Controversial church relocated

08/06/2009

An Islamic community in BiH has paid to move an Orthodox church, which was built after a mosque was destroyed in 1992.

By Ema Kovac for Southeast European Times in Sarajevo – 08/06/09

A Muslim community in BiH is glad to see an Orthodox church moved, and a mosque to be rebuilt. [Getty Images]

A Muslim-Orthodox rift in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has come to a peaceful, but controversial, end after an Islamic community paid to move an Orthodox church from the site of a mosque destroyed in the BiH conflict.

In years past, the picturesque community of Divic in Republika Srpska (RS), 100km from Sarajevo, was predominantly Muslim. According to a 1991 census, approximately 1,360 Muslims lived in the community, which had a total population of 1,388. But during the conflicts of the 1990s, Serbs renamed the town St. Stephen. Its population now hovers between 350 and 400 people, all of whom are Bosniaks who fled during the conflict.

For years, returnees have been expressing their dismay over the 1996 construction of an Orthodox church on the foundation of the Divic mosque, which was destroyed four years earlier. The Islamic community wanted to move the church, rejecting other proposals, such as setting aside land nearby for a new mosque or simply grafting a minaret onto the existing building to transform it.

It has taken years to find a settlement. Various levels of government and the international community collaborated to reach a compromise last March. The Islamic community paid about 194,000 euros to move the St. Stephen Archangel Orthodox Church to Mladevac, less than a kilometre away.

"I never thought I would see a church being built on the foundations of a mosque, but it was, and now that …a mosque will again be here, I don't mind to leave for the other world," said Adem Hadziavdic, a Bosniak and the oldest resident of Divic.

It took seven days to transport the church by lorry. Divic Muslims are now raising money to rebuild the mosque, which some say dated back to the 16th century. The old mosque, with its grand minaret, was an example of classic Bosnian architecture.

"This is a good sign for Bosniak returnees, but also a message to all, that with patient negotiations many issues can be resolved," said Mustafa Efendija Muharemovic.

Despite the reconciliation, there is still some criticism among Muslims, who believe that they should not have had to pay to move the church, saying that it amounts to "rewarding the same crime twice".

Serbs on the other hand say their willingness to move a house of worship is a sign of their readiness to improve interfaith relations. They also pointed out examples of mosques being built on church sites in the Ottoman Empire, arguably the most famous being Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

Those that look past the Divic mosque dispute hope that the area will gain notoriety not for the horrors of war, but for its natural beauty.