3.207 gr. of silver). The conditions of employment for each post and the educational qualifications required are described down to the finest detail. The additional religious ibadet (acts of worship) to be performed in the mosque in addition to the five compulsory daily prayers are set out and the way in which they are to be performed is described. Here it is important to note that the recitation of hatma and tevhid (khatm and tawhid – recitation of the entire Qur'an and prayers for the dead) for Gazi Husrev-beg are ibadets that have been performed every day since he passed away in 1541. In line with the provisions of the first vakufnama, the hatma is performed every day following the noon prayer by the recitation by 30 juz reciters simultaneously reciting one juz (30th part of the Qur'an, consisting of 20 pages), and jointly performing the hatma-dova (khatm du'a or final prayer) for the soul of Gazi Husrev-beg. The continuation and maintenance of the properties and the prescribed operations within them were provided for by means of the revenue from other endowed properties, as was the requirement to manage them properly so as to be profitable and increase in value. All the endowed property was listed and described in detail. Gazi Husrev-beg endowed his immense personal fortune for the maintenance of the properties he endowed under the terms of the vakufnamas, along with some state lands (erazi mirije) that had been bestowed on him by a mulknama (decision) of Sultan Suleyman in order that he might endow them to maintain his hajrat. It was thus that extensive areas of land around the towns of Tešanj, Teslić, between Ključ and Ostrovic, around Obrovac, Mlinovi on the river Zrmanja and other areas «that were not owned by anyone, but were abandoned, were appropriated by the imperial powers, some lying close to the town of Kobasa and some bordering with the Croatian vilayet», were added to the already immense fortune of the vakif. It was thus that this, the largest vakuf in Bosnia and Herzegovina, came into being. The mulknama was confirmed by all the successors of Sultan Suleyman. Until World War II an original mulknama of Sultan Osman II remained in the state library in Dresden, probably taken there on the occasion of the assault on Sarajevo by Prince Eugene in 1697. This vakuf, and others, suffered serious blows from various fires, the worst of which was the 1697 fire when Sarajevo was attacked by the Austrian army and torched, and many original documents and endowed valuables of this vakuf were seized.  Other fires also caused serious damage to the vakuf, in 1724, 1759, 1765, 1769, 1776, 1788, 1831, 1842, 1852 and 1879, but each time the vakuf recovered, thanks to the solid foundations on which it had been based under the terms of Gazi Husrev-beg's vakufnamas. In the legal sense, the act of endowment as a vakuf is important in placing the property outside the scope of any legal transaction that could violate it. As a result, its basic assets cannot under any circumstances be transferred to anyone's ownership.

(8) Travellers' chronicles say of Sarajevo's greenery that it «overflows the walls surrounding the houses, and into the side streets.»  Wherever possible, houses were built on sites offering the best view and alongside running water.  Where there was no running water, provision was made for artificial irrigation, as when for example a branch of the Mošćanica was diverted to flow through Vratnik and Baščaršija. The water flowed through many gardens and courtyards, creating a pleasant environment. Many travel chroniclers have written of the number and beauty of Sarajevo's gardens.  When passing through the city in 1550, Catarino Zeno wrote that every house had its own garden and čardak (veranda), and that the gardens were as beautiful as those in Padua.

(9)  There were 80 different crafts and trades in the čaršija, organized into powerful guilds known as esnafs. They were also topographically organized by type of craft or esnaf, with each street consisting of only one or several similar crafts. The street names indicate this: Kazandžiluk, Kujundžiluk, Kazazi, Franačka čaršija, Halači, Mudželiti...  45 such streets in all constituted the Sarajevo čaršija. The goods produced by Sarajevo's artisans were famed far and wide, not only meeting the needs of the people of Sarajevo themselves but also exported to other regions.

(10) The fact that no fewer than three bezistans were built in Sarajevo testifies to the city's importance as a mercantile centre. Two of the three have survived to this day and are still used for commercial purposes: one is the Gazi Husrev-beg bezistan, an imposing building by which the Tašlihan bezistan was built.

(11) During the Ottoman period in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 21 clock towers were built as various urban centres developed (Kreševljaković, 1991, 496). In his work on clock towers in BiH, H. Kreševljeković describes 19 of them, two in Travnik and one each in Banja Luka, Donji Vakuf, Foča, Gornji Vakuf, Gračanica, Gradačac, Livno, Jajce, Maglaj, Mostar, Nevesinje, Počitelj, Prozor, Prusac, Sarajevo, Tešanj and Trebinje. Until 1878, there were another two, one in Stolac and the other in Sarajevo alongside the White Mosque in Vratnik, which was built of timber in 1874.  It housed the clock from the Gazi Husrev-beg clock tower, but since it used to rock in high winds the inhabitants of the surrounding mahalas pulled it down, fearing that it would fall of its own and injure someone (Kreševljaković, 1991, 496).

(12) Mechanical clocks first made an appearance in Europe in mediaeval times, initially on towers. Until the 19th century, pocket watches were rare and expensive articles which only the wealthy could afford; other people told the time from public clocks on towers.

(13) The erection of buildings of this type in the Ottoman Empire began in the mid 16th century. Urban development, as well as the need to perform the five daily prayers at the times prescribed by the Qur'an, dictated the widespread distribution of clock towers. According to a 16th century French travel chronicler, the first clock tower was built in Skoplje between 1566 and 1572, and the clock was brought from occupied Siget (Kreševljaković, 1991,497).

(14) This means that the day ends at the time of astronomical sunset, the start of a new date according to this calendar.

(15) The clock was purchased in London by Sarajevo merchants Hašimaga Glođo and Mehaga Hadžikapetanović.

(16) Prior to this there was only one opening on the tower, facing the courtyard of the Beg’s mosque.

(17) According to the details on the card index for the property held by the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sport.

 



Clock towerClock tower and the domes of the Gazi Husrev-beg medresaClock tower, archival photograph Gazi Husrev-beg mosque and the Clock tower
Vertical accents of the čaršija, Clock tower and the minaret of the Gazi Husrev-beg mosqueClock tower, detail  


BiH jezici 
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