Culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Encyclopedia
The culture
of Bosnia and Herzegovina
encompasses the country's ancient cultural heritage, its architecture, literature, visual arts, music, cinema, sports and cuisine.
The rock-carving by an artist found in Badanj Cave
near the city of Stolac
dates back to Paleolithic
times (c. 1400 BC). It represents the death of a horse under a rain of arrows. It is the oldest Paleolithic finding in southeast Europe.
There is also a rich legacy of Neolithic
culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Particularly beautiful items have been found in Butmir
near Sarajevo (5000 BC). During the Bronze Age
the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was occupied by Illyrian tribes such as the Japods in Bihać
and the Daors in Daorson
, near Stolac. They were directly influenced by the Greeks
, as seen in Daorson especially. The Illyrians were conquered by the Romans
, who left roads, bridges, and beautiful villas with mosaics all over Bosnia and Herzegovina. The best preserved examples are at Mogorjelo
near Čapljina
and the mosaics at Stolac (dating from the 3rd century). Christian basilica
s are found throughout the country (Zenica
, Visoko, Mostar
, Široki Brijeg
...), and their carved stone stonework influenced the first original medieval Bosnian art, found on tombstones – stećak
.
The Charter of Kulin Ban is the symbolic birth certificate of Bosnia's statehood, as it is the first written document that refers to Bosnia's borders (between the rivers of Drina, Sava and Una) and the elements of the Bosnian state - the ruler, throne and political organization. It is written in Bosnian Cyrillic
and it also referred to the people of Bosnia - Bosnianins. The Charter was a trade agreement between Bosnia
and the Republic of Dubrovnik
.
The most important item in the National Museum in Sarajevo
is the Sarajevo Haggadah
, a Jewish illuminated codex
originally from 12th century Spain. Other important items include Hrvojev’s mass (Hrvojev misal) and Hval’s codex (Hvalov zbornik), both Bosnian books of liturgy produced in Croatia
at the start of the 15th century, a 16th century Kur’an and Leontiev’s New Testament (Leontijevo četverojevanđelje).
, Aleksa Šantić
, Jovan Dučić
and Mak Dizdar
. Prominent prose writers include the Nobel Literature Prize laureate Ivo Andrić
, Meša Selimović
, Semezdin Mehmedinović
, Aleksandar Hemon
, Branko Ćopić
, Miljenko Jergović
, Isak Samokovlija
, Abdulah Sidran
, Petar Kočić
and Nedžad Ibrišimović. The National Theater was founded 1919 in Sarajevo and its first director was famous playwright Branislav Nušić
.
Magazines such as Novi Plamen
, Most
and Sarajevske biljeznice are some of the more prominent publications covering cultural and literary themes.
) to paintings in Kotromanić court. However, it was the Austro-Hungarian annexation in 1878 that led to the renaissance of Bosnian painting. The first artists trained in European academies emerged at the beginning of the 20th century. These included Gabrijel Jurkić
, Petar Tiješić, Karlo Mijić, Špiro Bocarić, Petar Šain, Đoko Mazalić, Roman Petrović and Lazar Drljača. Their generation was succeeded by artists such as Ismet Mujezinović, Vojo Dimitrijević, Ivo Šeremet and Mica Todorović. Prominent artists in the post-World War II period include Virgilije Nevjestić, Bekir Misirlić, Ljubo Lah, Meho Sefić, Franjo Likar, Mersad Berber
, Ibrahim Ljubović, Dževad Hozo, Affan Ramić, Safet Zec, Ismar Mujezinović, and Mehmed Zaimović. The Ars Aevi
museum of contemporary art in Sarajevo includes works by artists renowned worldwide.
The most popular traditional Bosnian and Herzogovinian song
forms of relatively recent origin (early 20th century) are the Bosnian root music (played with "šargija
"), ganga
, the rera and the ojkavica (oja-noja), and the most popular surviving form from the Ottoman era is the sevdalinka
.
Pop music and rock music are traditionally popular too, represented by famous music
ians including Goran Bregović
, Davorin Popović, Kemal Monteno, Zdravko Čolić
, Johnny Štulić, Edo Maajka
, Dino Merlin
and Tomo Miličević
. Talented composers include Đorđe Novković, Esad Arnautalić, Kornelije Kovač, and the many pop and rock bands, e.g. Bijelo Dugme
, Indexi
, Zabranjeno Pušenje
, include some of the leading groups from the era of the former Yugoslavia.
Bosnia is home to the composer Dušan Šestić
, creator of the current national anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina and father of singer Marija Šestić
, and the pianist Sasha Toperich.
