{sarajevo: religion}

(If you're new here, I've been blogging about living in Sarajevo, Bosnia this summer. You can read my other posts here.)

Sarajevo is often referred to as the Jerusalem of Eastern Europe. And it's true. The city is littered with mosques and cathedrals, representing Muslims, Orthodox Christians and Catholics. It's not uncommon to have an Orthodox church, a Catholic church and a mosque on the same block (some are even just a few feet from each other). (And just for clarification, over half of the population is Bosniak, which essentially means they are Muslim. Croats are Catholic and Serbs are Orthodox Christians.)

Over the last several thousand years, the Ottomans (later the Turks) have ruled in Sarajevo, as have other western European powers right through the Communist period. Although the number of mosques far outnumber the amount of churches (and I mean churches are really outnumbered), Sarajevo is really a patchwork of each religion.

(above: the remains of a monastery. there are many monasteries in Sarajevo, but they have been converted to public buildings.)

(above: a jewish synagogue.)