N.Zagora, D. Šamić
From Ottoman to Habsburg Sarajevo
Context: The socio-political transition from Ottoman to AustroHungarian rule was accompanied by a short-lived, futile pursuit for the establishment of an autonomous Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1878, following the Congress of Berlin, Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of the Habsburg Monarchy. As it had been in Roman and Medieval times, Sarajevo again became the site of a genuine encounter of East and West. As a result, its urban population increased and the demographic structure of the city became more multi-ethnic and international. The administration of Austro-Hungarian consul Benjamin Kallay ensured not only the maintenance of religious buildings from the Ottoman period, but also the construction of new ones, balancing the representation of all the city’s religions (Donia, 2006). During the Austro-Hungarian rule (1878 to 1918), development of the city started from the Ottoman downtown and, both literally and symbolically, continued towards the west and transformed vacant sites into a modern European urban landscape. The distinction between the almost homogenous urban ensembles – one, with traces of Istanbul, from four centuries of Ottoman rule, juxtaposed with that of four decades of Austro-Hungarian rule, reminiscent of Vienna – is clearly visible, and symbolises Sarajevo’s architectural identity. After a long period of oriental influence, the turn of the century and the new occidental monarchy introduced different urban and architectural forms and styles. The organic meander pattern and the intimate scale of Ottoman urbanism were replaced by the significantly larger orthogonal grid and medium- to large-scale city blocks. The new urban matrix contained blocks of residential and public buildings and a standardised street system more than twice the size of those in the mahalas and 22