-makers are Mirza Idrizović, Aleksandar Jevđević, Ivica Matić, Danis Tanović
(known for Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winning movie No Man's Land), Ademir Kenović
, Benjamin Filipović
, Jasmin Dizdar
, Pjer Žalica
, Jasmila Žbanić
, Dino Mustafić, Srđan Vuletić, and finally the most awarded one - Emir Kusturica
.
Sarajevo Film Festival
, founded in 1995, has become the biggest and most influential in southeast Europe.
, held in Sarajevo
from the 7th to 19th of February 1984.
Some notable Bosnian Olympians
were:
Bosnia and Herzegovina was the 2004 Paralympic volleyball
champion. Many of the players lost limbs in the 1992-1995 Bosnian War
.
Athletics: Bosnia and Herzegovina has produced many prominent athletes, including members of the Yugoslav national team before Bosnia and Herzegovina's independence.
Association football: Football (also known as soccer) is the most popular sport in B&H. It dates from 1903 but its popularity grew significantly after World War II. In the pre-independence era Sarajevo
(1967 and 1984) and Željezničar (1972) both won the Yugoslavian Championship title. The former Yugoslav national football team included a number of Bosnian players, such as Josip Katalinski
, Dušan Bajević
, Miroslav – Ćiro Blažević, Ivica Osim
, Safet Sušić
, and Mirsad Fazlagić
.
Since independence the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team
has failed to qualify for any European or World Championship tournament. Bosnian national teams have struggled to field the best eligible team as many players born in Bosnia and Herzegovina choose to play for other countries for reasons of ethnic identification and because of the higher salaries offered by other teams (for example Mario Stanić
and Mile Mitić were both born in Bosnia but play for Croatia and Serbia respectively; other internationally famous players from Bosnia and Herzegovina who have made similar choices include Zoran Savić
, Vladimir Radmanović
, Zoran Planinić
, Aleksandar Nikolić
and Savo Milošević
).
Basketball: The Bosna
basketball
club from Sarajevo were European Champions in 1979. The Yugoslav national basketball team, medal-winners in every world championship from 1963 through 1990, included Bosnian players such as Dražen Dalipagić
and Mirza Delibašić
. Bosnia and Herzegovina regularly qualifies for the European Championship in Basketball
. The Jedinstvo Women's basketball
club, based in Tuzla, won the 1979 European Championships in Florence.
Boxing: The middle-weight boxer
Marjan Beneš has won several B&H Championships, Yugoslavian Championships and the European Championship. In 1978 he won the World Title against Elish Obeda from Bahamas. Another middle-weight, Ante Josipović, won the Olympic gold medal in Los Angeles in 1984. He also won the Yugoslavian Championship in 1982, the Championship of the Balkans in 1983 and the Beograd Trophy in 1985.
Chess: The Bosnian chess
team has been Champion of Yugoslavia seven times, in addition to winning four European championships: 1994 in Lyon, 1999 in Bugojno, 2000 in Neum, and 2001 in Kalitea. The Borki Predojević chess club (from Teslić) has also won two European Club Championships, at Litohoreu (Greece) in 1999, and Kalitei (Greece) in 2001.
Handball: The Borac
handball
club, seven times Yugoslav National Championship winners, won the European Championship Cup in 1976 and the International Handball Federation Cup in 1991.
Karate: The Tuzla-Sinalco karate
club from Tuzla was the most prolific Yugoslav championship-winning team, also winning four European Championships and one World Championship.
and Eastern
influences. Thanks to almost 500 years of Ottoman rule, Bosnian food is closely related to Turkish
, Greek, and other former Ottoman
and Mediterranean
cuisines. However, years of Austria
n rule can be detected in the many influences from Central Europe
. Bosnian cuisine uses many spice
s, but usually in very small quantities. Most dishes are light, as they are cooked in lots of water; the sauces are completely natural, consisting of little more than the natural juices of the vegetables in the dish. Typical ingredients include tomato
es, potato
es, onion
s, garlic
, peppers
, cucumber
s, carrot
s, cabbage
, mushroom
s, spinach
, courgettes
, dried beans, fresh beans, plum
s, milk
, and cream called Pavlaka. Typical meat dishes include primarily pork
, beef
and lamb. Some local specialties are ćevapi, burek
, dolma
, sarma
, pilaf
, goulash
, ajvar
and an extensive range of Eastern sweets. The best local wines come from the southern region of the country, Herzegovina
, where the climate is particularly suitable for growing grapes. Plum or apple rakia
is distilled in the northern region of Bosnia
.
