Svrzo’s House

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   SVRZO'S H O U S E

"The
wealth, riches, and diversities of influences of the various cultures
and their merging with the domestic inheritance in our territories were
fully expressed in the characteristics of a traditional Bosnian house,
particularly the solutions it offered as an early big housing complex.

Those
solutions find its deep roots in the traditional and inherited housing
culture, but at the same time, they bear in themselves the elements of
the Ottoman houses from the wide areas of Anatolia.

The feudal
families of the medieval Bosnia used to dwell in the fortified towns,
really in narrow multi-storey stone castles with loopholes. In certain
cases a wooden watchtower was extended to the top, used for defence and
viewing. Due to security concerns, those castles used to have an
entrance on the first floor, where ladders or mobile stairs were
utilized to claim there. These castles were always the best-defended
part of the old town. A cellar which sometimes served as a jail
facility also had a vaulted stone construction (�emer), as well as one
last floor under the watchtower (�atma). 

Because of the lack
of space and housing discomforts, next to these forts were palaces used
for dwelling. Every room in a palace had a chimney, the name for a room
of this sort then stemming from the word for �chimney� during the
Ottoman Empire. A castle with chimneys was encircled by a wall, and in
the yard there was a well. These palaces were the seats of military
commanders, captains, and landowners, and they normally used to serve
as an �outing house� in the summer months.

In the middle of the
20th century there used to be 145 castles in 115 places throughout
Bosnia. The most famous ones are the castles and palaces of certain
landowners and beys' families such as: Ali-pa�a Rizvanbegovi� at
Trebi�at, Fadil Pa�i� at Dobrinja near Sarajevo and at Bijela (Br�ko),
Sulejman Pa�i� at Bugojno, the �ur�i�s at Ko�evo in Sarajevo, the
Svrzos in Sarajevo, the �engi�s at Rataji and Ustikolina, Rustem Pa�i�
at Bugojno, the Kulenovi�s at Kulen Vakuf, Mustaj-beg Babi� in
Sarajevo. 

Forty-five villages and hamlets in Bosnia and
Herzegovina bear the name Kula; there exist twelve Kulas/Kulinas and
thirty-five under the name Od�ak or Od�aci.

The symbiosis of
castles and chimneys, as dual housing systems where a castle assured a
defence and a palace a comfortable dwelling, served later as a leading
concept in the creation of city housing complexes. There also appear
two units in the same object, but with a different purpose and a
different form.

By establishing authority of the Ottomans,
social changes arose that conditioned a different way of living and
different norms that had to be obeyed, subsequently calling for a
different way of organization of a residential dwelling. The acceptance
of the Islam obviously was a factor that influenced the housing
culture. First of all, it appealed to the status of a woman in the
society and in a family as defined by Moslem laws. Because of that, a
concept of a castle and palace was transformed into the concept of the
male and the female part of a house, or, haremluk and selamluk- really,
public and private part. Along with such a solution, a need for the
maintenance of the home and personal hygiene was also imposed, and more
or less in every room baths were built - hamamd�iks, which provided a
place for washing before a prayer (abdesluk).

Along with the
phenomenon of the dual housing system, strong influence of the
traditional ethnic construction was also present. It is reflected,
first of all, in the placement of an open hearth in the middle of a
house, so that in some parts this space is called a "house", according
to the established medieval tradition. A "house" is really a kitchen
with an open hearth, and next to it, in most cases is a room where
water is kept in pails, "water-storage", also part of the inherited
concept. In the Ottoman period a "house" was called a kitchen ("matbah"
- kitchen in Arabic) and it had a significant place in the whole
system. Here a fire was always kept unextinguished, in the aim of
maintaining the continuity of a family life. A kitchen was usually on
the ground floor and then its height stretches through two floors
(dimluk), or it�s on the last floor under the roof. In Ottoman houses,
the kitchen is always on the ground floor without the two floors
(dimluk).

A "house" with the water-storage as an inherited
element and dualism of castle and palace, the concept of the female
part (haremluk) and male part (selamluk) as an Ottoman influence, will
give different housing solutions throughout Bosnia depending on the
status and the position of the owner in the social structure of that
time and its inherent tendencies. 

