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From Middletown to the Middle East

~ Reflections on travel and teaching

From Middletown to the Middle East

Monthly Archives: February 2020

Gazi Husrev-beg

29 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by tgilheany in Uncategorized

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It is remarkable the number of institutions made possible by the charitable endowment of Gazi Husrev-beg that are still functioning, or functioning again, today. At the center stands the mosque, relatively simple compared to those built by sultans or modern day monarchs, though still evocative. But there is so much more. Across the alley is the religious school, which now has both ancient and modern buildings, as well as a very informative museum. There is a clock tower, an office for determining the precise time of day for prayer, a water system including gravel filters, free public toilets, and public baths. Commerce is considered as well, with a covered market (“Bezistan”), the Morica-Han – an inn that provides food and lodging for travelers, and a caravanserai (or at least the ruins of one, and I am not totally clear on the difference between the first two and the third!)
There is also a soup kitchen, which today still functions as a bakery that sells delicious burek at very reasonable prices. Dinner for me last night and tonight has been their $1 spinach and cheese pastries!
Gazi Husrev-beg’s life shows the spread of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. He was born in Greece to a Bosnian father and a daughter of the Sultan, traveled to Crimea, fought in campaigns in Hungary and against Venice, married the daughter of the Sultan, and founded his major waqf (endowment) in Sarajevo.

Gazi Hüsrev-beg receiving a Hapsburg delegation in 1530.

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Culture, kindness and beauty

29 Saturday Feb 2020

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Yesterday began with a peaceful house museum of a well-off Bosnian family from the 18th and 19th centuries. As the welcoming caretaker emphasized, they were neither nobles nor Turkish; it was important to her to emphasize that they were regular Bosnians, who were well educated.
One sign was particularly interesting; it noted that in this room the head of the house would discuss plans for making Bosnia more autonomous within the Ottoman Empire. The house revealed details of every day life for someone of this class: the sleeping rooms, the dining areas, and the “privy“ among others.
I then took a walking tour with Insider City Tours. My guide was a very friendly interior design student who hopes to study in Amsterdam. He enthusiastically emphasized the friendliness of the Sarajevan people and the beauty of the buildings. A major theme of his was how much other cultures have brought the Bosnians, including the Ottoman and Austro Hungarian Empires. I got a strong sense that he was less interested in nationalism and much more in cosmopolitanism, even if it came with empires. For example, when I noted that the City Hall was somewhat orientalist in its design, he reinterpreted that comment to mean that the Austro-Hungarians were seeking to acknowledge the local culture as well as bring their own.
He distinctly deemphasized wars, including the most recent one.When I asked him about one of the Sarajevo “roses”, (red infill indicating where shelling had killed large numbers) he told me about it, but then commented that he wished people would focus more on the multi ethnic nature of Sarajevo and on its future. As one example he said every year Bosnians made great films, but the movies that got the recognition were always about the war.
He encouraged me to go inside the various churches and mosques, as well as to head up the mountain on the cable car and to go inside City Hall. The cable car was built just four years ago and gives a dramatic view of the city. Also, not to overemphasize the war, but it does show you what the devastating positions of the Bosnian Serb artillery.
Upon returning, I went into City Hall, and I am so glad I did! Not only are the architectural details gorgeous, but it gives you a real sense of the Austro-Hungarians in their time.

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Multicultural?

28 Friday Feb 2020

Posted by tgilheany in Uncategorized

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So I expected Sarajevo to be cool sometimes, warm sometimes, and rainy. I hadn’t expected it to be snowy! But there was plenty of snow on the ground when I arrived.

Coming in from the airport, I played count the hijabs from the bus. In the stretch during which I counted, it was 36 women with no head covering and six with head covering. Of those six, four were young women at the same age walking together. Since I have been in the center of town, I might say that a slightly higher percentage are wearing scarves, but that could be because I notice when I see them more than when I don’t see them.

I suppose this links in to something that I was wondering about Sarajevo. Several blogs I read in advance told me how proud Sarajevo is of being a multicultural and multiethnic city, and that the reputation it has from the war and the siege is undeserved. So I looked up the demographics. Prior to the war, Sarajevo was half Bosnian Muslim, a quarter Serb, 16% “Yugoslav” 7% Croat, and 6% other. In 2013, the percentages were 81% Bosnian Muslim, 4% Serb, 5% Croat, and 10% other. That doesn’t sound like great news from a religious diversity perspective. I hope to learn more about this.

As we came in we passed several mosques. I’m trying to remember if this is my first time, other than the one day it snowed when we lived in Jerusalem and I headed over to the old city, that I have seen a majority Muslim area in the snow. (I was going to say mosques in the snow, but I know I have seen them in the United States!)

Another thing that I knew but hadn’t focused on; wow is this a valley surrounded by mountains! The city itself is along a river and is only maybe five blocks wide in each direction before you start heading uphill. That makes it absolutely gorgeous.

I am staying in a house up one of the hills, and once I got down into town I turned right at the Catholic cathedral walked along a street that reminded me of Istiklal in Istanbul (European 19th century five story buildings along a pedestrian street).

Then I crossed a line that is paved with tile work saying Sarajevo meetings of cultures west and east. And just like that I was in something much more like an old town in Turkey. Winding streets, 2 to 3 story wooden buildings, multidomed brick structures that implied to me hamans or caravanserai or other Ottoman complexes. Shops fairly close on either side of the street; not quite a North African medina, but not a boulevard either. I passed two mosques, one of which I hope to visit during the day, and a madrasah, with a sign in English saying there was a museum.

On the recommendation of my Airbnb host, I went upstairs in a building that housed a restaurant and clearly it was an old caravanserai. Now it is offices; The one I recognized was “avokat” – lawyer. After a good traditional dinner, I headed for the hike up the hill to my place!

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Days gone by

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