Žuta tabija - Yellow bastion

The Yellow bastion is built of rough hewn stone. The bastion is basically a polygon whose seven external sides are 10 meters long, and the eight side, facing north, is 27.5 meters long. The thickness of the wall is 35 cm and the preserved height of walls is 7.5 m. On the northern side there are stairs and one facility for soldiers, and on the southwest side is a Muslim cemetery. In 1878 the part of the wall on the east of bastion was broken. Until 1946 there was a gate on its west side, but that year it was demolished in order to expand road. The Yellow bastion was repaired two times during Austro-Hungarian Administration, on 1883 and on 1903.

Žuta tabija - Yellow bastion

It was built after Prince Eugen of Savoy robbed the town Prostrani, a plateau at the slopes of mountain Ozren, surrounded by cliffs of the canyons of Miljacka and Mošćanica. Prostrani was inhabited in the ancient times. Through Prostrani, which was the ancient settlement in Ilidža, ancient Roman road that led to Srebrenica (Argentaria) over Kovači and Vratnik, was passing. In the Middle Ages, on the most prominent point (where today is White bastion) was built a fortress with five high towers. Probably, this fortress was called Vratnik, and it protected the village Vrhbosna, located close to the walls and Customs building. During the Ottoman rule the fortress was reconstructed and expanded, also, new single and supporting towers were added. This was the reason why the most of the plateau was saved from fire when Prince Eugen of Savoy burned the entire city in 1697, after three days of looting.

Žuta tabija - Yellow bastion

In 1727 the Bosnian governor Gazi Ahmed Pasha Rustempašić Skopljak decided to build the wall around Vratnik with its 450 houses, and to leave enough room for another 450 houses so the residents of Sarajevo have safe haven during the war. The construction was completed in 1739, during the rule of Hekimoglu Ali Pasha, and in the end there were five bastions, three Kapi-Kule (Gate Towers) and five gates in the walls.

One of the bastions was built on the cliff Jekovac, by which is called Jekovačka bastion, but because of its yellowish stone it was named Yellow bastion, and that name has remained until today.

Žuta tabija - Yellow bastion

For its construction Ahmed Pasha probably hired Dubrovnik masters. A lot of tombstones were embedded in the walls of Tabija that still distinguish among the stones. Next to the bastion there was a gate in the wall, which was opened in the morning, and closed in the evening.

The remains of its arches were visible until the sixties of the last century. The people often called Yellow bastion - the Cannon, because in the late Ottoman period there were always one artillery battery at its top. In 1878th, the silence of the guns from Yellow bastion marked the end of the resistance and the beginning of the Austrian occupation of the city. Although the Austro-Hungarian army was still using the yellow bastion, Muslims were allowed to fire the cannon during Ramadan, to designate the beggining of Ramadan iftar (end of fasting).

That practice was banned in both Yugoslavian periods, but it was rebuilt in 1992, and lasts until today. Austro-Hungarian army kept expanding Yellow bastion and held her soldiers in it. During the Kingdom of Yugoslavia were erected loopholes and a guard gendarmerie were established. Until the late sixties of the last century soldiers of Yugoslavian army were guarding it, after which the Yellow bastion has returned to the city administration.