Restoring Minarets as A Dominant Part of Urban Landscape Restoration of Stone and Wooden Minarets in Bosnia and Herzegovina - Materials, Structure and Urban Form
In a post conflict zone, restoration of monuments is not only a scientific or technical matter but also a highly symbolic and emotional act of reclaiming culture, identity and urban form. In Bosnia and Herzegovina minarets are shaped by local building traditions and materials, influenced by the ottoman classical minaret format. Most of the prominent mosques have stone minarets, especially in regions abundant with suitable stone and craftsmanship. Wooden minarets were usually built alongside local neighbourhood mosques and they defined city image due to their frequent occurrence in most parts of the urban core. Restoration of these two types of minarets is significantly different mainly due to the nature of the material itself. Interventions on stone minarets were carried out through reconstruction and re-composition of elements, based on documentation about the structure. Stone remains were actually the prime source of information for geometry and breadth of the minaret body and for the complex structural considerations – mainly how to counteract the tension forces. Restoration of wooden minarets had its own challenges, due to the fact that after a major destruction its parts could not be reused and there was less available documentation about the original state. The paper will consider different parameters and make a comparative analysis on both typologies, from materials, structure, aspects of intervention and their subsequent role in restoring the historic urban landscape.