THE GHAZI HUSRAV BEY LIBRARY
1537 yılında yapılan, Gazi Hüsrev Bey Kütüphanesi, Boşnakça, Arapça, Farsça ve diğer dillerde yazılmış değerli elyazmalarına sahip. 800 yıldan daha eski ender eserler bulunmakta. Bunlar paha biçilmez olarak değerlendiriliyorlar.
Kurucusu Sultan 2. Beyazıt`ın torunu Gazi Hüsrev Bey olan kütüphanede bulunan 80.000 kitap ve dokümanın 10.000 tanesi eski doküman ve el yazması, 5.000 doküman ise Osmanlı Halifeliği dönemine ait.
HISTORY
Vrhbosna, today’s Sarajevo, was the seat of the duke of the western regions after 1436. The qadi’s his seat was in Sarajevo after Bosnia was finally conquered by the Turks in 1463. The mufti also had his seat in Sarajevo after 1519. From the time of the Turkish conquest until the coming of Gazi Husrev Bey, Vrhbosna grew into a town with seventeen micro regions (mahalla) and as many mosques.
There was also a public bath ( hammam), a caravan-saray, three dervish lodges (tekke) and one secondary school (Firus Bey Medresa). It was usual for each mosque, or mahalla, to have an elementary school (maktab). Gazi Husrev Bey was appointed Governor of Bosnia in 1521, and remained there, with small interruptions, until 1541, when he died. Gazi Husrev Bey was born about 1480 in Serez (Greece), where his father Ferhad Bey, born near Trebinje in Herzegovina, was Governor. His mother was the sister of Sultan Beyazid II, and he grew up and was educated at the Imperial Court. Before coming to Bosnia he was Governor of the Smederevo Sandjak, and he also carried out several diplomatic missions for the Ottoman Sultan at European courts. His great building activity in Sarajevo started as soon as he got there in 1521, in spite of the constant wars he fought in Dalmatia, Croatia and Hungary. Thanks to the buildings he built in Sarajevo and some other towns in Bosnia, and his foundations (waqf), Gazi Husrev Bey is the greatest and most important legator in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He died in Sarajevo in 1541 and was buried in the mausoleum (turba) beside his mosque, which he built during his lifetime.