LIBRARY OF OSMAN-EF. ŠEHDI BJELOPOLJAC IN SARAJEVO

In Islamic civilization, we often encounter buildings raised as a sign of memory of parents, children or some other familiar or related persons. It was for this purpose that religious and infrastructural buildings, such as mosques, fountains and bridges have been constructed. Library of Osman-ef. Šehdi Kadić Bjelopoljac, a prominent diplomat and writer of the Ottoman Empire is one of few examples that a parent, as a memory of his son who died young, and who was a poet who wrote in Ottoman Turkish and who is known as Ahmed Hatemi in literature, commissioned building of a library and endowed an impressive number of major manuscripts. It has been known as the first designated library in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He experienced Bosnia as his own homeland, since his native town Bijelo Polje was part of it, and believed that the courtyard of Sultan-Fatih Mosque in Sarajevo was a suitable place where he commissioned a beautiful hexagonal domed building, and sent 180 handwritten books with cherrypicked contents from Istanbul in 1173 Hijri year/1759A.D. Among them, there is the oldest book that is presently held in Bosnia and Herzegovina, transcribed in 1106. This claim is supported by the motto for the chronogram about building the library taken from the Qur'an (98:3), which means: “Within which are correct writings.” This chronogram is carved in stone and is now built into the wall of the building in front of the Emperor's Mosque. The library existed there until 1910, when the Provincial Government tore it down “with the aim of building a more beautiful and a more modern one”, which was never done. Manuscripts of Osman Šehdi's library are sealed with the founder's seal, which is the ex libris of the library, and which includes the following message:

“This copy was endowed by Osman Šehdi, from the income of royal council in Sarajevo, under the condition that no book must be taken a step or an inch away from the library, the year of 1173.”

Besides the initial holdings of 180 manuscripts, which included works about astronomy, ethics, lexicography, medicine, mathematics, veterinary science, history, literature and other sciences, the library later became home for books from the collections of Sarajevo collectors and muderrises Abdullah-ef. Kantamirija, Abdulkadir Muzaferija, h. Halil-ef., son of Salih, Herceglija and other donors. Without any doubt, it was the largest public library in Bosnia in the early 20th century. At present, manuscripts of the library of Osman Šehdi are held in Gazi Husrev-beg's Library in Sarajevo, still preserving the memory of the poet Ahmed Hatemi, who died prematurely, and his father Osman Šehdi Kadić Bjelopoljac.