Bosnian style in architecture

As it still focused on the differences from Western and Central Europe, and it did not change the power relations about the scripted, imperial interpretations of local architecture, the Bosnian Style was no less Orientalist than Moorish Revival.

[2] During its reign, the Austro-Hungarian authorities sought to impose and build architecture of European styles in Bosnia and Herzegovina and thus to show the meaning of their mission in the occupied country.

Confronted with the multinational population structure in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the government realized that it was necessary to have a political ear when choosing one of the historical styles.

[3] Viennese architect Ernst Lichtblau, apprentice of Otto Wagner, in 1904, studied the ancient residential architecture throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, seeking to create a modern style based on these indigenous forms.

He was impressed by the cascading and cubist forms of the roofs, the simple but powerful shapes of the houses, modeled by light and fine valers of scale black, white and brown.

[6] In 1909, architect Josip Pospišil arrived in Sarajevo, and immediately began studying indigenous heritage in urbanism and architecture, fighting for their protection and restoration.

[7] Pospišil in 1912 appeared in the renowned magazine Der Bautechniker with several professional articles in which he also informs the foreign cultural public about the problems of current construction practice and theory in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A mixture of modern styles, it had functionalist tendencies in its near lack of ornament, a façade organisation described as Secessionist in spirit, and an Expressionist depiction of both structure and function.