Oriental Studies Institute
The Oriental Studies Institute in Sarajevo was founded in August 1950 by the People’s Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Government Decree (“Official Gazette of NRB&H”, No. 20/50). In 1967, the SRB&H Assembly passed the Law on the Oriental Studies Institute in Sarajevo (“Official Gazette of SRB&H”, No. 23/67), and then in 1977 (“Official Gazette of SRB&H”, Nos. 20/77 and 40/85), which took over the founder rights over the Institute. Under the Research Activities Law (“Official Gazette of SRB&H”, No. 38/90) the Oriental Institute was registered, as a public scientific institution, in the scientific institutions under number 3. Since 1 March 1992, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Government of the RB&H has been taking care of the Oriental Institute and its financing. During the Aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), the Institute was proclaimed an institution of special importance for the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a scientific institution. After the Dayton Peace Agreement (November 1995), the Oriental Studies Institute was under the authority of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports. After the Law on Higher Education (“Official Gazette of Sarajevo Canton”, No. 17/99) was adopted, the Sarajevo Canton took over the founder right over the Institute as a public scientific institution. The Institute became an associate member of the University of Sarajevo and continued its activities as a public research institute for more than a decade.
With the adoption of the new Law on Higher Education from 2013 (“Official Gazette of Sarajevo Canton”, Nos. 15/13, and 42/13) and the University of Sarajevo Statute, all higher education and research institutions were integrated in the University of Sarajevo. The Oriental Studies Institute thus became a full member and operates in its composition, together with other educational and scientific research institutions in the Sarajevo Canton.
Oriental Studies Institute undertakes the following tasks:
- collecting, processing and publishing of oriental manuscript and archival material and sources from the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- studying Arabic, Turkish and Persian language and their literature and cultures, and examining their elements in the Bosnian language and culture,
- studying the cultural heritage of Bosniaks in Oriental languages,
- within the framework of Osmanistics, studies the problems of social, political, cultural, economic and cultural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Ottoman period,
- studies oriental art, primarily in the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
- works on the training of scientific and professional personnel in the field of orientalism,
- co-operates with related institutions and organisations, as well as scholars in the country and abroad,
- publishes results and makes them available to the public through its publications: the journal Prilozi za orijentalnu filologiju, Special Editions and Monumenta Turcica Historiam Slavorum Meridionalium lllustrantia.
The Oriental Studies Institute in Sarajevo is located within the University Campus.
The suffering of the Oriental Studies Institute during the Aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995)
Before the aggression, the Oriental Studies Institute possessed three funds—the manuscript editions, various collections, and the library fund.
The manuscript collection comprised 5,263 manuscript codices in Arabic, Turkish and Persian. The Archive also had several collections. The Manuscripta Turcica collection consisted of 7,156 documents from the period from the 16th to the 19th century – fermans, berats, bujuruldijas by Bosnian high officials, court rulings, parts from various defters, various reports, financial records and other documents which were a basis of studying many issues from various fields, the collection of 66 sijils, or the local court registries, which could be used as first-class sources for studying the local history of certain parts of the country, as well as of 66 sijils or their fragments from the period from the 17th to the 19th century, the Wilayah Archive of 200,000 documents, a collection of documents on land ownership (tapija) from all local administrative subdivisions (kadiluk) in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the second half of the 19th century, as well as a collection of photocopies and microfilms from other archives and institutions from Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries. The library also held more than 10,000 titles, or 15,000 books, because many of them were published in several volumes.
Address: Zmaja od Bosne St. No. 8
Tel.: +387 33 225 353
E-mail: ois@bih.net.ba
Web: www.ois.unsa.ba