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Contents
- 1 Etymology
- 2 History
- 2.1 Ancient times
- 2.2 Middle Ages
- 2.3 Ottoman era
- 2.4 Austria-Hungary
- 2.5 Yugoslavia
- 2.6 Bosnian War
- 2.7 Present
- 3 Geography
- 3.1 Cityscape
- 3.2 Climate
- 4 Administration
- 4.1 Capital of Bosnia & Herzegovina
- 4.2 Municipalities & city government
- 5 International relations
- 5.1 Twin towns – Sister cities
- 5.2 Fraternity Cities
- 6 Economy
- 7 Demographics
- 8 Transportation
- 8.1 Roads
- 8.2 Public transport
- 8.3 Aviation
- 8.4 Train
- 9 Communications and media
- 10 Education
- 11 Culture
- 11.1 Museums
- 11.2 Music
- 11.3 Festivals
- 11.4 Sports
- 12 See also
- 13 Historical Sarajevo gallery
- 14 Modern Sarajevo gallery
- 15 References
- 15.1 Notes
- 15.2 Bibliography
- 16 External links
[edit] Etymology
The earliest name for a major city in the region of today's Sarajevo is Vrhbosna.[citation needed] Vrhbosna appears to have been destroyed well before the Ottomans dominated the region.[citation needed] The city of Sarajevo as it is known today was built directly on top of the Bosnian village of Brodac.[citation needed]
Sarajevo is the only true historical name for the city.[citation needed] It is a Bosnian word based on saray, the Persian word for the governor's palace.[citation needed] The letter Y does not exist in the Bosnian version of the Latin alphabet. The "evo" portion comes from Ova (Saray Ovası) meaning "the field around the palace".[citation needed]
Sarajevo has had many nicknames. The earliest is Šeher, which is the term Isa-Beg Ishaković used to describe the town he was going to build.[citation needed] It is a Turkish word meaning an advanced city of key importance (şehir) which in turn comes from Persian شهر shahr (city). As Sarajevo developed, numerous nicknames came from comparisons to other cities in the Islamic world, i.e. "Damascus of the North". The most popular of these was "European Jerusalem".[citation needed]
Some argue that a more correct translation of saray is government office or house.[citation needed] Saray is a common word in Turkish for a palace or mansion; a fortified government office, or house, would still be called a saray, if it maintained the general look of an office. Otherwise it would be called kale (castle).[citation needed]
[edit] History
[edit] Ancient times
Archeologists have found that the Sarajevo region has been continuously inhabited by humans since the Neolithic age. The most famous example of a Neolithic settlement in the Sarajevo area is that of the Butmir culture. The discoveries at Butmir were made on the grounds of the modern-day Sarajevo suburb Ilidža in 1893 by Austro-Hungarian authorities during the construction of an agricultural school. The area’s richness in flint was no doubt attractive to Neolithic man, and the settlement appears to have flourished. The settlement developed unique ceramics and pottery designs, which characterize the Butmir people as a unique culture. This was largely responsible for the International congress of archeologists and anthropologists meeting in Sarajevo in 1894.[16]
The next prominent culture in Sarajevo were the Illyrians. The ancient people, who considered most of the West Balkans as their homeland, had several key settlements in the region, mostly around the river Miljacka and Sarajevo valley. The Illyrians in the Sarajevo region belonged to the Daesitiates, a war-like people who were probably the last Illyrian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina to resist Roman occupation. Their defeat by the Roman emperor Tiberius in 9 A.D. marks the start of Roman rule in the region. The Romans never built up the region of modern-day Bosnia that much, but the Roman colony of Aquae Sulphurae was located near the top of present-day Ilidža, and was the most important settlement of the time.[17] After the Romans, the Goths settled the area, followed by the Slavs in the 7th century.[18]
[edit] Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages Sarajevo was part of the Bosnian province of Vrhbosna near the traditional center of the kingdom. Though a city called Vrhbosna existed, the exact settlement of Sarajevo at this time is debated. Various documents of the high Middle Ages note a place called Tornik in the region. By all indications, Tornik was a very small marketplace surrounded by a proportionally small village, and was not considered very important by Ragusan merchants.
