Part, an important part, of preparing for a travel is the reading in advance. Maps, guidebooks, biographies, novels, poems, travel magazines. So also before our two weeks in Croatia and Bosnia&Herzegovina. Back in February, in London, I found several books in a travel book store, among them Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. With its about 1300 pages I could do well with only one book,.......or......
Of course I couldn't. During spring and early summer I found more stuff to read, a National Geographic Traveler's supplement about The Western Balcans, an Eyewitness Guide to Croatia, a novel here, a travel book there, and a for me almost unknown part of the world came more and more alive.
Then, while walking through a bookstore downtown Trondheim one morning, I found Geraldine Brooks The People of the Book, and while reading it I learned about the Sarajevo Haggadáh, probably the most valuable book of the world today. My sister in law had found the same book, and so both of us knew what we wanted to see when we came to sarajevo.
The haggadáh of course.
After berakfast we went over to the Tourist Office in old town Sarajevo, and my first question was; where can I see the haggadáh?
No luck!
"I am sorry madam. The Haggadáh can be seen only four days a year, the last time was three days ago. Then there is a copy to be seen, but to do that you have to book in advance.......", then, watching my face, the young girl continued...."there is one other copy though, in the Jewish Museum"
So there we went, and saw a copy from the 1960ies, and later in the day we passed the majestetic National Library/The City Hall, now under renovation after heavy bombing during the Yugoslavian war.
Last night I read the last of the short stories in Miljenko Jergovic's Sarajevo Marlboro where he writes about the fatal burning of millions of books in Sarajevo during the war, and came to the last paragraph:
"You can never list or recall the private libraries that have burned down in Sarajevo. And why should you? But the fate of the Sarajevo University Library, its famous city hall, whose books took a whole night and a day to go up iun flames, will be remembered as the fire to end all fires, a last mythical celebration of ash and dust......"
Books are part of my life, jiust as important as love, breathing, water and bread. And coklours of course.......