Through analysis of the
different types of the Bosnian house, two basic dispositions are
observed: symmetrical and asymmetrical disposition. The first one
displays influences from the authentic Ottoman dwelling culture, and
the other represents interpretations of those influences, in our
circumstances, coupled with a strong domestic tradition.

Castles
were built according to the first system, or really the residential
palaces of the Bosnian regents, as well as seraglios, and the palaces
of the Bosnian beys. The symmetrical solutions of the single housing
objects are most often seen with houses in South Serbia and Macedonia.
In Bosnia they can be still found at Fo�a and Banja Luka. In these
regions a new specificity appears: the kitchen- or a "house" with the
hearth, is placed on the floor in this instance. This room is without a
ceiling; it is directly under the roof, where there is an opening.

Castles
had an Ottoman symmetrical concept. Both parts- private (haremluk) and
residential part (selamluk), had halls (hajat) on the ground floor and
verandas on the upper floors, around which the rooms were arranged.
There are preserved documents about Vali's palaces at Travnik and at
Banja Luka that bear witness to how these constructions were built and
arranged.

Every part, both male and female, developed its
disposition separately. Therefore on the ground-floor of the male
(selamluk) and female (haremluk) parts, rooms are arranged around the
central hall (hajat) which is paved with stones; from there a one-arm
wooden stair-case leads to the next floor. In the male part (selamluk),
on the ground-floor, there is a barroom (kahveod�ak) for traditional
preparing of coffee, and in the female part (haremluk) there is a
kitchen. A thick wall separates both parts with its whole width,
although between the parts there is a connecting chamber both on the
ground floor and on the floors. The central rooms of the floor really
represent the verandas around which the rooms are arranged.

The
other type of the symmetrical complexes is the bey-seraglios. They
consist of the main object, a symmetrical disposition, which is
connected by a wooden bridge (mabejna) to a summer residence (mutvak)
where there is a kitchen with an open hearth - a "house" and the
water-storage.

The connection between these parts was created at
the level of the floor, while on the ground-floor they exist as
separated �wholes�. Separate roofs cover both objects. On the ground
floor of the main object there is a male part of the house with a
bar-room (kahveod�ak) and a special entrance for the male visitors. On
the ground floor of the summer residence (mutvak) there is a storehouse
and a stable. So, this object bears all the elements of the traditional
but also the Ottoman elements of the main house. The narrow forged
wooden bridge (mabejna or mabejin) - in some regions called "kubura"
(Banja Luka) or "araluk" (Serbia), serves as a �mechanical� connection
between these two systems. Around this narrow wooden bridge (mabejna)
in the main house live and work the servants. The ground floor is made
of stone and has got loopholes, which reminds of medieval castles. This
is usually the case with complexes that were built in the vicinity of
the castles (serhat) (examples: bey- seraglio of the Kapetanovi�s -
Be�lagi�s and the Ibrahimovi�s from Banja Luka).

The total
composition of the complex of Svrzo's House- its space and
architectural structures, which actually really has three separate
�wholes�, points to a strong connection with these mentioned roots of
origin. In accordance with the concept and disposition of its
structure, one could assume that these wholes originated through
stages, however, always with a conceived and planned purpose. This
purpose remains in its function to serve for the integrity of the whole
solution, although it took about hundred years for this solution to be
completely realized. 

The first �whole� in Svrzo�s house
consists of the main house with the ground-floor and floor, where the
male part (selamluk) makes an "ahar" with an enclosed porch, and a
female part makes a summer residence (mutvak) with storehouses- a
kitchen or a summer residence (mutvak) where there was an open hearth.
Nowadays, in that place one can find a small garden, either created to
be used as a summer residence (mutvak) or created by the restoration
interventions when the authentic original kitchen was destroyed.

The
male (selamluk) and female (haremluk) parts, although strongly
separated, were still connected in two places in Svrzo�s house. The
first connection is a narrow dark hall (mabejna), originated on the
model of a wooden bridge of a seraglio; the other connection was based
on the model of a closet (�ekme-dolaf). There was a devised way of
delivering food from the summer residence (mutvak) into the male part
(selamluk)- by turning a dining-table in the wall, which separated the
two parts, and also served to protect female members of the house from
the glances of male visitors.

