Jewish Cemetery in Sarajevo

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

1. INTRODUCTORY PAGE

Jewish Cemetery 1912

Jewish cemetary - Situation

1.1. Country/Territory:

Bosnia and Herzegovina

1.2. Name of organisation compiling the information:

Commission to Preserve National Monuments

1.3. Contact name:

Mirela Mulalić Handan

1.4. email address:

mirela.m.handan@aneks8komisija.com.ba

1.5. Name and address of bulding(s) or site:

The burial ground complex of the Jewish Cemetery in Sarajevo

            Latitude/Longitude:  43.85°N, 18.38°E

Inventory reference number(s):

Decision for designation of national monument

No.: 07.2-02-201/04-4        

1.6. Building type(s):

graveyard

1.7. Main date(s):

The hypothesis is that the Jewish Cemetery was opened in 1545 but there is no clear documentary evidence to this effect. From information derived from the records of the Jewish community, It may safely be deduced that it was founded in 1630.

The chapel was built in 1923-1924.

1.8. Current use(s):

Memorial site

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: THE SITE AND ITS MANAGEMENT

The old Jewish Cemetery is the largest Jewish sepulchral complex in Europe after that of Prague and is of outstanding value. It records an important and, indeed, indispensable part of the history of the Jews since the 16th century.

The symbolic value of the cemetery lies in its significance for the identity of the Jews and in its traditional and historic value as evidence of one of the most important turning-points in the history of the Jewish people: the expulsion from the Iberian peninsula. The Jewish Cemetery documents certain features of the life of the Sephardim and later of the Ashkenazim in the city, as well as of the evolution of Sarajevo and the typical life of the city over the centuries.

The Sephardim in this part of the world created their own unique style of tombstone which, with their house-like shape, artistic treatment and polysemic symbolic motifs, resembles no other Jewish tombstones elsewhere in the world.

This cemetery was on the front line during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The main threat to the cemetery is landslide which is causing entire graves and their tombstones to shift. About 95 percent of the tombstones are estimated to be damaged.

To completely eliminate this threat, a drainage system needs to be installed to remove ground water; the structural elements and slope need to be stabilized; and the cemetery needs to be set in order and properly presented. This would enable it once again to become part of the active life of the city and create its sustainable development.

PTA carried by:

Commission to Preserve National Monuments

Local experts:

Mirzah Fočo, Architect, Associate for Ensembles, Historical, Urban and Cultural Landscapes,

Amra Sarancic, architect conservator,

headed by Mirela Mulalić Handan, Project Coordinator,

In the cooperation with PTA expert