Hajji Saban’s tavern was the first tavern in Sarajevo, and it was dating back from 1592. It was located at Bentbasa and it was a favorite meeting place of Sarajevo, especially Sarajevo’s gentlemen or “esref,” and it represented the rare requisite of old Sarajevo. It was demolished back in 1942.
Text about Hajji Saban’s tavern was published in Sarajevo’s newspaper from the 14th of July 1942, on the eve of arrangement of State Road VI, or part of it from the City Hall and a road tunnel at Bentbasa, which was including the demolition of several buildings on the right bank of the Miljacka River, among which was Hajji Saban’s tavern.
The author of the text considered that it was necessary to pay tribute at least on this way to this 250 years old “rare requisite of old Sarajevo,” and the meeting point of so many generations of old Sarajevo on the eve of its “death”.
Besides real coffee from Yemen, which was not grinded at mills but instead beaten in havana (stone mortar), guests were served with variety of juices, gurabije (cookies), djulbe-secer (cooked fruit juice), rahatlokum (Bosnian sweet) etc. Besides reading Turkish newspapers, guests also had the opportunity to play number of old games, such as backgammon, dominoes and chess, as well as various musical instruments, such as kaanun and many others.
Damir Imamovic, famous interpreter of BH sevdalinka song and author of the exhibition “Sevdah, Art of Freedom” which was opened recently at the Art Gallery of B&H in Sarajevo, stated that taverns before were significantly different from today’s, which are now typically referred as something negative.
“Here, taverns were declared as bad places because our history was written by conservatives, people who were acting like there was never any sexual freedom, traveling, or experiencing of other and different here. At that time, small orchestra musicians were first playing animate, cultural music in taverns. The old musicians told me that before the World War II they were even playing classical music such as Mozart’s short pieces, and even some Ottoman pieces,” said Damir Imamovic.
Hajji Saban’s tavern was a meeting place for all news, not only from B&H but also from other parts of the world. In one word, it was a replacement for today’s newspapers. Early in the morning, right after the Fajr prayer (early morning prayer), many people would come to tavern to talk about all daily events and the latest city news that were coming in the city from distant parts of the world, brought by many traders who were coming to Sarajevo from everywhere.
“We should not forget that Sarajevo was one of the most important and world famous trading centers, with traders arriving from Venice, Dubrovnik, Constantinople and so many other well-known places. And was it possible for any one of them to come without any news and not to visit the famous Hajji Saban’s tavern, the most beautiful and most modern tavern in Sarajevo at the time?” as stated in the text from 1942, regarding the demolition of Hajji Saban’s tavern.
(Source: klix.ba)
