| |
|
|
On
the place of today`s Gorazde there was a settlement called
Vasa.
The name Gorazde was first mentioned in 1379. in notes of
Dubrovnik`s merchants, as a fortified town. There are different
opinions about the meaning of the name, from which two are
the most known. According to the first explanation the name
comes from word burning ( bosnian-"goriti" ), even
though historic documents don`t mention any big fire that
happened in this region.
In other opinion, Gorazde got the name by old Slavic word
"gorozd" (English-grapes), and this explanation
is more acceptable as the town had some parts where wine was
once made and stored. In last period some of the cultural
monuments from the earliest periods are gone forever.
These monuments that are left witness on rich history of Gorazde.
In valley of Podhranjenska river are found traces of Neolithic
settlement that date from year 2300.B.C.
In settlement Zupcici were found flint daggers, stone axes,
hammers and vases, then clay plates, which are kept today
in Archeological Museum in Sarajevo. It is known that on the
place of Ustikolina was before a roman settlement. |
|
The Ottomans crossed Drina in 1465
and left their part in a mosaic of different culture`s
inheritance - numerous mosques, old grave cenotaphs,
bridges, roads. Gorazde was always an intersection
point of roads that connected Jadran with Bosnia and
Serbia, and Sarajevo and Bosnia with Sandzak, Kosovo
and Carigrad.
Gorazde was totally burned in the fire that is related
to the insurrection against Ottomans.
The wastes of mas sepulchres near the town, and skeletons
found
in the 50s during the construction of buildings and
while digging streets, are a prof for historians statements
that say that the epidemy of plague ravaged in the
18th and 19th century.
|
|
|
|
After
the Ottoman Empire, Bosnia was under the Austro- Hungarian
Empire, whose army entered Gorazde in 1878. The construction
of roads, schools, hospitals, pharmacies, bridges with iron
construction, post and telegraph offices happened in the period
of the Austro- Hungarian Empire. The Austro-Hungarian Empire
built an important barrack in the city, in 1886. Today, that
is the renowed primary school "Husein efendija Djozo".
The Meteorological station was built in Gorazde, in 1885,
and the first orhard in 1903.
Gorazde got its own aqueduct with 12 street faucets. Between
two wars, on 5 August 1932, Gorazde got electric power. On
crossroads, on the border of countries, Gorazde was always
the first station for beneficient neighbors, but for others
as well.
TOWN OF ISAK SAMOKOVLIJA
In Gorazde was born one of the most famous B&H storywriters
- Isak Samokovlija. He was born in 1889. on the shore of river
Drina in the part of town that is called Pobarnik, so Drina
was one of his biggest inspirations. He wrote about his childhood:
"I was born in Gorazde, in that small town of eastern
Bosnia, through which flows beautiful and tempered river Drina.
Almost all my childhood i passed on that river. Drina was
for me one of the deepest experiences. It carried me away
as a divine living being. Its clear, magical green color,
full of sun, filled me up for whole my life." |
|
Cultural
Historical Heritage
In the area of Gorazde region and within Bosnia and
Herzegovina, you can find rich varieties of cultural
and historical heritage where the Medieval Monuments
and the monuments from Ottoman Empire dominate.
The handicraft products are made of
natural materials at the traditional way by the Associations
such as, "Motive", "Gorazdanke",
"Drina" from Gorazde and "Emina"
from Ustikolina, the products represent a great attraction
because of a top quality and the traditional way of
making.
Tradition and customs have been saved in the hard
working hands of the Bosnian Upper Drina women.
|
|
|
|
| The
Folk music Clubs and other cultural institutions take part
and care on preserving the tradition and culture in this area.
|
|
|
The
southeastern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina with its geographical,
fertile land, suitable climate and natural wealth provided
good living conditions a long time ago as well as it does
today.
Several legends are part of the rich historical background
of this area, and some of them are backed up by hard evidence.
|
|
That
is how, near the Praca municipality, the remains of
the ancient city of Pavlovac are located, a city ruled
by the very unusual female ruler Jerina.
Legends has it that she baffled the river Praca with
wool so she could enjoy her boat trips. Milk from households
on the surrounding hills was given to her in wooden
troughs connected to the fort by a sort of a water system.
Jerina also ruled the left side of the Drina where,
hidden between the rocks lie a cave and a valley, still
today called Jerina´s garden.
The weirdest legend about this peculiar ruler is the
one describing her passion for killing selected young
lovers, and this is the reason she remained a cruel
ruler that chose her men for one night only after which
she would kill them by throwing them from the walls
to the Praca canyon. |
|
|
|
| The
older locals of this area say that she was a ruler that killed
for love and died from love, and that Jerina´s
body today is guarded by one of the caves above the Ustipraca-Visegrad
road. |
|
The story, told so many times among the people from
this locality provoking the curiosity of the young,
says that, in a hole in a hardly accessible rock, a
girl was walled up alive.
Her bones can still be seen there today, it is assured.
Nobody can enter the cave, and if somebody would dare
even try he or she would be lost forever.
The Drina and Jerina´s garden can be
seen from "the window" of the rock, but also
the city of Samobor and the tower of duke Stjepan for
whom it is said that he was a very handsome and sought
after young man. |
|
|
|
He
liked Jerina, the girl that ruled the region across the Drina.
She too fell in love with Stjepan and wedding was on the cards.
But, as it so often happens, great loves usually end tragically.
Duke Stjepan fell in love with another girl, forgot about
the promise he had made, and married the other girl soon after.
When Jerina found out she would never get married and ordered
her own walling up in a rock that looks at Somobor, Stjepan´s
city. According to the legend she often spent her time looking
over Somobor through the window on her rock, and it is said
that Stjepan liked it best to spend time in Somobor and scan
the rock above the Drina from the top of his tower looking
for his unfurtunate love.
She died from sorrow precisely three years later, but before
she passed away she ordered to be left walled up in the rock. |
|
|
|
|
