Sarajevo has numerous magnificent villas built during the time of the Ottomans and Austro-Hungarians. They have great cultural and historical significance and some of them are still inhabited. One of them is Villa Rifka in Bistrik.
The villa consists of 3 one bedroom apartments, 2 two bedroom apartments and 4 three bedroom apartments. It’s located in Sarajevo’s street Za Beglukom. It was built during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and has never been renovated. This villa is recorded as a cultural monument that consists of a house with housing and a 634 square meter yard.
According to data from the Service for Housing and Property-Legal Affairs, the original owners of this house were Danijel Baruh, Sida Baruh, Sida Finci, Dana Salom, Matilda Paro, Sida Paro, Erna Salom and Erna Beker.
”By the decision of nationalization DN 6509/61 the house is nationalized and became a public property. In the present facility live families who were holders of the tenancy rights, and who bought those apartments and became their owners based on positive legislation,” says the Service.
The owners were Jewish. According to the stories of the residents living near, the house was built by the Baruh family who came to the Balkans back in the 1942, after being banished from Spain. This family lived in Bulgaria and two brothers came to Travnik around 1860. It’s assumed that this is how they came to Sarajevo. They were the ancestors of Isak Samokovlija. They called them ‘Samokovlije’ by the Bulgarian town they came from, Samokov. Isak’s mother was called Rifka. Most of the residents of Villa Rifka were sent off to concentration camps.
The villa is recorded by the Civil Protection for Dilapidated Houses on the area of the municipality Stari Grad that needs to be renovated or knocked down.
(Source: Klix.ba)
