Destruction
of Historic Monuments in Bosnia
By Syed Amir PhD
Bethesda, MD
Earlier this
year, in July 2004, news was flashed across the
continents that the old historic bridge of Mostar
in the republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina had
been rebuilt, fully restored and reopened. The
reconstruction was hailed worldwide as evidence
that a new era of ethnic harmony and inter-religious
coexistence was being ushered in a land that had
only seen strife, destruction and ethnic cleansing
during much of the nineties.
As the work progressed, a team of engineers attempted
to meticulously duplicate the original bridge
in all details. Even the centuries old bricks
were salvaged from the rubble and reused. The
opening event was accompanied by great fanfare,
music and display of fireworks, and the celebration
was covered by news media around the world.
The original bridge was blown up in 1993 by Croat
artillery as they waged their assault on the Muslim
residents of Mostar. The multiethnic State of
Yugoslavia had largely unraveled by this time.
The restoration was made much of because the Mostar
Bridge was no ordinary bridge. Built in 1566,
when Bosnia was part of the Ottoman Caliphate,
it was viewed as an exquisite specimen of Turkish/Islamic
architecture of the late Middle Ages.
The old bridge was designed by the Turkish architect,
Mimar Hajruddin, who himself was trained by the
legendary sixteenth-century Ottoman engineer,
Mimar Sinan, the acclaimed designer and architect
of some magnificent mosques and other buildings
of Istanbul. The single-span bridge, some 30 meters
long, was one of many elegant Ottoman structures
that had adorned the Balkan landscape for close
to half a millennium. It had been declared by
the UNESCO a part of the world heritage. The Bosnian
cities of Mostar and Sarajevo in particular used
to draw a large number of tourists in the pre-civil
war days, attracted by the distinct Islamic architectural
style of their buildings and picturesque settings.
Bosnia was captured in 1463 by the armies of Sultan
Muhammad II, the conqueror, a decade after the
conquest of Constantinople. It remained a province
(Vilayet) of the empire for nearly four-and-half
centuries. The population of Bosnia at the time
of its conquest was largely Christian, the majority
Roman Catholic. However, following the Turkish
occupation, Bosnians started to accept Islam in
large numbers. It is said that the Sufi-Muslim
preachers proved most effective in disseminating
the message of Islam. They taught a tolerant version
of the religion that allowed the local population
to retain many of their cultural and traditional
ways.
The Ottoman Caliphs and their Governors lavished
inordinate attention and resources on making Bosnia
a showcase of Islamic Turkish architecture in
Europe. They built splendid mosques and libraries,
established Islamic schools and seminaries, and
opened shelters for poor. The original layout
of the cities was pattered on the Turkish or Middle
Eastern style, with market places separated from
the residential areas. While Bosnia was part of
the Caliphate, many Bosnian Muslims rose to play
important roles as high state functionaries, serving
as both religious and secular leaders. The Turkish
rule was decentralized in character, with provinces
enjoying a great deal of autonomy. The religious
minorities were allowed to freely practicing their
own faiths. A reputation for religious tolerance
had encouraged, over the centuries, the immigration
of Andalusian Jews, mostly those who had been
expelled from Spain following the Chr istian takeover
in 1492.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Ottoman Empire,
unable to keep up with the industrial and technological
advancements of the European powers and in dire
financial state, progressively grew weaker, losing
many of its European possessions. Bosnia often
served as a safe haven for Muslims forced to flee
from former Ottoman territories as they became
independent. Even Bosnia retained its Turkish
identity for only a short while longer. In 1878,
at the Congress of Berlin, Major European powers,
Britain, France, Prussia, and imperial Russia,
decided to divide among themselves the European
possessions of the Turkish Empire, now being designated
as the Sick man of Europe. The province of Bosnia-Herzegovina
was awarded to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which
formally annexed it in 1908. Subsequently, the
territorial ambitions of Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian
Em pire and the rise of Serbian nationalism led
to the outbreak of World War I, when a Bosnian
Serb assassinated the heir to the Austrian throne,
Archduke Ferdinand, in 1914, igniting the bloody
conflagration.
