Last week, I shared Part I of a set of photographs I snapped during a recent trip to Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina. If you haven’t done so already, go back and check out Part I of the series and get to know a little history of this warm and wonderful city; a city with a bloody past but one that is on the rebound and the rise.
Enjoy Part II…
In 1885, Sarajevo was the first city in Europe and the second city in the world to have a full-time electric tram network running through the city, following San Francisco. Today, the Sarajevo tram system consists of seven lines, primarily running along a single track route running 14.2 miles long.
The Siege of Sarajevo claimed the lives of almost 14,000 people, including over 5,000 civilians. Over 1500 of them were children. In Sarajevo’s Veliki Park (Great Park), you’ll find the Memorial to Children Killed in the Siege of Sarajevo by Bosnian artist Mensud Kečo. The memorial was unveiled in 2009 and another memorial, made up of small columns, includes the names of 521 children killed during the siege. About 800 more names are expected to be engraved after all relevant information and documents are gathered and their identities verified.
In Sarajevo’s Great Park stands a monument called “Nermine, dođi” (“Nermin, come on”). The sculpture, also by Bosnian artist Mensud Kečo, shows Ramo Osmanović who was ordered by Serbian officers to call out to his son Nermin to come out of hiding in a nearby forest in Srebrenica (at the 9:23 mark in this video, you can actually watch footage of Osmanović calling out to his son). Osmanović thought his son might have a slim chance of being spared if he surrendered. However, the remains of Osmanović and his son Nermin were found in 2008 in a mass grave not far from Srebrenica, a town in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina where in July of 1995, more than 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) boys and men were slain by Bosnian Serb forces. Moreover, thousands of women, children and elderly people were forcibly deported and a large number of women were raped. It was the greatest atrocity on European soil since the Second World War.
Scars of the siege adorn another another reminder of Sarajevo’s past – Communist-era apartment buildings…
Collection of gloves found on the streets during the siege of Sarajevo on display at the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Sarajevo…
Concrete block called the “New Monument” by Bosnian artist Braco Dimitrijević
For all its charm, the scars of Sarajevo’s past can be seen everywhere…
Gravestones outside the Ferhadija Mosque, which is presumed to have been erected sometime between 1561 and 1562
From the hotel window of our room at the Hotel Old Town, you can see (on the left) the Old Clock Tower which dates back to the 17th century and is believed to be the only clock tower in the world that keeps lunar time making it always seem like it’s broken. The clock marks time based on the movement of the sun and moon so that the locals can time their prayers, thus the clock strikes midnight around sunset. On the right is the Gazi Husrev-bey Mosque which was built in 16th century and is the largest historical mosque in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Men praying at the Gazi Husrev-bey Mosque…
Street beggars are a a common sight in Sarajevo…
In Sarajevo’s Old Town, you’ll find Kazandžiluk, which means Coppersmith Street. Here, we met fourth generation master coppersmith Muhamed Huseinović, who hammer shapes copper coffee pots, plates and other items. We picked up all our souvenirs here…
Spent shells from the siege of Sarajevo now make for souvenirs on Kazandžiluk Street…
Pigeons don’t go hungry in Baščaršija, Sarajevo’s old bazaar and the historical and cultural center of the city.
Hope you enjoyed the photoghraphs. Now, put Sarajevo on your bucket list of cities to visit before you die. You won’t be sorry…
You can also check out a video I shot and edited from images I collected from Sarajevo…
