BIRTH HOUSE OF BEHAUDIN SELMANOVIĆ

Behaudin Selmanović (1915–1972) is one of the greatest Bosniak modern painters. Upon completing the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb (1943), he permanently tied his life and oeuvre to Sarajevo, Počitelj and Stolac. The birth house of this painter was one of the oldest and the most beautiful Ottoman houses in South Slavic regions. It is assumed that it was built before 1554 and was located in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Pljevlja.

Pljevlja (or, as it was named under the Ottoman rule, Taslidža) was one of the biggest and the most significant administrative and economic centers of the Bosnia Eyalet, the most exposed province of the European part of the Ottoman Empire. The Selmanovićs were a family of a particular significance and influence in the Pljevlja region. A particularly important period in the history of the region is related to the one when Pljevlja was the main seat of Herzegovina Sanjak (1576–1833), and during the 18th century members of this respectable family were as a rule appointed sanjak-beys of Herzegovina. The family's political and economic influence was particularly strong from the second half of the 18th century on. Thus, it is claimed that the Selmanovićs were administrators of the nahiyah of Drobnjak. One member of the family, who was also sanjak-bey of Herzegovina, frequently willful and rebellious toward the Sublime Porte though a skillful negotiator with the Republic of Ragusa – Mehmed-beg Selmanović – was late in life appointed deputy Bosnian vizier in Travnik, which was a special honor both for the family and for the entire Pljevlja region.

According to archeological findings, the fertile valley of the River Ćehotina, which flows through the town, was inhabited as early as from the ancient times. In natural shelters of the river remains of the town known Municipium S were found. Behaudin was born in Pljevlja on 4 July 1915, as the eighth and the youngest child of father Salih-beg and mother. He grew up at an estate right next to the River Ćehotina, in a house surrounded by inns, with spacious courtyards enclosed by walls, lush greenery and mountains.

According to preserved photographs, the old family house of the Selmanovićs was a massive two-story building with a high ground floor and a deep hipped roof, characteristic of old Ottoman houses, surrounded by business buildings needed for life at a large estate by the river, outside the town center. In the art collection of the Heritage Museum of Pljevlja one can find a pencil sketch by Montenegrin painter, a representative of the Art School from Herceg-Novi, Milenko Vukojičić (1927–2008) Kuća Selmanovića (House of the Selmanovićs), which faithfully depicts the condition of the old house before its total destruction and recent additions. The sketch preserves the appearance of the kamerija (verandah looking toward the inner yard) in the central part of the first floor. This protruding part of the house volume, the lightest and the airiest place where the interior and the nature met, was also the central spot of the family life and reception of guests, with windows typically covered with mušebaks (wooden grids).

Today, these courtyards are sadly deserted and ruined. The old Selmanovićs' house is completely dilapidated, sunk into overgrown courtyard and surrounded by remains of business buildings. In their study of traces of Ottoman bazaars in the Balkans of 2009, historian Jean-Arnault Dérens and journalist Laurent Geslin documented with regret the deterioration of the House of the Selmanovićs and the total negligence of local authorities toward the preservation of this precious monument of cultural heritage:

“The last descendant of Selmanović pashas still lives in one of these old Ottoman buildings, outside the town, today located behind a parking lot for trucks. The house, which was commissioned by the rich Selmanagić family in the 16th century, is presently in danger of complete collapse. Quite uninterested in this fact, municipal authorities wait for it to happen to seize the land. Its present occupant, Mahmut Selmanović, lives in absolute poverty and can in no way afford to reconstruct the house. His family, destroyed by the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the First World War, now lives in poverty. This man, who returned after many years of wandering and absence, now lives on only 80 Euro welfare, monthly given by Montenegrin authorities. In a few years this building of the last Herzegovina pashas will completely disappear, together with a whole part of Montenegrin history...ˮ

What made the house particularly valuable were also old wooden gate doors with 365 rose windows, which testified of its extreme artistic and architectural value, and of the high culture of Bosniaks' life in this region. The gate doors and an old, painted wooden sehara (chest) from the interior of the house are now part of the rich ethnographic collection of the Heritage Museum of Pljevlja.

References:

• Marlyse Ortiz, Jean-Arnault Dérens, Laurent Geslin, Bazar ottomans des Balkans (chapter. Pljevlja, un bazar disparu), éd. Non Lieu, Pariz, 2009.

• Enes Pelidija, “Pljevlja i pljevaljski kraj u 18. stoljeću”, Istorija Pljevalja, Opština Pljevlja, 2009.

• Aida Abadžić Hodžić, Behaudin Selmanović Selman, Bošnjački institut – Fondacija Adila Zulfikarpašića, Sarajevo, 2019.