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City Hall, the historic building

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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 11 September 2006 the Commission adopted a

 

D E C I S I O N

 

I

 

The historic building of the City Hall in 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. 225, title deed no. 438, cadastral municipality Sarajevo I (new survey), corresponding to c.p. 97, Land Register entry no. XCVIII/19, c.m. Sarajevo (old survey), Municipality Stari Grad, Sarajevo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The provisions relating to protection and rehabilitation 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, restore 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

           

  1. all works are prohibited other than conservation and restoration works, structural repairs, the reconstruction of missing parts, and works designed to display the monument, based on the original project documentation, 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;
  2. prior to works of any kind on the property, the works already carried out must be subjected to technical approval:
    • stabilization of the structural complex of the masonry structure,
    • reconstruction of the roof and installation of a lightning conductor,
    • repairs to the steel dome and dropped ceiling, together with the renovation of the glass roof cladding,
    • reconstruction works on the aula.
  3. The Government of the Federation of BiH is required to draw up the necessary project documentation, based on the research works already carried out, to include:
    • structural repair and stabilization: basement walls and pillars; dome, floor paving on the ground floor, supports of the decorative features on the roof ridege, interior staircase, exterior stone stairway,
    • restoration of the facade,
    • restoration of the interior and its adaptation to public administrative or cultural use,
    • restoration of the plaster and painted decorations.
  4. During conservation and restoration works on the building, its original appearance must be preserved or restored in regard to the treatment of architectural details, the colour of the walls, the treatment of doors and windows, and the treatment of the facades;
  5. During conservation and restoration works, original materials shall be used, applying original methods of the treatment of materials and binder media and their incorporation, wherever possible.  All preserved fragments shall be examined and reintegrated into the building;
  6. Parking of motor vehicles in the immediate contact zone of the National Monument is prohibited.

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

 

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. 510

 

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.06/1-2-270/05-13                                                    

5 September 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 Commission to Preserve National Monuments issued a decision to add the City Hall in Sarajevo to the Provisional List of National Monuments under serial no. 510.

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 City Hall was built on the site of the former Mustaj Pasha mejdan (square), on the right bank of the river Miljacka, some 20 m from the Šeherćehaja bridge, within the townscape area of Baščaršije(1), in the historic centre of Sarajevo dating from the Ottoman period. The City Hall, a building of triangular ground plan, is surrounded by streets on all three sides: to the south-east by Obala Kulina bana, one of the city's main arterial roads; to the north-east by Telali street(2), and to the west by Brodac street. In terms of location, it stands on the edge of the business and commercial zone.

The site of the former Mustaj Pasha mejdan has been described in the following terms: “Semi-open street in the old part of the city. Begins at the end of  Kočić street(3) and the Šeherija(4) bridge and runs north-eastwards to the point where Nadmlini and Bentbaša streets begin.

Until the erection of the present-day National Library (former City Hall) began in 1892, the final section of present-day Kočić street, from Samardžija(5), also formed part of this road. Both branches of the road formed a wide area, particularly where the present-day National Library building stands. It is from this wide-open area, designated by the Turkish word mejdan, meaning open roadway or square, that the name of the original and this present-day road derives, Mustaj Pasha mejdan. Mustaj Pasha, with whom the square is associated, was the famous historical figure Mustafa Pasha Babić, a major Sarajevo feudal lord, who was banished in 1850 by Omer Pasha Latas to Brusa, where he died in April 1853.

The direct causal link between the previous and present-day names of the square or street is that Mustaj Pasha Babić resided in his konak, that present-day building of fine Bosnian architecture to the east of the National Library.

When the City Hall was built in Vijećnice 1892-1896, the former Mustaj Pasha mejdan was altered in shape, with the western section becoming a separate street known as Mustaj Pasha street, and the eastern section, identical with the present-day street under consideration, retained the old name of Mustaj Pasha mejdan, which it retains unchanged to this day(6).” 

The City Hall was built on a site where there were two hans (hostels) and a private house. The hostels were demolished, but the owner of the private house demanded that for a purse of ducats the house be relocated, brick by brick, to the other bank of the Miljacka, opposite the City Hall, which was duly done. The house still exists, and is known as Inat Kuća, the Spite or Obstinacy House.

Historical information

The major administrative reforms in Turkey in the late 19th century, when Sarajevo was under Turkish rule, led in 1866 to its acquiring its first municipal leadership, the Beledija, and a city authority Council. In 1879, with the establishment of Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia, the City Authority was founded.(7)    

With the introduction of Austro-Hungarian administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, the need arose to build an edifice for the use of the Magistrat(8) and City Authority, in other words a City Hall. In 1881 the Lord Mayor of Sarajevo, Mustajbeg Fadilpašić(9), also proposed to the City Authority that a City Hall be built. Before the present-day City Hall was built, the City Authority was housed in the Dženetić house in Bistrik(10).

It was not until in the early 1890s that the Austro-Hungarian authorities selected a suitable site for the City Hall, on what was then Mustaj Pasha mejdan: a triangular site on the right bank of the river Miljacka, alongside the Apel quay, and built the edifice between 1892 and 1895.

Although there had been calls to build a City Hall as early as 1880, it was only in late 1890 that the task of producing an initial design was entrusted to Karlo Pařik(11), an architect engaged by the Provincial Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who produced an initial design for the City Hall in 1891. However, after refusing to make changes to his design in line with the objections to it from the Finance Minister of Austria and Hungary, Baron Benjamin Kállay, who had received the design in order to give it his approval, Pařik withdrew from any further involvement in the design of the City Hall.

            Architect Branka Dimitrijević refers in her dissertation(12) to the reasons for the disagreements and discords between Pařik and Kállay, to the stylistic elements of the City Hall, to the buildings that inspired the architect of the Sarajevo City Hall, and to certain implications that were present in the selection of a suitable style and of the symbolism of political ideas:

“It is of interest to inquire into the reasons for this disagreement, and the response can be found in part in an analysis of the differences between Pařik’s design and the actual building.

The triangular ground plan, with a central hexagonal hall and projections at the centre of the south and north-east facades, were retained in the final treatment of the building. Differences feature in the form of the ground plan of the corner towers, the positioning of a central projection on the north-west facade as well, and in the number of storeys – Pařik’s design provided for a basement, ground floor, mezzanine and first floor, but the final building has a basement, ground floor, mezzanine and two further storeys.

It was not, therefore, the ground plan that was in dispute but the number of storeys and the stylistic treatment. Hansen(13), once again, helps to define Pařik’s stylistic preferences. Hansen’s unrealized design for the parliament in Copenhagen (1885) proposed a combination of Byzantine and Islamic elements on the facade, with the emphasis on the “Byzantine,” and served Pařik as a source of motifs in designing the facade for the City Hall. The shape of the first-floor windows on Hansen’s blueprint and Pařik’s is almost identical. Both designers included horizontal polychromy. The rhythm of the window axes on the facades of both designs is highly condensed. The circular towers are elements used by both designers. Both blueprints reveal wide wall surfaces below the dense rhythm of the consoles of the roof cornice, as already encountered on Hansen’s Arms Museum.

The working design, however, reveals the dominant influence of Islamic art from Egypt and Spain. The reasons for this stylistic option are interpreted by Johann Kellner:

”...The government was particularly concerned to retain and revive the Arabic style. It was in this style that, above all, the Shari’a school and the City Hall in Sarajevo were built.... The basis for this outstandingly fine building [the City Hall] was the detailed studies by the late architect Alexandar Wittek, who worked in line with the Sultan Hassan mosque in Cairo and the 15th century tomb mosque of Sultan Qaytbay, also in Cairo.(14)

Architect Ćiril Iveković(15) reworked the detailed blueprints for the City Hall, introducing these changes to parts of the layout and design of the facades in line with Wittek’s details, Wittek having meanwhile fallen ill and died, in May 1894.

The borrowings from the tomb mosque of Sultan Qaytbay in Cairo included details in the design of the windows, with pointed lintels composed of stalactites on the south facade of the City Hall, the detail of the toothed roof cornice, the detail of the decorative double band with circles, the detail of the openwork balustrade from the šerefe (balcony) of the minaret, and  the horizontal polychromy. Borrowings from the Sultan Hassan mosque in Cairo included details of the stalactites on the roof cornice, the detail of the corner half-pillars with oblique fluting, the detail of the shallow decorative circular motif (on the fountain of the City Hall), and certain other decorative details.

The shape of the capitals and arches in the hall, however, are a variation on the theme of the Alhambra.

The additional storey of the edifice as built can be ascribed to the desire to achieve a more monumental expression than that of Pařik’s design, but a study of photographs dating from that time reveals the crude ratio between the proportions of the City Hall and that of the fabric of the adjoining čaršija – should the symbolism of political power be sought in this, or is it that with the regulation of the banks of the Miljacka and the raising of the street level above that of Baščaršija the idea of building, at some time in the future, multistorey buildings along the Obala [embankment] had already been physically suggested? Downstream, buildings of this kind were already going up before the City Hall was built. Very probably, the reactions and criticisms, such as the comments by the architect Josip Pospišil, on the poor siting(16) of the City Hall in the Baščaršija zone, and lobbying for the preservation of Baščaršije(17), which was expressed in Sarajevo’s architectural circles in the early years of this century, contributed to this part of the Obala retaining the same appearance until the inter-war period.