Other scholars say that Vrhbosna was a major city located at the site of modern-day Sarajevo. Papal documents say that in 1238, a cathedral dedicated to Saint Paul was built in the city. Disciples of the notable saints Cyril and Methodius stopped by the region, founding a church at Vrelobosna. Whether or not the city was located at modern-day Sarajevo, the documents attest to its and the region's importance. VrhBosna was a Slavic citadel from 1263 until it was occupied by the Ottoman Empire in 1429.[19]
[edit] Ottoman era
Sarajevo was founded by the Ottoman Empire in the 1450s upon its conquest of the region, with 1461 used as the city’s founding date. The first Ottoman governor of Bosnia, Isa-Beg Ishaković, transformed the cluster of villages into a city and state capitol by building a number of key structures, including a mosque, a closed marketplace, a public bath, a hostel, and of course the governor’s castle (“Saray”) which gave the city its present name. The mosque was named “Careva Džamija” (the Tsar’s Mosque) in honor of the Sultan Mehmed II. With the improvements Sarajevo quickly grew into the largest city in the region. Many Christians converted to Islam at this time. The settlement was established as a city, named Bosna-Saraj, around the citadel in 1461. The name Sarajevo is derived from Turkish saray ovası, meaning the field around saray.
Under leader such as the second governor Gazi Husrev-beg, Sarajevo grew at a rapid rate. (Husrev-beg greatly shaped the physical city, as most of what is now the Old Town was built during his reign.) Sarajevo became known for its large marketplace and numerous mosques, which by the middle of the 16th century numbered more than 100. At the peak of the empire, Sarajevo was the biggest and most important Ottoman city in the Balkans after Istanbul. By 1660, the population of Sarajevo was estimated to be over 80,000. By contrast, Belgrade in 1838 had 12,963 inhabitants, and Zagreb as late as 1851 had 14,000 people. As political conditions changed, Sarajevo was the site of warfare.
In 1699 Prince Eugene of Savoy led a successful raid on the city. After his men looted thoroughly, they set the city on fire and destroyed nearly all of it in one day. Only a handful of neighborhoods, some mosques, and the orthodox church were left standing. Numerous other fires weakened the city as well, so that by 1807 it only had some 60,000 residents.
In the 1830s several battles of the Bosnian rebellion took place around the city, led by Husein Gradaščević. Today, a major city street is named Zmaj od Bosne (Dragon of Bosnia) in his honor. The rebellion failed and the crumbling Ottoman state remained in control of Bosnia for several more decades.
[edit] Austria-Hungary
A plaque commemorating the location of the assassination.
In 1697, during the Great Turkish War, a raid was led by Prince Eugene of Savoy of the Habsburg Monarchy against the Ottoman Empire, which conquered Sarajevo and left it plague-infected and burned to the ground. The city was later rebuilt, but never fully recovered from the destruction. The Ottoman Empire made Sarajevo an important administrative centre by 1850, but the ruling powers changed as the Austria-Hungarian Empire conquered Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878 as part of the Treaty of Berlin, and annexed it completely in 1908.
Sarajevo was industrialized by Austria-Hungary, who used the city as a testing area for new inventions, such as tramways, established in 1885, before installing them in Vienna. Architects and engineers wanting to help rebuild Sarajevo as a modern European capital rushed to the city. A fire that burned down a large part of the central city area (čaršija) left more room for redevelopment. The city has a unique blend of the remaining Ottoman city market and contemporary western architecture. Sarajevo has some examples of Secession- and Pseudo-Moorish styles that date from this period.
