Don't just top-up your water bottle...

On virtually every street corner here there is a mosque - many of them open and live...

And so the tourists mill around in the courtyard - most tourists are either from the former Yugoslavian states or as far as I can tell from Italy. But my observational rule of thumb is that the Europeans/Italians (presumably mainly Catholic) don't go in... (they like the courtyard 'cause they can top up their water bottle in the cleansing fountain. :-)

So I'm going into these mosques - where it is much cooler :-) but also totally empty. I'm left with a desire to go out and usher the tourists in as the beauty, the art, the architecture is just superb quality, colour and design.

Many of the mosques date from the peak of the Ottoman culture (mid to late 16th century) and are small (communal). But this roundel dome (from Mostar) is not unusual, though at the better end of the beauty scale - but I can't help but think that in terms of the western tourist there is something interesting going on. The Orthodox and Catholic churches and cathedrals are busy with tourists and yet the mosques have only busy courtyards...

A small issue and not the whole picture I'm sure, but in terms of east-meets-west it feels a bit like west meets christianity but only looks on at the muslim traditions... That said, the synagogues were even quieter!

Europe's Jerusalem

It didn't take me too long to track down the local synagogue - but in a country where religion is such an issue historically at least, it's something of a surprise to find this has at least one tourist map called "Sarajevo - the european Jerusalem" (meaning all the faiths are here).

Sure enough on every street corner there is a mosque and then varying shades of catholic or orthodox christianity - few sign of methodist missionaries here!

But regular readers will not be surprised to learn that I tracked down the Jewish Museum and the Ashkenazi synagogue _ I've been past the historic (oldest?) jewish cemetery but haven't been back yet with the camera...

The Jewish community here is down to just 600 but before WWII was at over 12,000... and the museum reflects the cultural panoply of that community. But in practising terms, I understand the old synagogue is just a museum used annually and this Askenazi synagogue is the only operational place of worship for Sarajevo's jewish community.

Too young, just too young...

I'm not sure there is much to say other than these pictures but suffice to say it is the dominant feature of the places I have been here in Bosnia Herzegovina - graveyard upon graveyard. These are not old and well maintained - these are recent, specific and relate to the 1992-1995 war. This series were taken in Mostar.

When the war is over...

I'm not sure what I was expecting here in Sarejevo, Bosnia, but this is not it.

The weather is just stunning - but beyond that the city is also amazingly cosmopolitan and welcoming.

The bridges - and it feels like there are loads - are charming, quaint, not over busy.

And if you like architecture then churches, mosques, synagogues, austro hungarian, moslem inspired - it's all here.

The streets are patently not paved with gold but they have a marble sheen that is well - intoxicating in this weather.

But then there is the grim real bit with the range of mountain around the bowl in which Sarajevo sits - wooded and dominant they and the many shimmiering graveyards around show the horror to everyone of what happened when this city was put under seige...

For me, it's more political tourism and I'm loving it... and as a place to be in it is way beyond my expectations.

More to follow... for now, more Bosnian coffee.

Eeeek, the weeks just shoot by...

Okay, okay it's been far too long since I sat down to do a set and run of updates.

It's not for the lack of content and local stuff, but rather the lack of discipline in writing the blog.

But today was aexciting in that I went to an appointment to the Museum of London to view the medieval seals of the Priory of St John the Baptist, Kilburn. There are four what appear to be late victorian copies - in varying forms of repair - and between them I reckon we can form a complete view of the seal as was.

What I nw have to do it track down the original seals and preferably the documents they are or are not attached to... tips and leads appreciated but I'm assuming that the British Library and Kew Records Office are my next stop - possibly Metropolitan Archives too...

NW3 to Scotland

Sometimes the history of an area emerges unexpectedly in front of you and so it was one day the other week when a billboard came down revealing this old painted advert for the trains from Kings Cross to Scotland.

The space only lasted for a few days and indeed came to the attention of the South End Green Association who spotted it and featured it in their newsletter... but I managed to get a few pics and then mislaid them.

So i'm now catching up and popping them on here. Because I don't think we'll see it again I'm uploading all the pictures I got.

If you squint and stare you will see it says
LNER
KINGS CROSS
SCOTLAND
SHORTEST AND ...

My Mum's called Sally!

Hampstead has it's fair share of historical and famous people and few greater in reputation than Gracie Fields.

More usually connected with Rochdale, Hampstead was the London bolt hole/base for Dame Gracie.

I wandered past this the other day and realised I hadn't featured the house and so reminded myself to do so.

It also drew into my mind the nature of past singers and actresses who I sense might (and this may be a heresy for some) fade from public perception. I mentioned the Gracie Fields house to a pretty clued up friend and it clearly meant nothing to her... is Gracie Fields becoming a faded memory?

More on Gracie and her significance to Rochdale can be found here:
http://www.link4life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=c.showPage&pageID=1118

The house is Number 20 Frognal Way and it's reported that the house was "Her husband Archie Pit built a £15,000 28 room mansion at Hampstead called The Towers. It had marble bathrooms, crystal chandeliers, a lift, and the housekeeper was a Russian princess. Gracie was terrified of the butler, hated the house and kept to her own little bed sitting room."

But I can't help but think that this relates to 136 Bishops Avenue which was also owned/lived in by Gracie - certainly from the outside this house in Frognal Way does not feel big enough...