Explore Sarajevo / Destinations / Kazandžiluk
Destination · Stari Grad · 3 min read
Kazandžiluk
The coppersmiths' street — still hammering, after five centuries. The rhythmic clang from open workshops is Baščaršija's loudest sound.
- Established
- 15th century (Ottoman)
- By
- Ottoman trades street
Address
Kazandžiluk, Stari Grad (running east from the Sebilj into the bazaar)
Hours
Most workshops 09:00–19:00; some close earlier
Price
Free to walk; copper purchases from ~10 BAM (a small džezva)
Getting there
From the Sebilj, take the east side of the square — Kazandžiluk opens directly off it
Time needed
15–45 minutes, longer if you watch a smith finish a piece
Best time
Mid-afternoon, when the smiths are most active
Coordinates
43.8596° N 18.4318° E
Navigate
Kazandžiluk is the row of coppersmiths’ workshops that runs east out of the Sebilj square into Baščaršija. It is one of the bazaar’s narrowest streets, one of its loudest, and one of the few in central Sarajevo where the original Ottoman trade is still being practised, in the original location, by the descendants of the original guild.
The street’s name comes from kazandžija — the Bosnian word for coppersmith, derived from the Turkish kazancı (pot-maker). When Isa-beg Ishaković organised the new bazaar by trade in the 15th century, the coppersmiths got this short stretch. They have kept it.
What you hear before you see
You will hear Kazandžiluk before you see it. The sound is the rhythmic, repetitive ring of small steel hammers against thin copper sheet — multiple smiths working simultaneously in adjacent workshops, the percussions overlapping into a kind of irregular metallic music. From the Sebilj end of the street the sound carries about thirty metres before the first workshop appears on your left.
The hammering is not for show. It is the genuine method of shaping cold copper into the shallow concave forms that become džezva (coffee pots), trays, fildžan holders, dishes, and decorative plates. The patterns are then engraved by hand with a small chisel against a leather pad — circular flowers, geometric stars, calligraphic medallions, all from a vocabulary that the trade has been working with continuously for centuries.
The shops
There are roughly a dozen working coppersmiths on Kazandžiluk today, alongside a few cousins-of-coppersmith shops that sell what the workshops produce but don’t make the goods themselves. The clue is the open door: working shops have the smith at his anvil visible from the street; resale shops are tidier, glass-fronted, and quieter.
What’s for sale:
- Bosnian coffee sets (džezva + fildžan cups + sugar bowl + small tray) — the classic souvenir. Genuine sets are not cheap; expect roughly 40–80 BAM for a small good one, more for larger or engraved.
- Decorative trays and dishes of various sizes.
- Coffee grinders — the heavy brass ones, designed to grind Bosnian-coffee-fine.
- Hookah / nargila equipment (less universally made in-house).
- Custom orders — most smiths will engrave a name or a date on a piece while you wait.
How to buy well
Three small notes for the visitor who wants to buy something honest:
- Buy from a shop where the smith is working. The piece you take home will have been made on the street.
- Ask the smith to walk you through the engraving before you pay. The good ones are happy to show you; the conversation will tell you whether the workshop is making or only reselling.
- Bargain politely, not aggressively. Kazandžiluk prices are not inflated for tourists in the way some Sarači gold shops are. A small respectful discount of 5–10% is normal; aggressive haggling is not appreciated and won’t help.
The trade, still
Kazandžiluk is one of the few places in central Sarajevo where an original 15th-century Ottoman trade can still be observed in its original location. It survives partly through tourism and partly through the persistence of families — many of the workshops are run by the second, third, or fourth generation of the same family — and partly because the equipment is small enough, the technique simple enough, and the demand steady enough that the chain has never been broken.
The street is loud. The smell is of slightly scorched copper and slightly singed leather. The light, especially in the late afternoon, glints off the copper hung in every doorway. It is one of the most concentrated experiences of Sarajevo’s actual continuity that the city offers.
Stand for ten minutes. Buy a small djezva you will use at home. Carry it.
Sources & further reading
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Ph: Julian Nyča · CC BY-SA 3.0
Stari Grad
Baščaršija
The 1462 Ottoman bazaar of Sarajevo, still a working bazaar. Copper workshops on Kazandžiluk, Bosnian coffee at Morića Han, and a marker in the pavement where the Ottoman city meets the Habsburg one.
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Ph: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0
Stari Grad
Kovači Street
A short uphill walk from the Sebilj into the old residential mahala. Coppersmiths and blacksmiths once worked here; today it's Sarajevo's small but serious café row, ending at the Kovači šehidi cemetery where the first president of Bosnia and Herzegovina is buried.
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Ph: Niegodzisie · CC BY-SA 4.0
Stari Grad
Sarači
Sarači is the long pedestrian street that bisects Baščaršija from the Sebilj fountain west to the great Friday mosque. It was the saddle-makers' quarter when the Ottoman city was first laid out in the 15th century. The saddle-makers are gone; the street is still working.
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