The Austria-Hungarian period was one of great development for the city, as the Western power brought its new acquisition up to the standards of the Victorian age. Various factories and other buildings were built at this time, and a large number of institutions were both Westernized and modernized. For the first time in history, Sarajevo’s population began writing in Latin script.[18][20]
In the event that triggered World War I, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, along with his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914[21] by a self-declared Yugoslav, Gavrilo Princip. In the ensuing war, however, most of the Balkan offensives occurred near Belgrade, and Sarajevo largely escaped damage and destruction.
Following the war, after the Balkans were unified under the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Sarajevo became the capital of Drina Province. During World War II, the Axis powers invaded and occupied Yugoslavia, creating the Independent State of Croatia, where Sarajevo was located. The city was bombed by the Allies from 1943 to 1944.[22]
[edit] Yugoslavia
Sarajevo Olympic Winter Games medal
The Eternal flame is a memorial to the military and civilian victims of the Second World War
After World War I and contributions from the Serbian army alongside rebelling Slavic nations in Austria-Hungary, Sarajevo became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Though it held some political importance, as the center of first the Bosnian region and then the Drinska Banovina, it was not treated with the same attention or considered as significant as it was in the past. Outside of today's national bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina, virtually no significant contributions to the city were made during this period.
During World War II the Kingdom of Yugoslavia put up an inadequate defense. Following a German bombing campaign, Sarajevo was captured on the 15 April 1941 by the 16th Motorized infantry Division.
Shortly after the fall, the city, like many other Yugoslav areas, formed a strong Yugoslav Partisan movement. Sarajevo's resistance was led by a NLA Partisan named "Walter" Perić. He died while leading the final liberation of the city on the 6 April 1945 and became famous for his actions shortly afterwards. Many of the WWII shell casings that were used during the attacks have been carved and polished in Sarajevo tradition and are sold as art.
Following the liberation, Sarajevo was the capital of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The communists invested heavily in Sarajevo, building many new residential blocks in Novi Grad Municipality and Novo Sarajevo Municipality, while simultaneously developing the city's industry and transforming Sarajevo once again into one of the Balkans' chief cities. From a post-war population of 115,000, by the end of Yugoslavia Sarajevo had 429,672 people. Sarajevo grew rapidly as it became an important regional industrial center in Yugoslavia. Modern communist-city blocks were built west of the old city, adding to Sarajevo's architectural uniqueness. The Vraca Memorial Park, a monument for victims of World War II, was dedicated on 25 November, the "Day of Statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina" when the ZAVNOBIH held their first meeting in 1943.[23]
The crowning moment of Sarajevo’s time in Socialist Yugoslavia was the 1984 Winter Olympics. Sarajevo beat out Sapporo, Japan; and Falun/Göteborg, Sweden for the privilege. They were followed by an immense boom in tourism, making the 1980s one of the city's best decades in a long time.[24]
[edit] Bosnian War
Sarajevo graveyard after the war.
Vedran Smailović playing in the partially destroyed National Library in Sarajevo in 1992.
Sarajevo after the siege in 1995
The Bosnian war resulted in large scale destruction and dramatic population shifts during the Siege of Sarajevo between 1992 and 1995. Thousands of Sarajevans lost their lives under the constant bombardment and sniper shooting at civilians by the Serb forces during the siege.
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare.[25] Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.
After Bosnia and Herzegovina had declared independence from Yugoslavia, the Serbs, whose strategic goal was to create a new Serbian State of Republika Srpska (RS) that would include part of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina,[26] encircled Sarajevo with a siege force of 18,000[27] stationed in the surrounding hills, from which they assaulted the city with weapons that included artillery, mortars, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, heavy machine-guns, multiple rocket launchers, rocket-launched aircraft bombs, and sniper rifles.[27] From 2 May 1992, the Serbs blockaded the city. The Bosnian government defence forces inside the besieged city were poorly equipped and unable to break the siege.
It is estimated that nearly 10,000 people were killed or went missing in the city, including over 1,500 children. An additional 56,000 people were wounded, including nearly 15,000 children.[28] The 1991 census indicates that before the siege the city and its surrounding areas had a population of 525,980.
