Despić House

Sarajevo


You'd never guess from its Austrian-looking exterior, but this is one of the oldest surviving residential buildings in central Sarajevo. Inside, it's a house within a house, the oldest parts of which date from the 17th century. Wrapped around it are much later additions filled with late 19th- and early 20th-century fittings. One of these, the Velika Soba sitting room, hosted what are thought to have been some of Bosnia's first local theatre productions.

The house belonged to a Serbian merchant family whose scion, Makso Despić, left a curious will in 1921. It's displayed on the front inner wall; item 9 is especially humorous.


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