The “choice of style” for individual buildings in Bosnia and Herzegovina was not decided upon merely by the aesthetic and theoretical views of the various designers, but was also influenced by the approval (or refusal to approve) of the Common Finance Ministry, to which all initial designs were submitted for inspection and approval. As a result, the influence of Moorish and Egyptian architecture in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be regarded not only as a phenomenon parallel with the simultaneous influences on 19th century Viennese historicist architecture, but also as the expression of the influence of the new authorities, which were attempting, in the selection of a particular style, to symbolize certain political ideas (on the supposed revival and continuity of culture of part of the local population?)

Such “readings” of certain meanings in the choice of style are present in the historicist architecture of the 19th century. The origin of the possibility of such interpretations lies in the symbolic idea ascribed to certain historical styles in the historicist period, when the selection of style for specific buildings was the result of harmonizing the symbolic meaning of the style and the use of the building (for instance, the neo-Renaissance as the symbol of education and humanism for school buildings, the neo-Gothic for European town halls as the symbol of the tradition of European civil society,neo-Classicism for parliament buildings as the symbol of Greek democracy, and so forth).

If Pařik associated his design for the City Hall, with its predominantly Byzantine influences, with the ideas of his professor, Hansen, Kállay’s “reading” of the symbolism of the style could have had undesirable associations with the architecture of neighbouring Serbia, with which he had become acquainted during his term as consul in Belgrade fro 1868 to 1875(18), when he travelled throughout Serbia and then wrote a History of the Serbs. Given the antagonism between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, this could have been the reason for his insistence on a different style for the City Hall in Sarajevo.”

The entire building works, which began in 1892 with the digging of the foundations and laying the foundation stone, were taken over by architect Ćiril Iveković in 1893, as was the production of the working design; the works were completed in late 1895.  By the autumn of 1894 the District Court had already moved into the eastern part of the building and the City Authority into the western part, while various societies were housed in the basement. The City Hall was formally opened on 20 April 1896 by Baron Ivan Apel.

In 1908, the year of annexation when Bosnia and Herzegovina became a member of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy on an equal footing with its other states, a bust of Emperor Franz Joseph, the work of Frangeš Mihanović, was formally installed in the City Hall.

The extension of the tramline along the embankment to the new City Hall was dictated by the completion of the quay(19); in 1897 the line was extended to the Šeherćehaja bridge(20).   

The building has been used for various purposes over its 110 year existence. From the date when it was formally opened, 20 April 1896, it was used as the City Hall, and then as the City Court, and from 1910 to 1911 it housed the Bosnian parliament.  According to certain information, it was also the temporary, short-term headquarters of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. From 1948 to 1992 it housed the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The City Hall was hit by quantities of heavy artillery fire and incendiary bombs during the night of 25/26 August 1992; it caught fire, and incalculable damage was caused to both the physical structure of the building and the library holdings, which were destroyed by the fire.

Of particular interest from the cultural and historical perspective was the Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts, which had assembled material of the highest value: incunabulae, old manuscript books in Bosnian Cyrillic, a collection of oriental manuscripts with about 400 codices and 700 individual documents, manuscripts by local authors in oriental languages, publications from foreign presses. . . It contained a richly illuminated manuscript of the Qur’an, along with printed books, the four Gospels from the Mrkša church (1562), a Palm Sunday triodion from Skadar (1563), several books from Božidar Vuković’s printing press in Venice (16th century), and many other priceless items.              The department also owned a entire collection of documents: firmans, berats and other rare materials; more than 7000 manuscripts, rare books, and 3000 rarities. The damage caused to the holdings of this department is incalculable.

The scores of the musical collection also went up in flames, as did the graphics collection, which included a large collection of old postcards, photographs and portraits. All that survived was the map collection, but even this suffered major damage. Much of the library holdings of the national cultural and educational societies Prosvjeta (Serbian), Napredak (Croatian) and Gajret (Muslim/Bosniac), which had formed part of this library since 1949, were also destroyed. Most of the holdings of scholarly works, masters’ and doctoral dissertions, foreign publications and foreign periodicals, and other holdings used for university tuition and academic research, were lost as well.

As the National and University Library, the City Hall was important for the entire region.

With the destruction of the book and academic holdings, the function of the City Hall as the central academic library of BiH was lost.

The works of Stage I of the structural repairs to the City Hall, financed by the Republic of Austria, were carried out in 1996-97, and those of Stage II of the structural renovation, financed by European Commission funds (reconstruction of the horizontal elements of the structure and of the aula with arches and pillars) were carried out in 2000-2004, as a result of which the building is in a state of structural stabilization.

 

2. Description of the property

Layout

The ground plan of the building is an almost regular equilateral triangle, with the south and north-east sides 56 m in length and the north-west 52 m.

The building has a basement, ground floor, mezzanine and two further storeys. There are prism-shaped towers at the corners of the triangle (the outward-projecting dimensions of the towers, in plan, are [width x depth]: east corner 7.20 x 2.24 ; north-west corner 7.50 x 3.50 m; south-west corner 7.20 x 2.24 m).

There are projections at the centre of each side of the building (the dimensions of the projections, in plan are [width x depth]: south, entrance facade 24.50 x 5.10 m; north-east facade 26.00 x 3.30 m; west facade 9.60 x 2.20 m) of which the one on the main south facade of the building is particularly prominent.

It consists of a triple flight of access steps (the main flight with the same width as the projection on the entrance facade = 24.50 m, with two side flights leading to the portico), with an arcaded portico above which is a loggia on the upper storey.

The domed portico leads into the vestibule, measuring 8.85 x 8.64 m, with nine domed sections extending through two storeys. The points where the domes rest on the walls are reinforced by pilasters, while the domes over the central area of the vestibule are supported by four (2 x 2)(21) stone columns (approx. 40 cm in cross-section). The vestibule leads into a spacious central hexagonal hall (the inner sides of the regular hexagon are 12.59 m length, and the distance between opposing paralle sides of the hexagon is approx. 21.30 m), structurally extending from the triangular ground plan. This is the most impressive part of the building, extending up through the entire height of the building and roofed by a glazed dome. A triple-flight staircase (flights approx. 2.60 m wide and 8.94 m long, with landings measuring 2.92 x 8.40 m) leads up into the gallery (a hexagonal ring surrounding the hall on all six sides; the gallery is approx. 3.20 m wide) supported by a colonnade of pillars and by pillars with decorative capitals and arches. The gallery leads into the main representative room in the City Hall, the great hall (9.00 m wide x 23.30 m long), and two smaller halls (6.00 m wide x 14.15 m long), with opposite these a smaller assembly hall (9.15 m wide x 16.50 m long).  All these halls are two storeys high, while the other rooms are arranged over the four storeys above the basement.

The most powerful impression is that left by the main façade with its flights of steps and lateral fountains, and entrance portico roofed with domes over which is a representative loggia. The finest component of the architecture and the painted and relief decoration of the building links the central hexagonal hall with the ground floor portico, triple-flight staircase, first-floor gallery and domed areas.  The structural and decorative treatment of the hall leaves an impression of “lightness” on visitors to the hall, and is in marked contrast to the massive outer walls of brick.

Construction

The original City Hall was designed and built to a massive structural system, using traditional materials.

Analyses of the petrographic material reveals that a great diversity of stone was used, particularly in the structure of the aula:

  • granite from Travnik was used for the ground-floor pillars;
  • the pillars of the first-floor gallery were made of pink Baveno granite (Rossa Baveno, Italy);
  • the bases of the pillars are of Sarajevo Hreše;
  • the capitals of the pillars are of limestone from Visočani (a quarry near Dubrovnik) or of stone from Korčula;
  • brick (of “Austrian format”: 6 x 14 x 29 cm, made in the Braun brickworks in Sarajevo);
  • wood;
  • steel girders. The same were used to make the steel dome above the aula;
  • the infill, lighting and decoration of the dome are composed of the glazed roof and dropped ceiling.

The basement storey was built on stone foundations with an external stone facing on the parapet. The ceiling structure above the basement consists of brick vaults. On the remaining storeys, where the span is greater, the structure differed according to the intended use of the premises: in some cases, Henebik construction was used(22), or a combination of a primary structure of NP 1 girders(23) with a secondary structure composed of wooden joists. All the lintels are spanned by steel girders. The walls of all the storeys except the basement are of brick, with a thickness of 75, 60 and 45 cm.

The ceiling structure in the perimeter sections of the aula and in the vestibule of the central entrance area is in the form of brick domes and stone arches supported by stone pillars and the walls.

The structure of the aula consists of stone pillars and stone load-bearing arches (on the ground floor), or brick arches (on the upper floor gallery), with brick domes rising through two storeys, connecting the monumental stone staircase.