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
encompasses the country's ancient cultural heritage, its architecture, literature, visual arts, music, cinema, sports and cuisine.
Ancient Cultural Heritage
Badanj Cave
Badanj Cave is a cave near the town of Stolac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is famous for its cave paintings dating between 12,000 - 16,000 BCE.-References:...
near the city of Stolac
Stolac
Stolac is a town and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in the southern part of Herzegovina. Administratively, it is part of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina....
dates back to Paleolithic
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
times (c. 1400 BC). It represents the death of a horse under a rain of arrows. It is the oldest Paleolithic finding in southeast Europe.
There is also a rich legacy of Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Particularly beautiful items have been found in Butmir
Butmir
Butmir is a neighborhood of Ilidža in the Sarajevo Canton of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is a small but fairly important and well-known neighborhood of several thousand people.Geographically, the Butmir region is very rich in flint...
near Sarajevo (5000 BC). During the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was occupied by Illyrian tribes such as the Japods in Bihać
Bihac
Bihać is a city and municipality on the river Una in the north-western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Bosanska Krajina region. Bihać is located in the Una-Sana Canton in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.-History:...
and the Daors in Daorson
Daorson
Daorson was the capital of a Hellenised Illyrian tribe called the Daorsi . The Daorsi lived in the valley of the Neretva River between 300 BC and 50 BC...
, near Stolac. They were directly influenced by the Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
, as seen in Daorson especially. The Illyrians were conquered by the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, who left roads, bridges, and beautiful villas with mosaics all over Bosnia and Herzegovina. The best preserved examples are at Mogorjelo
Mogorjelo
Mogorjelo is a Roman villa rustica that dates from the early fourth century. It is situated on a hill off the Neretva branch, 5 km south of Čapljina, alongside the road to Gabela in Bosnia and Herzegovina.-History:...
near Čapljina
Capljina
Čapljina is a town and municipality of the same name in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Čapljina is located on the border with Croatia a mere from the Adriatic Sea....
and the mosaics at Stolac (dating from the 3rd century). Christian basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
s are found throughout the country (Zenica
Zenica
Zenica is an industrial city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the capital of the Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity...
, Visoko, Mostar
Mostar
Mostar is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the largest and one of the most important cities in the Herzegovina region and the center of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation. Mostar is situated on the Neretva river and is the fifth-largest city in the country...
, Široki Brijeg
Široki Brijeg
-Name:The name of the city means "the wide hill" in Croatian . The city is also sometime referred to as "Široki Brig" and among the inhabitants of Herzegovina simply as "Široki" . Between 1945 and 1990, the name was officially Lištica, after the river that flows through it.-Geography:The river...
...), and their carved stone stonework influenced the first original medieval Bosnian art, found on tombstones – stećak
Stecak
The Stećci , are monumental medieval tombstones that lie scattered across Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the border parts of Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. An estimated 60,000 are found within the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the rest of 10,000 are found in Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro...
.
The Charter of Kulin Ban is the symbolic birth certificate of Bosnia's statehood, as it is the first written document that refers to Bosnia's borders (between the rivers of Drina, Sava and Una) and the elements of the Bosnian state - the ruler, throne and political organization. It is written in Bosnian Cyrillic
Bosnian Cyrillic
Bosnian Cyrillic or Croatian Cyrillic, widely known as Bosančica, is an extinct Cyrillic script, that originated in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was widely used in Bosnia and Croatia . Its name in Bosnian and Croatian is bosančica or bosanica, which can literally be translated as Bosnian script...
and it also referred to the people of Bosnia - Bosnianins. The Charter was a trade agreement between Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
and the Republic of Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
.
The most important item in the National Museum in Sarajevo
National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina is located in central Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was established in 1888, having originally been conceived around 1850...
is the Sarajevo Haggadah
Sarajevo Haggadah
The Sarajevo Haggadah is an illuminated manuscript that contains the illustrated traditional text of the Passover Haggadah which accompanies the Passover Seder. It is one of the oldest Sephardic Haggadahs in the world, originating in Barcelona around 1350. The Haggadah is presently owned by the...
, a Jewish illuminated codex
Codex
A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
originally from 12th century Spain. Other important items include Hrvojev’s mass (Hrvojev misal) and Hval’s codex (Hvalov zbornik), both Bosnian books of liturgy produced in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
at the start of the 15th century, a 16th century Kur’an and Leontiev’s New Testament (Leontijevo četverojevanđelje).
Literature
Bosnia and Herzegovina has a rich literary heritage. Notable poets include Antun Branko ŠimićAntun Branko Šimic
Antun Branko Šimić was a Herzegovinian Croat expressionist poet.-Life:He was born in Drinovci near Grude on November 18, 1898, in the family of Vida and Martin Šimić. He attended primary school in his native village, and then the first three forms of the Franciscan classical grammar school in...
