Sarajevo // Bečka Kafana and Harbouring Hipsters
The delightful interior of Bečka Kafana in Sarajevo // © Christophe Cappelli / Shutterstock
Do I feel an unreserved disgust towards men who dress as 1920s gentlemen because I am totally lacking style myself? Whenever I see a young dude in a bowler hat with a whimsical moustache and a suit that might be tweed but almost certainly is bullshit, I feel a bizarre mix of apathy and anger rising in the pit of my stomach. It is entirely unwarranted, entirely unfair, and says more about me than it does the poor gentleman who has the confidence to rock such a look. Maybe he looks across as me, wearing an undeserved Godspeed You! Black Emperor t-shirt, sporting a six-week-old travel beard and grey hair and considers me to look like a fool.
Still, he looked a bit like a tosser. The pipe didn’t help. Nor did a blasé attitude to the waiters, a dismissive twirl of the wrist when he wanted their attention and an even more dismissive flick when that desire diminished. Once finished, the guy, for some reason, decided to just get up and wander slowly around the cafe, as if he owned the place. Maybe he does own the place, I don’t know, but the whole thing created a sour taste that may have been bitterness.
The ironic side of it all, is that he is the only person here who looks like he could have been in the cafe back when it opened.
Hotel Europe, Sarajevo // © Wirestock Creators / Shutterstock
The cafe is a part of Hotel Europe, a 19th-century creation that heralded the beginning of a new era for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sarajevo in particular. Ottoman rule had been exchanged for that of Austria-Hungary, and it was decreed that the city needed a modern hospitality venue, a hotel to welcome international visitors, an accommodation option of Central European grandiosity that could function as the new face of the city.
It took the descendant of merchants from Tuzla to get that done. Born in 1841, Gligorije Jeftanović made his money while the Ottomans were still around, an impressive achievement in itself. After spending three years at a trade school in Vienna, Gligorije returned to Sarajevo to work with his father, eventually taking over the family business and expanding it beyond recognition. The merchant became a businessman became an industrialist became a politician, a wealthy man of influence with fingers in many pies around the city. Jeftanović owned the Sarajevo brickyards, a limestone factory in Hadžići and plenty of other bits and pieces.
Hotel Europe remains his lasting legacy in the city. Czech architect Karel Pařík was tasked with designing the thing, making it another structure in Sarajevo with his name on it. Pařík came to be known as the man who built Sarajevo, the post-Ottoman version, with more than 70 buildings across the city coming from his fertile mind and energetic hands.
In December 1882, December 12 to be exact, Hotel Europe opened. It was Sarajevo’s first modern hospitality venue and soon became the centre of affluent social life in the city. Anyone with anything vaguely resembling money flocked to its bar, club and restaurant, not to mention the cafe in which I sit writing this. The Bečka Kafana soon found its stride in the social makeup of the city.
Damage to Hotel Europe following the riots in 1914 // © Wikimedia Commons
From there, the history of Bečka Kafana follows familiar steps. It was attacked during the anti-Serb riots that broke out around the city following Princip’s assassination of Franz Ferdinand in 1914. It was state-run during the Yugoslav years, but its status as the place to be seen was undisturbed. Celebrities, movie stars and politicians alike frequented its 300 seats, enjoying the grand chandeliers and Viennese elegance. It was privatised following the war in the ‘90s, but the status quo remained the same.
As it does today. Sarajevo has more good cafes than you can shake the proverbial stick at, but there is something about the grace of Bečka Kafana that helps it stand out from the crowd. Sure, it doesn’t feel particularly Sarajevan, but that approach involves neglecting the period of history in which the modern face of this city began to develop. The Austrians weren’t in charge here for long, but their influence on Sarajevo is huge. This cafe is the shining light of that.
Taking that into consideration, maybe I should be less judgmental when it comes to whimsical moustaches and old-fashioned attire. Maybe, just maybe.
