Picture taken at Petrova Crkva;
Looking through the entry gate

Impressions from the Field V

Picture taken by Petrova Crkva

Picture taken by Petrova Crkva 

One develops a keen sense of history when strolling through Novi Pazar. On display are – as if one were to walk through a live museum – old Ottoman bathhouses, Mosques, Orthodox Churches, bakeries, a great big fort and remnants of the Yugoslav socialist past. What becomes apparent when visiting the town’s most prominent sights is the grade of deterioration each of the buildings display. Is it random coincidence, I started to wonder after some time, that most of the Orthodox structures are wonderfully renovated while some of the Muslim sights seem left to deteriorate?

Picture taken by Đurđevi Stupovi; 
Looking up at the Monastery

Picture taken by  Đurđevi Stupovi

            Take for example the Petrova Crkva (Peter’s Churc). The Church stands somewhat elevated on a small hill about a mile or so away from city center and is surrounded by graves that look like they have been around for quite some time. The Petrova Crkva herself dates back to the 9^th century while I have been told that it was built on top of another site that dates back to the 6^th century. In 1979, the Church was placed on the UNESCO’s world heritage list, which perhaps explains the sights fresh appearance. When comparing newer images of the Church to older pictures found on the web, one will notice that reconstruction efforts were made, specifically to the cobblestones and the entry gate leading to the Church herself.

Picture taken in NP; Looking at
the Hammam from the outside

Picture taken in NP; in the courtyard
of  the Hammam; looking at the
gate leading in to the bathhouse 

The same is true for the Monastery called Đurđevi Stupovi (The Tracts of St. George). On foot, it takes about an hour-long hike to reach the Monastery, which too appears cleaned up and renovated. Đurđevi Stupovi was built in the 12^th century as an endowment to Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the Nemanja Dynasty and father of Serbia’s first King Stefan Nemanja; needless to say that this structure is historically significant.

                Upon returning to town, it became apparent to me that historically significant Ottoman and/or Islamic structures had received less care and perhaps financial support. The most likely once magnificent Isa-Begov Hammam (Turkish Bath), built in the 15^th century, surely has seen better days. The inside courtyard is used as a café courtyard during summer time because of its cooling properties but lies bare and unused for the rest of the year. Inside the courtyard, I met a professor who expressed regretted over the deterioration of such magnificent structures.

Picture taken inside Altun-Alem's
courtyard;looking at a Dervish tombstones  

Picture taken inside Altun-Alem's
courtyard; looking at the
fresh water well  

Mosques too have not received any state funding. Novi Pazar’s Altun-Alem Mosque (With the Golden Gem Stone) has been built in the 16^th century and is its oldest and perhaps most famous Mosque in Novi Pazar. The architecture was considered unusual for Serbia for its single dome and portico that is covered with two smaller domes. Similar structures can be found in Turkey. Atlun-Alem has a courtyard that includes the original fresh water well, a maktab (elementary school where children learn how to read and write, grammar, and Quran recitation etc.) and old Muslim grave sites. As I looked around the mosque’s courtyard, I was invited to climb the minaret by its caretaker. I had visited many mosques, though was never able to climb a minaret before and excitedly accepted. As we climbed the long, narrow and dark tower, the caretaker explained to me that he had brought the mosque and its surroundings by himself in order. The entry gate coming from the road as well as the maktab seemed indeed nicely renovated, as were some of the dervish gravesites that carried Turkish names in Arabic calligraphy. The inside of the mosque too seemed restored with its newly painted white walls and wonderfully soft red carpet. State finances did allegedly not reach this mosque. Instead, private investments allowed for somethe renovation of the prayer house.

Picture taken inside Altun-Alem's mosque;
looking at the stairs leading up-down the minaret 

Picture taken in Novi Pazar's Altun-Alem Mosque; looking
down at the city from the minaret 

            In midst of these cultural and religious structures tower huge socialist blocs – remnants of this region’s not so long gone Yugoslav past. There is not much controversy that surrounds these buildings. They are used as sturdy apartment blocs, storefronts or office buildings that are shared by Bosniaks, Roma, and Serbs alike. Perhaps they also stand as sturdy reminders for a past in which the government provided living spaces and financial aid for cultural pastime to all citizens of Novi Pazar and surrounding regions. 

Picture taken in Novi Pazar; looking at one of the buildings
that were built during the existence of Yugoslavia