, Aleksa Šantić
Aleksa Šantic
Aleksa Šantić was a Serb poet from Herzegovina.He was born and lived most his life in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, a province that was occupied by Austria-Hungary in 1878 and annexed by them in 1908...
, Jovan Dučić
Jovan Ducic
Jovan Dučić was a Serbian poet born in Herzegovina, writer and diplomat.-Biography:...
and Mak Dizdar
Mak Dizdar
Mehmedalija "Mak" Dizdar was one of the greatest Bosnian and Yugoslav poets of the second half of the 20th century.-Biography:...
. Prominent prose writers include the Nobel Literature Prize laureate Ivo Andrić
Ivo Andric
Ivan "Ivo" Andrić was a Yugoslav novelist, short story writer, and the 1961 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. His writings dealt mainly with life in his native Bosnia under the Ottoman Empire...
, Meša Selimović
Meša Selimovic
Mehmed "Meša" Selimović was a Yugoslav writer. His novel Death and the Dervish is one of the most important literary works in post-war Yugoslavia. Some of the main themes in his works are relations between individual and authority, life and death, and other existential problems...
, Semezdin Mehmedinović
Semezdin Mehmedinovic
Semezdin Mehmedinović is a Bosnian writer, filmmaker, and magazine editor.After studying Librarianship and Comparative Literature in Sarajevo, he worked as an editor of "Lica" and "Valter" magazines, which served as a voice of opposition to the ruling Communist regime...
, Aleksandar Hemon
Aleksandar Hemon
Aleksandar Hemon is a Bosnian-American fiction writer. He is the winner of a MacArthur Foundation grant. He has written four acclaimed books: Love and Obstacles: Stories , The Lazarus Project: A Novel , which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle...
, Branko Ćopić
Branko Copic
Branko Ćopić was Yugoslav writer. He was an ethnic Serb born in the village of Hašani near Bosanska Krupa. He attended schools in Bihać, Banja Luka, Sarajevo and Karlovac before moving to Belgrade to study philosophy at the University of Belgrade until his graduation in 1940.Upon the uprising in...
, Miljenko Jergović
Miljenko Jergovic
Miljenko Jergović is a Bosnian prose writer. Jergović currently lives and works in Zagreb, Croatia, having moved there in 1993....
, Isak Samokovlija
Isak Samokovlija
Isak Samokovlija was a Bosnian-Herzegovinian writer, born in a Jewish Sephardic family. By profession he was a physician...
, Abdulah Sidran
Abdulah Sidran
Abdulah Sidran , often referred to by his nickname Avdo, is a Bosnian writer and poet who is renowned for his screenplays and dramas.-Works:...
, Petar Kočić
Petar Kocic
Petar Kočić was a Serb prose writer and politician from Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was active in the Serbian National Organization with ties to the Mlada Bosna revolutionaries, after which he seceded with his closest supporters leading a wing under his leadership.Like both Borisav Stanković, who...
and Nedžad Ibrišimović. The National Theater was founded 1919 in Sarajevo and its first director was famous playwright Branislav Nušić
Branislav Nušic
Branislav Nušić was a Serbian novelist of Aromanian descent, playwright, satirist, essayist and founder of modern rhetoric in Serbia. He also worked as a journalist and a civil servant.- Biography :...
.
Magazines such as Novi Plamen
Novi Plamen
Novi Plamen is a left-wing magazine for political, social and cultural issues primarily aimed at intellectual audiences on the territory of the former Yugoslavia and the related diaspora. It is a leading publication of its kind in the region, published by the Demokratska misao publishing company...
, Most
Most
Most is the capital city of the Most District, situated between the Czech Central Mountains and the Ore Mountains, approximately northwest of Prague along the Bílina River and southwest of Ústí nad Labem.-Etymology:...
and Sarajevske biljeznice are some of the more prominent publications covering cultural and literary themes.
Visual arts
The visual arts in Bosnia and Herzegovina were always evolving and ranged from the original medieval tombstones (stećakStecak
The Stećci , are monumental medieval tombstones that lie scattered across Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the border parts of Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia. An estimated 60,000 are found within the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the rest of 10,000 are found in Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro...
) to paintings in Kotromanić court. However, it was the Austro-Hungarian annexation in 1878 that led to the renaissance of Bosnian painting. The first artists trained in European academies emerged at the beginning of the 20th century. These included Gabrijel Jurkić
Gabrijel Jurkic
Gabrijel Jurkić was a Bosnian Croat artist, born in Livno, now Bosnia and Herzegovina, and died at a Franciscan monastery near there in 1974....
