Old Jewish Cemetery, Sarajevo

The OId Jewish Cemetery is a cemetery in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located on the slopes of Trebević mountain, in the Kovačići-Debelo Brdo area, in the south-western part of the city. It is the largest Jewish cemetery in Southeast Europe,^[1] and second largest sepulchral complex in Europe after the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague.^[2] It was in use for approximately four hundred years from the beginning of the 16th or 17th century,^[3] but most likely from 1630^[2] until 1966.^[1]

Old Jewish cemetery Kovačići
Staro jevrejsko groblje Kovačići
Details
Established	1630
Abandoned	closed
Location	Sarajevo
Country	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Type	Jewish
Owned by	City of Sarajevo
Size	31,160 square metres (7.70 acres)
No. of graves	>3850
KONS of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Official name	Jewish cemetery in Sarajevo, the burial ground ensemble
Type	Category I cultural monument
Criteria	A, B, C i.ii.iii.iv.v.vi., D i.ii.iii.iv.v., E iii.v., F, G v., H, I i.ii.iii.
Designated	30 August 2004 (?th session)
Reference no.	07.2-02-201/04-4
State	National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina

History

Established by Sephardic Jews in 1630, in Sarajevo during the Ottoman period. It also became the burial ground for Ashkenazi Jews after they arrived in Sarajevo with the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late 19th century.^[2] It contains more than 3850 tombstones and covers an area of 31160 square meters. It has four monuments dedicated to the victims of fascism: a Sephardi one designed by Jahiel Finci and erected in 1952, two Ashkenazi ones, and one dedicated to the victims of Ustasha militants.^[4]

During war of the 1990s

The Jewish Cemetery was on the front line during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and was used as an artillery position by Bosnian Serbs. It was thus severely damaged by bullets and fire caused by explosions. It was also heavily mined but was completely cleared in 1996.^[5]

Notable burials and memorials

Notable people buried in the cemetery include Rabbi Samuel Baruh (first rabbi of Sarajevo from 1630 to 1650; his grave is believed to be the oldest in the cemetery),^[6] Rabbi Isak Pardo (rabbi from 1781 to 1810), Rabbi Avraham Abinun (Grand Rabbi from 1856 to 1858), Moshe ben Rafael Attias (1845 – 1916), Laura Levi Papo LaBohoreta (writer of the early 20th century),^[7] and Isak Samokovlija. There are also four memorials erected to the victims of Fascist terror, along with several cenotaphs, an empty memorial tombs, with the names of people who died elsewhere and whose grave locations are unknown.

Genizah

Separate vault or "grave" for damaged books known as a Genizah, is located in the southeastern part of the cemetery, with the first burial taking place on 3 July 1916. Assumption is that some 14 chests of holy books were buried in the second burial ceremony, so currently exhumation of Geniza is under way to determine its content.

National and World Heritage designation

The cemetery is designated as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the name "Jewish cemetery in Sarajevo, the burial ground ensemble".^[2] In preparation for nomination for inclusion on the World Heritage Site list, Bosnian delegates submitted "Sepulchral ensemble – Jewish cemetery in Sarajevo" documentation for the tentative list at UNESCO on April 3, 2018, under the "Cultural" category and criteria "(ii)", "(iii)", "(iv)", "(vi)".^[1][8]

Gallery

• 
  The main gate with a fountain
• 
  Inscription over the main gate
• 
  Temple (Ciduk Adin) near main entrance with an old wall
• 
  Old wall from the main gate western edge
• 
  View on city
• 
  Cityscape from the top of the cemetery
• 
  Cemetery
• 
  Inscriptions on the tombstones
• 
  Winter ambient
• 
  Traces of mortar shells and bullet holes
• 
  Cemetery second half of the 19th century, beginning of the Austro-Hungarian period
• 
  Upper gate, highest point at the southern edge

See also

• History of the Jews in Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Moshe ben Rafael Attias
• Isak Samokovlija