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Sarajevo - Multireligious, Multicultural
Sarajevo, a city where "the East Meets the West", once was a perfect example of the multireligious diversity. There, in spite of adversities, for centuries coexisted Muslims, Christians, and Jews. This picture shows an Ashkenazic Jewish synagogue, Catholic and Orthodox cathedrals, as well as graceful minarets of the Sunni Islam's numerous places of worship. Temples, churches, mosques . . . sitting almost next to each other.
The first to disapear from the city's religious caleidoscope were Lutheran Protestants. They were mainly Austrians who left during the WWI when the Habsburgs' rule over Bosnia ended. The magnificient Lutheran church in Sarajevo is now an Art Academy.
Before the World Wars the Jews composed around 12% of the Sarajevo's population. The majority of them were Sephardic whilst the tiny minority were Ashkenazic Jews. Mass murders in the WWII Holocaust sharply decreased Sarajevo's Jewish population to less than 0.2%. Today none of the several Sephardic temples is in the religious use: one became a public university, another is an art gallery, the third is a Jewish Museum.
The 1992-1995 Bosnian war cut hugely on Sarajevo's Christians, the Croats and Serbs who together composed more than 50% percent of the Sarajevans before the civil war. They shrunk to about 10% at the end of the first decade of the 20th century. The Muslim Bosniaks are composing the rest of the city's population, like in the days of the Turkish Ottoman rule some 150 years ago. So 'magistra historia' made the 360 degrees circle.
Sarajevo - Multireligious, Multicultural
Sarajevo, a city where "the East Meets the West", once was a perfect example of the multireligious diversity. There, in spite of adversities, for centuries coexisted Muslims, Christians, and Jews. This picture shows an Ashkenazic Jewish synagogue, Catholic and Orthodox cathedrals, as well as graceful minarets of the Sunni Islam's numerous places of worship. Temples, churches, mosques . . . sitting almost next to each other.
The first to disapear from the city's religious caleidoscope were Lutheran Protestants. They were mainly Austrians who left during the WWI when the Habsburgs' rule over Bosnia ended. The magnificient Lutheran church in Sarajevo is now an Art Academy.
Before the World Wars the Jews composed around 12% of the Sarajevo's population. The majority of them were Sephardic whilst the tiny minority were Ashkenazic Jews. Mass murders in the WWII Holocaust sharply decreased Sarajevo's Jewish population to less than 0.2%. Today none of the several Sephardic temples is in the religious use: one became a public university, another is an art gallery, the third is a Jewish Museum.
The 1992-1995 Bosnian war cut hugely on Sarajevo's Christians, the Croats and Serbs who together composed more than 50% percent of the Sarajevans before the civil war. They shrunk to about 10% at the end of the first decade of the 20th century. The Muslim Bosniaks are composing the rest of the city's population, like in the days of the Turkish Ottoman rule some 150 years ago. So 'magistra historia' made the 360 degrees circle.