This book originates from a long series of cultural and research activities carried on by the Department of Architecture in Pescara in several cities of the Adriatic and Balkan Region. Our journey through this region was extensive and compelling, but when we arrived in Sarajevo our amazement could not have been greater. In the midst of the soft and narrow furrow cut by the Miljacka River, is a place where religions, ethnic backgrounds, cultures, languages and traditions have coexisted for centuries, side by side, commonly and peacefully. Geographically, Sarajevo is located between East and West, a condition that has made it a place of grafting, where overlapping cultural elements have always been superimposed to the pre-existing ones. The cultural mix and the consequent urban stratification, have in fact been a peculiar condition of this city, and even more so today when Sarajevo is looking for a new diversified and inclusive identity, where contemporary culture plays an important role. The book is the result of the collaboration between the curators and the authors: architects, artists, photographers, art experts, diplomats, sociologists and students, each of whom has generously agreed in sharing their own personal experiences of life, by working or studying in this extraordinary city and contributing to the definition of an “account of a city” that combines the present but also looks towards the future.