Relief and painted decoration; the stylistic features and significance of the City Hall

The stylistic features of the relief and painted decoration contribute to a great extent to the representative nature of the building. The sculptural and painted elements of the interior and exterior, like the wall decoration, were executed in the spirit of historicism, in the pseudo-Moorish manner, and are an outstanding example of this manner in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The decoration of the façade manifests stylistic elements adopted from the Mameluk period in Cairo (1250-1517). These elements are to be seen in the stylization of the horseshoe arches, the transennas, the twisted half-columns of the corner towers, the roof cornice and elsewhere. A number of elements of the artistic treatment of relief and painted decoration were adopted from the Fatimid period in the Maghreb: principally the polychrome façade, with its alternating bands of red and yellow, and the use of moulded stalactites, decoration with relief ceramics, and such like.

The design of the balcony was also taken in part from the Fatimid period, as was the use of different coloured stained glass and the way the flat ceiling was painted. The model for the relief and painted décor in the interior was the Hispano-Arabic mudejar style, with the most elaborate parts in the domed areas of the hall, where there are stalactites and honeycombed surfaces, which were decorated with polychrome ornamentation and gilded. There are reflections of this style on the outer façade too.

Fanciful arabesque and Moorish ornamentation was painted on the domed vaults and the arcade arches of the first-floor corridors, the ceilings of the first-floor loggia, the wall surfaces above the landings of the main staircase, and the flat ceilings of the representative halls of the City Hall.  Below the glazed dome above the central hall, stained glass was mounted with star-shaped motifs forming an endless design, typical of the extensive domain of Islamic art. Another stained glass window with glass of various strong colours was mounted above the landing of the main staircase; the design here was geometric forms of arabesque motifs, filling the bifora and the rosette above it.

The City Hall is the most typical edifice in the pseudo-Moorish manner of the period of 19th century historicist architecture to be built during the Austro-Hungarian period in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1878-1914).

Nedžad Kurto writes about eclecticism, the pseudo-Moorish style, and the establishment of a dialogue with the indigenous architectural heritage, as well as of the role and contribution of architect Karl Pařik to that process, in the following terms: “The eclectic method of forming an architectural expression gave an interpretation of entirely new themes in Bosnia: the so-called oriental style, Moorish architecture, or pseudo-oriental expression, which is in essence the eclectic method aiming at a generalized expression of the oriental architectural heritage.

The decorative and relief elements that created the so-called pseudo-Moorish style throughout its duration were adopted mainly in line with the architect's affinities, from various stages in the development of Islamic art and its regional schools. Since European-trained architects were most familiar with North African and Spanish Moorish architecture, these were the elements most commonly featured. However, almost from the very outset, particularly in the articulation of architectural entities, spatial characteristics typical of the Ottoman Turkish regional school can be seen, which were to give the architecture more precise regional features in the later stages of development and forms of this stylistic expression. Using freely selected elements of Islamic architecture with the intention of formulating an architectural language for the region, solutions were generated, with increasing selection – itself the result of encountering distinctive chronological and regional features – which are indubitably based on the concept of the existing architecture.

Pařik was one of many architects in Bosnia and Herzegovina to whom Islamic art as a whole seemed entirely suitable for creating a new stylistic expression by the eclectic method. However, unlike the majority of other architects, with whom this attitude was established mainly through the selection of elements for the creation of a suitable architectural mask, Pařik went deeper into the spatial qualities of the regional, Ottoman Turkish architecture. He thus created an entirely personal and distinctive stance towards the interpreted artistic theme, with his historicism (and romanticism) based on a sound knowledge of the essential, not the formal features of the artistic and stylistic phenomena to which it pertained.

In 1891, Pařik designed another major project in the pseudo-Moorish style – the City Hall in Sarajaevo, which was not accepted, 'but instead the present-day building was erected in 1896 on the same site to the design by Vitek and Iveković, in the same style and of similar dimensions. Pařik gave the design its ground plan of an equilateral triangle at the corners of which are circular towers topped by onion domes. This ground plan was doubtless dictated by the shape of the plot itself (which came into being following a fire), but it was probably for this reason that the architect wanted to produce a design that would give the appearance of a monumental central-domed edifice, pyramidally graduated volumes and spaces, for which an equilateral triangle was the ideal figure, not leading directly to imitation of existing forms. This produced a type of secular temple, spatially entirely clear to the local population, to whom the notion of the temple or religious building was identical with the image of a central-spaced domed building ....“ (24)  

Unlike the majority of buildings in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the pseudo-Moorish manner, characterized by a decorative facade, the Sarajevo City Hall is a successful example of the sublimation of this style in its decorative but also in its spatial and structural treatment.

The major cultural and historical values of the City Hall can be described as follows:

  • it was one of the first buildings to underline the importance of Sarajevo as the administrative centre of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of the importance of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina itself within the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1878 to 1914;
  • the City Hall was the most outstanding example of the pseudo-Moorish manner in this part of the world, and came about as the result of the quest for an indigenous architectural style in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
  • it is one of the two largest edifices dating from the Austro-Hungarian period in Sarajevo (the other being the Provincial Government building). It is characterized by the representativity and wealth of artistic treatment of the facade and inner aula, and by the spatial and visual experience of the interior;
  • the City Hall has been a place of commemoration since its inception. Its appearance and immediate environs were a suitable context in which to mark in pictures and photographs the beauty of and most important moments in the development of the city;
  • the symbolic importance of the City Hall grew still greater following the ravages of war aimed at destroying the cultural identity of the state and nation, and its renovation is the symbol of resistance to the forces of destruction.

3. Legal status to date

The City Hall in Sarajevo was legally protected by Ruling of the City Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Sarajevo (now the Cantonal Institute for the Protection and Use of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage), no. 89/67 dated 13 March 1968.

The map of degrees of architectural intervention of the 1975 Regulatory Plan for the repair, conservation, restoration and revitalization of the Sarajevo čaršija places the City Hall in the group of buildings to be retained in their existing condition or partly restored and conserved. (25)  

The 1980 Regional Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina lists the City Hall as a Category I monument.

The City Hall is on the Preliminary List of National Monuments, serial no. 510, under the heading City Hall in Sarajevo (Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina 11/02), and pursuant to the Decision of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments of BiH (Official Gazette of BiH no. 33/02), is treated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

4. Research works, repair works, and conservation and restoration works

Description of the damage to the physical structure of the City Hall by the fire of 25/26 August 1992.

  • the roof frame and timber floor/ceiling joists were destroyed (the ceiling structure survived only above the basement, but was entirely buried by rubble),
  • there was serious damage to and deformation of the steel grid structure of the dome above the central aula,
  • the load-bearing walls were damaged at several levels within the building,
  • the representative three-flight staircase in the hall with its stone balustrade was completely destroyed (as were the other staircases),
  • all the vertical installations, lift shaft, and chimney and ventilation ducts were destroyed,
  • all the partition walls were destroyed,
  • all the woodwork both inside and out (windows and doors), which was of high-quality oak, was destroyed,
  • the hexagonal core was badly damaged (four pillars missing entirely, and the remainder extensively damaged),
  • the decoration/painted ornamentation of greatest artistic value, on the ceilings of the representative halls in the interior, was completely destroyed,
  • the two stained glass windows in the City Hall were destroyed (fragments of the stained glass of one of them have survived),
  • most of the plaster decoration was destroyed.

By comparison with these destroyed and badly damaged elements, the facade surface may be described as preserved (with surviving elements of relief in stone, brick, terracotta, stucco and faience).  However, much of the facade plaster with its final coat of alternating bands, and some of the mouldings, have fallen away.

The painted decoration has survived only in fragments in the small domes and the arches. Here and there elements of the relief decoration in the interior have also survived.

            The four wartime winters added to the damage to the brick walls of the attic, the aula, the steel structure of the dome and, in particular, the ground floor walls, which were constantly sucking up water from the great quantities of ruinous and fallen material in the ground floor (the average depth of which ranged from 1.00 to 1.50 m).

Description of research works carried out

Various research works were carried out on the building between 1995 and 2006, intended to ascertain the state of the structure of the City Hall following its destruction by fire. Results were obtained on the state of the brick walls and structure and of the steel structure, and complete results of the examination of the stone structure of the aula with determination of the quality of the works carried out and proposed technical parameters for renovation. All the results obtained were used when drafting Stages I and II of the renovation project.

Prior to 1992, the Construction Institute of Sarajevo (now the Sarajevo Canton Construction Institute) had worked on preparations for the renovation of the dome and roof of the City Hall. Since the end of 1995 the same Institute is monitoring the condition of the City Hall.  In 1996 a Consultation on the renovation of the City Hall was held. (26)  

Research works:

Between 1995 and 1998, various research works were carried out on the building to ascertain the state of the structure of the National Library following its destruction by fire. Results were obtained on the state of the brick walls and structure and of the steel structure, and complete results of the examination of the stone structure of the aula with determination of the quality of the works carried out and proposed technical parameters for renovation. All the results obtained were used when drafting Stages I and II of the renovation project.

-          In 1995 the company Ser.CO.TEC of Trieste, Italy,  carried out a “Diagnosis and proposal for the restoration of the City Hall” in association with the Institute for Materials and Construction of the Faculty of Civil Engineering Sarajevo with the Construction Institute of Triests and “Energoinvest” Sarajevo.

Investor: Canton Sarajevo – Construction Institute of Canton Sarajevo

-          “Study of the survey and findings of the condition of the steel construction of the City Hall” drawn up by the Institute for Materials and Construction of the Faculty of Civil Engineering Sarajevo, May 1997.