, Petar Tiješić, Karlo Mijić, Špiro Bocarić, Petar Šain, Đoko Mazalić, Roman Petrović and Lazar Drljača. Their generation was succeeded by artists such as Ismet Mujezinović, Vojo Dimitrijević, Ivo Šeremet and Mica Todorović. Prominent artists in the post-World War II period include Virgilije Nevjestić, Bekir Misirlić, Ljubo Lah, Meho Sefić, Franjo Likar, Mersad Berber
Mersad Berber
-Early life:Berber was born in Bosanski Petrovac, Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He trained at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljublijana where he graduated with a BA and MA. In 1978, Berber received a teaching position at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo.-Art:...
, Ibrahim Ljubović, Dževad Hozo, Affan Ramić, Safet Zec, Ismar Mujezinović, and Mehmed Zaimović. The Ars Aevi
Ars Aevi
Ars Aevi is a museum of contemporary art in Sarajevo. It was formed during the war as a "resistance of culture". It has approximately 130 works by renowned world artists including Michelangelo Pistoletto, Jannis Kounellis, Joseph Beuys, and Joseph Kosuth....
museum of contemporary art in Sarajevo includes works by artists renowned worldwide.
Music
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
forms of relatively recent origin (early 20th century) are the Bosnian root music (played with "šargija
Šargija
The šargija is a plucked, fretted long necked chordophone used in the folk music of various Balkan countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Albania and Serbia....
"), ganga
Ganga (music)
Ganga is a type of singing from rural Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is characterized by a lone singer singing one line of lyrics and then others joining in for what can be best described as a wail. It is a very passionate form of singing, which is one of the reasons it has been limited in...
, the rera and the ojkavica (oja-noja), and the most popular surviving form from the Ottoman era is the sevdalinka
Sevdalinka
Sevdalinka is a traditional genre of folk music from Bosnia and Herzegovina.Sevdalinka is popular across the ex-Yugoslavia region, especially in Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. The actual composers of many sevdalinkas are unknown....
.
Pop music and rock music are traditionally popular too, represented by famous music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
ians including Goran Bregović
Goran Bregovic
Goran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...
, Davorin Popović, Kemal Monteno, Zdravko Čolić
Zdravko Colic
Zdravko Čolić , is a pop singer popular across the entire area of former Yugoslavia. Originally from Sarajevo, since 1992 , his home is in Belgrade, Serbia...
, Johnny Štulić, Edo Maajka
Edo Maajka
Edin Osmić , better known by his stage name Edo Maajka, is a Bosnian rapper. His stage name literally means "Edo the Mother".-Early life:...
, Dino Merlin
Dino Merlin
Edin Dervišhalidović , stage name Dino Merlin, , is a prominent Bosnian singer-songwriter and musician. He is a popular singer/songwriter in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is also popular in the other countries of the former Yugoslavia such as Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia and...
and Tomo Miličević
Tomo Miličević
Tomislav "Tomo" Miličević is a Bosnian-American musician. He is the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band 30 Seconds to Mars.- Family :...
. Talented composers include Đorđe Novković, Esad Arnautalić, Kornelije Kovač, and the many pop and rock bands, e.g. Bijelo Dugme
Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...
, Indexi
Indexi
Indexi was a Bosnian rock band popular in the former Yugoslavia. It formed in 1962 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, and disbanded in 2001 when singer Davorin Popović died...
, Zabranjeno Pušenje
Zabranjeno pušenje
Zabranjeno Pušenje is a Yugoslavian garage rock band from Sarajevo, closely associated with the New primitivism cultural movement and the radio and television satire show Top Lista Nadrealista...
, include some of the leading groups from the era of the former Yugoslavia.
Bosnia is home to the composer Dušan Šestić
Dušan Šestic
Dušan Šestić is a famous Bosnian Serb composer in his homeland and surrounding countries. He composed the national anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Intermeco which was adopted June, 1999.His daughter, Marija Šestić, represented Bosnia and Herzegovina at Eurovision Song Contest 2007.-References:...
, creator of the current national anthem of Bosnia and Herzegovina and father of singer Marija Šestić
Marija Šestic
Marija Šestić is a Bosnian Serb singer and musician. She is most known for representing Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, Finland...
, and the pianist Sasha Toperich.
