In the Telali Street in the Old Town of Sarajevo, named in 1885 after shop owners who loudly advertised their products, stands hidden the house of one of the greatest Croatian poets, Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević.
Built in the late 19 century, this residential facility was a home to many families of Sarajevo, as well as to guests who wanted to live in the city on the Miljacka River and find inspiration for their greatest artistic and cultural achievements there. One of them was the Croatian poet Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević, born in Senj, Croatia in 1965. He moved to Sarajevo in 1893 after being talked into that by K. Hörmanna, Austro-Hungarian culture attaché. Hörmann launched the literary magazine Hope which was supposed to become a regiment magazine at the territory of BiH, but the true editor was Kranjčević. In the nine years that the Hope magazine was printed (1895-1903), Kranjčević created the most influential and the best South Slavic literary magazine during the transition between centuries.
After Hope was put out, Kranjčević was appointed the Director of Trade School in 1904. In 1898, his selected poems were published, promoting him to the leading Croatian poet. Third collection Twitches was published in 1902, and the collection of Poems was published posthumously in 1908, and Kranjčević did not manage to finish it.
As a young poet, Kranjčević was formed under the major influence by August Šenoa and August Harambašić, in the spirit of the patriotic poetry of the time, with emphasized pathetic style. He glorified the national past, but he also introduced some later social motives. In his poems, he celebrates human mind and free thought, being a target of constant attacks by the Catholic critics due to the clearly expressed resistance towards Christian dogmas. His poetry was fully recognized and completely understood only after the Second World War. Today, he is considered the most important 19th century poet from this region.
Kranjčević passed away in Sarajevo in 1908, in the house located in the Telali Street number 12. On the occasion of the marking of the 100th anniversary of the death of this poet, a memorial plaque was revealed on his house in 2008, made by the academic sculptor Stijepo Gavrić. The plaque was placed by the Croatian Cultural Society Napredak.
(Source: Tarik Jazić – tarikjazic.wordpress.com)
