A Contribution to the Knowledge about the Health Conditions in Sarajevo at the End of the 19th and Beginning of the 20th Century: Sanitary Facilities, Water Usage, Hamams, Shadirvans, and the First Pharmacies

Apstrakt

The establishment of the Austro-Hungarian administration and the levels of development and conditions in the Ottoman-era Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly in Sarajevo, resulted in, among other things, insights into the lifestyle of the local population, habits related to water usage, fountains, hammams, and, finally, a new form of medical treatment with the opening of pharmacies. This paper discusses two private pharmacies in Sarajevo: the first modern pharmacy owned by Eduard Pleyel (1877) and the pharmacy of Hinko Šlezinger, which opened a little later (the building was designed in 1902). Prior to this, the use of herbal remedies, water and its usage, water care, and water conduits were common practices during the Ottoman rule. The lack of trained doctors, until the opening of new healthcare institutions, meant that patient treatment was mostly carried out using methods presented in herbal remedy notebooks and with the assistance of folk healers. In the new period of social adjustment and transition, with the arrival of the Austro-Hungarian administration, earlier elements were preserved, most notably those related to water. Structures such as hammams retained their function, but what was new in terms of facilities and treatment of the population was undoubtedly the first modern concept of pharmacies in Sarajevo. Thus, earlier practices and experiences in treatment were supplemented, enriching the corpus of healthcare culture in Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.