ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the urban restructuring of the market area of the city of Sarajevo (Čaršija) in the time of imperial transition from Ottoman to Austro-Hungarian rule. Following protocols of Ottoman urbanism, Čaršija was shaped as an urban center dedicated to commerce, craft, and religious practices and became a space of social experiences of different groups and communities. Heavily damaged by a great fire in 1879 at the beginning of the Austro-Hungarian presence in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and consequently rebuilt incorporating new planning procedures and architectural practices, Čaršija became a test case for the Austrian-Hungarian administration. After being pragmatically revalorized, Čaršija and many of its old structures took their place in the new urban vision for the provincial capital Sarajevo. The analysis shows how one empire used urban elements from its predecessor in building its own imperial representation and self-conception. The urgency to modernize Ottoman-era Čaršija gradually shifted to an impulse to exhibit its oriental picturesqueness and culminated with an unfinished conversation about the need to preserve its urban heritage.
