The first monograph on the Sarajevo City Hall, the building that for decades stood as a witness and the subject of social and political change, and whose existence was brutally interrupted in the summer of 1992, was presented at this beautiful building in front of large audience.
Presentation of the first book dedicated to the City Hall was attended by many prominent figures from the cultural, political and public life, and the diplomatic corps in BiH.
The monograph comprehensively represents the City Hall as a building and as an institution, along with an overview of the historical context, its construction, operation, destruction and reconstruction, and it provides an accurate and factual review and chronology.
The book is published in both, Bosnian and English language and is a testimony of a tumultuous life of this building from the period when it was a city hall to the period when it housed the National and University Library of BiH.
It has been a witness of change of several state systems, assassination, temptations of the two world wars, the rise during the Olympic Games, all until its barbaric destruction.
Two of its three authors Ferhad Mulabegović and Valerian Žujo, and Sarajevo Mayor Ivo Komšić spoke about the book, as well as the editor Nedžad Mulaomerović.
Ferhad Mulabegović believes that the monograph represents a testament and a chronology of events around the creation of the building, its destruction, all until its long-lasting period of reconstruction that lasted nearly 18 years.
Editor Nedžad Mulaomerović underlines that it took three years to complete the entire project of architectural restoration and painting decoration of the City Hall.
The starting point, he said, was very modest and it was necessary to explore, because all the decorations and grandeur of the building were not visible to the eye at all during the time when the City Hall stood in ruins.
“We visited a lot of cities in Europe that have some connection to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the City Hall, collecting photos and documents, and finally we managed to find the original project of the construction of the City Hall, the period from 1892 till 1896.
Thus, we were in possession of that vast and exclusive material that says a lot about this building, and it was logical that put it all in a monograph.
The task was to present this symbol of ours with dignity, as one of the most important buildings from the legacy of the Austro-Hungarian period in our region,” he explained.
Architectural studio URBING, in cooperation with the administration of the City of Sarajevo decided to compile the first monograph “Sarajevo City Hall ‘, signed by the authors closely related to the project of reconstruction of the City Hall – Valerijan Žujo, Ferhad Mulabegović and Smajo Mulaomerović.
The book was funded by donations collected on the Internet platform Kickstarter.
(Source: Fena)
