Bosnian solidarity for Italy in emergency: Sarajevo Library lights up with tricolor

“Burn the library / The handwritten and recopied books / That Sephardic Jews bring to Sarajevo / Fleeing from Spain”: so sang C.S.I. in Cupe vampe, the wonderful song recalling the burning of the Vijećnica, the Sarajevo Library, during the Bosnian war. The grandiose building, built between 1892 and 1894 to the design of Czech architect Karel PaÅ™ík, was one of the most extraordinary relics of Austro-Hungarian Bosnia, and was badly hit by Serbian artillery during the siege of Sarajevo: it was August 25, 1992, and the Library was almost totally destroyed, while librarians, firefighters and, more generally, culture lovers determined to lend a helping hand to the staff, tried to bring to safety the most precious heritage, the books. For 90 percent of the Sarajevo Library’s book holdings, however, there was nothing to be done: they were destroyed in the frightening fire that engulfed the building. Fortunately, however, the Sarajevo Haggadah, one of the oldest Hebrew-language documents in Europe, managed to be saved: it was brought to Sarajevo by Sephardim driven out of Spain at the end of the 15th century by Ferdinand of Castile and Isabella of Aragon, and was secured before the bombing began.

When the war ended, reconstruction began: work was completed in 2014, the date of the reopening of the Vijećnica, which is also the seat of the town hall of the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A reconstruction in which there is also a bit of Italy: while the war was still going on, there were many solidarity committees that promoted fundraising to rebuild the Sarajevo Library (not to mention that Italy played a priciple role in the reconstruction of other important monuments destroyed during the war, such as the Old Bridge in Mostar). Bosnia has not forgotten Italian help and reciprocates in these difficult days of coronavirus emergency with a message of solidarity addressed to Italy: this evening, Sarajevo City Hall decided to light the Library with the tricolor.

A photograph of the Sarajevo Library illuminated in the colors of Italy appeared this evening on the Sarajevo City Hall Facebook page, with a few words of commentary: “Poruka podrške iz Vijećnice,” or “message of support from the City Hall.” “Even though the whole world and ourselves are facing the spread of the coronavirus,” Sarajevo Mayor Abdullah Skaka told the Bosnian daily Klix, “we are sending a message to our Italian friends to show that we are as close to them as they have been to us.”

A thank you to the Balkan country has already come from the Italian ambassador to Bosnia, Nicola Minasi, who tweets a simple “thank you friends, thank you Bosnia and Herzegovina.” And on social media now, too, it is a continuous stream of “Hvala,” or “thank you” in the local language.

Pictured: the Sarajevo Library illuminated in the colors of Italy. Ph. Credit Nedim Grabovic

Bosnian solidarity for Italy in emergency: Sarajevo Library lights up with tricolor

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