The Founding of a City

Sarajevo's story begins in the mid-15th century, when the Ottoman Empire pushed westward into the Balkans and established a military and administrative base in a wide valley carved by the Miljacka River. The settlement was initially called Bosna-Saray — "saray" meaning palace or government building in Ottoman Turkish — and it would grow into one of the most culturally layered cities in European history.

The man most responsible for transforming this outpost into a genuine city was Gazi Husrev-beg, the Ottoman governor (sanjak-bey) of Bosnia from 1521 to 1541. During his tenure, Husrev-beg funded an extraordinary building campaign that gave Sarajevo its defining character.

What Gazi Husrev-beg Built

Between the 1520s and 1530s, Husrev-beg endowed the city with a series of structures that still anchor Sarajevo's historic core:

  • Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque (1531) — The largest Ottoman mosque in the Balkans still in active use. Its elegant dome and minaret remain landmarks of the Baščaršija quarter.
  • Bezistan (Covered Market) — A vaulted bazaar designed for textile trade, connecting the mosque complex to the wider market area.
  • Gazi Husrev-beg's Han (Inn) — A caravanserai providing shelter for travelling merchants and their goods.
  • Maktab and Madrasa — Religious schools that established Sarajevo as a centre of Islamic learning in the region.
  • Public Fountain (Sebilj) — A tradition of public water provision that survives symbolically in the famous wooden fountain still standing in Baščaršija today.

A Multi-Faith City from the Start

One of Sarajevo's most remarkable historical characteristics is its multi-confessional makeup, which dates to the Ottoman period itself. The Ottomans organised non-Muslim communities under the millet system, allowing Christians and Jews to maintain their own institutions. As a result, Sarajevo became one of the few cities in Europe where a mosque, an Orthodox church, a Catholic church, and a synagogue all stood within a few hundred metres of each other — a proximity that earned it the nickname "Jerusalem of Europe."

The Sephardic Jewish community, expelled from Spain in 1492, found refuge in Ottoman-controlled Sarajevo and built a lasting presence in the city. The Old Jewish Quarter (Čifuthan) sat adjacent to the bazaar, and the community's cultural contributions are documented in the Sarajevo Haggadah — a 14th-century illuminated manuscript that is now one of the most treasured objects in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Austro-Hungarian Chapter

Ottoman rule ended in 1878 when Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia following the Congress of Berlin. The new administration didn't demolish what the Ottomans had built — instead, they built alongside it. Wide boulevards, neo-Moorish and neo-Gothic public buildings, and a tramline were layered over the Ottoman city, creating the architectural conversation between East and West that visitors still navigate today.

Walking from Baščaršija westward along Ferhadija Street is, in effect, a walk through five centuries of urban history compressed into about a kilometre.

Why This History Still Matters

Understanding Sarajevo's Ottoman foundations helps explain much of what makes the city feel unlike anywhere else in Europe. The street layout of Baščaršija, the call to prayer echoing off the hills, the tradition of Bosnian coffee served in džezvas — these are not tourist performances. They are living continuations of a half-millennium-old urban culture that has survived empires, wars, and dramatic political change.

When you walk through the old bazaar, you are walking through a city that Gazi Husrev-beg essentially willed into existence — and that is a remarkable thing to carry with you.