Investor: Canton Sarajevo – Construction Institute of Canton Sarajevo

-          “Report on implementation of the research programme for the reconstruction of the City Hall” drawn up by the Institute for Geotechnology and Foundation of the Faculty of Civil Engineering Sarajevo, March 1998.

Investor: EUROPEAN COMMISSION PSU Sarajevo

-          In March 1998 the Institute for Geotechnology and Foundation of the Faculty of Civil Engineering Sarajevo drew up a Preliminary report on the findings of the tests of the brick walls and carried out a series of 'targeted' tests of the brick, walls, mortar and stone.  Included in these tests were chemical analyses and determination of the physical and mechanical characteristics of the bricks and mortar. (27)    

-          “City Hall Sarajevo – Restoration of the painted decoration and decorative relief worke” - Compiled by Esad Vesković, March 2003

Investor: EUROPEAN COMMISSION PSU Sarajevo.

-          “Report on geotechnological investigations of the City Hall in Sarajevo” - compiled by Winer Project d.o.o., February 2006

Investor: Canton Sarajevo – Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo

The Institute for Planned Development of Canton Sarajevo has entrusted the work of drawing up project documentation for the renovation of the City Hall to the company D.D. DOM –Studies, Design, Engineering, which drew up the projects of Stage I in 1996-1997 (Renovation of the roof structure and dome), those of Stage II A in 1999-2000 (Consolidation of floor/ceiling structure), and those of Stage II B (renovation of the central hall) in 2003. The chief designer was architect Ferhad Mulabegović.

Description of the repair works carried out and proposed conservation and restoration works

First stage of renovation, 1996-1997

In 1996 it became possible to embark on essential works to save the surviving structure of the building.

In 1996 the Austrian Government donated 750 000,00 Euro for initial works on the restoration of the City Hall (National Library) in Sarajevo. The funds were to be used for the most essential works to save the surviving structure of the building. In addition to the damage caused by the war, the City Hall was continuing to fall into dilapidation since the four wartime winters had contributed to the further deterioration of the brick walls of the attic, the aula, the steel construction of the dome and, in particular, the ground floor walls, which were continually sucking up water from the large quantities of rubble and fallen material in the ground floor (with an average depth of 1.00 to 1.50 m).

Until that time, all that had been done was preliminary investigations into the condition of the structure, carried out by the company Ser.Co.Tec. of Trieste, which included only part of the investigations on the accessible structures.

After the analyses of the original structure of the building (load-bearing brick walls and steel girders as the structure covering every crucial span, and the steel construction of the dome and dropped ceiling as the overall concept of the construction of the building), it was decided to use the same structural system in the process of renovation, and that the defined treatments satisfied the primary requirement of saving the building.

The works were divided  into stages:

A – stabilization of the structural system of the masonry structures,

B – reconstruction of the roof frame with the installation of a lightning conductor,

C – repairs to the steel dome and dropped ceiling and renovation of the glazed roof,

D – installing heavy-duty load-bearing scaffolding to take the badly damaged structure of the aula.

A – steel girders were installed at the level of the timber floor joists, set 3.50 – 3.80 m apart and joined by steel diagonals, creating horizontal pulleys intended at this stage to create the conditions for making good the attic walls and reconstructing the roof frame.

B – using the available architectural documentation, the entire wooden roof frame was designed and made, with lightning conductor. Most of the brick structure of the attic was renovated, as was part of the original chimneys. The original drainage system to remove precipitation waters was renovated, via open roof channels leading to the three existing downpipes.

C – the Study on the survey and findings of the condition of the steel structure of the City Hall stated that the steel in the structure was of satisfactory quality, since the cross-sections were of adequate size. It was noted that the structure was affected by rust. About 20% of the structure was distorted as a result of the fire, and some parts had lost their static geometry. All the damaged parts were replaced and riveted to the original structure, and the entire structurewith the dropped ceiling was sanded to Sa 2,5(28) and treated with four coats, 120 microns thick, of anticorrosive substance.

The reinforced glass roof was renovated using special non-slip holders to avoid the slippage that had occurred previously. Masts for the corners of the towers and central dome were designed and made.

D – repairs to the steel structure and dropped ceiling which were supported in part by the outside walls and the structure of the aula, which had suffered the greatest damage. A heavy-duty steel load-bearing scaffolding with special solid wood centring was designed and installed to take the structure of the aula. This prevented damage to the works on the dome and also created the conditions for the renovation of the structure of the aula.

The works were designed and carried out in 1996-97. The building was temporarily covered. With atmospheric water kept out, the entire building began to dry out gradually, paving the way for further research works.

Investor:           Republic of Austria

Designer           D.D. Dom Studies, Design and  Engineering-Sarajevo

Contractor:        ŽGP Sarajevo

Supervision:      WCI (Austria) and Construction Institute of the City of Sarajevo

Second stage of renovataion

In 1999 the European Commission provided funds to be used to continue the renovation works on the City Hall.

The project designer suggested that works on renovating the horizontal structures continue and that the aula, the badly damaged structure of which demanded urgent intervention, be reconstructed.

The aula is the central and most important part of the edifice, in the shape of a regular hexagon, with outer walls of brick and a gallery formed so that the multi-sided pillars at the corners and the two circular-section columns between the corners support the arches and vaults (small brick domes above the ground and first floors).

The brick structures of the small domes and arches had survived in four of the six sections of the hexagonal gallery with the load-bearing structure above them. Two sections had been completely destroyed. The project provided for as much of the sound structure as possible to be retained, with badly damaged parts replaced (the corner pillars, some of the pillars in the sections, the arches, the vaults). This basic principle was intended to establish and develop a specific methodology of renovation and execution.

Ten types of stone were used in the aula, with different technical characteristics and varying aesthetic and visual features. The historical data on the sites of the stone used in building the City Hall are insufficient, and this is particularly true of the aula (some dubious information refers to granite pillars brought from Austria, marble staircases from Hungary and so forth).

This was also the reason for examining and conducting tests on samples of the existing stone built into the aula of the City Hall so as to obtain data to be used when drafting the project, and also for the choice of stone to be extracted. Following the tests, conducted by the Institute for Geotechnology and Foundation of the Faculty of Civil Engineering Sarajevo, technical sheets were prepared for all the characteristics of the stone in the aula of the City Hall.

Because of the high degree of damage suffered, most of the pillars on the ground floor and first floor were replaced, along with the load-bearing arches on the ground floor. Two sections were completely renovated, with their arched and brick structures. The works of this stage lasted from November 2002 to February 2004

Investor:           European Commission BiH

Designer:          D.D. Dom Studies, Design and  Engineering-Sarajevo

Contractor:        ŽGP Sarajevo and Mineral Ljubljana (with Kamen Dent Mostar)

Supervision:      Safege

Projects in development

The selection of potential designers of the main project for the functional renovation of the City Hall by international tender is under way. The body responsible for coordinating all the activities is the Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo.

Funds to date for structural repairs

In 1996 the Government of the Republic of Austria donated 1,500.000,00 DEM foer initial works on the renovation of the  City Hall – National Library in Sarajevo. The funds were to be used for essential works designed to save the surviving structure.

In 1999 the European Commission featured as investor, providing funds used for the continuation of the works (4.500.000 DEM). The designer (Designer D.D. Dom Studies, Design and  Engineering-Sarajevo) suggested that work continue on the renovation of the horizontal structures and on the reconstruction of the aula, the badly damaged structure of which required urgent works.

           The association Wurth Hendels Wien of Austria raised and has planned a donation of a total of  250.000 EUR for the renovation of the City Hall as part of the project “Renovation of the City Hall Sarajevo”: 80.000 EUR in 2005, 85.000 EUR in 2006 and 80.000 EUR in 2007. (29)  

New materials and structures used during renovation works on the City Hall

Tonalite (diorite) granite from the Cezlak quarry in Pohorje in Slovenia was used for the pillars of the ground floor hall, and pink Baveno granite (Rossa Baveno) from Italy for those in the first floor (gallery). The bases of the pillars were made of dolite limestone (micritic limestone) from the Split region (Donji Dolac near Dugopolje, to the east of Split), and the capitals of Visočani limestone (biosparite) from a quarry to the north-west of Dubrovnik. The corner pillars, string courses, arches and over-capitals were made of tenelija limestone (oosparite) from the Mukoša quarry near Mostar.  Mortar composed of white cement, lime and a filler of tenelija in the proportions 1:2:3 was used to fix the stone elements and set the anchors in the drillholes. Some of the anchoring joints were set in molten lead.

During the works on stage I of the renovation, pertaining to the stabilization of the structural system of the masonry structure, the solution chosen was to add rigidity to the masonry structure by constructing scheibe, which weren to serve several purposes:

a)       to add rigidity to the load-bearing walls until such time as the building has been fully renovated;

b)       to act as work platforms (with the addition of temporary timber beams and scaffold boards) during stage I of the works, as work progresses from the ground floor upwards towards the roof, as required to make good the attic walls and reconstruct the roof frame;

c)       to serve as girders for the ceiling joists in the final stage.

