The project ERC 758099 highlighted an understudied experiment at the intersection of nineteenth-century European and Islamic architectural histories. It drew attention to a significant body of buildings designed by architects trained in Central Europe for use by Muslims in Habsburg-ruled Bosnia-Herzegovina (1878-1918). They include mosques, madrasas, and other buildings corresponding to a traditional Islamic formal and functional typology. The composition and decoration of their façades, however, was the product of nineteenth-century European Historicist conduct. Quoted were elements from assorted Islamic artistic heritages, with prominence given to Egypt and Andalusia.
The Orientalizing style developed for these buildings also spread to others outside this typology. It became a prominent style for town halls and residences; on occasion, it was also used in the design of railway stations, schools, or hotels. The spread and concentration of buildings in this style in Bosnia is extraordinary, yet remained little-studied. The very existence of a heritage of buildings for use by Muslims in a Habsburg-ruled land was practically unknown.
The project’s primary intention was to validate the assertion that these buildings must be considered a distinct group of architectural monuments, and that they, in consequence, constitute a phenomenon that demands separate appraisal and study.
Intertwined with this architectural phenomenon is the stylistic phenomenon traditionally (yet inaccurately) called ‘pseudo-Moorish’ in Bosnia. The project explored its historical sources and the channels of their reception, as well as the logic and aesthetic of these sources’ paraphrasing in a nineteenth-century Central and Southeast European context.
By documenting and analysing this heritage in the necessary detail, the project filled a significant gap in published scholarly research. It contribute to increase our understanding of European powers’ historical responses to the challenge of cultural diversity in territories under their control.