Cinema
Notable Bosnian filmFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
-makers are Mirza Idrizović, Aleksandar Jevđević, Ivica Matić, Danis Tanović
Danis Tanovic
Danis Tanović is a Bosnian film director and screenwriter.Tanović is best known for having directed and written the script for the 2001 Bosnian movie No Man's Land which won an Academy Award. He was a member of the jury at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.-Biography:Danis Tanović was born in the...
(known for Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winning movie No Man's Land), Ademir Kenović
Ademir Kenovic
Ademir Kenović is a Bosnian film director and producer. He graduated from the University of Sarajevo in 1969 and then studied film, English literature and art at the Denison University in Ohio, graduating in 1989. His films include Kuduz and It's Hard to be Nice...
, Benjamin Filipović
Benjamin Filipovic
Benjamin Filipović was a film director and academic from Bosnia and Herzegovina.-Filmography:* Dobro uštimani mrtvaci * Mizaldo, Kraj Teatra * Praznik u Sarajevu -External links:...
, Jasmin Dizdar
Jasmin Dizdar
Jasmin Dizdar is a Bosnian-British screenwriter, film director and author on cinema. He is known for his film Beautiful People which won an award for the best film in Un Certain Regard category at the Cannes Film Festival.- Biography :As a child Jasmin Dizdar was an award winning short story writer...
, Pjer Žalica
Pjer Žalica
Pjer Žalica is a Bosnian film director.He has directed several short films as well as two feature films, Gori vatra , and Kod amidže Idriza , which have been nominated for and awarded several prizes at European film festivals.On May 18 he was the director of the new video of Dino Merlin and Hari...
, Jasmila Žbanić
Jasmila Žbanic
Jasmila Žbanić is a film director from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a graduate of Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, department for theater and film directing. She also worked as a puppeteer in the Vermont-based Bread and Puppet Theater and as a clown in a Lee De Long workshop. She is noted for the...
, Dino Mustafić, Srđan Vuletić, and finally the most awarded one - Emir Kusturica
Emir Kusturica
Emir Nemanja Kusturica , is a Serbian filmmaker, actor and musician, recognized for several internationally acclaimed feature films...
.
Sarajevo Film Festival
Sarajevo Film Festival
The Sarajevo Film Festival is the premier and largest film festival in the Balkans, and is one of the largest in Europe. It was founded in Sarajevo in 1995 during the siege of Sarajevo, and brings international and local celebrities to Sarajevo every year. It is held in August and showcases an...
, founded in 1995, has become the biggest and most influential in southeast Europe.
Sports
The most important international sporting event in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina was the hosting of the 14th Winter Olympics1984 Winter Olympics
The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated from 8–19 February 1984 in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. Other candidate cities were Sapporo, Japan; and Gothenburg, Sweden...
, held in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
from the 7th to 19th of February 1984.
Some notable Bosnian Olympians
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
were:
- Rome, 1960: Tomislav Knez and Velimir Sombolac (football),
- Munich, 1972: Abaz Arslanagić, Milorad Karalić, Nebojša Popović, Đorđe Lavrinić, Dobrivoje Seleć (handball)
- Moscow, 1980: Mirza Delibašić and Ratko Radovanović (basketball)
- Los Angeles, 1984: Zdravko Rađenović, Zlatan Arnautović (handball) and Anto Josipović (boxing).
Bosnia and Herzegovina was the 2004 Paralympic volleyball
Volleyball at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Volleyball at the 2004 Summer Paralympics was staged at the Helliniko Fencing Hall from September 21 to September 27.The sport is performed sitting down. Subject to a minimum degree of physical disability there are no classifications in this sport. There are separate men's and women's...
champion. Many of the players lost limbs in the 1992-1995 Bosnian War
Bosnian War
The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...
.
Athletics: Bosnia and Herzegovina has produced many prominent athletes, including members of the Yugoslav national team before Bosnia and Herzegovina's independence.
Association football: Football (also known as soccer) is the most popular sport in B&H. It dates from 1903 but its popularity grew significantly after World War II. In the pre-independence era Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
(1967 and 1984) and Željezničar (1972) both won the Yugoslavian Championship title. The former Yugoslav national football team included a number of Bosnian players, such as Josip Katalinski
Josip Katalinski
Josip "Škija" Katalinski was a Bosnian football player. He is considered to have been one of the greatest football players from the former Yugoslavia.-Club career:...
, Dušan Bajević
Dušan Bajevic
Dušan Bajević is a Bosnian football manager and former Yugoslav international.-Playing career:...
, Miroslav – Ćiro Blažević, Ivica Osim
Ivica Osim
Ivan "Ivica" Osim is a Bosnian former football player and manager. He was most recently head coach of Japan, before he suffered a stroke in November 2007 and left the post...