The scheibe were constructed as follows: steel NP I 240 mm profile girders were installed at the same levels as the destroyed ceiling structures(30), set 3.50-3.80 m apart and joined by diagonal steel struts Ø 20 mm (in order to link the steel girders into a single entity able to add rigidity to the walls at the horizontal level). The steel NP I 240 mm girders were set on steel supports 2U120mm (edging girders set into the walls).

            In the structural and statics sense, the scheibe used the solution applied to the original ceiling structures (with primary and secondary structures), but with a different solution for the secondary structure. In the final stage, sheet steel trapez (55 m in height) was welded to the steel NP I 240 girders, serving as formwork for the 12 cm thick reinforced concrete slab. For fire prevention reasons, the scheibe were faced with concrete on the underside.

            The ceiling structures above the ground floor, mezzanine, and first and second floors of the perimeter wings of the City Hall were renovated in this way.

During stage II renovation works on the brick masonry structure of the arches and vaults of the gallery of the aula, the overcapitals(31) of the multisided corner pillars and of the columns on the gallery at first-floor level were made(32) of artificial stone (concrete). The original overcapitals of the pillars in a similar(33) position on the ground floor of the entrance area were made of two pieces of natural stone.

In order to fix the steel brackets mounted below the dropped ceiling of the dome of the aula to three sides of the hexagon of the interior perimeter walls of the aula, steel NP I girders were set at a height of approx. +17.00(34), to which the brackets were bolted.  Slits were made in the wall, to which the NP I girders were anchored on a concrete runner about 15 cm in height.

Preliminary propositions for the use of the City Hall

In November 2003 a Decision was adopted by the Government of Canton Sarajevo (Official Gazette of Canton Sarajevo, no. 21-2003), the owner of the City Hall, setting out the multipurpose use of the property and the use, in principle, of each storey in the building.

The City Hall is a complex building that had only one use when it was built in 1896 – that of City Hall – and another from 1947 to1992 – the National and University Library.

While analyzing and respecting the structure of the City Hall and its layout, as well as all the limitations deriving fromn the building itself, the following components were defined that could be housed in the City Hall so as to enable each individual user to operate independently as well as forming functional links between them, if required.

The City Authority would be housed on the second and the part of the third floor that is functionally connected with the second floor (the Lord Mayor’s office, City Hall, and state authorities’ protocol). Communication with the headquarters of the City Authority would be via the existing monumental staircase.

The National and University Library of BiH would use much of the ground floor (public offices: central register, databases, internet, presentation, books on permanent display, exhibitions, bookshop...), much of the first floor (for the part of the functions that would be transferred to the City Hall: reading room, rare books, periodicals), part of the third floor and part of the basement (ancillary activities). The organization of the activities and use of the National Library is dictated by functional organization (independent staircases to the upper floors, independent communication with the basement, etc.).

Cultural components of a public nature – with accompanying components (Museum of the Destruction of the City Hall with accompanying components – basement; tourist agency on the ground floor, lectures, exhibitions and so on on the first and third floors).

Central public area of the City Hall (aula) – lectures, exhibitions, concerts, launches, poetry evenings and so on.

Other components – national restaurant, which could be functionally located in the basement.

           The City Hall must have new installations and its own power supply block, to be located in the basement (boiler room, ventilation, air conditioning).

 

5. Current condition of the property

Since the protective measures that have been taken, in the shape of completely closing off the building and protecting it, are largely of a temporary nature, the property is still at risk, partly (the exterior of the building) from the elements, but also from the possibility of forced entry into the building and of vandalism of the works already undertaken.

The works of Stage I of the structural repair of the City Hall, carried out in 1996-97, and those of Stage II of its structural renovation (horizontal structures and reconstruction of the aula), carried out in 2000-2004, have led to the structural stabilization of the building.

The next stage of structural stabilization requires that the damage to the basement walls and pillars be registered and a solution for their stabilization provided. The damage is the result of years of damp penetration and freezing of the various structural components in the basement.

The problem of stabilization of the stereotomic structures above the basement (the vaults) needs in particular to be resolved.

The floor paving in the ground floor has been under a considerable load as a result of the damage to the building, certainly far greater than was envisaged in the original designs.

For these reasons, the structural condition of the load-bearing floors must first be ascertained, and appropriate solutions for their structural stabilization put forward.

The condition of the supports of the decorations on the roof ridge needs particular consideration.

According to preliminary data, the console on which the decorations are supported, which is made of brick, is in poor condition, and provision should be made for the complete structural repair of the supports of the decorative elements.

The interior staircases have not been made good. The staircases should be executed to match the previous one, as regards both layout and materials.

The initial activity is to conduct tests on the existing stone.

The exterior stone staircases are badly damaged and require reconstruction.

Here too, tests should be conducted on the existing stone.

Provide a technological solution for the repairs to the staircase.

Using available graphic documentation and the partly preserved relief on the façade, a project for the restoration of the façade should be drawn up, renovating the plaster coat, stucco, faience and stone relief.

All the exterior woodwork on the façade is missing and should be reconstructed on the basis of known details.

Summary overview of works required

Urgent works are required to protect the building – on the roof (protective flashing and guttering), and protective works to prevent further deterioration of the façade – “closing off” the building.

Research works are also essential – investigating the existing materials and formal elements on the façades of the City Hall and drawing up a Main Project for the functional renovation of the building (these projects will define in detail the repair, restoration and colour scheme of the façade, exterior works, interior repairs, staircases, floors, walls, ceilings, and essential installations).

In order to carry out the next stages of renovation of the City Hall, the following project documentation must be prepared:

  • architectural renovation project
  • structural renovation project – with supplementary project after carrying out stages I and II of the project for the restoration of the façade (using available graphic documentation and the partly preserved relief on the façade, a project for the restoration of the façade should be drawn up, renovating the plaster coat, stucco, faience and stone relief. The project to include technical specifications, renovation methodology, bill of quantities and all necessary blueprints and details)
  • project for the renovation of the plaster decoration (using available graphic documentation, video records, photographs and the scant remains on the building, the original plaster decoration should be identified.  Make architectural blueprints of the surviving parts of the plaster decoration.  Draw up a working design for the plaster decoration of the wall surfaces, stalactite decorations of the aula, ceilings and so on)
  • project for the painted decoration (using available graphic documentation, video records, photographs and the scant remains on the building, the original decoration should be identified.  Traces of surviving drawings and coast of paint to be removed in drawing and paint.  Based on architectural drawings of the wall surfaces and ceilings, make drawings of the decorations and provide the colour scheme.  Based on drawings of the architectural documentation of the plaster decoration, make drawings of the decorations and provide the colour scheme
  • interior design – project for the renovation of the authentic interior of the second floor (gallery, Lord Mayor’s office, councillors’ offices and offices of other personnel) and design all other interiors of the proposed premises
  • project to remove obstacles to disabled persons
  • electricity installation project – substation, low and high voltage, computer information system, fire alarm system, exterior floodlighting
  • machinery installation project – local boiler room, central heating, ventilation, air conditioning
  • project for water and sewerage pipes and drainage of precipitation waters.

6. Specific risks

Since the protective measures that have been taken, in the shape of completely closing off the building and protecting it, are largely of a temporary nature, the property is still at risk, partly (the exterior of the building) from the elements, but also from the possibility of forced entry into the building and of vandalism of the works already undertaken.

 

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. i.      quality of workmanship

C.ii.      quality of materials

C.iii.     proportions

C.iv.      composition

C. v.     value of details

C.vi.      value of construction

D. Clarity

(documentary, scientific and educational value)

D.iii.     work of a major artist or builder

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

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.v.      location and setting

G.vi.     spirit and feeling

G.vii.     other internal and external factors

H. Rarity and representativity

H.i.       unique or rare example of a certain type or style

H.ii.      outstanding work of art or architecture

H.iii.     work of a prominent artist, architect or craftsman

 

The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:

-          Copy of cadastral plan, scale 1:500, c.m.. Sarajevo I, plana no. 4. The City Hall is on c.p. no. 225, c.m. Sarajevo I, title deed no. 438 (new survey)  (c.p. 97, Land Register entry no. XCVIII/19, Sarajevo, old survey). Copy of cadastral plan issued on 21.06.2006 by the Department of Property and Geodetic Affairs and Cadastre, Municipality Stari Grad, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovia, Bosnia and Herzegovina;

-          Land Register entry, plot no. 97, cadastral municipality Sarajevo, Land Register entry no. XCVIII/19, document issued by the Municipal Court in Sarajevo on 27 June 2005; the City Hall and grounds are registered as state property, and the National Library of NR BiH in Sarajevo is registered as enjoying the right of use;

-          Photodocumentation and drawings:

  • photographs published in the brochure Vijećnica Sarajevo, 110 godina (City Hall Sarajevo, 110 years), publ. City of Sarajevo, 2006;
  • photographs published in the book Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Bosne i Hercegovine 1945.-2005., 60 godina u misiji culture, obrazovanja i nauke (National & University Library of BiH 1945-2005, 60 years’ service to culture, education and scholarship), Sarajevo;
  • photographs published in the paper by Mirza Hasan Ćeman: Obnova Gradske vijećnice u Sarajevu, Klesarstvo i graditeljstvo (Renovation of the City Hall in Sarajevo, Stonemasonry and civil engineering), publ. School of Stonemasonry, Pučišća, Brač, nos. 1-2, yr. XV, May 2004, 48-65;
  • original published blueprints of the Design for the City Hall of 1891 (architect Karl Pařik): ground plan of basement, ground floor, mezzanine, first floor and south facade; published in: Dimitrijević, Branka: Arhitekt Karl Paržik, doctoral dissertation, Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb, Sarajevo, 1989, illus. 6a and 6b;
  • ORIGINAL AUSTRIAN BLUEPRINTS OF THE CITY HALL, SCANNED(35) (dated 1892, 1893, 1894):

