The extreme heat in recent weeks forced the most courageous Sarajevans to seek salvation at the famous bathing are in the old part of Sarajevo, along the flow of the Miljacka River – the Bentbasa.
However, not so long ago Bentbasa was the favorite bathing area of the Sarajevans, with a long history.
At the end of the meander of the Miljacka River once existed the village of Brodac, where was situated a wooden dam built from the oak logs buried in the river bottom of Miljacka. The Ottomans called this area Bentbasa (tur. Bent=dam and Basi=main).
The river was once bridged here by a bridge constructed of billy goat bellows, and after by a wooden bridge built in 1793, which served for stopping and extraction of the wooden logs which were descented in the Miljacka at Pale and rafted down the river to the city.
“Tomrukcije (the wood traders) removed them from the river at Bentbasa and sold them there. Tomruk-dam was repeatedly repaired and used until 1904, when the transport of logs started being conducted via narrow-gauge railway.
With the arrival of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the famous Da Riva built a bathing area at this part of the Miljacka flow in 1884. With the construction of the road towards Kozja cuprija, the current tunnel was breached and the Public bathing area built, which was opened on July 20th 1902. A little further downstream, the women of Sarajevo washed clothes and carpets, and kerepi were driven.
In 1958, the authorities in Sarajevo decided to charge the Czech designers for the construction of a steel dam at Bentbasa, 15 meters high, which would have double significance for the city. The main purpose of the dam was periodical flodding of the river bed in order to remove the sediment and sludge, as well as the creation of an artificial lake, approximately 200 meters long, beneath the Babica Basta, which served as the city bathing area“, said the historian and archivist Velid Jerlagic.
(Source: radiosarajevo.ba/ photo source)