At the end of the First World War, Bosnia was
appropriated by the kingdom of Serbia, and, eventually
at the end of Second World War, it along with
six other republics became part of the Republic
of Yugoslavia, the successor state to Serbia.
For several decades, an uneasy calm prevailed.
Helped by Marshall Tito’s iron-fisted policy,
different ethnic groups, Serbs, Muslims, and Croats,
were forced to live in relative peace and harmony.
The peace lasted as long as Marshall Tito did.
Following his death in 1980, the country started
to splinter. Bosnia had a unique demographic distribution.
Alone among these republics, its population was
diverse, comprising 40 percent Muslims, the largest
percentage in any European nation. In the overall
population of Yugoslavia, however, Serbs were
the predominant ethnic group.
In December 1991, as the country was disintegrating,
the Muslim president of Bosnia, Mr. Izetbegovic,
declared independence from Yugoslavia. The announcement
brought a harsh reaction from the Serbian Government,
leading to reprisals against Muslims and ethnic
cleansing of Bosnia. An estimated 250,000 people,
mostly Muslims, perished at the hands of the Serb
armies during 1992 and 1995. The mayhem did not
end until 1995 when NATO planes bombed Serb positions,
forcing the Serb army to retreat.
The Mostar Bridge was not the only piece of history
that fell victim to ethnic hatred and bigotry
in the Balkan’s civil war. Many mosques,
libraries, museums met the same fate. A concurrent
effort was made to erase all traces of the cultural
and religious heritages of Bosnian Muslim community.
The full dimension of the damage inflicted on
the historic sites is being assessed only now.
Perhaps, the most grievous damage was inflicted
in 1993 on the centuries-old Bosnian National
and University Library in Sarajevo. According
to news reports, it housed 1.5 million publications,
including 155,000 rare books and manuscripts.
Built in the style of medieval Moorish structures
and located on the riverfront, it was struck by
relentless Serbian bombardment. The building along
with most of its precious books was lost in the
fire. Even the librarian was shot and killed while
heroically attempting to rescue a few priceless
manuscripts.
Destruction of the library was only one of many
incidents in which centers of learning and research
came under attack. A few months earlier, Sarajevo’s
Oriental Institute had been firebombed by Serbian
forces. It had the reputation of having the largest
collection of ancient Islamic and Jewish manuscripts
and texts, including the vast collection of 7,000
Ottoman documents dating back to the days when
Bosnia was part of the Caliphate. The record of
Bosnia’s Ottoman history, spread over five
hundred years, perished along with these historic
documents.
Muslims and Jews have historically lived harmoniously
in Bosnia and indeed in Turkey for centuries.
When Bosnia’s National Museum with its collection
of 200,000 volumes came under Serb fire in summer
of 1992, most of its books were miraculously saved
by volunteers who risked their lives in doing
so. Among the books saved was a 14th century Jewish
sacred text, Haggadah, part of the Talmud, and
a masterpiece of Andalusian-Islamic art and calligraphy
which had been brought to Bosnia by Jews fleeing
the Spanish inquisition some five-hundred years
ago.
Besides centers of culture and art, many places
of worship also came under attack by religious
zealots. Sarajevo’s most renowned Gazi Husrev
Beg mosques, built in the 16th century by the
Turkish architect, Adzem Asir Ali, was severely
damaged by shells from Serbian guns. According
to rough estimates, one thousand mosques were
partially or completely destroyed in the Balkans
during the civil war.
Fanaticism, whether religious or national, is
rarely one-sided, especially when raw passions
are aroused. Some Albanian Muslim, who constitute
about 90 percent of the population of Kosovo,
another province of former Yugoslavia, have for
several years been locked in a bitter fight against
Serbia for independence. In April 2004, some Albanian
youths started a rampage against the minority
Serbian population, destroying a number of orthodox
churches, many of them centuries old and representing
some of the finest specimens of Byzantine architecture
in Europe. Many of these places of worship are
been repaired by the cooperation of both Muslims
and Christians.
The malady that motivates people to kill and destroy
in the name of religion or nationalism is not
confined to any specific region of the globe.
The recent carnage in the Balkans clearly shows
that it afflicts even those nations erstwhile
perceived as relatively advanced, and who above
all should have learned a lesson from the devastating
experiences of the two world wars.
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