András Riedlmayer. Islamic art and culture in Bosnia:Past and future of a 600-year-old European heritage

András Riedlmayer
András Riedlmayer is the bibliographer at the Documentation Center of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University. Since 1985, he has directed the unit of university’s library charged with developing, managing and providing reference and access to North America’s largest and most comprehensive collection of visual and textual documentation of the art, architecture, archaeology and visual cultures of the Islamic world. He also served as an expert witness on the destruction of cultural heritage in war crime trials related to the armed conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Islamic art and culture in Bosnia:
Past and future of a 600-year-old European heritage
Bosnia-Herzegovina, in the heart of Europe, is also a historic part of the Islamic world. Islam arrived in Bosnia in the 1400s with the Ottomans. Within a century after the conquest, more than half of Bosnia’s people converted to Islam and a distinctive culture took form, with its own art and architecture, literature, social customs and folklore.
At the end of the 20th century, Bosnia’s pluralistic society came under attack. The ensuing war led to the deaths of more than 100,000 people and drove millions from their homes. Historic monuments, museums, libraries and archives were deliberately targeted for destruction. Since the end of the war, Bosnians have faced the difficult task of recovery and rebuilding, and of preserving what remains of this endangered heritage, the subject of this lecture.