[edit] Present
Sarajevo summer night 2011
Today Sarajevo is one of the fastest developing cities in the region. Various new modern buildings have been built, significantly the Bosmal City Center and the Avaz twist tower which is tallest skyscraper in the Balkans. A new highway was recently[when?] completed between Sarajevo and the city of Kakanj. The near-future for Sarajevo is hoped to hold continued development of the city, including construction of impressive modern buildings and population growth. The Sarajevo City Center will be one of the biggest and most modern Shopping and Business centers is South-East Europe when its gets completed 2012.
[edit] Geography
Sarajevo during the winter.
Sarajevo is located near the geometric center of the triangular-shaped Bosnia-Herzegovina and within the historical region of Bosnia proper. It lies in the Sarajevo valley, in the middle of the Dinaric Alps. The valley itself once formed a vast expanse of greenery, but gave way to urban expansion and development in the post-World War II era. The city is surrounded by heavily forested hills and five major mountains. The highest of the surrounding peaks is Treskavica at 2,088 meters (6,850 ft), then Bjelašnica at 2,067 meters (6,781 ft), Jahorina at 1,913 meters (6,276 ft), Trebević at 1,627 meters (5,338 ft), with 1,502 meters (4,928 ft) Igman being the shortest. The last four are also known as the Olympic Mountains of Sarajevo (see also 1984 Winter Olympics). On average, Sarajevo is situated 518 meters (1,699 ft) above sea level. The city itself has its fair share of hilly terrain, as evidenced by the many steeply inclined streets and residences seemingly perched on the hillsides.
The Miljacka river is one of the city's chief geographic features. It flows through the city from east through the center of Sarajevo to west part of city where eventually meets up with the Bosna river. Miljacka river is "The Sarajevo River", with its source in the town of Pale, several kilometers to the east of Sarajevo. The Bosna's source, Vrelo Bosne near Ilidža (west Sarajevo), is another notable natural landmark and a popular destination for Sarajevans and other tourists. Several smaller rivers and streams also run through the city and its vicinity.
[edit] Cityscape
Sarajevo is located close to the center of the triangular shape of Bosnia and Herzegovina in southeastern Europe. It consists of four municipalities (or "in Bosnian and Croatian: općina, in Serbian: opština"): Centar (Center), Novi Grad (New City), Novo Sarajevo (New Sarajevo), and Stari Grad (Old City). Greater Sarajevo includes these and the neighbouring municipalities of Ilidža and Vogošća. The city has an urban area of 1041.5 square kilometres (154.6 sq mi)
[edit] Climate
Sarajevo's climate exhibits influences of oceanic, humid continental and humid subtropical zones, with four seasons and uniformly spread precipitation.The proximity of the Adriatic Sea moderates Sarajevo's climate somewhat, although the mountains to the south of the city greatly reduce this maritime influence.[29] The average yearly temperature is 13.5 °C (56 °F), with January (0.5 °C (32.9 °F) avg.) being the coldest month of the year and July (22.0 °C (71.6 °F) avg.) the warmest.
The highest recorded temperature was 40.7 °C (105 °F) on 19 August 1946, while the lowest recorded temperature was −26.2 °C (−15.2 °F) on 25 January 1942. On average, Sarajevo has 85 summer days per year (temperature greater than or equal to 30.0 °C). The city typically experiences mildly cloudy skies, with an average yearly cloud cover of 45%.