, Safet Sušić
Safet Sušic
Safet "Pape" Sušić is a Bosnian former footballer and current manager of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team. In his playing days, he operated as playmaking attacking midfielder...
, and Mirsad Fazlagić
Mirsad Fazlagic
Mirsad Fazlagić is a Bosnian former footballer.He started his football career in 1957 playing for a local club in his home town of Čapljina...
.
Since independence the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team
Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team
The Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team is the national football team of Bosnia and Herzegovina, governed by the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
has failed to qualify for any European or World Championship tournament. Bosnian national teams have struggled to field the best eligible team as many players born in Bosnia and Herzegovina choose to play for other countries for reasons of ethnic identification and because of the higher salaries offered by other teams (for example Mario Stanić
Mario Stanic
Mario Stanić is a former Croatian football midfielder.-Career:He started his career with Željezničar Sarajevo. He was considered to be one of the most talented young players in former Yugoslavia. In 1992, war began and he went to Croatia, where he played for Dinamo Zagreb...
and Mile Mitić were both born in Bosnia but play for Croatia and Serbia respectively; other internationally famous players from Bosnia and Herzegovina who have made similar choices include Zoran Savić
Zoran Savic
Zoran Savić is a retired Serbian professional basketball player. The 208 cm forward played in various European nations.-Career:...
, Vladimir Radmanović
Vladimir Radmanovic
Vladimir Radmanović is a Serbian professional basketball player who last played for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association...
, Zoran Planinić
Zoran Planinic
Zoran Planinić is a Croatian professional basketball player. He is currently a member of the Euroleague club BC Khimki...
, Aleksandar Nikolić
Aleksandar Nikolic
Aleksandar "Aca" Nikolić was a renowned Bosnian Serb basketball player and coach from Yugoslavia. He is considered to be so instrumental and important to the game's development in the country that he is often referred to as the Father of Yugoslav basketball...
and Savo Milošević
Savo Miloševic
Savo Milošević is a retired Serbian footballer who played as a striker.After making a name for himself at Partizan, he signed for Aston Villa, and went on to spend the vast majority of the following decade playing in Spain, where he represented four clubs, amassing La Liga totals of 241 games and...
).
Basketball: The Bosna
KK Bosna
KK Bosna is a basketball club in Sarajevo the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The club is part of the University Sport Society USD Bosna...
basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
club from Sarajevo were European Champions in 1979. The Yugoslav national basketball team, medal-winners in every world championship from 1963 through 1990, included Bosnian players such as Dražen Dalipagić
Dražen Dalipagic
Dražen Dalipagić , born in Mostar, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia) is a retired Yugoslavian basketball player. He was enshrined as a player in the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007.-Yugoslavian national team:...
and Mirza Delibašić
Mirza Delibašic
Mirza Delibašić was a Bosnian basketball player. He was born in Tuzla, located in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the former Yugoslavia.- Career :...
. Bosnia and Herzegovina regularly qualifies for the European Championship in Basketball
Eurobasket
The EuroBasket, also referred to as the FIBA European Basketball Championship, is the main basketball competition contested biennially by the men's national teams governed by FIBA Europe, the European zone within the International Basketball Federation. The championship was first held in 1935 and...
. The Jedinstvo Women's basketball
Women's basketball
Women's basketball is one of the few women's sports that developed in tandem with its men's counterpart. It became popular, spreading from the east coast of the United States to the west coast , in large part via women's colleges...
club, based in Tuzla, won the 1979 European Championships in Florence.
Boxing: The middle-weight boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
Marjan Beneš has won several B&H Championships, Yugoslavian Championships and the European Championship. In 1978 he won the World Title against Elish Obeda from Bahamas. Another middle-weight, Ante Josipović, won the Olympic gold medal in Los Angeles in 1984. He also won the Yugoslavian Championship in 1982, the Championship of the Balkans in 1983 and the Beograd Trophy in 1985.
Chess: The Bosnian chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
team has been Champion of Yugoslavia seven times, in addition to winning four European championships: 1994 in Lyon, 1999 in Bugojno, 2000 in Neum, and 2001 in Kalitea. The Borki Predojević chess club (from Teslić) has also won two European Club Championships, at Litohoreu (Greece) in 1999, and Kalitei (Greece) in 2001.
Handball: The Borac
RK Borac Banja Luka
Rukometni klub Borac Banjaluka is a team handball club from Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.It is part of the sports society Borac.The handball club RK Borac was founded in 1950.The federal league of Yugoslavia was founded in 1957...
handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
club, seven times Yugoslav National Championship winners, won the European Championship Cup in 1976 and the International Handball Federation Cup in 1991.