§         Site plan:

           502(36) -LONGITUDINAL_PROFILE-WALL_BESIDE_MILJACKA

           1725-SITE PLAN

           Floor plan of storeys

           544-GROUND PLAN_BASEMENT

           989-GROUND PLAN_GROUND FLOOR

           990-FLOOR PLAN_MEZZANINE

           992a-SECOND_FLOOR

           992-SECOND_FLOOR-PART

           993-ATTIC

           994-PLAN_ROOF FRAME

           997-DETAIL_BASEMENT

           1229-SECOND_FLOOR-ROOF FRAME

           1280-GROUND PLAN ATTIC

           1338-GROUND PLAN_GROUND FLOOR

           1339a-FLOOR PLAN_MEZZANINE

           1339-FLOOR PLAN_MEZZANINE

           1340-FLOOR PLAN_FIRST_FLOOR

           1352-SECOND_FLOOR

           1361-FLOOR PLAN_ATTIC

§         Fixtures and fittings

           1176-BANISTER IN STAIRWELL-FINAL WORKS

           1177-BANISTER IN STAIRWELL

           1178-BANISTERS IN STAIRWELL

           1204-PARTITION WALLS_IN_TOILETS-GROUND FLOOR

           1205-PARTITION WALLS_IN_TOILETS-BASEMENT

           1340a-FIRST_FLOOR-SKETCH

           1340b-FIRST_FLOOR-FURNISHINGS

           1340c-FIRST_FLOOR-FURNISHINGS

           1340d-FIRST_FLOOR-FRONT_PART

           1352a-SECOND_FLOOR-RIGHT_WING

           1476-PANELLING IN BASEMENT

§         Positions of woodwork

           1167-GROUND FLOOR-POSITIONS

           1168-MEZZANINE

           1169-FIRST_FLOOR-POSITIONS

           1170-SECOND_FLOOR-POSITIONS

           1273-BASEMENT-POSITIONS

           1447-FIRST_FLOOR-POSITIONS

           1450-GROUND FLOOR-POSITIONS

§         Blueprints of cross-section

           995-CROSS-SECTION_THROUGH_ROOF

           996-CROSS-SECTION_THROUGH_ROOF

           1255-CONSOLE_DETAIL

           1256-DOME_PLAN_CROSS-SECTION_ASPECT

           1343-CROSS-SECTION_THROUGH_MAIN_AXIS_OF BUILDING

           1515-CROSS-SECTION_THROUGH_MAIN_ENTRANCE

§         Blueprints of facades

           1058-OFFICES_ON_TOWER_FACADES

           1099-DETAIL_OF FACADE_AROUND_WINDOW

           1371-COURTYARD_ARCADE_DETAIL

           1377-DOME_ASPECT

           1400-FACADE_TOWERS

           1427-FACADE-PROJECTION

           1444-COURTYARD_ARCADE

           1471-FACADE_NEW_STREET

           1473-FACADE_DETAIL

           1484-FACADA_WEST

           1517-DETAIL_ARCADE_VESTIBULE

           1523-MAIN_PROJECTION

           59-entrance_facade_pařik

§         Details

           Details of windows

o          1082-DETAIL_OF WINDOW

o          1084-DETAIL_OF WINDOW

o          1087-DETAIL_OF WINDOW

o          1088-DETAIL_OF WINDOW

o          1089-WINDOWS IN MEZZANINE

o          1090-DETAIL_OF WINDOW

o          1091-DETAIL_OF WINDOW

o          1142-WINDOW-FIRST_FLOOR-COURTYARD

o          1279-SMALL_WINDOW

o          1448-VESTIBULE

o          1451-DOUBLE_WINDOW

o          1460-WINDOW-FIRST_FLOOR

o          1462-WINDOW_IN_ARCADES-MEZZANINE

o          1463-WINDOW_IN_ARCADES

o          1467-WINDOW_IN_PROJECTION-NORTH

o          1475-DOUBLE_WINDOW-GREAT_HALL

           Details of ceilings

o          1320-DETAIL_OF CEILING_HALL

o          1445-CEILING_IN_ASSEMBLY_HALL

o          1516-CEILINGS_IN_SIDE_HALLS

           Details of doors

o          1129-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1130-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1131-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1132-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1133-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1134-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1135-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1136-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1137-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1138-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1139-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1140-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1141-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1143-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1163-DETAIL_DOOR-SECOND_FLOOR

o          1164-DETAIL_DOOR-GROUND FLOOR

o          1165-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1166-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1171-DETAIL

o          1172-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1274-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1275-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1276-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1277-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1278-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1449-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1452-COURTYARD_DOOR

o          1453-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1454-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1455-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1456-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1457-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1458-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1459-DETAIL_DOOR-GROUND FLOOR

o          1461-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1464-DETAIL_DOOR_

o          1464-DETAIL_DOOR-NEW_STREET

o          1465-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1466-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1524-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1600-DETAIL_DOOR

o          1607-DETAIL_DOOR

           Various details

o          001-SKETCH_STAGE

o          002-CROSS-SECTION_CHAIR_GREAT_HALL

o          003-HYDRANT

o          004-GALLERY IN HALL

o          005-PLATFORM FOR CORRESPONDENTS

o          006-PARTITION WALLS IN SIDE HALLS

o          007-COUNCILLORS’ BENCH

o          008-PARTITION_ASPECT

o          009-WRITING_DESKS

o          1041-GUTTER-MAIN_ROOF

o          1272-PILLARS-DETAIL

o          1292-DOOR HANDLES

o          1525-FOUNTAIN ON MAIN PROJECTION

§         Drainage

           1029-SQUAT TOILET-DETAILS

           1048a-DRAINAGE PIPES_PROFILE

           1048b-SITE PLAN_STREET_SEWERAGE PIPES

           1048-DRAINAGE PIPES-DETAIL_WASTE

           1049-PLAN_SEAT IN TOILET

§         Chimneys – ventilation

           1230-CHIMNEY DUCTS-LONGITUDINAL_SECTION

           1231-CHIMNEY DUCTS_AROUND_RECEPTION_HALL

           1718-VENTILATION

           1719-CROSS-SECTION

           1720-PROJECTION-CROSS-SECTION

           1727-BASEMENT-CIRCULATION_OF HOT_AIR

§         Stairway

           1065-STAIRCASE_BY_MAIN_ENTRANCE

           1066-SIDE_STAIRWELL

           1067-STAIRWELL_RIGHT_OF_ENTRANCE-CROSS-SECTION

           1068-STAIRWELL_ RIGHT_OF_ENTRANCE -BLUEPRINTS

           1069-STAIRWELL_ RIGHT_OF_ENTRANCE –2 FLOOR

           1070-STAIRWELL_ LEFT_OF_ENTRANCE -BLUEPRINTS

           1071-STAIRWELL_ LEFT_OF_ENTRANCE _2 FLOOR

           1072-SIDE_STAIRWELL-NORTH_SIDE

           1073-SIDE_STAIRWELL

           1074-SIDE_STAIRWELL-CONNECTING_GIRDERS

           1075-STAIRCASE_UNDER_RESTORATION

           1076-PROPOSED_STAIRCASE

           1077-PART_STAIRWELL-BASEMENT

           1341-CROSS-SECTION_STAIRCASE

           1512-MAIN_STAIRWELL-FLOOR PLAN

           1513-MAIN_STAIRWELL-CROSS-SECTION

           1514-MAIN_STAIRWELL-LONGITUDINAL_SECTION

           1531-DETAIL_OF STAIRCASE

           1556-MAIN_ENTRANCE_STAIRCASE

           1565-MAIN_STAIRWELL

           1604-TRANSVERSE_CROSS-SECTION_WOODEN_STAIRCASE

           1605-SIDESTAIRWELL_OP_HEAD

           1606-WOODEN_STAIRCASE_HEAD

§         Entrance_facade-Blueprint August 1987, Dom, Invest-Projekt Sarajevo

  • Main project of stage I of the reconstruction of the City Hall in Sarajevo (renovation of structural system and reconstruction of roof frame), DD Dom Sarajevo, Sarajevo, 1996.

