THE READING ROOMS IN TEŠANJ

Abstract

UDK 027.9(497.6 Tešanj)"1842/1920"

This article relates about the significance of the Reading rooms in Bosnia and Herzegovina especially those that existed in the city of Tešanj. These institutions represent the initiation of organised social and cultural life of Bosniaks, and have in the time when established played a significant role in this field. That was the time of the decline of the Ottomans and the arrival of the Austro-Hungarian rule in BiH, that was also the time of the struggle for religious and educational independence (1899-1909). Reading rooms were synonym for reading, education and cultural progress, and were established with an aim of awakening social and national awareness of Bosniaks and helping them to adapt to the new social and political conditions. In general, we can say that the Reading rooms represent a significant contribution in cultural progress and enlightenment in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The research work, which served as the bases for this article, detected eight Reading rooms in Tešanj that existed since the middle of the 19th till the end of the second decade of the 20th century. The available sources do not offer detailed analysis of the significant segments of the functioning of these Reading rooms, thus this article presents only an outline picture of the existence and the functioning of the same in the area of Tešanj.