The 479th anniversary of the Gazi Husrev-Bey’s Library was officially marked yesterday with a lecture and exhibition held at the premises of this oldest cultural institution in the region.
Director of this institution, Muhamed Hodžić, said that after even 479 years of existence the library still serves its purpose; its resources are being used, its funds, reading rooms and depots, and “100,000 library units and fonds firmly testify to our history, culture, religion, property, wars and sufferings”.
The academician Enes Karić highlighted that Gazi Husrev-Bey’s Library is “an institution of Islamic Community, the Bosniak people, as well as the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and all its peoples, Serbs and Croats, and it even goes beyond the borders of B&H”.
Speaking of the topic “Gazi Husrev-Bey’s Library as a cultural-scientific institution”, Dr. Mustafa Jahić said that the library represents an institution with the largest and most significant literary corpus which “preserves the collective spiritual memory of Bosniaks”.
Exhibition “Bosnian vasijetname (wills) in Ottoman language” by Azra Gadžo Kasumagić, displayed on the occasion of this anniversary, was opened by the Deputy Reis ul-Ulema of Islamic Community in B&H Husein ef. Smajić. The exhibition displays selected works from Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian period in B&H; documents which testify to an important segment of Bosniak tradition and religious practice.
New facility of the Gazi Husrev-Bey’s Library was officially opened on January 15th 2014. Government of the State of Qatar donated the majority of funds for its construction.
(Source: novovrijeme.ba)
