The text is || The old way to do it
Sarajevo, for those of us who were born in Chinese the 50s, is a familiar and memorable name, and a place full of legends and longings--- I dare not guess whether others think so, anyway, I think so.
Let me know Sarajevo and remember it, mainly the Yugoslav war film "Walter Defends Sarajevo" staged in the country in the 1970s, for me who has watched it countless times, I still remember those classic lines: "The air is trembling, as if the sky is burning, yes, the storm is coming!" "Learn the craft well, use it for the rest of your life, and don't waste your life." "The city, he --- walter!" In order to write this travelogue, I once again revisited this classic film on the theme of war.
Of course, Sarajevo is known and remembered not only because of this film, but also because on June 28, 1914, near the City's Latin Bridge, Gavrijo Princip, a 20-year-old school student in Belgrade, Serbia, successfully assassinated Archduke Ferdinand, Crown Prince of austria-Hungary, shocked the West, became the fuse of the First World War, and eventually led to the outbreak of the First World War, which became known as the "Sarajevo Incident", thus making Sarajevo famous and forever in the annals of history.
However, when we actually came to this prestigious city and experienced it for ourselves, we realized that our understanding of Sarajevo was only a superficial one, and it was far more complicated and heavy and interesting than what was shown and recorded in movies and history books.
Now Sarajevo, with an area of 142 square kilometers and a population of about 420,000, is the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina (referred to as "Bosnia and Herzegovina"), the largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the economic and cultural center of the country.
Built in 1263, this ancient city, located near the upper reaches of the Posner River, a tributary of the Sava River, surrounded by mountains and beautiful scenery, combined with a long history and rich ancient relics, was named one of the top ten cities in the world by Lonely Planet and was nominated for the European Capital of Culture in 2014.
And the most unexpected thing to me was that it was called "the Jerusalem of Europe" and "Little Istanbul".
Since I had been to both Jerusalem and Istanbul and knew both cities, I thought about it carefully, and it did make sense in terms of religion, architecture, and strategic location.
Sarajevo has changed its owners several times in history, so the city has changed its name. In the Roman period it was called Sulphur Spa, when it was still a small town. Throughout the Middle Ages, Sarajevo was part of the province of Bosnia, and the name of the city was changed to Urph-Bosna, which was not large in scale. It was not until the middle of the 15th century, after its conquest by the Ottoman Empire, that the city developed tremendously and was renamed Sarajevo, which means "flat land with a palace" in Turkish. During the ottoman Turk rule, the local population was forced to convert to Islam, and some of the inhabitants became Muslims. At the end of the 19th century, Sarajevo belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the end of World War I.
The long reign of different empires and peoples has led to a diversity of religious beliefs: Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Judaism and Islam all have their own adherents and territories. So Catholic churches, Orthodox churches, synagogues and mosques can be found everywhere in the city. In this respect, jerusalem is particularly similar: the world's major religions are tolerant of each other and coexist in the same city--- and although there have been disputes in history, they are currently living side by side in a state of peaceful coexistence and temporarily peaceful.
The city of Sarajevo is divided into four administrative districts: Old Town, Central City, New Town and New Sarajevo. The most distinctive is the old town with a history of more than 500 years, which is a "legacy" left over from the period of Turkish rule. The buildings on both sides of the street are in a Turkish style, and the rows of handicraft shops make you feel as if you are in the Arab world of the Middle East. This unique landscape is distinctly different from other European cities, which may be one of the reasons for calling it the Jerusalem of Europe.
See? The main street of the old town, which runs east-west, has a clear marking line called the "East-West Cultural Encounter Line", with the Islamic Turkey District to the east and the Catholic Austrian District to the west. This is a historical testimony to the fact that two powerful empires once ruled here. Standing here and looking around, you can feel the two different buildings and historic districts in the East and the West. This may be the reason why Sarajevo has the idea of "Little Istanbul".
The Sebili Fountain is a landmark of Sarajevo. Built in 1753 during the Ottoman Empire, it was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1891 with an octagonal part of the main part. It is said that there were at most 300 fountains in the city, mainly for Muslims to purify themselves and drink water.
The small square around the fountain is crowded with thousands of pigeons, densely packed and crowded, attracting many tourists to stop and interact with it. This is undoubtedly a "pet" owned by the local government and residents, reflecting people's cherishing and desire for peace. After all, there has been too much smoke here, especially after the largest Bosnian war in Europe since the end of World War II from 1992 to 1995, and people can best understand the difficulty and preciousness of peace.
During a visit to the "Bosnian War Memorial", it was learned that in the four-year Bosnia-Herzegovina War, the "three ethnic groups" of Muslims, Serbs and Croatias all paid a heavy price: nearly 2,000 cannons, 600 tanks, 600 armored vehicles and some fighter jets were used, and nearly 280,000 people died in Bosnia and Herzegovina's 4.3 million people died, and more than 2 million people became refugees. More than 85% of the country's economic facilities have been destroyed, the direct economic loss is more than 45 billion US dollars, and ethnic contradictions have deepened.
Entering the old town of Sarajevo, the first thing to see is the towering bell tower, which was built in 1667 and the large clock on it is produced in Italy. It is also a recurring scene in the film Walter Defending Sarajevo.
The streets of the Islamic District are lined with centuries-old traditions of craftsmanship, from coffee utensils, pots and cans, carved copper vases and disc artworks to a variety of women's ornaments, souvenirs with local characteristics, decorative paintings and more.
The Great Mosque of Sarajevo, completed in 1531, is currently the largest and most important historical building and islamic religious center in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many important figures in Bosnian history are buried here.
The Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the largest Roman Catholic church in Bosnia, was built to enshrine the Sacred Heart of Jesus and was built in 1889 and is one of the important symbols of Sarajevo. Damaged in the Bosnian War, it was later repaired.
The remains of the Eastern Roman Empire, more than 1,700 years old, bear witness to the city's rich history
This is my Picture of the Lading Bridge from different angles, also known as the "Princip Bridge", which witnessed the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie 103 years ago, and thus made the civilized world a "famous bridge", so I want to show this "witness of major historical events" in an all-round way, so that everyone can take a good look at and remember it, because it represents an unforgettable history.
The assassination took place at a street intersection near the Lading Bridge, which has become a World War I museum. Photographs hanging on the museum's façade detail the background, circumstances and impact of the assassination. The "Assassin" Princip was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1914 and died of tuberculosis in April 1918. In 1920, his remains were relocated by the Serbian government to the Sarajevo Tomb of Honor, and the bridge where he assassinated Archduke Ferdinand was named after him. However, after the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the original bridge name was restored. It's really this time, it's another time.
In the face of the division of the country and the deepening of national contradictions, it is completely understandable that some people remember the era of Tito's great unification.
As an admirer of the former "Walter", I sincerely pray that the hero's homeland --- the sky above Sarajevo
Billowing smoke, but flying beautiful songs.
(Finished august 2017, revised july 2022)
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