Turkey to renovate bathhouse in Bosnia

SARAJEVO - Anatolia News Agency

The Isa Bey Bathhouse in Bosnia Herzegovina will be restored within a protocol signed by Turkish and Bosnian officials. The restoration will start next year. AA photo

Turkey prepares to restore Isa Bey Bathhouse (hamam) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Turkish and Bosnian officials signed a protocol Dec. 10 to restore Isa Bey Bathhouse, and the building’s restoration project will begin in 2012. 

Constructed in 1462 during the reign of the Ottoman Empire, Isa Bey Bathhouse was severely damaged during the Bosnian War in the early 1990s. It is Sarajevo’s oldest bathhouse and is among the oldest in Europe.

Bosnia is home to the highest number of relics, 1,500 in total, from the Ottoman Empire period in the Balkans. Among those artifacts and buildings are the Gazi Husrev-Bey (Gazi Husrev-begova) Mosque, Muslihudin Eekrekeija Mosque, Havadze Duraka Mosque and Ferhadija Mosque. 

Gazi Husrev-Bey Mosque (1530-31) is the most significant Islamic structure in Bosnia and is distinguished from other sub-dome mosques in the country by its architectural values, varied base, multi-dome system and daring construction.