# Safvet-beg Bašagić

Dr. Safvet-beg Bašagić (6 May 1870 – 9 April 1934), also known as Mirza Safvet, was a Bosnian writer who is often described by Bosniak historians as the "father of Bosnian Renaissance", and one of the most renowned poets of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the turn of the 20th century. Bašagić co-founded the political journal Behar and was a founder of the cultural society and magazine Gajret, and was elected President of the Bosnian council in 1910. He is also well known for his oeuvre which exceeds seven hundred biographies he compiled over decades.

## Life

A Bosniak Muslim, he was born in Nevesinje to a long line of nobles on 6 May 1870. His maternal grandfather was Dedaga Čengić [bs], himself the son of agha Smail-aga Čengić (1780–1840). He finished his primary schooling in Konjic, Mostar, and Sarajevo. He received his doctorate at the University of Vienna, where he studied Arabic and Persian languages.
Bašagić was installed as the first parliamentary president of the Muslim National organization in 1908. He taught Oriental languages at the University of Zagreb and was an associate of Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević.
As president of the Diet of Bosnia, Bašagić advocated either a unification of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Croatia or autonomy.
Bašagić was curator of the Archeological Museum in Sarajevo from 1919 to 1927.
Bašagić died in 1934 in Sarajevo and is buried in the cemetery of Gazi Husrev-beg's Mosque.

## Works

The Bašagić collection of Islamic manuscripts and old books, which can be found in the holdings of the University Library in Bratislava, was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 1997. Part of this collection is available on-line from the World Digital Library and Digital Library of the University Library in Bratislava.

### Bašagić collection of Islamic manuscripts

Safvet-beg Bašagić - a collector, literary, journalist, poet, translator, professor, bibliographer, curator of a museum, and politician - a Bosnian intellectual, who preserved in his works and collections an image of Bosnian literature and Muslim literary heritage. His collection of Islamic manuscripts and prints comprises Arabic, Persian, and Turkish works and rare Serbian and Croatian texts written in Arabic script. Bašagić's collection contains, at the same time, unique manuscripts and essential works of medieval Islamic scholarly literature and belles-lettres, spanning the interval from the 12th to the 19th century, and prints from two centuries, starting from 1729. The 284 manuscript volumes and 365 printed volumes portray the more than a thousand-year-long development of Islamic civilization from its commencement to the beginning of the 20th century. The authorship and language aspect of the collection represents a bridge between different cultures and a certain overlap thereof. The very history of the journey of Bašagić's collection of Islamic manuscripts and prints was dramatic and its termination was almost unbelievable. Bašagić tried to deposit the collection in a more secure place than the Balkan region of his time. In the turmoil of the turbulent development of Balkan nations in the 19th and 20th centuries, his valuable collection eventually found its haven of rest in the funds of the University Library, Bratislava.The University Library in Bratislava makes considerable provisions for the protection of Bašagić's collection documents that are adequate to their worth and value. The entire collection has been professionally examined by Czech and Slovak scholars and is carefully stored and used for scientific purposes. To adequately protect the original documents and ensure their preservation for future generations, while also enabling access for both scholarly and general audiences, the Library has decided to digitize the collection and publish it in an electronic format. Many items from the collection are already available online..