Bibliography

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

           

1962.    Stara sarajevska čaršija, Program za urbanističko uređenje (Old Sarajevo čaršija, Programme for Urban Layout), drawn up by: Eng. Arch. Zdravko Kovačević, eng. arch. Alija Bejtić, Sarajevo, 1962

           

1966.    Bejtić, Alija: Gradska vijećnica. Mali urbanizam Sarajeva (City Hall. Minor urbanization of Sarajevo) Oslobođenje, Sarajevo,  21 January1966

           

1973.    Bejtić, Alija: Ulice i trgovi Sarajeva, Topografija, geneza i toponomija (Streets and Squares of Sarajevo, topography, origins and toponomy), Sarajevo, 1973

           

1975.    Regulacioni plan sanacije, konzervacije, restauracije i revitalizacije sarajevske čaršije (skraćena verzija) (Regulatory plan for the repair, conservation, restoration and revitalization of the Sarajevo čaršija [abbreviated version]) Publ: Assembly of the City of Sarajevo, 1975

           

1987.    Krzović, Ibrahim, Arhitektura Bosne i Hercegovine 1878-1918 (Architecture of BiH 1878-1918) (catalogue), exhibition design and selection of exhibits, Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1987

           

1988.    Hrasnica, Mehmed, Arhitekt Josip Pospišil i njegovo djelo (Architect Josip Pospišil and his works) magazine Radio-Sarajevo, Third Programme, no. 60/1988, yr. XVI, 430-462

           

1988.    Kurto, Nedžad, Arhitekt Karlo Paržik (Architect Karlo Pařik) magazine Radio-Sarajevo, Third Programme, no. 60/1988, yr. XVI, 391-408

           

1989.    Dimitrijević, Branka, Arhitekt Karlo Pařik (Architect Karlo Pařik), doctoral dissertation, Faculty of Architecture of the University of Zagreb, 1989.

           

1999.    Project “Vijećnica” (City Hall) Sarajevo, Preliminary report on the findings of examination of the brick-built walls, Institute for Geotechnology and Foundation of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Sarajevo, Sarajevo, March 1999

           

2001.    Želimir Domović, Šime Anić, Nikola Klaić: Rječnik stranih riječi (Dictionary of Foreign Words), Beograd, 2001

           

2004.    Mirza Hasan Ćeman: Obnova Gradske vijećnice u Sarajevu, Klesarstvo i graditeljstvo (Renovation of the City Hall in Sarajevo, Stonemasonry and civil engineering), publ. School of Stonemasonry, Pučišća, Brač, nos. 1-2, yr. XV, May 2004, 48-65

           

2005.    Nacionalna i univerzitetska biblioteka Bosne i Hercegovine 1945.-2005., 60 godina u misiji kulture, obrazovanja i nauke (National & University Library of BiH 1945-2005, 60 years’ service to culture, education and scholarship), Sarajevo

           

2005.    Mulabegović, Ferhad: Gradska vijećnica u Sarajevu (Nacionalna biblioteka), Historijat, Razaranje, Obnova 1997.-2003., Plan daljnjih aktivnosti, Potrebna sredstva za istraživačke radove i projektnu dokumentaciju (City Hall in Sarajevo [National Library], history, destruction, restoration 1997-2003, planned future activities, funds required for research works and project documentation), Sarajevo, June 2005

           

2006.    Preliminary Technical Assessment – City Hall in Sarajevo, Regional Programme for Cultural and Natural Heritage in South East Europe (2003-2006) - Integrated Rehabilitation Project Plan / Survey of the architectural and archaeological heritage 2003-2006 (IRPP/SAAH); Cantonal Institute for the Protection and Use of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina: composed by: Zaila Uzunović, grad.eng.arch. (staff member for architectural heritage in the Cantonal Institute for the Protection and Use of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage, Sarajevo)

           

2006.    Vijećnica Sarajevo, 110 godina (City Hall Sarajevo, 110 years), publ. City of Sarajevo, 2006

 

(1) “…čaršija derives from the Pehlevi compound čahar sug (modern Persian čar-su, Ottoman Turkish čarši) and means “crossroads,” denoting a square with roads leading into it from all four sides.” (Stara sarajevska čaršija, Program za urbanističko uređenje, by: Eng. arch. Zdravko Kovačević, eng. arch. Alija Bejtić, Sarajevo, 1962, p. 25).  [For all titles cited in footnotes but not translated, see Bibliography. Trans.]

(2) Previously known as Petar Kočić street

(3) Now known as Telali street

(4) Šeherćehaja bridge

(5) Now known as Kračule street

(6) from: Bejtić, Alija: Ulice i trgovi Sarajeva, Topografija, geneza i toponomija, Sarajevo, 1973, 270,  (the author refers to his source: H. Kreševljaković, Vodovodi, 128 [biogr. details on Babić])

(7) H. Kreševljaković, Sarajevo za vrijeme austro-ugarske uprave, pp. 27-30. T. Kruševac, Sarajevo pod  austrougarskom upravom, pp. 57-78

(8) magistrat (lat. magistratus) court (or police) official; municipal court, municipal council, municipality (Želimir Domović, Šime Anić, Nikola Klaić: Rječnik stranih riječi, Beograd, 2001, 837

(9) Mustaj-beg Fadilpašić, son of Fadil Pasha Šerifović, was the first Lord Mayor of Sarajevo. He was born in Sarajevo in 1830, but grew up and was educated in Istanbul. He held the post of mulla in Istanbul, and later in Egypt, but exercised his duties through a deputy. In 1860 he came to Sarajevo and became a member of the medžlis-idara (majlis-idara, administrative council); from 1878 to his death in 1892, he was Lord Mayor of Sarajevo, fourteen years in all. From 1882 he was also chair of the Vakuf Commission. He died in 1892 in Sarajevo, where he is buried, in the harem of the Beg’s mosque.

(10) Bejtić, Alija: Gradska vijećnica. Mali urbanizam Sarajeva, Oslobođenje, Sarajevo,  21 Jan.1966, 9

(11) Karl Pařik (Veliš, Czech Rep., 4 July 1857 – Sarajevo, 16 June 1942) graduated from the Architecture Department of the Vienna School of Art, and then from the Academy of Fine Arts, Architecture Department, in Vienna in 1882, under Prof. Hansen.  He worked for the state from 1886 until his retirement in 1916, in the Civil Engineering Department of the Provincial Government, Sector for High-Level Building.  He taught at the State Technical High School in Sarajevo, teaching architectural drawing and the study of architectural forms during the academic years 1890/91 and 1919-20 (Arhitektura Bosne i Hercegovine 1878-1918 [katalog[, Koncepcija izložbe i izbor djela Ibrahim Krzović, Umjetnička galerija Bosne i Hercegovine, 1987, 251); Source: Archives of the Vienna Fine Arts Academy and Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, personal list

(12) Dimitrijević, Branka: Arhitekt Karl Paržik, doktorska disertacija, Arhitektnski fakultet sveučilšta u Zagrebu, Sarajevo, 1989. god., 88-91

(13) Pařik’s professor (op. E. Softić)

(14) J. Kellner, Baukunst., 432

(15) Ćiril M. Iveković (Klanjec, Croatia, 1 June 1864 – Zagreb, 15 August 1933). Graduated from the Fine Arts Academy in Vienna, Department of Architecture, in 1889, under Professor Hassenauer. Received the Gundel Prize during his studies. For more see: Enciklopedija likovnih umjetnosti  III (Encyclopaedia of Fine Arts III), Zagreb, 1964, 43. Österreichisches biographisches Lexikon 1815-1950. bk. III, Graz – Köln 1965, 48 (Arhitektura Bosne i Hercegovine 1878-1918 [katalog], Koncepcija izložbe i izbor djela Ibrahim Krzović, Umjetnička galerija Bosne i Hercegovine, 1987, 249)

(16) Architect Pospišil’s views on the siting of the City Hall were as follows: “The most serious error made pertaining to the layout of modern Sarajevo is, beyond doubt, the siting of the new City Hall. Everyone is perfectly well aware that a public building such as the Sarajevo City Hall, which almost every inhabitant of the city must visit from time to time, must for that reason incorporate all the features required to impact on the development of its environs. But if the Sarajevo City Hall is so sited that between it and a newly emerging European commercial centre, which requires every possible encouragement, lies the whole of Baščaršija, the centre of the locals, the impression created is that this exotic work of art was to bestow on Baščaršija still greater glory – for which, as is well known, there is absolutely no need given its development . . . Perhaps it was the intention, Pospišil remarks ironically, that the City Hall be closed off to the city by the police detention centre [op. E. Softić: the building to the west of the City Hall, on the other side of Telali street] in order to be as remove as possible from the people and the city. For sited as it is, whether one admits it or not, it is the irony of the hopes that the entire urban population places on the city authorities “ (Pospišil’s criticisms from the work by Hrasnica, Mehmed, Arhitekt Josip pospišil i njegovo djelo, časopis Radio-Sarajevo, Treći program, no. 60/1988, yr XVI, p.440)

(17) Architect Pospišil reflects in these terms on the way to preserve Sarajevo’s Baščaršija: ”The intimate relationship between Baščaršija as part of the city and the city as a whole must be regulated in such a way as to remain, both inwardly and outwardly, a harmonious integral part of the city.  As a result, any alterations to it must not be carried out as an individual matter but must be associated with the regulation of the entire city. This connection must also be expressed by all sections of the arterial road linking Baščaršija with the city and its environs being built fully to meet not only present but also projected future traffic requirements, but without jeopardizing the existence and character of the inner, narrow streets of the čaršija, which from the civl engineering point of view should be accorded the nature of passageways rather than streets. As regards the outward appearance of regulation, one must take into consideration that the inclusion of the areas of the city surrounding the čaršija be effected in such a way as to avoid putting pressure on Baščaršija and diminishing its value. The nature of business transactions in the čaršija calls for particular care to be taken over the sanitary aspect of its regulation.  For this reason the streets should be paved as solidaly as possible in order to produce a minimum of dust, they should be kept washed at all times, suitable and accessible but not intrusive public toilets should be built, and collection points for garbage should be provided in a suitable structure.” (From Hrasnica, Mehmed, Arhitekt Josip Pospišil i njegovo djelo, časopis Radio-Sarajevo, Treći program, no. 60/1988, yr XVI, p.440)

(18) T. Kraljačić: Kalajev režim u Bosni i Hercegovini 1882-1903 (Kállay’s regime in BiH 1882-1903), 48

(19) Sarajevski list, no.21,1897, other news, 20 February. Works on the Apel embankment “… and the electric railway could run as far as the beledija…”

(20) Sarajevski list, no.143,1897, other news, 2 Dec. Electric trams. “Yesterday, 1 December, passenger transport on the electric tram from the Latin to the Šeher Ćehaja bridge began.  The tramstops on that line will be the Emperor’s bridge and the City Hall...»