Karate: The Tuzla-Sinalco karate
Karate
is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...
club from Tuzla was the most prolific Yugoslav championship-winning team, also winning four European Championships and one World Championship.
Cuisine
Bosnian cuisine reflects a balance of WesternWestern culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
and Eastern
Eastern world
__FORCETOC__The term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various cultures or social structures and philosophical systems of Eastern Asia or geographically the Eastern Culture...
influences. Thanks to almost 500 years of Ottoman rule, Bosnian food is closely related to Turkish
Turkish cuisine
Turkish cuisine is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including that of western Europe...
, Greek, and other former Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
and Mediterranean
Cuisine of the Mediterranean
Mediterranean cuisine is the food from the cultures adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea.Whether this is a useful category is disputed:The idea of the ‘standard Mediterranean’ .....
cuisines. However, years of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n rule can be detected in the many influences from Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
. Bosnian cuisine uses many spice
Spice
A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...
s, but usually in very small quantities. Most dishes are light, as they are cooked in lots of water; the sauces are completely natural, consisting of little more than the natural juices of the vegetables in the dish. Typical ingredients include tomato
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
es, potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es, onion
Onion
The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
s, garlic
Garlic
Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
, peppers
Capsicum
Capsicum is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Its species are native to the Americas where they have been cultivated for thousands of years, but they are now also cultivated worldwide, used as spices, vegetables, and medicines - and have become are a key element in...
, cucumber
Cucumber
The cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. The plant is a creeping vine which bears cylindrical edible fruit when ripe. There are three main varieties of cucumber: "slicing", "pickling", and...
s, carrot
Carrot
The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
s, cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
, mushroom
Mushroom
A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...
s, spinach
Spinach
Spinach is an edible flowering plant in the family of Amaranthaceae. It is native to central and southwestern Asia. It is an annual plant , which grows to a height of up to 30 cm. Spinach may survive over winter in temperate regions...
, courgettes
Zucchini
The zucchini is a summer squash which often grows to nearly a meter in length, but which is usually harvested at half that size or less. It is a hybrid of the cucumber. Along with certain other squashes, it belongs to the species Cucurbita pepo. Zucchini can be dark or light green...
, dried beans, fresh beans, plum
Plum
A plum or gage is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera in the shoots having a terminal bud and solitary side buds , the flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one...
s, milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
, and cream called Pavlaka. Typical meat dishes include primarily pork
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
, beef
Beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
and lamb. Some local specialties are ćevapi, burek
Burek
Börek is a family of baked or fried filled pastries made of a thin flaky dough known as yufka . It can be filled with cheese, often feta, sirene or kaşar; minced meat, or vegetables...
, dolma
Dolma
Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and surrounding regions such as Russia, Middle East and the Caucasus and Central and South Asia. Perhaps the best-known is the grape-leaf dolma. Common vegetables to stuff include onion, zucchini, eggplant,...
, sarma
Sarma (food)
Sarma is a dish of grape, cabbage or chard leaves rolled around a filling usually based on minced meat. It is found in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire from the Middle East to the Balkans and Central Europe.-Etymology and names:...
, pilaf
Pilaf
Pilaf is a dish in which rice is cooked in a seasoned broth . In some cases, the rice may also attain its brown color by being stirred with bits of cooked onion, as well as a large mix of spices...
, goulash
Goulash
Goulash is a soup or stew of meat, noodles and vegetables , seasoned with paprika and other spices. Originating in Hungary, goulash is also a popular meal in Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Romania, Scandinavia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and the north-eastern Italian region of Friuli Venezia...
, ajvar
Ajvar
Ajvar and aijvar is relish, made principally from red bell peppers, with eggplant, garlic and chili pepper. Ajvar originates in the Serbian cuisine, and was therefore long known as "Serbian salad" or "Serbian vegetable caviar"...
and an extensive range of Eastern sweets. The best local wines come from the southern region of the country, Herzegovina
Herzegovina
Herzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there is no official border distinguishing it from the Bosnian region, it is generally accepted that the borders of the region are Croatia to the west, Montenegro to the south, the canton boundaries of the Herzegovina-Neretva...
, where the climate is particularly suitable for growing grapes. Plum or apple rakia
Rakia
Rakia is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by distillation of fermented fruit; it is a popular beverage throughout the Balkans. Its alcohol content is normally 40% ABV, but home-produced rakia can be stronger . Prepečenica is double-distilled rakia which has an alcohol content that may...
is distilled in the northern region of Bosnia
Bosnia (region)
Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
.