Old Jewish Cemetery, Sarajevo

The OId Jewish Cemetery in Sarajevo is National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and on April 3, 2018 is nominated for inclusion on the World Heritage Site list. It is located on the slopes of Trebević mountain, in the Kovačići-Debelo Brdo area. It is the largest Jewish cemetery in Southeast Europe, and second largest in Europe after the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague. Established by Sephardic Jews during the Ottoman period it was continually used for 4 centuries, from 1630 until 1966. It also became the burial ground for Ashkenazi Jews after they arrived in Sarajevo with the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late 19th century. It contains more than 3850 tombstones and covers an area of 31.160 square meters. It has four monuments dedicated to the victims of fascist terror: a Sephardi one designed by Jahiel Finci and erected in 1952, two Ashkenazi, and one dedicated to the victims of Ustasha militants. During the war of the 1990s in Bosnia, it was used as an artillery position by Bosnian Serbs. Notable people buried in the cemetery include Rabbi Samuel Baruh (first rabbi of Sarajevo from 1630 to 1650; his grave is believed to be the oldest in the cemetery), Rabbi Isak Pardo (rabbi from 1781 to 1810), Rabbi Avraham Abinun (Grand Rabbi from 1856 to 1858), Moshe ben Rafael Attias (1845 – 1916), Laura Levi Papo LaBohoreta (writer of the early 20th century), and Isak Samokovlija. A separate vault or "grave" for damaged books, known as a Genizah, is located in the southeastern part of the cemetery, with the first burial taking place on 3 July 1916, and 14 chests of holy books buried in the second burial ceremony.