(21) two rows of two columns

(22) for example, according to the original Austrian drawings of the City Hall (no. 1338 – ground plan of ground floor/parterre, and no. 989 – ground plan of the mezzanine), in the case of the outer perimeter rooms in the south-west part of the City Hall, intended as archive premises, a secondary load-bearing structure forming shallow brick vaults stretched between steel NP I section set approx. 1.41-1.44 m apart was laid over the primary load-bearing structure composed of steel NP I 240 section laid over short-span premises, of approx. 5.85 m (op. E. Softić).

(23) for example, according to the original Austrian drawings of the City Hall (no. 989 – ground plan of the mezzanine), in the case of the outer perimeter rooms in the north-west part of the City Hall, the primary load-bearing structure was composed of steel NP I 240 section laid over short-span premises, of approx. 5.70 m, with the NP I girders set approx. 2.95-3.14 m apart (op. E. Softić).

(24) Kurto, Nedžad, Arhitekt Karlo Paržik, časopis Radio-Sarajevo, Treći program, no. 60/1988., yr XVI, 400-401

(25) Regulatory plan for the repair, conservation, restoration and revitalization of the Sarajevo čaršija [abbreviated version]) Publ: Assembly of the City of Sarajevo, 1975

(26) This consultation was held in Sarajevo July 1996, organized by the Civil Engineering Institute of Ljubljana and the National and University Library in Sarajevo (Mirza Hasan Ćeman: Obnova Gradske vijećnice u Sarajevu, Klesarstvo i graditeljstvo, Izdavač Klesarska škola, Pučišća, Brač, no, 1-2, yr. XV., May 2004, 48-65

(27) An overview of these tests:

Tests: brick, walls, plaster/mortar, and stone

In March 1998 the Institute for Geotechnology and Foundation of the Faculty of Civil Engineering Sarajevo, drew up a Preliminary report on the findings of the tests of the brick walls and carried out a series of 'targeted' tests of the brick, walls, mortar and stone.  Included in these tests were chemical analyses and determination of the physical and mechanical characteristics of the bricks and mortar

The brick was tested in two places, where a minimum of three courses bricks were removed from the wall, together with the mortar, and samples were taken for laboratory tests on the material.

The samples of mortar were taken from the wall blocks, while tests on the mortar/plaster in situ were conducted on the walls from which the samples of bricks and mortar had been taken.

General assessment of the stability of the walls

Despite the effects of the fire and major damage, the general stability of the walls is not significantly less than prior to the damage.  This claim is based on the following facts:

§         the building techniques correspond exactly to numerous buildings from the same period which are still successfully standing in the city of Sarajevo;

§         the relatively high resistance to displacement along the joints in the walls;

§         no damage was observed on the walls that could have the effect of reducing their general stability;

§         in the areas of major damage to the pillars, and thereby to the walls, no extensive areas of the building have collapsed, which can only be due to the fact that the walls are still sufficiently resistant.

The question is merely how safe the entire property is from seismic effects.

Possible concepts for repair measures

If structural analyses reveal that an unsatisfactory safety coefficient for the resistance of the walls is obtained, a localized and general increase in the resistance of the walls could be achieved by the following repair measures:

1.        chemical injection of the existing mortar in the joints, causing the mortar to form a chemical reaction and create a new bond and thereby achieve greater rigidity;

2.        reinforcing the walls with a reinforcement grid, secured with anchors and cement gun;

3.        localized reinforcement at points of greater load by means of long "SN" anchors;

4.        a combination of (2) and (3).

When considering these alternatives, chemical injection has the following shortcomings in this case:

§         the long and expensive process of injection, which depends on successfully matching the chemical reaction between the injection compound and the mortar, in addition to which there is insufficient experience in this field;

§         the other alternatives are more realistic for the following reasons:

§         anchoring and concrete-gunning is the usual system for reinforcing walls in these conditions;

§         there is the machinery to carry out the works, as well as proven technology and sufficient comparative experience.

Conclusions

1.        The impact of the fire on the quality of the mortar in the joints is relatively small, since the plaster coating on the walls protected the mortar in the joints.

2.        The walls are quasi homogeneous, i.e. of equal quality, so that it is not possible to single out those of poorer quality or any that are particularly good.

3.        The joints between the bricks, both horizontal and vertical, are well packed with mortar, with no visible  cavities in the joints.

4.        The wall is composed of non-standard bricks (6x14x29 cm), laid according to masonry principles and bonded with mortar.  One metre in height holds twelve courses of brick and 13 of mortar, which is of an average thickness of approx. 2 cm.

5.        Mechanical characteristics of the wall:

§         Brick:

- natural capacity weight..........................y =   14kN/m3

- resistance to pressure............................p=   13 Mpa

- resistance to bending.............................s=     3 Mpa

§         Mortar:

- natural capacity weight..........................γ=    18kN/m3

- resistance to pressure...........................βp=     2 Mpa

- angle of interior friction..........................φ=   59°

- cohesion.............................................c =    0,25 Mpa

- compressibility module ..........................Ms=  40 Mpa

§         Wall:

- natural capacity weight..........................γ =    15kN/m3

- resistance to pressure............................βP=     3 Mpa

- angle of interior friction..........................φ =   59°

- cohesion.............................................c =     0,25 Mpa

- compressibility module............................Ms=154 Mpa

6.        For localized reinforcement of the walls, such as the supports of horizontal slabs, the use of "SN" anchors is suggested, to be built in in the form of "fans" (pointing up and down)

For the reinforcement of critical zones in the walls, the use of concrete gunning, reinforcement grids and linking anchors is proposed. (All details in this footnote from Preliminarni izvještaj o rezultatima ispitivanja zidova od opeke, Institute for Geotechnology and Foundation of the Faculty of Civil Engineering Sarajevo , March 1999.)

(28) This is a “machine standard” for sanding. Information from graduate eng. arch. Ferhat Mulabegović, whose report Izvještaj  (Gradska vijećnica u Sarajevu (Nacionalna biblioteka), Historijat, Razaranje, Obnova 1997.-2003., Plan daljnjih aktivnosti, Potrebna sredstva za istraživačke radove i projektnu dokumentaciju, Sarajevo, June 2005) was used when drafting the Proposal to designate the City Hall as a National Monument of  BiH.

(29) Details from correspondence of the Government of Canton Sarajevo and the society Wurth Hendels Wien of Austria.

(30) In the case of wider spans, depending on the proposed use of the premises, the original (authentic, late 19th century) either a Henebik structure was used (a secondary load-bearing structure forming shallow brick vaults stretched between steel NP I section was laid over the primary load-bearing structure composed of steel NP I 240 section , or a combination of a primary structure of steel NP I 240 girders and a secondary structure of wooden joists.  For shorter spans, timber joists alone were used. (op. E. Softić).

(31) The part of the load-bearing structure above the corner pillars and those taking the load of the arches and vaults of the brick-built domes above the first floor

(32) a cast was taken of the original overcapital and used to make a sheet steel mould, which was later used when making the existing overcapitals

(33) e.g. the overcapitals of the pillars in the vestibule, which support the brick arches and domes, were made of natural stone. The use of harder material for the overcapitals (stone instead of brick) was no doubt dictated by the considerable structure load of this part of the structure (op. E. Softić)

(34) the reference level of +/- 0.00 is the floor of the ground floor in the aula

(35) The original file names of the scanned blueprints can be found in the local language version of this Decision – Trans.

(36) The number of the blueprint is usually entered on the top right-hand corner of the original blueprint.  All the headings of the blueprints are in German, and these headings of the blueprints are not a literal translation of the German headings  (op. E. Softić)



SarajevoCity Hall, the historic building City Hall and Šeher ćehaja bridgeCity Hall
South-west part of the City HallSouth facade, facade to the river Older photographPhoto of destruction
City hall in flameAtrium before the destructionAtrium after fireDetail of the central space after destruction
Archival photograph of the City HallOld postcard - View from the City hall to the Alifakovac cemeteryReading room in City hallWindow, detail
Niche on the facadeDetail of the facadeFacade, arcadeReconstruction of the atrium
Reconstruction of the navesPillars of the atrium  


BiH jezici 
Commision to preserve national monuments © 2003. Design & Dev.: