Brusa Bezistan was built in 1551 by Rustem Pasha, who was the Grand Vizier of sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The facility was used for silk trading produced by the founder himself in Bursa, Turkey.
The building has a rectangular base (29.5 x 20.5 m), built of stone and covered with six large and two smaller domes. It has four entrances from all four sides of the world. During the siege of Sarajevo in 1992-1995 Brusa Bezistan was severely damaged. Today, after restauration, Brusa Bezistan houses the Museum of Sarajevo. The exposition of archaeological material is divided into three basic sections: prehistory, antiquity (the ancient lily motif of Bosnia and Herzegovina is exposed there) and the Middle Ages. The Bezistan Gallery exhibits items from the Ottoman period (including expensive equipment used by the Ottoman soldiers) and the items that belonged to Austro-Hungarian administration in Sarajevo.
In the museum visitors can also see a large part of the oriental collection, a hundred books printed in Arabic and Turkish, several hundred manuscripts in Arabic and Turkish in the fields of theology, sharia law, linguistics, literature, history and medicine. The museum owns valuable illustrated copies of the Qur'an, the worshipers of Enama and a very fine diary from the early 19th century. The museum also possessed a transcript of Muvekit's „Bosnian Chronicle“.
The collection of individual documents contains berats, fermans, levs, etc. The museum also houses a valuable collection of old astronomical instruments.
Interesting facts
The greatest attention is dedicated to the model of the old city cente and to the craft and trade center of Sarajevo during the Ottoman era. The model of the city center as it was just before the Austro-Hungarian occupation was made by the modeler Husein Karišik in 1950s.
Ticket price for Brusa Bezistan
Regular ticket price: 3 KM
Reduced ricket price: 1KM (for kids)
Working hours of Bursa Bezistan
Summer working hours: from Monday to Friday from 10:00 am to 6:00pm and on Saturdays from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
Winter working hours: from Monday to Friday from 10:00 am to 4:00pm and on Saturdays from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.