The cloudiest month is December (75% average cloud cover) while the clearest is August (37%). Moderate precipitation occurs fairly consistently throughout the year, with an average 75 days of rainfall. Suitable climatic conditions have allowed winter sports to flourish in the region, as exemplified by the Winter Olympics in 1984 that were celebrated in Sarajevo.Sarajevo is very windy city. Avreage winds are 28–48 km/h (17–30 mph). Sarajevo has 2,173 hours of sunshine (2007–2010).
| [hide]Climate data for Sarajevo |
| Month |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Year |
| Average high °C (°F) |
2.7
(36.9) |
5.9
(42.6) |
10.4
(50.7) |
15.1
(59.2) |
20.3
(68.5) |
23.1
(73.6) |
25.5
(77.9) |
25.7
(78.3) |
22.0
(71.6) |
16.5
(61.7) |
9.7
(49.5) |
3.5
(38.3) |
15.03
(59.06) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) |
−0.9
(30.4) |
1.5
(34.7) |
5.1
(41.2) |
9.4
(48.9) |
14.1
(57.4) |
17.0
(62.6) |
18.9
(66) |
18.5
(65.3) |
15.1
(59.2) |
10.4
(50.7) |
5.3
(41.5) |
0.3
(32.5) |
9.56
(49.21) |
| Average low °C (°F) |
−4.4
(24.1) |
−2.3
(27.9) |
0.7
(33.3) |
4.4
(39.9) |
8.5
(47.3) |
11.4
(52.5) |
12.8
(55) |
12.6
(54.7) |
9.7
(49.5) |
5.7
(42.3) |
1.6
(34.9) |
−2.8
(27) |
4.83
(40.69) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) |
71.4
(2.811) |
67.0
(2.638) |
70.3
(2.768) |
73.6
(2.898) |
81.7
(3.217) |
91.0
(3.583) |
80.2
(3.157) |
70.7
(2.783) |
70.3
(2.768) |
77.3
(3.043) |
94.2
(3.709) |
84.7
(3.335) |
932.4
(36.709) |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) |
10 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
11 |
11 |
9 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
10 |
11 |
116 |
| Sunshine hours |
55.8 |
84.8 |
127.1 |
153.0 |
192.2 |
207.0 |
257.3 |
238.7 |
186.0 |
148.8 |
81.0 |
40.3 |
1,772 |
| Source: HKO[30] |
[edit] Administration
Building of the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina
[edit] Capital of Bosnia & Herzegovina
Sarajevo is the capital of the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its sub-entity, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as of the Sarajevo Canton. It is also the de jure capital of another entity, Republika Srpska. Each of these levels of government has their parliament or council, as well as judicial courts, in the city. In addition many foreign embassies are located in Sarajevo.
Sarajevo is home to the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the operational command of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[31]
Bosnia and Herzegovina's Parliament office in Sarajevo was damaged heavily in the Bosnian war. Due to damage the staff and documents were moved to a nearby ground level office to resume the work. In late 2006 reconstruction work started on the Parliament and was finished in 2007. The cost of reconstruction is supported 80% by the Greek Government through the Hellenic Program of Balkans Reconstruction (ESOAV) and 20% by Bosnia-Herzegovina.
[edit] Municipalities & city government
The city comprises four municipalities Centar, Novi Grad, Novo Sarajevo, and Stari Grad. Each operate their own municipal government, united they form one city government with its own constitution. The executive branch (Bosnian: Gradska Uprava) consists of a mayor, with two deputies and a cabinet. The legislative branch consists of the City Council, or Gradsko Vijeće. The council has 28 members, including a council speaker, two deputies, and a secretary. Councilors are elected by the municipality in numbers roughly proportional to their population. The city government also has a judicial branch based on the post-transitional judicial system as outlined by the High Representative's “High Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils”.[32]
Sarajevo's Municipalities are further split into "local communities" (Bosnian, Mjesne zajednice). Local communities have a small role in city government and are intended as a way for ordinary citizens to get involved in city government. They are based on key neighborhoods in the city.
[edit] International relations
[edit] Twin towns – Sister cities
Sarajevo is twinned with:[33]
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Sarajevo
43°52′0″N 18°25′0″E / 43.866667°N 18.416667°E / 43.866667; 18.416667
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sarajevo Canton
Croatia
Slovenia
United States
Egypt
Macedonia
Spain
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