The central place of the complex
includes females� yard around which there were arranged these
facilities: the main house with the female part (haremluk) and male
part (selamluk), and the female quarter with a big parlour (halvat).
That is a representative parlour in the nature that by a massive wall
closes and protects from the male part (selamluk).

Through their function and communication, and also with the views they provided, all these rooms were oriented toward the yard. 

Such
a kind of solution has got its deep roots in Arabic, but also is
Assyrian, Babylonian, and Hellenistic houses, where everything was
oriented toward the yard, which was the central part of the complex.

By
analysis of the disposition of the Svrzo's House, one notices a quite
suggestive asymmetry of the main house, as well as of the whole
composition. It is reflected in an intention to realize the best
possible economic function on the ground floor without necessarily
adhering to any particular form. The spaces are arranged according to
the need, completed and placed simply in a most functional way for the
household. The position of the storehouses, stable and summer residence
(mutvak) is a result of this �freed� relationship to space.

There
was a tendency to create from the floors views on the garden, street
and the yard. As a consequence the veranda has no central place in the
disposition of the house, as is the case with symmetrical Ottoman
houses; Instead, in Svrzo�s house the veranda stretches along the whole
width of the object, not only along the female part of the house
(haremluk) but also along the male part (selamluk). With the female
quarter it transforms itself into the balcony and opens toward the
female yard. The wooden posts that support it are ornamented with small
threads of flowers (ak�am�i�i), which combined with moonlight�s glow,
transform the balcony into the most beautiful corner of this part of
the house. The same also happens with the veranda of the male part of
the house (selamluk) which also follows the disposition asymmetrically
and whose balcony makes safe the visual contacts with the male yard.

For
the other �whole�- the female quarter or the other female part of the
house (haremluk), due to its position in the complex and also due to
its complete isolation from the main house, one could assume that it
was built later. It seems that it was built for the needs of the family
Glo�os. Due to its status in the former social life in Sarajevo, the
family looked for a particularly great space for receptions of female
visitors during periods for weddings, religious rituals or ceremonies
(hatma or mevlud). 

However, the position of the summer residence
(mutvak) - the kitchen, points out to the possibility that this part
was built at the same time when the main part was built. Its
disposition is also asymmetrical, with a big female room, richly
equipped and decorated.

The male quarter (selamluk) was
probably the last that was built. It served as guest quarters
(musarfirhana) for the reception of male visitors with a room and an
adjacent bar-room (kahveod�ak).

With its beauty and proportions,
this Bosnian House distinguishes itself, first of all, by a humanistic
approach to the nature, which was assured in its every segment.
Synthesis of the two cultures, both the inherited/traditional and the
Ottoman culture, were realized. The essence of the traditional house
with a hearth further remains the heart of the house, and veranda and
balcony, elements of the Ottoman culture, have become its soul.

The
peculiarity of this solution, however, and of similar beys' complexes,
lies in the stressed separations of each element (beginning from the
wall of the yard, storehouses, summer residences (mutvak), male and
female parts of the house, verandas and balconies), where each of the
elements distinguishes itself by its individuality but at the same time
connects itself into a unique composition- a �whole�. It is the veranda
remnants, corners and balconies (kamerije) that emphasize this general
excitement. Here one can find a great number of the windows that along
with the cubic form of the object, white fa�ade and deep eaves, and the
insured connection of the house with the yard and garden, give main
characteristics to this structure. (The houses of Alija �erzelez and
Skopljak in Sarajevo, the housing complex of the Rizvanbegovi�s,
Begovina, at Stolac, Kajtaz and Bi��evi�'s house in Mostar).

The
successful symbiosis of these separated wholes- the main house, summer
female and male parts of the house (haremluk and selamluk) with special
yards, is the beauty of this house. These parts, through their position
and relation of their dimensions, create a mutual connection, both
naturally and logically. The game of empty and full volumes creates
dynamics of the object and the riches of windows and extensions gives a
geometrical composition to the shadows on the white walls. All these
elements mutually and tamely permeate each other, as a result placing a
man into the centre and taking him as a measure.

Thanks to its
adaptability, validity, and practicality, the Bosnian House has
survived despite all the changes that occurred in this region through
the centuries. With its survival and existence this House made the
preservation of our national identity easier."

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