ИСТИНА

Travnik as a Balkan City of the Oriental Type (Ivo Andric’s ‘Travnik Chronicle’) Travnik is a city of Balkan type, whose features can be found in other Southern Slavic localities which developed under the Ottoman rule. Travnik was built as a Turkish city. The old Seljuk tradition of urban dwelling organization was transferred onto the newly acquired Balkan territories. Thus, each city was divided into charshia, a market and craftsmen’s area, and mahals, residential areas. Charshia was the place for economic and social life. This area consisted of numerous streets, composed of low-rise wooden buildings, workshops and stores. Charshia also housed community buildings, which used to be architecturally accentuated in oriental cities. These buildings included inns (hanovi), a caravan-serai, baths, educational institutions and mosques. . The charshia was open daily from early morning till sunset. It was closed only at difficult times when the town was facing some serious threat or when the town dwellers wanted to protest in times of public unrest. The ‘Travnik Chronicle’ describes the unrest: «On this winter day, at about 11 in the morning, the bazaar closed down, as if guided by some mysterious sign. Shutters, doors and locks were all creaking and cracking, as if summer thunderstorm swept across the place, bringing myriads of stones which threatened to bury the town and all the living creatures in it ».