Pasha's Shelter and Haremluk

Pasha's Shelter

Rauf bez Dzinoli had the two buildings in the same yard built in the second half of 18th century, precisely in 1765. The buildings both have a ground flour and a first floor. The two floors are almost the same in size and are symtrically divided into rooms grouped on each floor around the central hall to which they are directly connected. From the halls, one enters the spacious rooms joined by smaller rooms - "Odzaklijas". All of the rooms are decorated with beautifuly carved wooden ceilings, different in design and shape. The first building, entered from the south, served as the living space for pasha and his male suite (the Selamluk), and the second, entered from the east, as the living space for women (the Haremluk).

Both of these buildings are architectural representatives of Balkan-oriental style. The hall on the first floor in the Haremluk has a semicircular extension, the "divanhan", and bellow it, on the ground floor there is a smaller open terrace on columns serving as the entrance into the hall.

The buildings were connected by a gallery in the form of a wooden bridge, so that people could get from one building to the other without crossing the garden. The whole estate was surrounded by a high wall with a gate.

In 1878, after Vranje had won its independence from the Turks, the bishop Pajsije bought the buildings from Husein pasha's daughter and gave them as gift to the municipality which used them to situate there one of the first high schools in Serbia.

Among other ditinguished persons of that time, Radoje Domanovic taught in the high school and two of the famous students were Ljubomir Davidovic and Justin Popovic. Since 1960 the National Museum is situated in the building of the former Selamluk.

By the end of 1993, the building of Haremluk was contracted by Holding Company "Simpo" which had it redecorated intoa refined restaurant - Business Club.

Adaptation works and the project itself was lead by the architect Stanko Dimitrijevic, who in cooperation with the Bureau for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Nis, preserved in the best possible way the authentic appearence of Haremluk.

The experts of the Republic Bureau for the Protection of Cultural Heritage evaluated this project with highest scores for the works on preservation and restoration and for the innovations in the field of revatilisation.

The annual award from the minitry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia was presented to Mr. Dragan Tomic, as an approval and example of how to preserve and put into function buildings which are cultural monuments.

(Thanks to Jelena Spacic for the translation into English of this text)